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"10 awesome (and not-so-awesome) things I learned while becoming a cord-cutter
The path to freedom isn't always smooth.
Michael Simon By Michael Simon
After years of reading, research, and really close calls, I finally made the plunge. I canceled my Comcast Triple Play bundle, disconnected the coaxial cables running all over my house, and returned the boxes I致e been renting for the last two years. That痴 right, I知 officially a card-carrying cord-cutter.
I知 only in the first few days of my new cord-free world, but I can already tell the road ahead will be equal parts bright and bumpy. While I expected some separation anxiety after years of cable TV bills, I naively didn稚 realize just how different it would be without Comcast or Cox or FiOS supplying the channels. I ended up choosing DirecTV Now for my streaming needs, but I researched and tested a couple of them before settling on it. Here are 10 things I致e learned so far:
Table of Contents
Choosing a streaming TV service is really hard
Your bill really will go down
Prices, channels will change without warning
The guide is really good
Channels can take longer to find
Quality varies greatly between platforms
Nickelodeon is a streaming unicorn
Remote controlling isn稚 so good
Cloud DVR isn稚 as good as a hard drive
Streaming is more customizable than cable
Choosing a streaming TV service is really hard
Signing up for cable is relatively easy. There are generally one or two providers with distinct pricing packages to choose from, and picking one simply depends on price and channels. That痴 not the case with live TV streaming packages. Channel offerings are all over the place, and you値l need to make a list of the ones you can and can稚 live without.
[ Further reading: The best streaming TV services ]
For me and my family, the must-haves included Food Network, AMC, Nickelodeon, Disney, and FX, and it wasn稚 easy to find one that had them all. At the time, DirecTV Now fit the bill, but that痴 not the case anymore, so thankfully I知 grandfathered into the package I picked. But it痴 more than likely that you値l need to sacrifice a favorite channel or two when you settle on a streaming TV package.
Your bill really will go down
Our resident OG cord-cutter Jared Newman often rails against the argument that streaming is more expensive than cable due to the proliferation of paid services, and heç—´ right.
Yes, if you subscribe to every service, your streaming bill will be more than your cable one, but the beauty of cord cutting is that you only pay for what you need each month. I was already subscribing to Netflix, HBO, and Hulu under my Comcast plan, so even with upgrading my internet service from 250Mbps to 1Gbps and adding DirecTV Now, I cut my bill by around $50 a month.
The new DirecTV Now packages have less freedom and higher prices.
Prices, channels will change without warning
Less than 24 hours after I signed up for DirecTV Now, the price changed. By a lot. My package increased by 25 percent, from $40 a month to $50 a month, and the add-on HBO option rose from $5 to $15. All said, my monthly bill increased by $20 in just 24 hours. Thankfully I知 able to keep the channels in my package, but if I had signed up just a day later, I wouldn稚 have gotten any of the channels I wanted; namely, AMC, Nickelodeon, and Food Network. I知 used to cable changing packages and upping prices, but it痴 shocking that AT&T raised it so much and took away so many vital channels at once.
The guide is really good
I thought the hardest thing for me to give up when I dumped my cable boxes would be the programming guide. I generally spend a lot of time browsing channels to find something to watch, and I feared the streaming TV serviceç—´ user interface and experience would be less than great, leaving me to rely on my own devices. I was wrong. The streaming services I tried out all had excellent guides with large previews, channel icons, and great navigation. I missed such features as the ability to automatically tune to a channel when something starts, which I had with the Comcast user interface, and I kind of prefer the old UI, but overall, I enjoy browsing now just as much as I did with cable.
The DirecTV Guide is surprisingly good.
Channels can take longer to find
The guide might be good for finding random shows, but itç—´ not so great for tuning to a specific channel. I never gave much thought to the order and arrangement of the channels in my cable bundle, but they were logical and smart, with food shows and kids networks lumped together. DirectTV Now, on the other hand, boils networks down to simple alphabetical listings, putting a greater emphasis on favorites and bookmarks. Under the Comcast guide, channels were logically grouped, local stations were near the top, and I could easily type in a number to jump to a channel. Now CBS comes after Cartoon Network. An alphabetical listing seems like a smarter option in theory, but I actually prefer the curated grouped lists.
Quality varies greatly between platforms
With my Comcast boxes, the experience basically depended on the type of TV each box was connected to. Thatç—´ not the case with streaming. The speed and picture quality of the DirecTV Now app on my Apple TV 4K is light years better than it is on my Fire TV Cube. The same goes for my Roku box and my Samsung smart TV. Then thereç—´ simple connectivity issues. Some streams wouldn稚 play HD, others constantly paused, and on some devices I couldn稚 even tune to certain channels. So, depending on the source youæ±*e using to stream, the experience could be good, great, terrible, or somewhere in between, even if theyæ±*e all hooked up to the same television.
directv now playback error
These types of error messages were more common on some platforms than others.
Nickelodeon is a streaming unicorn
When shopping for a streaming service, I expected networks like AMC, HBO, and Disney to cost more. What I didn稚 expect was Nickelodeon to be so hard to find. And with a 7-year-son, it痴 pretty much a must-have. Since Nickelodeon doesn稚 have its own pay service, and its content is locked behind a provider paywall, my options came down to DirecTV Now, Sling TV with the Kids Extra package, or Philo (which was missing local networks and numerous other channels I cared about). And after this week痴 changes, it痴 not even available on DirectTV Now anymore (though thankfully it痴 grandfathered into my package). So if you have a kid who watches any of the Nick channels, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and PlayStation Vue are all out.
Remote controlling isn稚 so good
If thereç—´ one thing you don稚 have to worry about with cable, itç—´ the capability of the remote. Voice search on my Comcast remote was a surprisingly excellent way to find something to watch, and the standard keypad was an easy backup for quickly tuning to a channel. The Apple TV and Fire TV remotes are woefully inadequate, and even my Harmony universal remote doesn稚 quite understand whatç—´ going on inside the DirecTV Now app. Voice control is another issue. While most of the voice assistants will launch streaming apps without trouble, few of them are able to look inside to find stuff. DirectTV Now just recently added Siri search support in the TV app, which is nice, but most of your voice commands will go unheeded, even if youæ±*e using the made-for-cord-cutters Caavo remote."
1 awesome (and not-so-awesome) things I learned while becoming a cord-cutter | TechHive
The path to freedom isn't always smooth.
Michael Simon By Michael Simon
After years of reading, research, and really close calls, I finally made the plunge. I canceled my Comcast Triple Play bundle, disconnected the coaxial cables running all over my house, and returned the boxes I致e been renting for the last two years. That痴 right, I知 officially a card-carrying cord-cutter.
I知 only in the first few days of my new cord-free world, but I can already tell the road ahead will be equal parts bright and bumpy. While I expected some separation anxiety after years of cable TV bills, I naively didn稚 realize just how different it would be without Comcast or Cox or FiOS supplying the channels. I ended up choosing DirecTV Now for my streaming needs, but I researched and tested a couple of them before settling on it. Here are 10 things I致e learned so far:
Table of Contents
Choosing a streaming TV service is really hard
Your bill really will go down
Prices, channels will change without warning
The guide is really good
Channels can take longer to find
Quality varies greatly between platforms
Nickelodeon is a streaming unicorn
Remote controlling isn稚 so good
Cloud DVR isn稚 as good as a hard drive
Streaming is more customizable than cable
Choosing a streaming TV service is really hard
Signing up for cable is relatively easy. There are generally one or two providers with distinct pricing packages to choose from, and picking one simply depends on price and channels. That痴 not the case with live TV streaming packages. Channel offerings are all over the place, and you値l need to make a list of the ones you can and can稚 live without.
[ Further reading: The best streaming TV services ]
For me and my family, the must-haves included Food Network, AMC, Nickelodeon, Disney, and FX, and it wasn稚 easy to find one that had them all. At the time, DirecTV Now fit the bill, but that痴 not the case anymore, so thankfully I知 grandfathered into the package I picked. But it痴 more than likely that you値l need to sacrifice a favorite channel or two when you settle on a streaming TV package.
Your bill really will go down
Our resident OG cord-cutter Jared Newman often rails against the argument that streaming is more expensive than cable due to the proliferation of paid services, and heç—´ right.
Yes, if you subscribe to every service, your streaming bill will be more than your cable one, but the beauty of cord cutting is that you only pay for what you need each month. I was already subscribing to Netflix, HBO, and Hulu under my Comcast plan, so even with upgrading my internet service from 250Mbps to 1Gbps and adding DirecTV Now, I cut my bill by around $50 a month.
The new DirecTV Now packages have less freedom and higher prices.
Prices, channels will change without warning
Less than 24 hours after I signed up for DirecTV Now, the price changed. By a lot. My package increased by 25 percent, from $40 a month to $50 a month, and the add-on HBO option rose from $5 to $15. All said, my monthly bill increased by $20 in just 24 hours. Thankfully I知 able to keep the channels in my package, but if I had signed up just a day later, I wouldn稚 have gotten any of the channels I wanted; namely, AMC, Nickelodeon, and Food Network. I知 used to cable changing packages and upping prices, but it痴 shocking that AT&T raised it so much and took away so many vital channels at once.
The guide is really good
I thought the hardest thing for me to give up when I dumped my cable boxes would be the programming guide. I generally spend a lot of time browsing channels to find something to watch, and I feared the streaming TV serviceç—´ user interface and experience would be less than great, leaving me to rely on my own devices. I was wrong. The streaming services I tried out all had excellent guides with large previews, channel icons, and great navigation. I missed such features as the ability to automatically tune to a channel when something starts, which I had with the Comcast user interface, and I kind of prefer the old UI, but overall, I enjoy browsing now just as much as I did with cable.
The DirecTV Guide is surprisingly good.
Channels can take longer to find
The guide might be good for finding random shows, but itç—´ not so great for tuning to a specific channel. I never gave much thought to the order and arrangement of the channels in my cable bundle, but they were logical and smart, with food shows and kids networks lumped together. DirectTV Now, on the other hand, boils networks down to simple alphabetical listings, putting a greater emphasis on favorites and bookmarks. Under the Comcast guide, channels were logically grouped, local stations were near the top, and I could easily type in a number to jump to a channel. Now CBS comes after Cartoon Network. An alphabetical listing seems like a smarter option in theory, but I actually prefer the curated grouped lists.
Quality varies greatly between platforms
With my Comcast boxes, the experience basically depended on the type of TV each box was connected to. Thatç—´ not the case with streaming. The speed and picture quality of the DirecTV Now app on my Apple TV 4K is light years better than it is on my Fire TV Cube. The same goes for my Roku box and my Samsung smart TV. Then thereç—´ simple connectivity issues. Some streams wouldn稚 play HD, others constantly paused, and on some devices I couldn稚 even tune to certain channels. So, depending on the source youæ±*e using to stream, the experience could be good, great, terrible, or somewhere in between, even if theyæ±*e all hooked up to the same television.
directv now playback error
These types of error messages were more common on some platforms than others.
Nickelodeon is a streaming unicorn
When shopping for a streaming service, I expected networks like AMC, HBO, and Disney to cost more. What I didn稚 expect was Nickelodeon to be so hard to find. And with a 7-year-son, it痴 pretty much a must-have. Since Nickelodeon doesn稚 have its own pay service, and its content is locked behind a provider paywall, my options came down to DirecTV Now, Sling TV with the Kids Extra package, or Philo (which was missing local networks and numerous other channels I cared about). And after this week痴 changes, it痴 not even available on DirectTV Now anymore (though thankfully it痴 grandfathered into my package). So if you have a kid who watches any of the Nick channels, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and PlayStation Vue are all out.
Remote controlling isn稚 so good
If thereç—´ one thing you don稚 have to worry about with cable, itç—´ the capability of the remote. Voice search on my Comcast remote was a surprisingly excellent way to find something to watch, and the standard keypad was an easy backup for quickly tuning to a channel. The Apple TV and Fire TV remotes are woefully inadequate, and even my Harmony universal remote doesn稚 quite understand whatç—´ going on inside the DirecTV Now app. Voice control is another issue. While most of the voice assistants will launch streaming apps without trouble, few of them are able to look inside to find stuff. DirectTV Now just recently added Siri search support in the TV app, which is nice, but most of your voice commands will go unheeded, even if youæ±*e using the made-for-cord-cutters Caavo remote."
1 awesome (and not-so-awesome) things I learned while becoming a cord-cutter | TechHive
