Cutting the Cable and Streaming Everything

Are you tired of paying high monthly subscription fees to the satellite or cable company fortelevision?  If so, read on!

I often am asked if there are alternatives to satellite or cable television.  The answer is, yes... several.  The first alternative is to watch only OTA (over the air) television.  Depending on where you live, the financial impact of you wallet may be just a few dollars if you live in the city of Chicago, IL for a inside the home digital television antenna and possibly up to a hundred bucks or more if you live in rural Pittsburg, KS for an attic or outside mounted antenna.  Don't underestimate the digital OTA service, there are (depending on your location) quite a lot of stations broadcasting!  Last time I connected a digital antenna to my television and scanned for the channels in my area there were close to two dozen channels!

However, where I live I cannot have an attic mount or outside antenna and an inside antenna has to be power amplified antenna which picks up quite a few stations but not without distortions.  So I opted into to go to Internet streaming for television and here is what I did and the route I suggest when asked for options other than satellite or cable television.

I recommend using a Roku 3 and subscribing to a couple streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and USTVnow.  All three streaming services can be subscribed to for less than $50 a month!  And if you don't want to spend a dime there are hundreds of free streaming services available on the Roku.  The Roku 3 has been out since 2013 and it is faster than the other Roku models, has a few more features and while it is currently in beta mode has a mirroring feature similar to Apple TV.  And while I don't make use of it, the Roku boxes also have games that can be added and the remote acts as a gaming remote - it reminds me of a Nintendo Wii remote.

For streaming services, I use USTVnow, Hulu Plus and Netflix.  I have found that Netflix is rarely used in our household, except by my son, so I'm tempted to cancel the service. USTVnow is an excellent website and channel for Roku.  While it is geared for Americans living abroad, I live in a far suburb community of Indianapolis and have never been abroad.  I've used their services for the past three years and have been very pleased with it.  Since a digital antenna doesn't perform well where I live they provide me for my "local" channels.  Ah, you ask..why'd he put that quotes?  Good question and the reason is, they are local if I lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  This doesn't bother me, it is the same television shows on their system as it would be if I were on an antenna only thing that doesn't apply to me is the news.  Along with ABC, CBS, CW, NBC, FOX, they also, for the same $29 a month (USD), provide some basic cable channels like AMC, History, Nickelodeon, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, etc.there are twenty-five channels all together for a little over a dollar per channel a month.  And if you are ever away from home, you can use your smart phone, laptop, or tablet to sign into the website and still watch your programming - if you want.

I won't really go into details on Netflix and Hulu Plus because they are pretty well-known services.
Both cost, at the time of this post, $7.99 a month (USD) and each contain a pretty decent library of movies and television shows.

Lastly, I have my own media server running the PLEX media system on an old Dell Optiplex
computer.  With this system I have converted my large DVD library into media files on the computer that I can stream to all four of my Roku boxes, my tablet, gaming consoles, and cell phone.  Meaning I can watch a movie or listen to my music from anywhere with a decent wifi connection or use my data on my cell phone if there is no wifi available.  I won't go into much more on this and will instead make it a future blog post!

All streaming services, of course, require internet access from home.  Whether you keep the cable just for its high speed broadband service or live close enough to be able to use DSL or even better live in a location to get Fiber To The Home (FTTH) you will need the internet.

You might wonder why I didn't speak much of or don't recommend the Apple TV.  This is all personal opinion, but in my experiences with Apple TVs over the last three years I find them not reliable and too closed.  Straight out of the box you don't get a "channel store" so the only channels you get is what Apple wants you to have.  I haven't tried, but I've read that if you 'jailbreak' an Apple TV not only do you void its warranty but you can then add channels that aren't 'stock'.  The Apple TV is also slow to respond and its interface is a rather bit clunky.  The remote is very basic and very small = easy to misplace.  The remote also uses infrared, so you have to point it directly at the Apple TV, where on a Roku the remote uses radio freqency and I can take the remote to the master bedroom closet (about 60 feet away) and still change channels.  Also means I don't have to hold the remote and point it at my Roku.  It'll be awhile before I am sold on an Apple TV.

What do you do with old computers?

You've got a new computer, now what do you do with that old one?  Luckily there are a few options for those who are looking to dispose of an old computer!

You could hand it over to your child/children to use and then setup some rules and guidelines for your younger children on proper use of the computer, Internet safety if you so desire to connect to your home network, install their favorite game(s) for fun, and have it setup so they can use it for their homework when needed.  My child, when in elementary school, every once in awhile needed to use his computer for homework - even when he was in second grade.  Of course, remove any programs or saved files of yours that you don't want your children to have access to. 

Image source: ubuntu.com

What I usually do is sell it on eBay!  You should completely erase your hard drive and install a fresh operating system going this route.  If you provide the computer with Windows you will have to be sure to include the proper product key and/or COA.  Before I sold my computer I would download the Ubuntu operating system, which is a free Linux-based OS, have it reformat my hard drive, repartition it and then install the operating system.  You may or may not make a lot of money from selling it but a $100 or more isn't too shabby for some extra spending money.  Also make sure you include any documentation the new owner might need, especially if you create a temporary "administrator" account and password protect it.  Nothing would annoy your buyer more than powering on their new-to-them computer and can't login due to a password.

Another option you can do is recycle it.  There are many businesses out there you can take your computer for recycling and some do it for free and some may charge a small fee.  Go to your favorite Internet search engine and search for "computer recycling near me" for a list of locations.  I haven't used a recycling program for a computer so I can't really recommend a specific company and since this is a blog that is viewed my an audience in multiple countries it doesn't seem to make sense for me to recommend one when it might not be available to someone in Germany.  I will recommend if you are a person who is very concerned about someone else accessing your old data.  Yes, even if you reformat your hard drive it is still possible to recover some old data, unless you use programs specifically created to securely wipe the drive. 

I have seen suggestions in the past where you can

Image source:.mypctechs.com

open your computer case, remove your hard drive and if you have a drill put two or three holes in it - making sure to completely through it. This will guarantee, unless the NSA gets a hold of it, no one is going to access that data!  Yes it is pretty extreme, but for those who have a LOT of concern about it, this will take care of all the concerns.  Doing it this way, you don't even need to bother erasing it.  Then you can send your computer off for recycling and have a good night sleep.