Uverse vs. Roku

[nap61]

I am thinking about cutting the cord and dropping my Uverse TV subscription. They keep raising the fees. I am looking at Roku as a replacement. I only watch about 10/12 channels - local news, PBS, Fox News (and Business), Military, Food/Cooking, AMC, TNT, Old movies. I don't have any pay channels.
It seems like if I drop Uverse and get Roku (a one time payment), it would be a lot cheaper, even if I get one or two pay services (Netflix, etc.).
Does anyone in the group use Roku? If so, is it worthwhile? What pay services do you use?

Any pro or con comments welcome.



Norman

 

[Arky217]

I have a Roku; it is the only way to go for me.
Get the Roku 3, the speed and earbuds are definitely
worth the few extra dollars.

(Hint: when you plug in the earbuds, it kills the sound from
the tv speakers. To have both earbud and tv sound, after
plugging in the earbuds, press the volume on the Roku remote
in the following sequence: up,up,down,down,up,up,up,down,down,down.)

I have 6Mb/sec DSL with CenturyLink for $35/month.
It provides my internet service and my Roku streaming.
Absolutely can't stand the number and length of commercials on network tv.
Yes, you will have commercials on the free Roku channels,
but they are nothing like the 2 minute program/5 minute commercials
on cable/satellite, etc tv services.

We watch a lot of Youtube; many of the movies on Youtube are commercial free.
Had Netflix for a while, but after a few months, decided it wasn't worth the price.
Roku has lots of channels to choose from; many are free.
I'd rather have Roku with just the Youtube channel than the highest tier of
any cable/satellite service.

 

[dirt ditch]

We axed Direct TV over a year ago and bought a Roku 3. We use Netflix ($10 a month), Amazon Prime ($10.99 a month + you get free shipping on orders), and my wife watches some shows on Hulu free or CBS All Access ($5.99 a month). They have limited commercials that I won't watch unless it is the local news on CBS All Access. Roku has lots of free channels. Some are good, some are not, most have limited content.

Another thing with the Amazon Prime account is their streaming music service. With our Amazon Tap we listen to streaming music anywhere in the house. No bigger than it is it sounds really good.

 

[ustmd]

We cut the cord about 3 years ago and it was a great decision for us.

Be aware, you will not be able to get any of "Fox News (and Business), Military, Food/Cooking, AMC, TNT" channels with only just a Roku. All of these channels require that you have a cable subscription to view them using only your Roku.

Before we switched completely, we bought the Roku and used it in tandem with Direct TV. After 1 month, we realized there was no reason to have the Direct TV, so we killed it and never looked back.

 

[kcflhrc]

I pay $76 a month for my Direct TV, money well spent if you asked me. Cheap entertainment. ****, I spent $47 Saturday night for 4 people to eat at Jimmy Johns.

 

[TractorGuy]

I didn't know Roku offered channels. I thought it was just an interface for streaming services. I bought one for my daughter before they had a smart TV and they still use it in lieu of the smart TV features. My Visio has a decent interface for Netflix and Amazon but the You Tube app doesn't work for squat. I use a Chromcast for that. Lots of good free entertainment on You Tube. I still enjoy Netflix most of all. We also watch a fair amount of PBS programming over the air.

Won't ever be subscribing to DTV again. That's a long story I won't get into.

 

[dirt ditch]

I didn't know Roku offered channels. I thought it was just an interface for streaming services.

Roku calls them Streaming channels. In our house we just call them channels.

 

[WM75Guy]

I have a Roku mainly for Amazon Prime. We have CenturyLink DSL at 3 Mbps which is not reliable enough to get rid of DirecTV plus we want local channels.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Uverse, owned by AT&T. Doesn't surprise me. They bought DirecTV and now are jacking up prices. I'm about to leave DirecTV for Dish, after about 20 years. Sick of AT&T.

They do nothing in their boardroom but figure out how much to raise prices.

I left their cell phone service for the same reason. Forever rising prices. I went to Republic Wireless and cut my bill in LESS than half. Never looked back. Is it perfect? Close, but not perfect. But about $70 per month more perfect than AT&T.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I pay $76 a month for my Direct TV, money well spent if you asked me. Cheap entertainment. ****, I spent $47 Saturday night for 4 people to eat at Jimmy Johns.

Either you are in your 1st year of a 2 year contract, or you have the bare minimum. I've been continuous user at this location for 13 years and my bill just went up to $126 per month. And I don't have any premium channels.