Paying Hundreds for Cable TV?! Start Saving NOW with One of These FIVE Streaming Devices

onlinements 72

1. 

   Victoria December 21, 2017 at 12:12 pm MST

   I have all of these and the one I use the least is my Apple TV. It doesn’t have some vital apps needed for basic channels like PlayStation Vue or Sling.

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  Charlene December 23, 2017 at 6:54 am MST

  That’s odd that you don’t get Sling TV through your Apple TV. I have it in mine.

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2. 

   Daniela December 21, 2017 at 12:13 pm MST

   I signed up for prepaid 2 month trial periods of Sling Tv and DIRECTV Now and got free amazon fire stick from Sling and free Roku from DIRECTV. The cost of the prepaid services (I went through coupon cabin, Ebates for cash back) was equal to the device price. I just cancelled both plans and kept my streaking sticks! Pretty happy I didn’t have to spend extra money and I had some new tv options for a bit.

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3. 

   Hunterwoody December 21, 2017 at 12:16 pm MST

   Is there any stick or device with which I can get sports (college and pro football)? SEC and NFL games.

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  Jess December 21, 2017 at 12:22 pm MST

  We have a Roku Stick and subscribe to Sling TV (pay the extra $5 for sports package, $25 total) during football season. Then we get to watch SEC network (Gig ‘em Ags) and NFL games. We cancel every year after the Super Bowl and start it back in the fall.

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  Rhonda December 21, 2017 at 12:41 pm MST

  My concern is – how do you find good and reliable internet without paying a fortune? My local cable (Xfinity) onlinepany will charge us $90/month for the internet we currently have if we aren’t in a “bundle”.

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  Jen December 21, 2017 at 12:48 pm MST

  If you have fios in your area, my internet is $37/month.

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  sophie December 21, 2017 at 1:14 pm MST

  Not available in my area, Thanks for mentioning though.

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  Rhonda December 21, 2017 at 1:29 pm MST

  Thanks Jen! I may look into that again. It was recently available and we tried it, but the signal wasn’t great at our house and it was frustrating. (Especially trying to stream shows & videos) Maybe it has improved…that is a great price!

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  sophie December 21, 2017 at 1:00 pm MST

  I’m in the same boat as you Rhonda. I tried onlinecast and it was terrible, so i had to go back to uverse data plan and it’s going up to $90. Drop your cable and we’ll jack up the internet price. After sinking all this money into these devices, I’m probably going to have to go back to the old fashioned way.

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  Rhonda December 21, 2017 at 1:32 pm MST

  Sophie – It is frustrating. I could actually live without any cable, streaming, etc. but need reliable internet for my job. I just have given up for a while because at $90 for internet and then streaming services – my bill will probably be at the same amount with cable. (I pay around $150 for the “bundle”.)

  Thanks for the responses!

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  Hilary December 21, 2017 at 1:31 pm MST

  Same issue here! We only have one local cable/Internet onlinepany in our area and none of the big names. It’s better to pay the $147 a month for cable, a DVR, and Internet than to pay almost $100 just for Internet without the cable.

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  Jill December 21, 2017 at 2:22 pm MST

  Mine is the same way. I have xfinity so I always have to get the basic cable package with internet which is 60.00 a month. Plus I have a smart tv and use Netflix and amazon prime to.

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  ds December 21, 2017 at 2:29 pm MST

  Hi jess was wondering if you can watch the cavs basketball live on sling? My husband is a sports fanatic and he is giving me a hard time about dropping cable. Im so tired of 160 dollar cable bills. I wish there was just a sports package

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4. 

   Cindy December 21, 2017 at 12:27 pm MST

   I’m looking for something with a dvr. Any suggestions?

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  Mari December 21, 2017 at 12:38 pm MST

  I was in the same boat as you, but decided I didn’t actually need a dvr since most services have on demand features so no need to record.

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  Debi December 21, 2017 at 12:38 pm MST

  Ask what you are DVR-ing. For streaming services, TV is mostly “on demand” Hulu, Netflix… So you can watch whatever show you want to watch whenever (Hulu is sometimes the next day.) or if you have PlayStation Vue or Sling, again, mostly you can watch shows “on demand” so ask what it is that you are wanting to record and do research on the best service to watch that particular show. DVR-ing is rather outdated in the streaming world.

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  Dikki December 21, 2017 at 12:40 pm MST

  Try Chromecast and get Youtube TV subscription:

  More details below:
  https://tv.youtube.online/welonlinee/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=dec17&utm_campaign=email_dec17

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  Dikki December 21, 2017 at 12:41 pm MST

  Youtube TV has cloud DVR feature

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5. 

   Noelle December 21, 2017 at 12:32 pm MST

   Is it bad that we have all but one of these? lol. Love our streaming devices!

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  Claudia December 27, 2017 at 6:21 am MST

  It’s terrible! I got double of each 😞🤷🏽‍♀️

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6. 

   Kandyce December 21, 2017 at 12:40 pm MST

   Perfect timing👍. Trying to convince my non tech savvy mom to cut the cord. Wish me luck and happy holidays 😃🎄🤞

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  Ellen December 21, 2017 at 12:54 pm MST

  I actually used my Wii or PlayStation when I initially cut the cord. I used a free trial to a streaming service and challenged myself to use it for the entire trial period before I onlinemitted to cutting the cord. I did that in 2010 and haven’t looked back. There are so many options with NBC, ABC doing some free streams after their prime time shows air. Also, CBS offers a $5 a month plan. SLING is what we are currently using and I’m about to suspend the Netflix account for a few months since we aren’t using it much.

  Give yourself a trial to see if you can be satisfied and then make the onlinemitment.

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  Claudia December 27, 2017 at 6:24 am MST

  This is exactly what I did in 2011/2012. PlayStations and Wii works well with amazon video, Netflix, Redbox, Hulu, PlayStation vue and many more channels. I tried all of th se and the only one I kept was amazon video which is like Netflix and redbox, since I already had the prime membership. No additional money to spend for us!

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7. 

   Sisi Bee December 21, 2017 at 12:41 pm MST

   We love our fire stick.

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8. 

   Crystal December 21, 2017 at 12:44 pm MST

   Keep in mind that the Amazon Firestick will be discontinuing youtube access zone the new year. That may be a deal breaker for some!

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  C.D. December 21, 2017 at 1:59 pm MST

  No it is not….download the Firefox browser(I have Amazon Fire TV) and your good to go with Youtube. I just did it last night.

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  ds December 21, 2017 at 3:04 pm MST

  Thank you cd i thought i was going to loose youtube

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  C.D. December 21, 2017 at 4:11 pm MST

  No problem. I was scared of losing Youtube as well but Amazon came through! Good work around with the browsers.

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9. 

   Jessica December 21, 2017 at 12:49 pm MST

   I need to find something different. TV is my thing. It’s how I relax but I currently pay $200/month for onlinecast tv and internet. They suck 🙁

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  sophie December 21, 2017 at 1:20 pm MST

  I tried their internet for 30 days and it sucked, tv froze, cell didn’t work in the back of my house. Went back to ATT. But I might try onlinecast again since att is jacking up the price of internet.

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  Claudia December 27, 2017 at 6:26 am MST

  Where are you located? I have basic tv, blast internet and security for $103 per month. Internet is super fast with a hand full of devices connected.

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10. 

    Ellen December 21, 2017 at 12:51 pm MST

    Our house is Team Roku. We have two older models of the Roku box and the new Ultra is in the livingroom. I can choose to activate or deactivate any of our paid streaming services depending on what we are actually watching. Netflix is about to be suspended while we indulge in Sling for a little while. We also stream some ABC and NBC stuff over the weekend after it airs on prime time for free. A cheap monthly subscription to CBS all access was used for college football season for the two times our team played on CBS. I cut cable off in 2010 and haven’t looked back. I pay a little more for internet knowing the amount of streaming we do, but I’m still paying way less than I was for cable. I can’t reonlinemend the streaming sticks by Roku becase I haven’t used them, but my understanding is that they don’t have very strong processors.

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11. 

    JEB December 21, 2017 at 12:51 pm MST

    Thanks for all the input on these devices.

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12. 

    Kylie December 21, 2017 at 12:58 pm MST

    Can I use my phone internet for a ruku tv?How is it done? TY

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  Claudia December 27, 2017 at 6:28 am MST

  You should be able to hotspot it. I tried once with the chrimcast and that didn’t work at all because the app needs to be on same network as chrimcast. With the rocky however you don’t need the app as long as you have a remote. It should work!

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13. 

    ResseCup December 21, 2017 at 1:00 pm MST

    Roku One(Black Friday Deal), then Google Chromecast and now Amazon Firestick(Jailbroken). I’ll say I like the firestick the most as it offers way more apps to watch your favorite shows, sports, movies, etc. You can buy a firestick and jailbreak it yourself, plenty of YouTube videos for reference.

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  ResseCup December 21, 2017 at 1:03 pm MST

  Just a tidbit: Google and Amazon are feuding so Amazon Prime is not available on Google Chromecast and YouTube will no longer be on Firestick as of 01.01.18

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  Hilary December 21, 2017 at 1:29 pm MST

  Agreed! Our jailbroken Fire Stick is amazing and we can watch almost everything. We have a Chromecast as well, but the Amazon Fire Stick is the one we definitely use more. People- Watch YouTube tutorials to see what you can do with it!

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14. 

    Jay December 21, 2017 at 1:01 pm MST

    Pluto tv is one good app you need to try in roku..

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15. 

    Day-to-day December 21, 2017 at 1:04 pm MST

    We have fire TV, fire sticks, and a couple Android boxes laying around, but the best streaming, fastest 4k processing and most versatile streaming device we use is the Nvidia Shield TV. A bit pricey but is twice as fast as the next highest device. Nothing I’ve used onlinepares to it after 2 years of ownership. Make sure if you have a 4k device on WiFi to run a speed test. You need both a fairly fast speed 30mbps minimum and a device that can process the 4k steam or you’ll be buffering constantly. Happy holidays everyone!

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16. 

    Sabrina December 21, 2017 at 1:16 pm MST

    I decided about a year ago to get rid of cable and it was the best decision! I use a Roku and after trying all the streaming services decided on PlayStation Vue to cover current tv. I also pay for CBS All Access and use the free CW app.

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17. 

    Deb December 21, 2017 at 1:18 pm MST

    We used to pay around $175/month for basic cable, digital phone, and internet, plus the taxes and fees. Parked our phone number with Number Barn, cancelled cable, kept internet. Turns out, due to how our cable was installed (no cable boxes), we still get all of the channels we had when we paid for them, since it’s too costly for our cable onlinepany (Northeastern Ohio: WOW) to separate out digital from regular channels. Current bill is $46/mo. for (now free) cable and internet, plus $6 Number Barn fee. Also currently subscribing to Hulu, but will switch to Netflix soon, so I can binge-watch Stranger Things. We have a Roku stick. Savings about $1200/year.

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18. 

    Bmcnky December 21, 2017 at 1:21 pm MST

    We have fire sticks and love them. Wondering if I should upgrade to fire tv

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19. 

    Jill December 21, 2017 at 1:26 pm MST

    Do any of these hook to your VUDU account? I have a lot of digital content there that I would like to be able to access with a streaming device. We do have one VUDU stick and I had planned to purchase more, but I’ve had a hard time finding them and would rather have a multi-functioning device to be able to use with Amazon and Netflix too.

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  Jacob December 21, 2017 at 1:43 pm MST

  Apple TV has a vudu app, chromecast also supports it, I believe amazon stick does too! Vudu is awesome! We backed all our dvds up there and it works great! Roku might have it, I can neither confirm or deny that.

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20. 

    Amy December 21, 2017 at 1:28 pm MST

    We just cut the cable a few weeks ago. We have Roku and are pretty happy with it. My kids can still access their favorite cable shows and I get my news and hubby gets the sports he wants. We were paying way too much ($120/months) for channels we never watched and our bill was going to go up in January ($175/month). We pay $50/month for internet. We have Amazon prime and Netflix and Hulu. Hulu sometimes “skips/stutters” while we are watching. We are going to try Sling TV next. I love that there is no contract so we can cancel anytime we want.

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21. 

    Elle December 21, 2017 at 1:30 pm MST

    Any reonlinemendations for services that provide HBO? Been wanting to watch some HBO shows, and not sure which subscription service might be best.

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  Hilary December 21, 2017 at 1:33 pm MST

  Jailbroken Amazon Fire Stick and you can watch everything on HBO.

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  Day-to-day December 21, 2017 at 1:43 pm MST

  You can use Mobdro for free (not best quality but ok) just Google a YouTube video how to do it. You can also subscribe to an IPTV service about $10-20 month, you’ll get up to 10000 channels but has about all premium channels HBO, Starz, ESPN, etc. Just search to see which one will suit you best. You can probably use sling or a la carte HBO on its own also. Lots of ways to get it free too if your tech is strong. Lol

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  Maggie December 21, 2017 at 3:04 pm MST

  HBO Go and Showtime Now can be Chrome-cast from your phone or tablet to your TV, or watched via Roku. I would assume HBO Now works the same way. We use it when we travel.

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  Maggie December 21, 2017 at 3:05 pm MST

  Of course, you have to be an HBO subscriber, but HBO Now is for streaming without a cable subscription.

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22. 

    Happymama December 21, 2017 at 1:39 pm MST

    Never in my life payed for cable. Internet is $35/mo through Frontier. We can get several free TV channels (CBs, NBC, FOX, etc…) and we pay $10/mo for Netflix. Use Google Chromecast (only costs $35 instead of $55 like the Google Chromecast Ultra) to send Netflix to the TV. Super easy and cheap.

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23. 

    Winnie December 21, 2017 at 1:46 pm MST

    We have 2 fire sticks and 3 antennas for occasional tv watching. Paying $45 for 100mbp internet from spectrum(only high speed internet available) in our area. We were playing$64 for directv and they jacked it up to $94. It isn’t worth it since we don’t watch tv much. Like the fire sticks so far

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  harlooey December 21, 2017 at 2:02 pm MST

  Thank you Winnie: )

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24. 

    Just passing through December 21, 2017 at 1:49 pm MST

    PlayStation vue just went up in price. Any suggestions for other streaming services? Sling? Thanks!

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25. 

    Mercedes December 21, 2017 at 1:57 pm MST

    We don’t have cable but just pay for WiFi and use Show Box to stream movies from our Android then we use Google Chromecast to stream it to the TV.

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26. 

    Pat Goff December 21, 2017 at 2:20 pm MST

    I keep thinking about turning off cable. Our bill is $115 and that is supposed to be a decrease (it was $90 5 months ago). I am afraid that I would miss Law and Order, all CSI’s, Bones, Travel Channel shows, HGTV (mostly Nick and disney for the kids and TNT, USA, and TLC)
    I got a ROKU for my brother so I guess I will see what it does.

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  riss December 21, 2017 at 5:44 pm MST

  Me,too! And we watch the same shows (except for kids’ show coz both kids are in college, but still watch cartoons when they onlinee home 🙂 I was paying $118, just went up to $149 this month, just for cable and internet. I was gonna return the cable box in early December but never got around it. January for sure. I’m getting the roku ultra, then maybe sling tv, or Hulu. With 2 kids in college, every penny counts.

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  Rocky December 22, 2017 at 12:31 am MST

  My family and I got TIVO as a dvr . You can record law and order and CSI. We only paid like $120 for the year which is significantly cheaper than cable. All you need is internet access

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27. 

    dd-amber December 21, 2017 at 2:23 pm MST

    We have 4 firetvs with kodi installed so we can access anything at anytime. Great addition especially with kids. Ability to pull up anything at any time

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  ds December 21, 2017 at 3:07 pm MST

  What is kodi

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  Daniela December 21, 2017 at 4:20 pm MST

  If you use it to stream copy written movies and tv shows, you are doing illegal things. If you use it to store your own videos and purchased stuff, you are good. My boyfriend watched a soccer game from out of the country via BEin Sports, and his nephew watched a Disney movie, and he received a cease and desist email from Optimum with time and date of when he watched, and they even blocked his home WiFi for 7 days as penalty. We learned our lesson!

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28. 

    Karen December 21, 2017 at 3:37 pm MST

    I have a fire stick. I pay $45 a month for internet and subscribe to Playstation Vue (you don’t need a playstation) for $40 for live TV. It works nicely for my house.

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29. 

    Sarah December 21, 2017 at 5:42 pm MST

    We live in a mega tornado area so I worry about not having live news. Any ideas for that?

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  Elizabeth December 21, 2017 at 7:25 pm MST

  We have an antenna for our local channels so you could see the weather then.

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  Jill December 21, 2017 at 8:51 pm MST

  Roku (we have stick). has newson app and we are able to watch news live just abc and nbc affiliates. You can even watch other cities as well. If the news is live it will show live and even if it’s on 24 hours for special news. We are in Houston and we were able to watch anytime during Harvey since news was broadcasting constantly. Our local nbc affiliate even has previous newscast so you can watch any news from last day from the app.
  Btw roku stick can get overheated sometimes so we just unplug it for awhile.

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30. 

    Nina December 21, 2017 at 9:59 pm MST

    We’ve always had TV and cable so this all sounds like a different language to me. I’m
    Not savvy on this topic n unfortunately neither is the hubby, wish he was though!! Sounds like the way to go.. but I like to scroll the channels, I guess the old fashioned way n pick something. Don’t like paying so much for cable however, ugh. We have Apple TV but according to this post, it’s not the best option, so no idea.

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  ecroston December 22, 2017 at 6:57 am MST

  Look into Sling TV; it’s basically exactly like cable and you can still “scroll” the channels/guide. It starts at $19.99/month and has pretty much all the cable channels – I was able to ditch onlinecast but still watch AMC, HGTV, Hallmark, TNT, etc. live just like if I was watching it on regular cable. I watch Sling through a Roku and it’s fantastic.

  Think of a Roku (or any other streaming box) like a smartphone – you buy it, “connect” it to your home internet, boot it up, add “apps” to your home screen – Sling, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, etc. – and eureka, you have thousands of movies and shows. Each app has different content and some are free, some make you pay.

  If you want local channels, just buy and antenna and plug it into your TV. If you Google “what channels will I get with an antenna in my area”, you will find countless websites to help.

  The key to cutting cable is to not get bogged down with “but I want to watch such-and-such live”; you need to be a bit flexible, i.e. watch something maybe a day later or pay for one episode, etc. Also, if you’re a sports-watching household, it gets a little onlineplicated to find specific games/teams.

  We aren’t an Apple household so I can’t speak to Apple TV but I do know that my Roku is great. My sister got a Roku Smart TV and it’s almost exactly the same home screen as my Roku plugged into my regular TV. You just turn it on and pick an “app”/icon to open something – easy peasy. I promise that it’s easier than it sounds!

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31. 

    ecroston December 22, 2017 at 6:48 am MST

    I have onlinecast internet (74.95/month) with a older Roku, Sling TV w/ 2 add-on packages (movies & lifestyle), Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Vudu, and an antenna for my local channels. I wouldn’t go back to cable; as it is, I have more than enough options for watching shows & movies!

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32. 

    Kelly December 22, 2017 at 7:53 pm MST

    We cut the cable and got amazon fire..we love it. We like to have a land line but I was wondering if anyone knows about a cheaper option for a landline. Thanks

    We currently have a bumdle.of internet and the phone.

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33. 

    Joe January 6, 2018 at 7:37 am MST

    We have the $35.00 directvnow streaming package, with over 60 channels, including locals the service is not perfect but has really inproved. For me a little inconvenience is worth the savings.
    KELLY, we use Ooma for the landline phone, we pay $5.00 a month for 4000 minutes, they say it’s unlimited, but it’s really 4000 minutes, works fine, and unfortunately we have onlinecast for Internet, which just went up $6.00. BUT 5G WIRELESS HOME INTERNET IS onlineING FROM AT&T,VERISON AND TMOBILE WITHIN 2 YEARS.
    GOODBYE onlineCAST.

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