cheapest is antenna... still need internet for most services so the cable company still have their claws in ya. with a good internet connection, a good vpn use one of the many IPTV services out there.. only problem is services like sling tv, youtube tv and the like is many times they will have the cannels ya want separated so you'll need a more expensive plan to get what you actually want to watch.

Decisions decisions. Hmm. Thanks

Thought I'd pass on what I've found lately. I have Cox and decided I'm not going to pay them 140/month for cable and internet. I will say both the internet and cable package works well and provided plenty of download speed and content on cable.

So I dropped cable and got a Roku box. The box is cheap and works well. And there is no monthly fees. It gives you basic news and weather and a bunch of other content( none that interests me though). I enjoy sports and history and discovery channel, neither are on Roku. I pulled the trigger on Sling Blue. 35/month and I get all the news that I can stomach and history/discovery, and the nfl network. So far so good.

Antenna hasn't worked very well here, but I may try again. I think this guys website is worth a look. From what I can tell there is no such thing as the "best" antenna. It depends where you live and what channels you're trying to watch.

antenne man

All these 'cable alternatives' are great, but what internet provider are you using to access them?

Antennas don't require an internet connection. Not sure on the roku, firestix etc.

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I have a 1GB fiber internet feed. It's about $40/month and Hulu live is $70 Hulu live has unlimited DVR.

Have amazon prime as well. Plenty of stuff available.

I have Cox for now

I decided to get Amazon Fire Stick since I have prime.membership. downloaded YouTube TV. I'll give it a try for now

they need an internet connection.

I'll explain a little more........ I used to have Cox cable tv and internet access. About $140/month. I dropped the cable tv, the new bill for internet only is $68/month. Bought a roku box w/remote for about $30. The roku box is wirelessly connected to my modum, roku box then connects to the tv with an HMDI cable. So turn on the tv with the roku remote and start watching everything that's free. Also within the roku app that is displayed on tv are a bunch of streaming channels that you pay separately for if you want. I choose sling blue for $35/month which gives me 30 or so more channels. Lots of options for tv these days.......

I'll explain a little more........ I used to have Cox cable tv and internet access. About $140/month. I dropped the cable tv, the new bill for internet only is $68/month. Bought a roku box w/remote for about $30. The roku box is wirelessly connected to my modum, roku box then connects to the tv with an HMDI cable.

This is pretty much what I've done, but in doing this, you still haven't broke completely free of cable as you need them for internet.

And this is where it sucks because you're still dealing with the cable company. When I moved in here two yrs ago, internet AND 10 basic (local) channels cost me $56 a month, End of first year, price had risen about $30, so I dropped the channels for just internet and the price dropped down to $68. Here we are at the end of the second year, and I'm at almost $80 a month for JUST internet. What's it gonna be in another 12 months? Well over $100 for just internet? And this isn't the latest fiber optic service either. What annoys me more so than the pricing is the lack of alternatives for internet. I don't live out in the sticks, yet cable is still the only game in town.

Well it depends on what TV programming you are talking about. Not going to watch HBO over the air. Another thing i noticed crapcast cable put's the local stations on their cable. There was a movie on one of them i haven't seen in years so watched it. I also have an antenna in my attic and found the local station it was on. Over the air didn't have it in wide screen format but the cable did. Guess it depends on the local station if they want to broadcast it in wide or standard. If you are not connected to some cable (fios/cable co etc) it's going to need fast internet. I have been looking and fios is not available here along with most of the over the air cell based internet survives. Cable is overpriced for similar plans from their competition(IF ONE COULD GET IT!) Hey Mr Biden what about the that infrastructure bill to get fast internet!!??? I also heard he was in town and they had to shut down the roads. They should have drove him on the ones that we have to drive everyday to work that is covered in pot holes, patches and cracks. Then you see road crews fixing the side walks that no one walks on instead of fixing the roads. Painting the lines on the damaged road surfaces. Pure idiots running things! Sorry had to vent. I also found out that the T Mobil home internet regulates how many users it has in an area. It is available where i am but they are not allowing any new customers. Didn't hear that on their TV commercial! How long do we have to wait for fast internet or someone to come up with a affordable way to watch TV? Wish that C band satellite was still available. It was awesome if you missed a show in your time zone you could watch it on another feed for a different one.

i was talking about what i quoted.. roku, firestick, chromecast...etc...etc.

Define fast internet? Why does Biden have to provide it? That's the cable/cell companies job....keep the damn gov't out of it! We get 200Mbps from Spectrum(trust me, I've had issues with them too)...some folks would say that's slow. We stream 2 TVs and surf the net on 2 laptops at the same time,have multiple devices(16) connected to it....zero issues.

Not an IT guy, but someone told me ethernet is more stable than wifi. We have a fire TV box on one tv and it's on ethernet, but can also go on wifi. I did a speed test on it and it's faster on wifi, but keep it on ethernet since it's close to the wifi router. If you go with a device, maybe see if it's ethernet capable as well as 2.4GHz and 5 GHz wifi.

Fast internet is anything faster than what i have now witch is DSL 0.7mbps up load and 0.0 down( and that's not a typo!). Spectrum, Verizon,AT&T(cell based) and others witch i can't remember are not available. Well there was one that said it was available but cost almost double. I refuse to give any more money to the money leach cable co! The infrastructure bill before it was pasted was supposed to be(part of it) to bring fast internet to those who don't have it as i heard on the news. I'm not political nor do i chose sides just stating what i heard. T Mobil won't let any more people on the unlimited 5G home internet where i am but what is available is called the "Internet Lite Plan". It's data caped depending on witch plan you choose. I haven't set it up yet but it has to be faster than what i have now.

Keep a close eye on that "CAP" especially if you start streaming movies music etc.

I have Verizon FIOS and it is costly with channels in flux. FIOS drops channel with almost no warning. The lack of real competition is the problem - vendors have no incentive to improve as the market is close to being a monopoly.
Speaking of alternatives --- Elon Musk has been attempting to deploy satellites in low orbit dedicated to fast lower cost internet access - I was hopeful but it looks like this effort stalled.

Competition among alternatives is key to better service / lower costs but that is not happening. BTW I have an antenna setup but have not used in years.

hey on the Elon Musk Star link. I have a guy at work that uses it up at the campground he go's to, he loves it and it does exactly what the literature says it does. he shares the cost with two other family's and they have kids that cant leave there phones alone for 5 minutes. he said no issues at all. I am waiting for the star link to be available in my second home in Tennessee so I can drop HughesNet. they suck.

Star Links website lets you input your address and it will show if there is reception. It's a real option for those who have none.