Cutting the Cable TV Cord - Part 1

Since it's been a year without a cable contract, so Comcast raised by Triple-Play bill to $240 per month. Ouch! So I decided to cut the cable cord, go cold turkey and figure out the technical details later, if I want to watch TV.

STEP 1:  Replace Land Line

First step is to keep my home phone "land line" & phone number.  My wife doesn't have a cell phone, she's a self professed Luddite, and she doesn't want one.  There are many services out there like Ooma, Vonage, Magic Jack, etc that let you run your home phone over the Internet.  It's called VOIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol.  They all work about the same and you can keep your home number, thanks to the FCC and "number portability."

I chose 1-VOIP, they have been in business for quite some time, not as consumer based as Vonage, Oooma or Magic Jack, and they don't spend money to advertise on TV.  It will cost $8.97month, no upfront, no contract, plug-and-play. NOMOROBO is included on servers so there is no need for my own NOMOROBO account.  An easy web site to control my phone, block numbers, simultaneous ring, voice mail etc.

They use the Cisco SPA2102 Phone Adapter which is standard equipment.  So, I bought one on ebay, but it didn't work because these devices are usually "locked" to a certain carrier and cannot be "unlocked!" DON'T BUY a used SPA2102!  I got my money back and told 1-VOIP to ship me one of theirs (no charge but I have to give it back if I cancel the service).

Cisco SPA2102

 When it arrived, I hooked it up, and plugged my home phone into the jack, it's plug and play.  That means that my Comcast land Line would ring nowhere!  To solve this, I used the Comcast "simultaneous ring" feature, so that if you call my Comcast phone number, it will simultaneously ring my 1-VOIP number and thus my home phone. After a few weeks, I will tell 1-VOIP to "port" my Comcast phone number to 1-VOIP.  It's working great after 1 week so far.

STEP 2: How to Watch TV

Most people say "just put up and antenna" and you will get 20-30 stations.  Normally that would be the case, but everyone in our area has had limited success with antennas.  I got 5 stations and three are in Spanish!  This is not a solution. Maybe a better antenna would work better.-+

Previously, we have been using a laptop connected to the TV via HDMI cable to watch TV series using HDTVSHOWS.NET.   This service has almost all of the TV shows available, but it costs 3 credits to watch a show.  You prime your account with credits using paypal and use the credits each time you watch a show.  Typically it's 3 credits per show or about 30 cents.  I usually buy 120 credits for $12 or 10 cents per credit.  You get a bigger discount if you buy a larger block of credits.  Been using this service for over a year.  Could still use this to watch TV, but no movies.

I think the Amazon Fire Box might be next.