Anyone replace cable with Amazon Instant/Netflix?

italianbride2be · October 2014

Just wondering if anyone has done this? We already have netflix, but there are definitely shows we watch which I know my husband won't let go of. The Walking Dead, Mad Men, etc... It looks like Amazan Instant video has them available the following day, which is fine, but some shows costs extra. I think the Season Pass for Walking Dead was around $30? Anyways, just wondering if this has helping anyone? Or do all the season passes end up costing just as much?

als1982 · October 2014

We got rid of cable about 5 months ago in lieu of Amazon Fire TV. We only steam what we can get for free through our Prime membership, so we as a rule don't pay for any extra seasons. I think doing so would likely negate any savings. So, far we've both been really happy with the decision. Even H, who spent the last two weeks watching baseball on his phone, was glad we did it. We went from $180 cable and internet bill to $35 a month for internet plus $100 one time for the box, and $100 a year for Amazon Prime. We may eventually add Hulu or Netflix, but to date haven't seen a need.

italianbride2be · October 2014

Thanks! Our contract is almost up with Direct TV, so I am thinking of just trying it out. Amazon offers a free 30 day trial. I think it will all depend on how many of the season passes we felt we needed. I know some shows we watch are going to come to an end soon. Main thing will be to get my husband on board. Even with the season passes, since those are the entire season, I am thinking we may save quite a bit. We don't really go out because my husband works a lot, so I have to find a happy medium.

Xstatic3333 · October 2014

We use Netflix and Hulu Plus. We stream through an Apple TV, and do buy season passes for a few key shows (namely Dr. Who, Parts Unknown, and Mad Men). Even with those purchases we save a ton over cable, especially since we'd need way more than basic to get Dr. Who anyway.

Do it-you'll never look back!

theholmanherd · October 2014

I would say Netflix and Hulu Plus. TWD airs the previous seasons on Netflix once the new season airs. He will just have to be patient. His wanting to keep cable to keep on his shows will cost you an average of $800 extra per year. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I would really stop the cable bill, especially if things are tight (budget-wise) and/or you are paying off debts. If you can afford it easily, have no debts (or just a mortgage), and really want to keep it, go ahead. Otherwise, I would make the switch. DH and I don't regret doing that at all. We haven't had cable in 3 years.

jtmh2012 · October 2014

We dropped cable three years ago. Replaced it with Netflix, an over the air antenna (still get PBS, NBC, ABC, CBS, maybe a few others). and a few other random streaming apps. Haven't missed cable yet.

It helped that all the networks cancelled our favorite shows just before we did this.

lifeonthehill · October 2014

We never got cable after we moved out of our parents and in with each other. After getting the apartment and having the appointment to hook up cable he got his hours cut form 35 a week to 5. We were eating plain bulk pasta with no sauce/ cheese for a few months.

Now we have the money but would rather use it on other things. H watches hockey with his buddies. They rotate houses and H will buy a 6 pack for the one hosting once in awhile as a thanks. We have netflix and hulu+. It works for us and we love having that extra money. .

hoffse · October 2014

I dropped cable a couple years ago and had no issues NOT having it. H missed it because he likes to watch sports now and then. Once he started his job we added cable back. It ended up working out for us because we have a 2-year promotion price. Plus, somehow, our internet is free. Don't ask me how that happened, but I'm not pointing it out to them (literally, our bill says our rate is $0/month). So when all is said and done we are getting cable and internet for about $4/month more than internet plus hulu/netflix cost at our apartment. Even if we start to get charged for internet at some point, H really likes having cable. We haven't changed anything else about our budget since he started his new job a couple months ago, and his new job essentially doubled our income. So I am OK with paying for cable again.

That said, when our promo price is up, we will be shopping around for it again. We don't use it enough to warrant $100/month+ in cable bills.

We are amazon prime members for the shipping. We do use it to stream movies too, but we order enough from Amazon that $100/year for the shipping perks alone is worthwhile to us. Every year I add it up, and it has always paid for itself in terms of the number of orders we have under $35.

brij2006 · October 2014

We bought a Roku and stream Netflix and Hulu Plus for tv shows. Honestly, most shows are on only a few days after they air. We used to watch them on the DVR a few days later anyways. So we aren't really waiting to watch shows.

juliebeannn · October 2014

We got rid of our cable when we started to really buckle down in saving for our down payment. We've been using Apple TV (amazon prime + netflix) and have no complaints. I miss a few shows but I can always stream that online). We plan on switching from Time Warner (the WORST) to Fios when it's available in our area, at which point we might consider getting cable again.

strickland8052 · October 2014

We swapped from Dish to Netflix about 3 months ago. So far, it has been a FANTASTIC decision. However, we didn't have Netflix prior to the swap, so we felt like it was more of a substitute than losing something. We were so excited about gaining Netflix that we hardly noticed losing Dish. We do buy episodes of Walking Dead the day after they come out. We figure $60 a year is cheaper than $120 a month.

I say to go for it! However, if you do decide to drop cable, make sure you are ready to pass up some seemingly good deals from the cable company. Dish offered us a package for $30 a month, which was really tempting. But it ended up that the $30 package was basically just local channels... which is dumb because we get those for free with our antenna box.

vlagrl29 · October 2014

we dropped cable 3 years ago and replaced it with a HD antenna. No regrets.

consciousdear88 · October 2014

Haven't had cable for a few months now. We were on the fence about getting rid of it for a while. Our bill doubling out of nowhere was the last straw.

We argued with the cable company about just wanting Internet since we do a lot of streaming. In the end, it wound up being cheaper for us to go with the plan that we did instead of just Internet. We get the internet, basic channels like NBC and Fox, and we also get all of the HBO channels. I think that wound up being at least $20 cheaper than just internet.

We use Netflix, Hulu and Amazon's video service. There are a few shows that we have bought season passes for because of the availability of episodes.

The only time it gets weird is with some newer programs that may not be available quite yet. Or in cases where my parents forget and start asking us about shows that we technically can't view. Otherwise, we regret nothing.

CuriousKiddosMama · October 2014

We dropped cable when we moved and haven't signed back up. We are just streaming and have an hd antenna. But we are finding that the TV is barely in so we aren't missing much. We get maybe an hour of TV each night after LO is in bed, and often time we are doing other stuff instead.

Anyone replace cable with Amazon Instant/Netflix?

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