| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Apr 07 2013 : 12:27:36 PM
Hi girls!
How would you like to stop paying a big chunk of change out on your cable bill? Do you feel like they’re holding you hostage, even though they’re offering you a discounted “bundle” on services with your internet, cable and phone? Don’t even really use your home phone anymore, but the cable company has told you that if you drop your phone line, your cable and internet bill will go up? Do you find that, perhaps, you spend a lot of money on a whole bunch of channels and programming you’d never even consider watching, and you’re sick of throwing money away each month? And, have you heard the news reports indicating just how much your cable box(es) are a drain on electricity, significantly raising your energy bill each month? Are you tired of all of this? Yeah… we were, too.
After a lot of investigation, we have recently made some changes in our cable/internet/phone service that has enabled us to save roughly $1600 a year without feeling deprived – at all.
First of all, we don’t need a home phone service. Our phone rarely rings (mostly due to a problem in the provider’s “system” which they have been unable to rectify over the past few years in which we realize the problem even existed), and when it does, there’s usually a bill collector on the other end calling for one of the former owners of our so-called private telephone number, for which we have been paying a nifty little premium every month. We were told that if we dropped our telephone from the bundle package, our cable and internet service would actually increase every month. That really ticked me off. We pay basic charges for our cell phones, which give reliable service and can be taken with us wherever we go – we don’t need to be paying extra for a home phone! I was determined to drop the home phone, one way or another…
Second, I hate paying an exorbitant amount of money every month for cable programming we don’t even watch, not to mention paying for a whole bunch of OnDemand “free” movies that we don’t want, either. Further, we were spending extra money every month over and above the basic cable charges every month to watch “current” movies OnDemand…what was the point of the “free” OnDemand service?
Thirdly, because we had two televisions, we had to pay for an extra cable box for the other television in the “man cave.” This box did have a similar service available as the main box in the livingroom, but there was no OnDemand, and if we wanted it to have the same service as the main box, we would have had to pay even more fees every month. Not cost effective, definitely not satisfying. Why would we pay for TWO boxes to have a whole bunch of programming we never watch? Ugh…
So, here’s what we did (not necessarily in this order, but this is what we’re suggesting):
1) Purchased a digital antenna for less than $35. This antenna receives all the local channels in HIGH DEF, as well as 7 or 8 extra channels – and the cost of this reception is FREE (other than the cost of the electricity to run it, but it is a very small drain in energy). Yes. I kid you not. It works like a charm! The one thing that matters to us is to be able to receive real time news, local and national, especially in case of emergency. We also like to watch Jeopardy, The Big Bang Theory and Sunday Morning – OH! And the STEELERS games, of course! Other than that, we rarely watch local programming. Ever. The sad thing is that due to baseball’s blackout policy, my husband won’t be able to watch LIVE games of the Pirates (even if we were to subscribe to MLB.TV) but he can always listen to them on the radio, visit a friend to watch them, or go to the game! He’s fine with that!
If you are thinking about going this route, though, there ARE a few things you might consider.
First, if you have one of those big ol' fashioned antennas on your roof, you don't need anything more than antenna wires to run to your TV.
Second, If you do not have an old-fashioned antenna, there are three types of antennas (antennae?) available to choose from: indoor, outdoor and indoor/outdoor models. Depending upon where you live, you probably will find that an outdoor (or indoor/outdoor) antenna works best simply because they are outdoors and there will be less interference than when they are indoors. I was told by the people at Radio Shack that you always want to put it outdoors on the north west side of your house, but I'm not sure if that's just a local thing for us. Apparently for many people in our area, the indoor antenna works just fine, and the local Radio Shack told me that they actually get a lot more returns on the outdoor, “flat” antenna model than any other model (not sure why - just that they do). For the best reception, you want to select an AMPLIFIED HDTV antenna because, well, the reception will be amplified, and you'll get better reception. Also, the clerk at Radio Shack said the more expensive flat antenna doesn't do as well as the old-fashioned one with the dog ears and knob-controlled round tuner, better known as the 180 degree rotating UHF loop. (We chose the latter and it works FABULOUSLY for us!) The prices at Radio Shack were surprisingly lower than the ones we found online, but just before making our purchase we ran over the Wally World to see what they had. What we found was that the Wally World boxes did not specify anything mentioned above - they were pretty much boxes with pictures and very little information. I asked two different clerks there they could help me with my decision, but neither knew any more than where they were located. One of the clerks, however, directed me to the digital receivers and insisted that THEY were better than the plain old antennas - as he put it, "they HAVE to be - they're more expensive, you know?" <Good Grief> My son and I just looked at each other, thanked him, and when he walked away, we scooted ourselves right out of the store and back to Radio Shack. The second Radio Shack clerk uses the model we actually decided on, and said she has no problem with it. This model also came with the cable it would need, where the more expensive flat models did not (ergo – no extra cost). We came home, took it out of the box, set the TV input to "air" and let the receiver surf to do its magic. We have more than adequate reception on both regular and HD channels, to include all the local channels, a few PBS channels, Ion, MeTV, Country TV, and actually 6 or 7 others, but I can't remember which ones off hand. In any case, we're satisfied with what we're receiving, for sure! :)
Keep in mind that this digital antenna works for HDTVs and SmartTVs only, because they come with an integrated digital tuner. If you have an old-fashioned television at this point, you will need to purchase a digital tuner for your television, which could run you a little more money (but maybe not). FURTHER, reception on your digital antenna or digital tuner might differ from what your neighbors experience, as the reception you experience always depends upon the type of antenna/tuner you purchase and where you live.
2) Buy a Roku. Once you have a Roku, you will never go back. What is a Roku? Basically it’s a little streaming device about the size of your hand that works in conjunction with your internet to bring you programming available through the internet. You can read all about it here: www.Roku.com We opted for the newest model, the Roku 3, because it was on sale and we figured, “Why not?” After you investigate the different machines, you’ll want to check out the different channels you can receive through Roku just by having it. Go to the bottom of the main page and click on “See all channels” under the “Channels” heading. You will then see an entire host of available channels that either provide free programming, or through which you can purchase subscriptions to access them. You are not limited to the channels you see, but I think you’ll agree that you will be able to access an incredible amount of programming from regular television, comedy shows, religious programming, international programming, documentaries, children’s programming, news, movie specials, feature channels… to just about anything, really! Just keep in mind that you will need a Roku for each television you have – one Roku will NOT stream to every TV in the house – but after the initial purchase for each, you’ll be golden!
To set your Roku is really simple. You will have to switch your TV input from the “TV” or “Air” setting to one of the other inputs, and then follow the setup. SUPER easy. And if you encounter any issues at all with your Roku, they have 24 hour live chat available with a representative online. I have had to contact them twice to help me resolve issues. There was a short wait time both times, but the agents were extremely friendly, knowledgeable and helpful, and the issues were resolved with very little effort. LOVE that!
It takes a little getting used to, but we LOVE our Roku! It’s quite different from watching regular cable or regular television.
First – virtually NO commercials! NO KIDDING! No more horrifying or obscene commercials to interrupt your viewing.
Second – most newscasts are viewed by segment instead of by the entire newscast. This means you can pick and choose which segments are of interest to you, and ignore the rest. Further, you don’t have to listen to announcer’s comments and lead-ins, and you can avoid all the talking head noise – you just go right to the clip, and voila – you get the news!
Third – some, but not all programming is not available until the next day. For example, last night’s Saturday Night Live episode was not available through HuluPlus until this morning. But the cool thing is, you can fast forward and rewind right through all the shows as you like.
Fourth – not every program is available through the different channels, and sometimes you’re only getting access to the scenes from each show. For example, if you watch, say, Ghost Hunters, you might only be able to access each individual scene from a particular episode vs. watching the show straight through. Kind of a pain in the butt, but there are ways around this – just stick with me here.
But again, no commercials (we’ve only seen a few on the HuluPlus channel, but there is usually only one 30 second commercial between scenes – no biggie!)
Although we don't watch a whole lot of television or a great variety of different programs, there are some programs we do like and want to have access to. That being the case, we decided to give the one month trial for Amazon Prime and the one week trial for HuluPlus a whirl just to see what they offered. Believe me, we were NOT disappointed.
Amazon Prime offers an incredible array of free movies and television programs, as well as a plethora of “OnDemand” pay-per-view movies and television programs that are not free. The TV programs you pay for are usually current season shows, and you can pick and choose what you want for as little as $1.99 an episode, which is then added to your viewing library. The movies through Amazon Prime can usually either be rented for a fee comparable to what we were paying for with “OnDemand” through the cable company (and, by the way, you get to watch them for a whole week for this price, whereas with the cable company, you only get to watch them for a 24 hour period!), OR you can purchase them outright and add them to your permanent viewing library (which can also be watched on your other devices such as the Kindle, iPad, etc.). We love the Amazon Prime. It will cost us only $79.99 per YEAR (our cable was considerably higher per month!).
Now, if you’re a big TV buff and want a lot of current programming, as well as a seemingly limitless access to favorite oldies and international programming, you might be interested in HuluPlus, the subscription for which is just $7.99 a month (again, a far cry cheaper than cable). HuluPlus also offers a selection of movies, but we like the Amazon Prime better for that. Anyhow, HuluPlus has so many programs that you could spend an entire Saturday night surfing through their site – it’s simply amazing. Personally, we are sticking with Amazon Prime, but our son really wants the HuluPlus, so we’ll probably keep that subscription for him. Keep in mind you won’t need to purchase a subscription for each service for each television. One subscription is good for streaming to every Roku in your house!
Finally, We were pretty excited to see that we get EWTN, TBN And DayStar through the ROKU for free, too! We don’t get ALL of the programs they offer on these channels, but we do get a lot of them. I actually emailed EWTN the other day to inquire as to whether they might offer a subscription service sometime in the future because, although they do have a live stream feed, because of our schedule, we are unable to watch so many of their shows because they are only offered in real time and not as individual program selections. It never hurts to ask, right? After all, we’d definitely be willing to pay for it!
3) Another option for you might be to pick up the PlayOn and PlayLater subscription, which right now is on sale through www.playon.tv We purchased the lifetime subscription for both so that we could get more of the current programming for free, but in retrospect, I’m not sure we would have done it had we been able to test it first. It’s great – you really do get access to a lot of programs, but they are not in high def, and, well, it’s just a matter of personal preference. One thing I don’t like is that the PlayOn program has to be playing on my computer in order to access it. In other words, I have to boot up my computer and turn on PlayOn before we can watch any shows they offer. Not liking that so much. <You don’t have to have your computer up and running with the Roku – it runs directly through your wireless (or wired, if that’s your only option) internet.> The nice thing is the PlayOn because through it we can record our favorite shows and play them whenever we want. Having said that, though, the only show we’d probably record is Big Bang Theory, but, again, it wouldn’t be in High Def, and we can already watch it live in HD through the digital tuner. We could watch it through Amazon and HuluPlus as well, but only previous seasons of Big Bang are available through them, unless you want to pay for individual episodes in the current season, of course. So, it’s up to you. Let me clarify, too: you can watch a LOT of current season programming on HuluPlus as well as Amazon. Current season programs like Big Bang Theory, Doomsday Preppers and the Simpsons are not available through HuluPlus and Amazon unless you pay per episode, but you can get them through PlayOn for free (only NOT in High def). Current Season programs like Family Guy (not a favorite of mine) and a whole host of others (Grimm, CSI, Smash, just to name a few – we don’t really watch them, though) are still available for free, however, through those other subscriptions. Believe me – you are NOT going to be deprived.
4)DROP YOUR CABLE AND/OR YOUR COMBINED BUNDLE PACKAGE AND SWITCH TO INTERNET ONLY. Why? Well, first, you NEED your internet to access your Roku. What speed you need is going to depend upon which Roku you buy, as well as how many other devices you use connect to the internet. If you’re buying Roku I or Roku II, and connect nothing else to your internet, you only need 1.5 – 2 Mbps download speed on your internet. If you purchase Roku III, it is only capable of HDMI connection, so you would need at least 4 Mbps download speed. Having said that, however, if you are connecting/accessing multiple devices to your internet (for example, more than one Roku, your kids' video console, an iPad, a Kindle, etc.), you will need to increase your Mbps download speed accordingly. Our cable provider offers a very low Mbps internet speed level, with subsequent offers in increased Mbps download speeds. We opted for the lowest medium-range level, for just under $60 a month. They have afforded us a $10 per month credit on that service, bringing it down to just under $50 a month, but we also have a service protection plan, and with fees and taxes, it brings our new service back up to around $60 a month. Not ideal if you want to save money, but when you consider we used to pay roughly $209 per month for the $159 bundle, taxes, fees, and a couple of movie rentals each month, the savings is dramatic and quite pleasing to the pocket book!!!
Now, one small thing I want to share. You may NOT need to buy the digital antenna/converter. Our cable company did offer us a basic television service for about $5 a month over and above the internet service we selected. This would offer us an even greater array of programming on non-High Def channels. HOWEVER, we opted for the digital antenna. For one, if the cable or internet goes down for any reason, as long as the electric is still on, we can still get all the local programming for free through the antenna. For two, why pay $60 more per year for basic cable, when we would only have to pay a one time cost of $35 for the digital tuner? We don’t need all those channels they offer, they aren’t going to be in High Def, and we don’t need to pay all that extra money out for nothing! So, it’s up to you which you prefer. I just thought you should know. Maybe where you live you will find that the digital antenna or tuner won’t work for you, in which case, this might be a good option.
So, how is it going for us? GREAT! Basically, when we want to watch regular local TV, we switch the television input to "TV" or "Air" and watch programs through our digital antenna. When we want movies or television episodes not available on local TV, we switch the television input to, for us, "Input 5" or "Videocore" and then we can start watching programming through the Roku! Super simple! It's a little different at first, but once we got the hang of it, we were thrilled! We don't miss cable at all, we don't feel deprived at all, and we could care less if we ever go back to it again! We actually have access to a ridiculously greater amount of programming and movies available to us now than we did before! We may never watch many of them, but at least we aren't paying a ridiculous amount of money for them, either.
And NOW, we are saving about $141 a month, give or take, in services now, which translates to just under $1600 per year in savings, and we have MORE access to MORE movies and television programs than ever. Most television programs are available all the way back to Episode I, Season I all the way to the end of the series or to the present schedule! AND we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want, with virtually no commercial interruption (an average program with a 30 minute time slot on cable has approximately 8 – 12 minutes of obnoxious and offensive commercials – bye bye!), and there are no hidden fees or taxes to shock us at the end of each month. Our initial start-up costs were $35 for the digital antenna, $99 for the Roku, about $60 for the LIFETIME subscription to PlayOn/PlayLater (again, we could totally have done without this – lesson learned), and a month’s trial with Amazon Prime and a week’s trial with HuluPlus… all together we spent $200 that we will never have to spend again. We, personally are OPTING for the annual subscription to Amazon Prime for $79; and our son would like to pay for the $7.99 subscription for HuluPlus so he can access current episodes of his favorite shows, for an additional $95.88 per year. Our total annual cost for television and movie entertainment will be $ 174.88 per year for subscriptions and about $64 per month or $768 per year for internet. Our total new annual cost for more than what we used to get with cable is going to be roughly $943 per year. Our former annual cost, which included a faulty unreliable home line telephone service was approximately $2508 per year. (Remember, we were paying for our cheap cell service anyway – we don’t NEED a home phone line!) That’s almost 63% annual savings of $1565 per year, not including, of course, our initial start-up costs, which we only pay once and never again !!! That’s a “whole lotta coins” as one dear frugal friend would say! We sure can find good use for THAT kind of money!!! I’m sure you could, too!!!
So, I’m sure you might have a ton of questions about all of this, and yet you're probably as eager as we were to save. I know - I've tried to cover a LOT of information and explain it as clearly as possible, but it's still a bit overwhelming. I'm sorry! If you have any questions at all, please ask, and I'm sure the other farmgirls who use Roku and I will be happy to help you, okay?
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| nancypo |
Posted - Aug 06 2013 : 9:30:23 PM
We're sticking with dish for now, but may do this later. We got a much better deal for our "home" phone with wireless set up thru our cell plan. Suddenly our previous providers dropped $20.00 off our internet so we wouldn't dump that too. They told me to call back in 1 year and they'd do it again :) There's always ways to save money...
Be the change...
http://littlehomesteadinboise.blogspot.com/ |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Aug 02 2013 : 4:58:43 PM
You are very welcome, Cheryl! My parents were here over the July 4th weekend and the first thing they did when they arrived was check out the antenna and Roku... They LOVED it! We're planning to visit sometime at the end of the month to help them install their own! My stepdad really can't get past the fact that there is no catch. There isn't - REALLY! How nice it is to not have that big bill every month. Roku has helped to free up a nice little chunk in our budget that we really needed! I hope it will prove just as good and do the same for you, too! Hugs - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| Tapestry |
Posted - Jul 30 2013 : 6:44:15 PM
Thank you so much Nini. DH and I are seriously considering this as we're up to $164/mo. with no movies rented. I had a feeling I knew this would be your response but just wanted to be sure. Really appreciate your expertise on this. Thanks again!
Happy farmgirl sister #353
Look for rainbows instead of mud puddles 
http://pinterest.com/ctapestry/
http://tapestrysimaginings.blogspot.com/ |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Jul 30 2013 : 03:35:58 AM
Hi Cheryl! The Play On app has another app available called Play Later where you can in fact record programs to literally, uh..er... play later. I have not attempted to use a recording device to record the shows from my television, however, nor have I attempted to record anything on my computer or anything like that. The thing is, recording programs probably isn't really necessary... If you "purchase" them on Amazon, they're available to you forever. I believe the ones offered for free remain as such, so, again, you can access them forever. The only ones that you have limited access to are the ones that you rent, but that is usually for a few days or even longer. AND I would imagine you can still go back, do a search, and rent them again in the future whenever you want to do so. I hope this helps! :) - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| Tapestry |
Posted - Jul 29 2013 : 8:09:01 PM
Hi....just read this post and have a question perhaps someone can answer for me. Are you able to record programs using any of these programs? Thanks!
Happy farmgirl sister #353
Look for rainbows instead of mud puddles
http://pinterest.com/ctapestry/
http://tapestrysimaginings.blogspot.com/ |
| Ninibini |
Posted - May 10 2013 : 09:19:47 AM
Awesome, Judy! Right now, we actually se a lot of the documentary stuff for homeschool (if it's wrong - my kid will point it out, too! LOL!), so dropping all of that all together right now is just not something we want to do. Maybe when he leaves for college, we'll be more inclined to drop everything but the antenna. We are absolutely loving the change we did make, though. I will aspire to your level, though - sounds like you've got it right! You GO girl!
Okay... The new bill arrived for our internet-only service today... Want to know the savings? Drumroll, please....
$1685.06 per year!!! WOWSA!!!
That means we're saving a little over $140 a month! Wooo hooo!! Believe me, we need that kind of savings every month - just as much as the next family!!!
My stepdad is still confounded by the whole thing - he cracks me up. "Yeah, but, there just HAS to be a catch!" he says! Nope! Not at all!!! It's amazing.
We did drop Hulu - it's just too complicated to maneuver and has a ton of things we won't ever watch. We're keeping Amazon Prime (love it) and Netflix. Just figured out how to use the Play Later feature on PlayOn, so we're going to play around with that for a while. It's a lifetime thing, so we have plenty of time to figure it out! :)
So... I do apologize for the lengthy first post, girls, but I really hope that it, and the other tips and suggestions from the other girls, will help some of you save a little dough-re-mi. :) Wish you all the best!
Hugs -
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| patchworkpeace |
Posted - Apr 30 2013 : 06:15:36 AM
Nice ideas, Nini. Thanks for sharing! We took it one step further. Back when TVs were going from analog to digital, we didn't jump. Instead we just purchase our favorite shows on DVD (often used for great savings) and watch when we want, commercial-free. Yeah, it puts us a little behind, but hey, its commercial-free, with no additional cable cost. I am a huge Oklahoma Sooner fan and am able to listen to my games on the internet for a small fee during football season. Also, included in that small fee is the privilege of watching the entire game for free once it has been aired. Not bad.
I can tell you are really enjoying your extra savings! :-)
Success is measured not by the position one reaches but by the obstacles one has to overcome to reach it. Booker T. Washington
My blog, The Review-anista Reads http://friendsfunfabric.blogspot.com/ |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Apr 30 2013 : 03:58:20 AM
Connie - I understand. My parents have been hesitating on the fence about this for weeks, thinking there just HAS to be a catch, and that the ball is going to drop. It's not. There is no catch! It is very close to regular TV, and yet wonderfully different and so much less expensive! Our viewing options have increased exponentially - we do not feel deprived at all! And it is just so nice not to have to deal with talking head garbage and commercials screaming at you when the television is on. Peace - it's a wonderful thing. Not a day goes by that we don't remark just how little we miss traditional cable. It's wonderful. It's just different, that's all - but honestly so much better! For us, the only drawback is not being able to watch the Pirates games live, but my husband does get to watch up-to-the minute game reports and clips online as the game is playing. And there's nothing stopping him from watching games with his buddies or attending one every now and then. The baseball blackout thing has been a bit of an adjustment for him, but the payoff is worth the sacrifice. And let's just say it's kind of nice to see him finally learning how to maneuver his way around a computer! ;) In the end, he's liking the jingle in his pocket a whole lot more than he is missing watching the game in real time! ;) It sure is nice knowing we don't have to face that big cable bill anymore, believe me! I REALLY hated paying that huge bill for "a whole lot of nothing we were watching anyway." There was so much garbage and very little quality - and THEY told us WHAT we were going to watch and WHEN! Now we have what seems like a limitless supply of options to choose from, when WE want to watch it, and it's SO much less expensive. It feels so good to finally have taken the reigns! :) I hope someday, you and your hubby will be able to do it, too! Hugs - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| naturemaiden |
Posted - Apr 30 2013 : 03:18:32 AM
i would do this in a heartbeat if my husband wasnt so attached to the tv. i hate paying the cable bill.
http://www.naturemaiden.com/ - Soap & Candle
http://modern-day-laura.blogspot.com/ -Filled with everything I love!
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| Katlady93 |
Posted - Apr 16 2013 : 10:11:54 AM
we have NEtflix because of where we live, on the north side of a hill going into a valley, lots of trees around so no satellite reception. and the trees aren't all "ours" so they can't come down. i would hope that i never get that desperate. we can't get digital reception because we are just far enough away from the major stations. a friend recommended Netflix several ylears ago. we got the one month free tiral. and have had it ever since. we got caught on TV Programs, watch a lot of BBC and best of all NO COMMERCIALS!! when we do go somewhere with "Regular" TV, that has to be the most annoying thing.
and DH doesn't reallyl care what we watch, as long as we watch something at night so he can relax, so we can pick and chooose. and stay with the good stuff.
Some dreams are worth the risk it takes to make them real.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footsteps on the moon. |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Apr 08 2013 : 4:52:07 PM
Hi Brandee - you would still need to subscribe to watch programming on Netflix an HuluPlus. We didn't see many of the other channels pop up on our PlayOn until the next day, and I am not sure which ones were on there. I will try to check for you later on (guys are watching a movie right now), but I can tell you that yes, many of the ones listed were there. I think you have to go onto their website to the plug in channels and download fresh content http://www.playon.tv/channel-store/ before it shows up in your PlayOn, but once you do, it should be there. I haven't had a chance to really play around with it yet, but it really does have a lot to offer. I would like to use the PlayLater feature to record programming we cannot watch live, but, again, I haven't really had time to play with it and see how it all works. There are two things that our son really complains about with the PlayOn - 1) that you have to have your computer turned on and your PlayOn running, and 2) that the programs he has checked out are not in HD. Other than that, I think it's a very good value - pay the low lifetime fee once, and it's yours to use forever. I just don't know how often we'll really use it, that's all. I'm sure Heather will have more to add, though. She really seems like the expert - she has been extremely helpful to me in all of this! :) (THANK YOU, HEATHER!!!) Hugs - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| homsteddinmom |
Posted - Apr 08 2013 : 3:36:42 PM
i seen that the play on has netflix and hulu plus listed, now does that mean that you wouldnt have to pay for that seperately?? I pay for netflix and huluplus. Also does it actually get all the channels that it says like cooking channel and cartoon network?? i would be interested as the play on is onsale right now~!
Homesteading Mom in East Texas. Raising chickens, Rabbits and goats here on my farm!
http://homesteddinmomsworld.blogspot.com |
| MagnoliaWhisper |
Posted - Apr 07 2013 : 4:00:10 PM
Good descriptions.
Just wanted to add a few of my own.
I like Play on, cause even though my DH and I bought the strongest outdoor antenea it's just not picking up strong enough reception where we live (pretty typical for our location, because we are far from the things that give off the signal.
Play on does take up a lot of data from your internet, this was our first month we got a email from the internet company that we went over our monthly data. We have the medium speed internet. We probably will use less play on later because we used a lot of it last month cause we were getting caught up on tv shows we hadn't watched in years due to no local tv stations.
IF you can get local tv with a antenea, I'm not sure if play on is as needed. However, still nice that it's on demand and a ONE time every life time fee.
I tried hulu's free trial, I like Netflix better, but that's just me.
I am in love with Amazon Prime! LOVE! It's yearly fee for sure cheaper then what we used to pay monthly. PLUS, you can also get free kindle books, free 2 day shipping on real items you buy and other perks to it. So yeah...pretty awesome.
IF you do like a home phone (I personally hate cell phones), I have had Magic Jack now for about 8 years. The first year cost 20 dollars. After that you can buy 5 years at a time, our first 5 year package we paid 50 dollars (10 dollars a year! no extra taxes, or fees! Straight 10 dollars, free long distance, free land to ship calls! etc etc. I can also take it on vacations and use it in hotel rooms, making phone calls home for free, no roaming charges etc etc!). Right now I think it's up to 99.75-20 a year....CHEAP, with no extra charges. It's also unlisted number for no extra fees!
So if you still want a phone, but don't want in the bundle for sure worth it.
http://www.heathersprairie.blogspot.com |
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