Sling TV

[Applewood]

Don't know if this is the right place for this, but...

I'm always whining abut my cable bill, so a friend suggested Sling TV.   I looked at the website -- $25 for the package I'm interested in.  And I have the option of adding other channels for not much more. Overall, the cost would be a fraction of what I'm paying for cable now. 

I've read CNET and customer reviews.  Seems the major complaint is that you can't watch TV on more than one device. I can live with that.  But what I can't find is:  how is the streaming quality?    Is it the same as cable?  Does the stream get interrupted by bad weather as satellite might?  Is the picture quality good or does it scramble or shut down often? 

And how are customer service and support?  If something goes wrong or I have questions, is there someone with a knowledge of English and patience with the tech-challenged who could help me?

I'm asking that anyone who has or has had Sling TV give me your feedback. Is this service any  good?  Any pitfalls I should be aware of? 

Thank you in advance,  Friends.

[Sanguine]

I don't know, but I'm interested in the answers.

[Victoria33]

Me, too.

[roamer_1]

@Applewood

Find a used Windows 7 machine with reasonable to average power, a blue-Ray DVD (for playing rentals), and HDMI (so it will plug directly into a modern TV)... You need it to talk to your router, which may mean buying a wired or wireless network card, and you'll probably need a wireless keyboard with a glide pad too (wallyworld, $30). All of that is really possible under the $150 mark.

I've got $25 in my used machine, $15 in wireless NIC, $30 in wireless KB, and I went on to change the OS from 32bit Vista to Win7/64 (because I got a Win7 key off of another junked box I ran into for parts)... This is an exceedingly cheap thing to do if you can lay in the weeds and find what you need.

Plug it into the tv, get it talking to the router, and just take a month or so learning streaming and where to find what you want to watch.

I don't pay for TV content, don't have to put with commercials, and can watch anything you can ask for, to include latest series episodes and the latest movies. It's all out there. Worry about paying for services if you wind up unsatisfied... but take the time to look, and to inquire.

I ditched cable better than a year and a half ago, and I wouldn't go back if they paid me to.

[roamer_1]

@Applewood

Note: What I mean is just plug in a box and give yourself time to acclimatize... I was both streaming free AND paying for cable TV for something between 3 and 6 months... Soon enough I was streaming more than I was watching the cable, and was able to cut the cord without a single regret.

And the tv computer in the living room is now serving as a full service media machine, wired through my stereo amp to take advantage of the speakers for paying streaming music from youtube or my music library, which is kept on that machine, and streamed to other devices in the house. This has become every bit as important as the tv aspect.

[truth_seeker]

Re. SlingTV and cable cutting in general:

We just finshed cable cutting. Told Frontier to turn off four set top boxes and all GTV services, completely. Retained only high speed internet.

I have used a Roku and Netflix for a few years. Lately we have two more sets with Roku, Netflix, Amazon Prime.

I prepaid three months for SlingTV and got a Roku 3 device for free. The idea of having Sling was to sort of replace networks like cbs, nbc, abc, etc. which my wife likes, ordinary old brain dead television.

We also got an antenna and put it on the roof, connected to 3 sets. By putting it high, we get dozens of channels--We are in the Lost Angeles metro.

So if you plan on having antenna TV (OTA for over the air) Sling might duplicate OTA channels.

I discovered that YouTube has a large amount of programming-documentaries etc.

So if SlingTV would be your primary source for variety, I think it is worth $25. If you could get a free Roku and try it for 3 months that would be ideal IMO.

Finally finally, while my wife waited until the end, to even consider adapting to streaming life, my daughter got on Sling and found lots that appeals to her. Sling has HGTV and Food for my wife too.

I am happy to reduce the bill by about $100 for the cable TV. 

[240B]

Hulu is my goto channel because they have so many of the last generation TV shows which I love. Alfred Hitchcock, Outer Limits, all of the various Star Trek series, some Discovery and History channel stuff, and more.

If you have Hulu, Netflix, and Sling, you have just about everything for half of what you pay for cable. I can stream Fox for free.

There are a few hold-out alphabet channels which make you pay them directly for streaming, but I can do without them. Bottom line is, it's a lot cheaper to buy stuff that you actually watch 'a la carte', than to pay for 1500 channels which you have never even heard of.

[Axeslinger]

I had slingtv for about a year and moved to PlayStation Vue about 6months ago.  I prefer the PSVue interface.  Quality is about the same although slingtv will pixelate more when it buffers as opposed to PSVue will merely pause when it buffers.   Which brings me to the most important  comment I will make:  you must have very good internet service...Must.Have!!!  Then it won't buffer!  :)

If you do, you will kick yourself fo not doing it sooner!  The image quality is great and wow you can't beat the price!!!

[kevindavis007]

I happen to have SlingTv and I love it. It is worth the $25 per month that I pay and I don't miss DirecTv


I have a Amazon Fire TV, with Hulu and Amazon Prime as my backup.

[goodwithagun]

If you have good Internet service get a Firestick and jailbreak it. It's really easy, just look it up on YouTube. We're not cutting any services until we get through football season with it. If it goes well, bye bye DirecTV!

[kevindavis007]

If you have good Internet service get a Firestick and jailbreak it. It's really easy, just look it up on YouTube. We're not cutting any services until we get through football season with it. If it goes well, bye bye DirecTV!

I had the NFL Sunday ticket and I didn't like it. Well mainly cause the crap games was on at 3 while the good games was on at 12.  Now the NFL is in talks to have the games stream either on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, or someplace else.

[kevindavis007]

One more thing, if you do Jailbreak a Amazon Firestick, be careful with the ISP. They are cracking down on illegal behavior.

[goodwithagun]

Thanks for the heads Up! How would I do that?

[kevindavis007]

Thanks for the heads Up! How would I do that?

I think there is a Free VPN somewhere around.  I think that Amazon has a VPN app.

[Applewood]

Thank you all for your input, advice and suggestions.

To correct my earlier statement, Sling TV can be viewed on more than one device.   I signed up for the free 7 day trial and installed the app on my phone and tablet.  If all goes well, I will take steps to install Sling on my tv. 

Haven't had the buffering problem yet, but I'm sure I will.  I have Wi-Fi through the cable company (in addition to cable tv) and the Wi-Fi sometimes fades out.  If I do decide to install Sling TV on my tv, I will look for better Wi-Fi and get rid of both cable products.

So again, thank you all for helping a tech-challenged old lady with this matter.

[kevindavis007]

Thank you all for your input, advice and suggestions.

To correct my earlier statement, Sling TV can be viewed on more than one device.   I signed up for the free 7 day trial and installed the app on my phone and tablet.  If all goes well, I will take steps to install Sling on my tv. 

Haven't had the buffering problem yet, but I'm sure I will.  I have Wi-Fi through the cable company (in addition to cable tv) and the Wi-Fi sometimes fades out.  If I do decide to install Sling TV on my tv, I will look for better Wi-Fi and get rid of both cable products.

So again, thank you all for helping a tech-challenged old lady with this matter.

Good choice... Which streaming device do you have?