Need some input please. I have grande internet and basic tv package. My bill this month is $224!! I'm getting fee'd to death. 67 bux in taxes and fees. I'm thinking of just cord cutting and buying internet service only and paying for sling TV or Hulu.

Anybody have any ideas?

Att is pushing a bundled tv/internet deal for two years but they won't give me a written quote.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Start by reading

https://sicem365.com/forums/14/topics/11161/

and

https://sicem365.com/forums/14/topics/29770/

for no other reason that we've talked about this several times before. By all means, if you'd still like clarification, or have another idea, sing out. The information gets dated quickly.

We live in DFW so can't help you with Waco specifics, but I'm currently looking really hard at this too since our current ATT Uverse deal expires in a few months. You might look here for very recent general info:

https://www.cordcuttersnews.com

Also, there is a cord cutters group on Facebook that may give you additional input. I've been evaluating some combo of OTA (over the air) via antenna + streaming package + internet service + DVR. Haven't reached a conclusion other than that most people with some bundled cable package have allowed their provider to jack them up by not being aggressive enough about changing or threatening to change. Very similar to protesting property taxes. Yeah, I'm that guy who has protested 20 times in the last 30 years (and continue to enjoy the benefits).

You might also look at https://www.suppose.tv. This will enable you to build a wish list of channels and generate a side by side comparison of various streaming offers for your area. Really useful tool. Good luck.

Thank you very much. I figured there had to be lots of discussion on this topic but was using my phone and didn't narrow my search.

No worries.

Essentially, it comes down to "you will need Internet service". Right now, the cabled choices are still your best best whether Grande or Spectrum or ATT or what-have-you. Pick the speed you think best considering streaming TVs, phones, computers, etc. Really, the top 2 or 3 tiers will cover just about anyone.

After that, figure out what you want to stream, and what TVs are available. A popular option is Amazon's Fire(TV, stick, cube) that plugs into an HDMI port. It runs all the popular streaming apps. Sling and Hulu have their own devices, too.

Really, all the major streaming providers (PSVue, Hulu, Sling, etc) are approaching unity on the channels they provide. Look at their terms of service (I know Sony's PSVue doesn't require a contract. Cancel any time month to month), and the line ups for the different tiers. You'll probably find one that fits your family's needs.

If you have specific questions, like what devices are needed to get the Internet from the cable router to your TV, or what devices run which services, ask away. There's lots of knowledge here. I'm always eager to help someone move away from a closed box provider.

Stick with grande, cut the cord. I only pay $50 a month for it.

As has been said, just go for the internet package.

You can do Hulu for $8/month for tons of your regular shows
You can do Netflix for $13/month
You can do Direct TV Now for live TV for $40/month
I also have an Amazon Prime account that I do not have for TV but occasionally comes in handy. It's $11/month

All in, I have every TV show I want and plenty of live TV with movies/shows on Netflix for $61/month. Combined with a $50 internet, I'm all in at just over $100.

If you are just used to cable, you could do a higher end Direct TV Now (or Sling) package and eliminate the Netflix/Hulu options above and come in even cheaper.

You can do all of this without a smart TV but with one, it's super easy if it has Roku or similar interface. You can get a good smart TV thats 40-50" for $300-500, which will pay for itself in just a few months of the savings.

My setup:

Grande Cable Internet 300/gb ~$49/mo
PSVue ~$50/mo (most sports channels for the price)
Netflix whatever they are charging today.
Prime Video (sunk cost would have prime anyway)

Hardware
Main TV -- Apple TV 4k
Mancave TV -- Roku Streaming Stick +
Bedroom TV -- Roku Streaming Stick +
Patio TV -- Roku Streaming Stick +
To get local channels Tablo Dual Lite plus cheap inside antenna.

There is nothing I want to watch that I can't watch.

Total Opex for 4 TV's ~ $125/mo (includes $45/year for Tablo schedule service) you could argue its only about $60 since I was going to have that same internet connection anyway.

Capex
Apple TV 4k 64gb $199.
Roku Streaming Stick + 3@$59 each = $177
Tablo Dual Lite = $149
Antenna = $30
Total Capex = $555

Going with all Rokus would obviously save money, we're all in on Apple and the Apple TV serves as our Apple home hub. Roku is a really solid product that supports everything you've ever heard of except Apple stuff. I find that usually the streaming services don't offer one or two local network channels, which one(s) vary from service to service. Likely over time they will all support all the local channels. If you're good with that you could cut out the Tablo. You could also cut that out if you were ok with not streaming the local channels to every TV and wanted to hook up the antenna to just one.

With the capex amortized over 2 years I am saving over $140 on my cable bill.

This is, however, no panacea. Streaming, while very good still suffers glitches and sporting events are delayed about 30 seconds or so. Also prices are rising and eventually streaming will be as expensive as cable. Then we'll have to look for something else.