Canning Cable from Three Directions

[michael.warren]

This is the last year I will pay a cable bill. I won't waste anyone's time complaining about my current service here. I've got a multi-source approach to try to do what cable did, and I need a little help from space on this last one.

So I've loked at what my family uses cable for and the possible substitutes. We watch movies, tv shows, local news, and national news.
- Movies and Tv shows are avaliable through netflix and Hulu (the ones we would watch anyway). So, why not put a Roku on each TV? Easy enough, $8/month + equipment I choose
- Local news: our local tv station is free OTA in an arguably better quality than our paid cable service. DTV antenna + DTV tuner + ChannelVision RF Modulator = local news on all tvs in my house. Cool, $0/month + equipment I choose.
- National News: This is the tricky one. I've spent hours on google and lyngsat trying to find a way to get cable news for free (sounds kinda funny right?). I know BBC, CNN, and FNC are FTA in some parts of the globe on C and K[SUB]u[/SUB] bands. I've looked on about a hundred lists, anywhere from 6 years to 6 minutes old, and nothing's conclusive. Can I get something for nothing on the east coast? What can I expect before I start spending money on satellite equipment? Sat Dish + Sat tuner for each channel + ChannelVision RF Modulators = ?

 

[Pixl]

Mike,

Welcome to Sat Guys.
FTA cannot replace cable service. Many of us, like myself sub to cable or a sat provider. This is mainly a hobby that sometimes you can sit down and watch something. If you insist on dumping cable, FTA can supplement off the air local channels. But usually if someone other than the hobbyist wants to use it, they find it a hassle.
I'd say get a dish and a receiver, see what you can get, come in here and ask a lot of questions we will get you going.

 

[FaT Air]

BBC, CNN, and FNC are FTA in some parts of the globe on C and Ku bands

But not here. DW, AJE, RT and a few more are available. NewsNOW was up until recently. Sometimes one of the domestic outlets will appear, and disappear some time later. A week, month, day or hour. A great % of the available 24/7 content is on C band which requires a minimum of a 6 ft dish. With 8 to 10 recommended. Ku band dish size that's recommended is 36 inch, or larger.
Take a look at TheList! (link on the top of page). Another good resource is at global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html

What can I expect before I start spending money on satellite equipment?

Time, researching what FTA satellite is, and how it may fill some of your needs.

I'd say get a dish and a receiver, see what you can get, come in here and ask a lot of questions we will get you going.

Sounds like a good way to do 'hands on' 'research'. It's definitely a DIY hobby.

 

[KE4EST]

to SatelliteGuys Michael.

 

[oceansatellite]

Mike,

Welcome to Sat Guys.
FTA cannot replace cable service. Many of us, like myself sub to cable or a sat provider. This is mainly a hobby that sometimes you can sit down and watch something. If you insist on dumping cable, FTA can supplement off the air local channels. But usually if someone other than the hobbyist wants to use it, they find it a hassle.
I'd say get a dish and a receiver, see what you can get, come in here and ask a lot of questions we will get you going.

CNN was up untill recently. Now on both 87w and anik, 118.8 it's gone. With a ku dish, u can get pbs on both 87w and 125w.

72w, offers msnbc quite as bit as well as cnbc as "feeds" meaning the programming is up quite a but, but not all the time.

If your in the northeast, it looks like msnbc is up in the clear full time on telstar 12.

My suggestion to you, is try experimenting, see if it fits your needs. If it were me alone, i would never need cable, but for the wife and kids, they would not tolerate it for two seconds.

 

[empiretc]

- National News: This is the tricky one. I've spent hours on google and lyngsat trying to find a way to get cable news for free (sounds kinda funny right?). I know BBC, CNN, and FNC are FTA in some parts of the globe on C and K[SUB]u[/SUB] bands. I've looked on about a hundred lists, anywhere from 6 years to 6 minutes old, and nothing's conclusive.

FNC has a roku channel.

Fox News on Roku | Roku Guide

 

[Kraven]

I've done it and do not regret it one bit! Bill on average was 180$ (tv, phone and internet). I switched to VOIP for 3$ a month, canceled cable TV and now use OTA, FTA, Hulu and Netflix (now billed at 65$/month). I keep 20$ a side each month for VOD (premium shows not available). One Tv has Roku, the others a PS3 and Xbox so media wise am convered everywhere. Plus if am jonesing for some hockey, NHLCI is available on PS3 for 20$ a month during the season.

Irony though is now I have more to watch then before.

Cheers, K

 

[Pepper]

You guys who dumped cable, what are you using for high speed Internet to pull down all that streaming stuff and your VoIP phone service?

My only other choice is a blazing 1.5Mbps DSL.

 

[rv1pop]

Pepper, when I have 0.800 Mb, I can do most streaming and keep the VOIP both up. as soon as it drops below that I start loosing streaming and below 0.5 I loose streaming and by 0.2 I have lost internet page loading and then VOIP goes. If I could get 1.5Mb dsl for under $50. I probably would go for it.

 

[wallyhts]

Pepper, when I have 0.800 Mb, I can do most streaming and keep the VOIP both up. as soon as it drops below that I start loosing streaming and below 0.5 I loose streaming and by 0.2 I have lost internet page loading and then VOIP goes. If I could get 1.5Mb dsl for under $50. I probably would go for it.

Who's your ISP?

 

[cyberham]

I like my news from many sources. Assuming you won't have C-band like me, it's a little tough using only Ku-band. This is why I keep my Shaw Direct Basic satellite which gives me all major networks in HD. On Ku, you cannot count on CNN being there. You also cannot regularly get the major networks on Ku, generally speaking. I receive MSNBC on Telstar 12 at 15W continuously. I also like Al Jazeera, Russia Today, Jewish News, and CNC World all on Galaxy 19 at 97W. CCTV News and CCTV Documentary are on Galaxy 3C at 95W. All of the previous are English language news stations and are full-time on Ku. PBS national news is available via LPB on SES 2 at 87W and on AMC 21 at 125W. BBC News has a 30-minute program on PBS every night.

 

[rv1pop]

Gorgenet in The Dalles, OR. Motorolla Canopy microwave (900MHZ) link.

The advertisement is 1.5 Mbps but I am so far out they can not put me on a better link.

 

[wallyhts]

Gorgenet in The Dalles, OR. Motorolla Canopy microwave (900MHZ) link.

The advertisement is 1.5 Mbps but I am so far out they can not put me on a better link.

So they have you on the 900mhz nlos system. Do you have woods all around? Perhaps call them and ask for 2.4 or 5.8 system which provide much better speed. The 900mhz range has the worst noise floor of any free all spectrum.

 

[rv1pop]

They have spent about 4 hours out here and I am just too far away from the tower to get the better units to work. They say they can not use a parabolic dish with their antennas.

 

[jaray]

It it's Moto Canopy 900Mhz, then its for a reason. Also, the 900 MHz radios do 4 Meg's max. They absolutely can use reflectors on Canopy they likely just choose not to.
But, a reflector isn't going to help you get onto a 5.8 AP. Trees in the way, and any distance then there's no other option.

 

[rv1pop]

No trees. (wish we had some) but it is about 10 miles. I have very strong signal, but the circuit is out of bandwidth -- overloaded!

 

[Cham]

I am using the Canopy as well to access the nearest ISP. Get a solid 800kb/s early morning but drops out badly as bandwidth gets used... My ISP has oversold their system likely by 2X or more and during evenings it even gets intermittent. Signal is good using a 4' 900MHz yagi, tower site is about 8 miles away. This service costs over $100/month.
Even tried a 4G modem thing from the local cell company... it was slower than the dial-up we used to have. Rural residents are 3rd class citizens when it comes to bandwidth!

 

[PopcornNMore]

I thought about doing this too, but having a family makes it difficult. We subscribe to Dish's Welcome Package for under $20 a month which provides the programming my wife and daughter enjoy. Plus the receiver and recording programming is easier for them as well. We then have OTA and FTA satellite and Netflix for additional programming.

 

[michael.warren]

Thank you much for the intel guys! I'll keep searching the internet (and soon the skies ) to see what I can find. I'll play around with the Roku too, empiretc. It's clear that FTA cable news networks don't hang around for long. But, $76 a month for mediocre cable service doesn't cut it for me, so maybe I can learn live with this experiment.

 

[michael.warren]

empiretec- I read more about the Fox News Live channel for roku. It streams different programming independent from FNC or Fox business. Darn.