I use Earthlink as my ISP. They in turn use Time Warner cable. I am paying $29.95 a month (total) for internet only for 6 months. It goes up to $41.95 after that. They told me the speed would be 25mbs but it is 58mbs. I ain’t calling them to correct it.
I use the MOHU OTA antenna (flat 1ft square) and I have a ROKU box and the Netflix app. I also have Amazon Prime app installed which I use as I buy most things thru them. They throw in movies and tv shows. I also have Sling tv https://www.sling.com for $20/month.
I also have bought movies and tv shows and use the following programs below to convert them so I can copy them to a external hard drive plugged into the tv. I mainly use the program PLEX TV https://plex.tv on my computer and their app for the ROKU box where I have a folder with all my video and photos which somehow communicates with the tv:
Freemake Video Converter - FREE
http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter
Acrok Video Converter (to convert to mp4) $35
http://www.acrok.com/video-converter
DVDFab 9 Ripper - (to strip the encryption off the dvds as you copy to your pc) $49
http://www.dvdfab.cn/dvd-ripper/how-to-convert-dvd-to-mp4-with-dvd-to-mp4-ripper.htm
I have a co-worker who watches her Netflix shows all day while munching on her snacks. This between calls at our Help Desk. She must use a lot of bandwidth. We had a guy who streamed music thru the office wifi and our Datacom dept noticed. He had to stop.
I’ve been running a series of experiments designed to restore access to all of the services our ISP (Cox) once delivered via cable and phone land lines. First to go: the phone service, now provided by an Ooma Telo VOIP box for one-tenth the monthly expense. Next to go were the DVRs, replaced with Channel Master boxes and 1T hard drives for time-shifting broadcast TV programs. Then the modem rental was cut by buying my own box. And finally, the cable service was cut and replaced with indoor aerials and a variety of set-top boxes.
The best picture quality: Roku 3 and 4. Tried Google Chrome, android box, and XBox for more channel variety via wi-fi. Amazing array of content on the android, but the picture stinks. Tried Sling-TV on the Channel Master and found the picture to be marginal. The final, best solution: an Amazon Fire Stick and a subscription to Sony’s Playstation Vue. It costs ten bucks more a month for their basic package than Sling-TV. But it delivers better pictures and access to Fox News live streaming, plus 70 other HD channels.
The downside: I’ve had to upgrade to Cox’ Ultimate internet package. Between just my wife and I, we’re using over 100G per day.
But our overall cost for all of these services is still less than half what it had been. All of our antennas’ TV pictures are at least as good as cable delivered. Land line phone calls are a lot clearer. And our download speeds have trebled, since I bought my own modem and upgraded the router.
The only route I haven’t tried yet: using a mini-PC as a set-top box. That may be next if I get too annoyed with the android unit’s crappy picture quality. It’s also an alternative to using the Amazon Fire Stick and Playstation Vue, since Fox News and most other cable channels are available on the web for live streaming. But since I believe these signals are bootlegged, I think I’ll stick with Playstation for now. Guess I’ve gone goody two shoes in my dotage...