If you are new to the idea of ditching cable and ready to take the plunge into this cord free path to your favorite television viewing, there are a few things you need to know. The first topic to cover is about the hardware you need to make it possible to cut the cable cord.  

It really is pretty simple. You need a screen, an antenna, a streaming device and good internet. Each one of those warrant a larger discussion, though, and it can be overwhelming to choose from the many streaming TV services, for example. Let’s break it down and dive into the details in a way that makes it really simple.

Hardware Basics Beyond Streaming TV Services. What hardware do I need?

The first question with how to cut the cable cord often is: What hardware do I need?  The actual hardware is quite simple. The reason for the overwhelm is that there is more to it than just some basic hardware.

First, you will need a screen for viewing such a TV or a computer. You can use your existing TV or you can choose a Smart TV that incorporates a streaming device into your screen. Some streaming devices are easy to connect and disconnect allowing you to bounce back and forth between your TV and computer.

Do I need an antenna?

To watch free local channels over the air, you will want an antenna and digital tuner. Disable My Cable provides a good overview of the best antennas and how to choose. Along with an antenna, an amplifier may be needed for long distances or multiple TVs in a single house.

Some cord cutters will also want a good DVR to record live TV, although this is not required.  One recommendation is to take it one step at a time and add features or devices as you go. In which case, a DVR is an easy add-on later.

There are other options besides cable, but to stream content, you’ll need a streaming device to use with one of the many streaming TV services.  Devices can include one of the following:

1. Smart TV
2. Chromecast with Google TV
3. Amazon Fire TV
4. Apple TV
5. Roku TV

Don’t sleep on the smart TV. Back in the wild west of cable cutting, we were limited by what HDMI stick (like Chromecast) would get us all the services we wanted. But nowadays, smart TVs will do almost everything you need all by themselves.

The final piece of hardware needed has to do with your home internet.  You will want to be sure you  have a good router and speedy internet to handle your streaming tv services.  

Also Required: Streaming TV Services

When it comes to streaming TV services, there are several to choose from and it can be a daunting decision.  To simplify the overwhelm, think about what you watch the most.  Are you a movie buff or do you need access to the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy?  Maybe you are a huge NFL fan and you can’t do without watching Monday Night Football. Or perhaps local, live news is your priority so you’re always up-to-date on current events.

Here’s a helpful breakout table of streaming TV services to help you choose which is right for you as you learn how to cut the cord:

Key Factors to Consider for Cord Cutting

A few key factors to keep in mind. The purpose of moving to streaming TV services is to save money each month by cutting your cable bill.  Most of these services combined can really add up. Be sure you’re considering the monthly fee as well as the one time price to buy any hardware that’s needed. 

While you need a screen, an antenna, a streaming device and good internet, you might also consider some of the below that will combine services and/or devices to do more than one thing at once.

YouTubeTV provides access to cable channels, DVR, and local channels, which means no antenna is needed. RokuTV is both a streaming service and streaming device, so you can use your existing TV with older technology or even your computer. Smart TVs will allso you to connect to a streaming service and add apps as new ones become available.  You might remember when HBO acquired Cinemax and became HBOMax, which meant a new app was needed.

Hardware to Cut the Cable Cord is Only Part of the Equation.

While there is much to consider on this topic, just remember there are other options besides cable and Sail Internet is here to help you cut costs without sacrificing speed.

Check our other articles on cord-cutting as you wade through streaming options and hardware that’s needed, be sure to consider internet speed for cord cutting, as well.

You may have heard of this fast-growing trend to “cut the cord” on high-cost cable TV and satellite TV options.  Are you ready to join us in the cable-free future of streaming news, sports, and all your favorite shows?  Don’t worry.  We aren’t talking about giving up live television altogether. 

Let’s walk through what you need to know to cut the cable cord and still maintain access to your local TV.  Watching live TV doesn’t have to be a thing of the past and you have options beyond streaming only past seasons.  All you need is an internet connection, some basic hardware, and streaming TV services. 

How do I keep live television service?

Replacing Live TV when you cut the cable cord can be the first difficult challenge to address. You don’t have to rely solely on pre-recorded or previous seasons to access your favorite weeknight sitcom or local news.

Watching your favorite shows as they air means you won’t be risking spoilers every time you venture onto social media. Catching up on live news keeps you up-to-date on current events and weather in your area. You don’t have to miss your favorite holiday parade when you maintain access to local television stations.  

These are all valid reasons to hang onto that live service, and fortunately, you have options. You can tap into your old existing cable lines to connect to over the air local channels or utilize cord cutting streaming services to access local channels without cable or satellite television.

How do I stream my favorite television seasons – past and present?

Cord cutter streaming services have come a long way. Not only do we have solutions for live TV shows now, but you can stream on-demand both current and previous seasons through various streaming TV services.  The following on-demand platforms have you covered to stream all of your favorite TV seasons.

Hulu was one of the first to provide current streaming TV services.  They continue to carry past and present seasons from various networks including exclusive Hulu series.

YouTube TV is the closest replacement to cable TV.  They provide programming from 85+ channels. 

When you’re looking for other options besides cable, almost every major network provides an app to stream their programming.  

Peacock is NBC’s streaming service that has a number of options for movies and television series as well as some news and sports channels, too. Peacock has free and paid subscriptions services.

Paramount + does the same for CBS programming, which includes BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.  Paramount Plus also provides access to NFL sports.  

ABC provides access to streaming live and on demand programming for every mobile OS and streaming box through their apps.

​​FOX NOW and FOX Sports are apps that provide access to Fox programming for TV, movies, and sports – both live and on demand.

What hardware do I need?

There are various solutions for live streaming TV, but also very basic options that are quite affordable. Free, over-the-air television channels can be accessed with an inexpensive indoor antenna that will attach to most TVs. With this simple hardware, you still have the tv options besides cable to watch your favorite live TV in the moment.

Most local stations don’t have their own app capable of live streaming their broadcast, but YouTube TV has a huge selection of local providers. On that link, you’ll see a space to add a zip code so that YouTube can show you all the local channels available to you through their service. 

Plenty of options to cut the cable cord and still keep your local TV

As you can see, streaming TV services options are vast and wide. We now have a slew of options to stream everything you could possibly want as well as the guidance on how to cut the cable cord. If you need more information, check out CNET, Decider, Tom’s Guide, and Digital Trends for their advice on how to reach your own cable free nirvana. Lastly, while you only need minimal hardware and an internet connection for all your streaming needs, internet speed for cord cutting matters. 

How much bandwidth do I need?

You might be surprised to learn that you don’t need gigabit speeds to stream all the media you want. Usually, 10 devices could stream comfortably on 100 Mbps.

After looking at our $111 Pay TV bill for the past few months, I finally became disgusted enough to unleash myself from our mid-tier TV bundle (two TV’s, a DVR and no premium channels). The most irritating part for me is that we only watched a handful of the 200+ channels in the package, but my service provider only offered the channels that I wanted as part of a bundled package.

Possibly I could have called and complained to get a promotional discount for some period of time, but I didn’t want to play that game anymore. We’ve been a continuous customer of our current service provider at the same address for 20 years. But in the current world of Pay TV, the longest-term and most loyal customers get the worst deal!

Even before cancelling the Pay TV package, the rest of my family had shifted towards the convenience of streaming. Aside for a few sports broadcasts (mostly from the main networks), I was the only family member to even wade through the complicated program guide and DVR programming menus, and the dizzying array of unwanted cable channels.

Streaming Video

By the time I finally cancelled our Pay TV bundle, we were already watching Netflix on our Samsung Smart TV, and watching “free” Amazon Prime Video (free to existing Amazon Prime customers) using the Amazon Fire TV Stick. We were also paying for a significant amount of on-demand video content from my TV provider’s set top box. Now without my Pay TV package and set top box, I needed to add extra streaming services and find a fully featured streaming video device. 

The Samsung Smart TV’s streaming feature was a good place to start for my family, but the user interface is a bit clunky and the streaming options are fairly limited. When we purchased the Fire TV Stick, we were looking for the cheapest way to watch the free Amazon Prime Video content. It’s a feature upgrade compared to the built-in streaming functions on the Samsung TV, and a bargain for what we are getting. But in retrospect, maybe we should have purchased the fully featured Amazon Fire TV. The Fire TV Stick does not have built-in voice search and doesn’t support wired Ethernet connections (only Wi-Fi). 

But more importantly, the Fire TV Stick appears to have trouble streaming action sports. TV shows and movies seem fine, but full-field sports viewing during action plays is jittery and painful to watch. I’ve confirmed a “Very Good” Wi-Fi signal, so I doubt this issue is Wi-Fi related. The Amazon Fire TV Stick must not have enough processing power to deal with simultaneous fast motion by many small objects (balls, players, referees, etc.)? I confirmed this with multiple streaming apps on the Fire TV Stick, and compared head-to-head against another streaming device (more on that later). Possibly the fully featured Fire TV performs better? I hope so. The Fire TV Stick is also very Amazon-centric, which is not ideal for my Apple-centric family. But overall, the Fire TV Stick is a great low-cost way to stream the free Amazon Prime Video.

But before picking a fully featured streaming device, I first needed to focus on the streaming services. At the end of the day, the video content is the first priority. Check out our Sail Internet Cord Cutter’s Guide to Streaming Video Services and Devices.

Step 1: Pick Your Streaming Video Services

First, I subscribed to Hulu for $7.99 per month and continued our Netflix subscription. Hulu is a good value. I can access much of the content that I previously watched with my Pay TV package for a fraction of the cost, although with some delay – usually one day. I started with a 2-week free trial. And if I pay a little more, I can watch without any commercials. For now, I’m fine with a few ads. I find the Hulu ads to be less irritating that the ads on broadcast TV. 

For some reason, CBS is not part of the Hulu package and CBS instead has its own $6.99 per month streaming service. I can’t justify the additional cost, especially since CBS blocks streaming for most of the live sports and does not allow on-demand streaming of sports or special events like the Grammy’s. So for now, no streaming of CBS at my house. But CBS is still available for free over-the-air! More on that later….

Hulu is fantastic. But it doesn’t provide access to any sports, which is what caused me to investigate the Sling TV streaming service from Dish. Sling TV provides live streaming access to ESPN, along with live streaming of some additional cable channels that I’m unlikely to watch. Sling TV is pricey at $20/month, but it’s the only way that I’ve found for a cord cutter to watch ESPN. I would gladly pay $5 to $10/month for ESPN alone, but that is not currently an option. The bundle lives on, at least for now!

Step 2: Pick Your Streaming Device 

With a clear understanding of my preferred streaming video services, it was time to choose a fully featured streaming media device. Given the problems I identified with the Amazon Fire TV Stick, it became clear that I wanted a fully featured streaming device with sufficient processing horsepower for live sports, a voice-controlled user interface and other features like a wired Ethernet interface (instead of only Wi-Fi).

There are a number of good streaming devices on the market, for example devices from Roku, Amazon and TiVo. But in my case, the new 4th generation Apple TV made the most sense. It’s a complete redesign of the Apple TV product line and somewhat of a premium product at $149, but like most Apple products it’s easy-to-use and fully featured. The streaming video quality is excellent, and the voice controlled remote control is fantastic. No trouble streaming live sports.

Given my family’s already heavy use of Apple products, the new Apple TV was a natural fit for us. it is well-integrated with other Apple products, such as iPhone, iPad and MacBook using AirPlay, and uses iTunes for on-demand video content and has an App store. The Apple TV is a nice complement to the Apple product line.

The 4th generation Apple TV already supports Hulu, Netflix, ESPN Now and a growing list of streaming apps. Given Apple’s strong position with apps for iPhone and iPad, I suspect Apple TV will eventually offer a very rich set of streaming apps and possibly their own video service. Sling TV does not yet support the new Apple TV device, but Sling customers can use the Apple TV’s ESPN app (authenticated with a Sling TV account). The video quality for live sports is excellent. And in the interim, we can still use the Amazon Fire TV Stick in case we want to stream any of the other channels offered by Sling TV.

Summary

Using Sling TV and Hulu is saving $83/month as compared to my previous Pay TV package. We still have Netflix, so this doesn’t change the cost equation. And I know that free over-the-air broadcast HDTV is still an option for some live local sports. This leaves some spare $$ for occasional on-demand purchases (which we were already doing!) and lots of overall savings.

I am using two streaming media devices: the low-end Amazon Fire TV Stick to stream the free Amazon Prime content, and the 4th generation Apple TV for everything else. In total, I’ve spent less than $200 on streaming media devices. So the payback period is relatively short compared to my $83/month savings.

Frankly, I prefer the freedom of streaming. Even if there were no cost savings, I am happy to divorce myself from my complicated Pay TV package with a DVR and hundreds of channels that I will never watch.