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How many hours a day are you streaming??? Me and my 2 kids stream various services every day and we have never had any issues. Although you say your internet company is "Suddenlink". Never heard of them. That sounds like some half-a**ed small town company, so it wouldn't surprise me if they have data caps.
Pretty much. They are based in Ohio and have cable systems in many rural areas. To answer your question I was binge-watching a show a few hours per night. Nothing that outrageous, really.
I agree that cord cutting won't have the big pay off in the long run that its rabid fans desperately try to claim. However, there is an early adopter's advantage now that definitely reflects a cost savings. The key is to subscribe to one streaming service at a time. Even if you have lots of people in your household with different interests, they all should find something on each service that they find entertaining. Everyone needs to understand that they have one or two months to get through what that one service offers, before you turn it off and switch on another service. And repeat.
What cuts into that is when people let their Veruca Salt attitudes prevail ("I want to watch this show right now!") If people have no self-control and cannot understand how to make AAA BBB CCC work for them as well as ABC ABC ABC worked for them, then they're sacrificing the savings of the early adopter's advantage.
You described fairly well one of the two ways to save $$$ with cord cutting and that is rotation of services which takes discipline and some people just don't have any discipline. The other way involves prioritizing content which includes sacrificing the content that is less important to the household. Trying to replicate the cable bundle with streaming services is not the way to save money. Those people who want it all in the future after the cable bundles die out will have to pay more for it.
I added up all of my streaming services + internet and it is still less than I ever paid for cable. However, what I find attractive about streaming services is that I can pause/cancel at any time. There are no contracts. I can have HBO for 3-4 months, cancel, then Showtime for a few months, then cancel, etc... I don't have to pay for stuff I'm not watching every month.
I have an antenna so I have OTA channels.
Internet - $88/month
Netflix - $13/month
Hulu - $7/month
Amazon Prime - $12/month
HBO/Showtime (I rotate between the two) - $10-15/month
Total $130-135 per month.
I paid $200+ for cable, for 1 tv. I literally can watch anything I want, whenever I want now.
I added up all of my streaming services + internet and it is still less than I ever paid for cable. However, what I find attractive about streaming services is that I can pause/cancel at any time. There are no contracts. I can have HBO for 3-4 months, cancel, then Showtime for a few months, then cancel, etc... I don't have to pay for stuff I'm not watching every month.
I have an antenna so I have OTA channels.
Internet - $88/month
Netflix - $13/month
Hulu - $7/month
Amazon Prime - $12/month
HBO/Showtime (I rotate between the two) - $10-15/month
Total $130-135 per month.
I paid $200+ for cable, for 1 tv. I literally can watch anything I want, whenever I want now.
Good deal. After THE CROWN in January ends Im cutting Netflix. There's just not enough there for 16.00 a month. Directv stays tho.
Cable and satellite operate on artificial-scarcity model - you can have 100 channels and there is still almost nothing worth watching. Streaming operates on an abundance-of-riches model.
In my state, many P.U.D.s (Public Utility Districts) have invested in fibre-internet and wholesale it to multiple providers, instead of just one. Because of that, prices come down and speeds go up.
If you're stuck with just one provider, one option is to subscribe to their lowest-cost bundle, which will give you your local channels and internet. You don't need 100Mbps to stream Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video - 15Mbps will do, if streaming to a single device, maybe double that for multiple devices.
At least subscribe to a lower tier without any sports channels (which are what balloon the cost) - instead, get your sports through Sling, fuboTV, etc. I've got Sling Orange ($25) + Sports Extra ($10) and pretty much the only channels I watch are CNN (for news) and sports channels - ESPN/2/3/U, etc., Pac-12 Networks, SEC Network, and ACC Network. Everything else I watch are apps on the Roku - besides Netflix and Prime Video, all are free.
Cable and satellite operate on artificial-scarcity model - you can have 100 channels and there is still almost nothing worth watching.
Since you are deciding what is and isn't worth watching for everyone the artificially is added into the situation by you. The reality is that they operate on a mass market model.
And we don't know what model streaming will operate on. We are still in the early afternoon stage and the market has not yet resolved.
The thing that few sites ever tell you about "cutting the cord" is that you will have to change the way you watch TV. I researched endlessly before quitting cable and this was almost never explained well.
Cable - and I'll include Uverse/Dish/etc. as cable - are channel based. Channels have numbers. CNN is assigned to a number and you go to it by entering the number or pressing the channel up/down until you land on the number. This makes it very easy to change channels instantly, even from one end of the spectrum to another. It also makes channel "surfing" easy since pressing channel up takes you to the next channel and instantly starts showing it.
Streaming is app-based with icons like you would find on your PC desktop. There are no numbers and you cannot instantly go to any channel, although some remotes may have a few assignable buttons (Roku typically has Netflix/Hulu/Sling) or voice remote. And streaming channels require logging in and initializing, which takes from 5-30 seconds in my experience. I've never understood why Roku takes longer to log in than it takes me to do it on my PC entering my usr/pwd manually.
This delay in changing channels was the hardest part for me to adjust to. When you jump from Hulu to Netflix you won't be watching Netflix within a second. And none of them seem to return you exactly to where you were when you left. I miss the "previous channel" button that made toggling instantly between two channels instant and easy. Great for keeping up with two ball games or watching something else when 5 minutes of commercials must be played.
Another big change with streaming is that you watch something when you want to watch it, not when the channel decides is the time they want to play it. I could never get into TV series before streaming because I would miss episodes and it would be like reading every third chapter of a book. And I hated the wait until the next episode or season. I don't bother streaming a series until at least three seasons are out.
You don't have to subscribe to more than one or maybe two streaming services at a time..... and you can rotate every few months.....
I have subscribed to cable in one form or another for 40 years..... and one of the first things I figured out is that HBO, ShowTime, etc. have VERY few recent movies and only very few that I want to watch at any given time..... I personally do not consider the premium movie channels worth the $$$ they expect......
Did you see the cost breakdown for our household that I posted above?
You just have to be selective in what you subscribe to......
Your post seems to have answered the question I had. I've just finished watching Ray Donovan on prime....which only carries season 1. I liked it so much I was considering trying the Showtime free week....just to see if it would be worth adding the Showtime to my Prime......
I prefer to stream, and would seriously consider paying the monthly premium if I could stream each season as I do on Amazon Prime....But, from the menu it seems that the premium channels still are the same as they were years ago. You have to be willing to watch what they want when they want it.....Rather than being able to stream the specific shows on my time table.....
Does anyone else have prime channels on their amazon acct....that could confirm or dispute this?
Your post seems to have answered the question I had. I've just finished watching Ray Donovan on prime....which only carries season 1. I liked it so much I was considering trying the Showtime free week....just to see if it would be worth adding the Showtime to my Prime......
I prefer to stream, and would seriously consider paying the monthly premium if I could stream each season as I do on Amazon Prime....But, from the menu it seems that the premium channels still are the same as they were years ago. You have to be willing to watch what they want when they want it.....Rather than being able to stream the specific shows on my time table.....
Does anyone else have prime channels on their amazon acct....that could confirm or dispute this?
Absolutely not. You can play any episode from any season anytime you want for a series that has already been published. Donavan has seven seasons out.
Now if you are watching a series that is current then sometimes the episodes for a new season are released on a weekly schedule. For example, we are watching Castle Rock (Hulu) season 2 and the next episode 8 will be released on Nov. 27 and the one after that on Dec. 4. But we aren't bound to those dates. We can't watch the episodes until they are released but we can watch them any time after. Hulu typically releases it's original content series on a weekly basis. Netflix typically releases the entire season at once. I'm too new to Showtime to know what they do with current releases.
And streaming channels require logging in and initializing, which takes from 5-30 seconds in my experience. I've never understood why Roku takes longer to log in than it takes me to do it on my PC entering my usr/pwd manually.
I'm not sure I understand what you're complaint is. Are you logging out of your apps each time you exit them? I log in once, when I first download an app. After that, I've never had to log in to anything again. Yeah, it took a few seconds the first time, but not something I consider a big deal.
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