I Switched to Internet-Only TV; Here’s What It’s Like

I Switched to Internet-Only TV; Here’s What It’s Like


The Cons:

 

1. Savings May Not Be That Great, Depending Where You Live

 

Although I have substantial savings with internet TV,  this is not the case for everyone. When discussing the service with a friend, he calculated that he actually wouldn’t have any significant savings were he to cut the cord. The reason for this is that he lives in an area where he has the option to choose service from multiple providers, and this keeps his monthly bills competitive.

2. You Need Robust Wi-Fi

 

I can’t stress this enough–to take advantage of streamed TV, you need a good, fairly new router.

If you have an old router from 10 years ago, you will have to upgrade to one that’s dual-band–offering a 2.4 GHz and  5GHz wireless network–made within, at least, the last five years. Connect any device used for internet TV–Roku, Amazon Fire, PlayStation Vue, and so forth–to the 5 GHz Wi-Fi, for a broader signal able to handle the rigors of streamed video better.

3. Your Favorite Shows on Cable May Not Be Available for Live-Stream or in Their Entirety

 

I was kind of bummed by the fact that, although my service did come with MSNBC, I was unable to live-stream any of the network’s shows. In fact, I can’t even watch the actual network broadcast lineup in its entirety. I can watch most of The Rachel Maddow Show in clips on Roku, the day after its original broadcast. NBC News and CBS News also works similarly. However, the networks are increasingly catering to their digital audience by offering extra content that isn’t broadcast on the networks.

4. You Have to Hunt Through a Lot of Screens to Find Content

 

You have to search through quite a few screens and categories to find the content you want–at least with Hulu and Roku. This may take some getting used to, for someone who is just used to scrolling through a guide on-screen.

5. No Internet, No TV

 

Of course, the biggest con: If your internet goes down–so does your TV!


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