TV reception question: losing cable service!

[reddogge]

I have live without cable since 1989 and have not missed it one bit. I do have it at our place in DE because there is no other reception down there but there is nothing but **** on cable. Cable is the biggest wasteland out there.

I have an old rotating antenna at home and can pull in about 20 stations in the Baltimore area. We watch a lot on PBS and if nothing on we read.

I do have Roku but with our slow internet service (DSL through Verizon) that can be frustrating. We also have Netflix where we get the discs. I'm afraid our internet is too slow to get it streaming or do Hulu streaming.

 

[JcMack]

I find without any cable or T.V. during a power outage counting your fingers and toes is quite entertaining. Otherwise when the powers back on I need my TV fix.
I remember when there was no TV. My Dad drank a lot of beer, my Mom worked her butt off entertaining herself keeping us clean and fed, and I taught my parakeet to sing The Star Spangled Banner. Great fun.

 

[kwselke]

The OP has been given some good information about setting up a (DTV) digital over the air antenna. I believe all TVs sold in the US for the last 8 or 9 years have been required to be able to receive DTV signals. I have a TV tuner card in my nine year old computer. I also have a 20 inch DTV which is about 6 years old that I bought at Sam's for $169. They are both hooked up to separate indoor amplified antennas. I receive around 65 channels and sub-channels. Of that probably 15 of the stations I way watch from time to time. The computer is equipped with dual monitors, so I can watch TV and surf the web at the same time. It also acts as a DVR and will play DVDs, and music CDs.

I pay $62 per month for U-Verse naked DSL service, that includes no phone or TV. That price includes taxes and wi-fi router rental. I have a Magic Jack plugged into router which feeds into a cordless phone base station. That gets me home phone service for about $25 - $30 per year.

My little TV is hooked up to a CD/DVD/VCR, an old analog hi-fi sound system, and a Google Chromecast. The Chromecast is similar to a Roku device. I believe the Chromecast cost me $20 at Walmart two years ago. I can use my cheap LG smartphone and various apps as well a Chrome browser to control the Chromecast and directly stream content from the router to the TV.

My cellphone is a $100 LG 4-G LTE model which I purchased from TracFone. It resides on the Verison network. It is a prepaid model. Most of the time I use it on wi-fi, and talk on it very little. I figure I spend about $200 per year on the equipment and phone service through TracFone.

Up until 2 years ago I was paying $112 for home phone and DSL service without a wi-fi router, $28 per month for basic cable, and my flip-phone through TracFone. I could probably save a few bucks buying my own router and opting for a bit slower DSL speed. I'm happy with my cost right now.

I never said I did not watch TV, I just do not understand paying for it when there are multitude of free or low cost alternatives these days.