Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Cord Cutting  (Read 1352 times)

Offline MDixon

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2313
Cord Cutting
« on: July 15, 2019, 08:03:54 pm »
A very long time ago I looked for a means to give up our television service and only use the internet. I was hoping we could go a la carte and only pay for the channels we wanted to see. Recently our TV/Phone/Internet bill crept up to an intolerable level so we pulled the trigger and left our cable (dsl tv actually) bill in the past. Before we cut it we had to find some suitable replacements which hopefully someone else will find useful.

I was alerted by a friend to an IPTV service, TPK, which is $8 per month per connection. It is recommended to use it with a VPN so I chose ExpressVPN due to it not appearing to cause issues with the internet speeds. Both run on a FireStick (which is currently on sale during Prime Days). The IPTV can be setup on as many devices as desired, but only one connection can happen at a time. ExpressVPN can have three connections a time. I found ExpressVPN caused issues with the Prime content so I used Split Tunneling to only have the VPN active with the IPTV app. TPK has 4,000 or so channels.

There are some shows my wife appreciates and she likes to be able to access them on demand and to record. For that reason we selected Sling Blue with DVD for $30 per month. In reality we don't need it, more on that in a minute.

Shortly after cutting the cord I found a free app called BeeTV. It acts as a clearinghouse for streaming content and can find almost any movie or show in a great format. You select the episode of a show or movie you want to see and then select from a list of available streams. If one buffers too much simply selected another. It is recommended to use this app with a VPN.

From time to time TPK goes down or certain channels do. For that reason I selected another IPTV I happened upon, SFU, to use as backup. It is very similar to TPK, but has 8,000 channels. It costs $7 per month for two streams. I selected an entire year for $50. Also suggested to use with a VPN.

Had I known what was available out there or those with a high speed internet connections, we would have cut the cord long ago. I suspect the IPTV come and go with some regularity so it may pay to stay up to date on new IPTV services. The only downside is you cannot record live TV or rewind, you can pause it. If it is a TV show on almost any network you can typically locate it on BeeTV and watch it later.

It's not a popularity contest, it's beer!

Offline chezteth

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 608
Re: Cord Cutting
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2019, 05:15:33 am »
My wife and I didn't usually have cable. It's only within the last few years that we started streaming. Very interesting to hear about IPTV. Do you have to live in a certain location to get IPTV? Or, is it a service just like Hulu that you can get anywhere?
  We have Hulu, Amazon Prime and Netflix. We like the ability to watch whatever we want, whenever we want. I know there are other free services out there that allow you to watch movies and shows. Although, the free ones typically have a limited selection of content.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk


Offline MDixon

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2313
Re: Cord Cutting
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2019, 06:05:55 am »
IPTV can be accessed anywhere provided the ISP doesn't block it which is part of the reason for the VPN. Currently the FireStick is the best method for viewing IPTV and it requires you to install some apps which are not part of the FireStick store, but it is simple. Some call that jailbreaking the stick, but in reality it is just downloading an app from another website and installing it on the stick. Pretty much I can view anything now.
It's not a popularity contest, it's beer!

Offline MDixon

  • Brewmaster General
  • *******
  • Posts: 2313
Re: Cord Cutting
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2019, 06:07:36 am »
PS: It ends today, but a 4K Stick is only $25 for Prime members and comes with a Sling credit.
https://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-Stick-4K-with-Alexa-Voice-Remote/dp/B079QHML21
It's not a popularity contest, it's beer!