We haven’t had a dedicated thread on this for a while, and I am considering making the move. Thought I would take advantage of the knowledge and experience here.
My current solution is Spectrum internet (200 Mbps) and TV, with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+. We would keep Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ so the cost of them is a wash, and not a factor. A year ago I was paying Spectrum $115/mo on a promotion, and they eased it up to $144 about 4 months ago. This month they wanted to go to $210, and I talked it down to $175. The task is to get what I want, and see if I can save money. I don’t think it will be a problem.
I have Google’s mesh wifi, and two of our four TVs have Chromecasts with another one on order (the new version with Google TV). There are only two of us, and we rarely watch two TVs at the same time. We don’t have a gaming console, so no sucking up resources (or my soul) there.
Our TV watching habits are pretty much network shows which we DVR and watch later so we can skip commercials, the streaming services mentioned above, and 49er sports. I may watch the Panthers, but could either get an antenna or skip them, it would be a coin toss. I land on HGTV, DIY and PBS when I am surfing and there is nothing else on.
Okay, for the future state solution I am thinking the Hulu/Disney+/ESPN+ (no ads) package for $13 and watching the things we now DVR on demand. Will my Hulu login get me access on the HGTV/DIY/PBS apps? They say to log in with your streaming provider account, but is that package sufficient? (EDIT: I just realized that I pay for my mom’s Spectrum, so I will continue to have that account login.) Basically, I am looking at $13 for this against $100 with Spectrum for TV. I can add other channels like CBS All Access, Peacock, etc. and still be way ahead of the game if I need to. I could go to Hulu Live or Youtube TV, but we really don’t watch anything but sports live anyway.
I know I can cast the local news to my TV from their websites, so I have that if there is bad weather and just checking my phone isn’t enough.
If I stay with Spectrum I assume I will continue to pay around $75/mo for internet, and if they balk at that I can go to AT&T and get 300 Mbps for about $65/mo. Our 200 Mbps seems sufficient with two of us working from home, but I could bump that up for not a lot more.
What am I overlooking?