Is It Possible to Cut the Cord on Internet Too? Cutting yourself loose from a pay-TV contract can save you big, but most cord cutters are forced to crawl back to the cable company for standalone internet service. And in many cases, it can be pretty expensive. As we’ve discussed before, there are some things you can do to bring down the cost. But the fact is that you still need internet, and it’s going to cost you. Being confronted by this fact, many potential cord cutters email me asking if they really need broadband internet, or if they can just use their data plan from their wireless provider. After all, you can set your iPhone up as a wireless hotspot. Isn’t that enough? It depends. Let’s take a closer look. You Don’t Need Broadband to Use an Antenna

One segment of cord cutters is perfectly fine just to watch over-the-air (OTA) television. After all, a majority of the most-watched shows on television come on free broadcast stations. Assuming you have a good antenna and decent location, you can get all sorts of channels, including the big networks like ABC , along with a zillion smaller stations. However, if you want to use a DVR like the Tablo to record OTA TV, the internet from your cellphone company probably isn’t going to cut it. “While Tablo primarily relies on your internal home Wi-Fi network for streaming content, Tablo does require a consistent connection to the external internet to download guide data and periodic firmware updates. This makes an intermittent 3 or 4G connection a less than ideal situation,” said Grant Hall, CEO of Nuvyyo, the makers of Tablo. “While it may be satisfying to completely sever ties with a service provider, the majority of our customers retain high speed internet access which enables them to combine free Over-the-Air TV with streaming services to create an experience similar to cable, but without the high price tag.” What About Using Your Wireless Provider’s Data Plan for Streaming? Can you stream Netflix and similar services using your wireless internet? Sure. Can you afford to do so? Probably not. Something to consider--streaming an hour of SD video is going to use about a gig of data. That means if your family plan has 15 gigs of data, you’d use it up with 15 hours of streaming. And with the average Netflix user streaming over an hour a day, that 15 hours can go pretty quickly. That doesn’t count checking email, browsing Facebook, listening to music, etc. “There is one caveat,” Eric Anthony from StreamingObserver.com told DSLReports. “If you’re a T-Mobile customer, you can take advantage of their Binge On app. This lets you stream Sling TV, Netflix, YouTube, and more without affecting your data.” It almost sounds too good to be true. So what’s the catch? “Well, the main thing is the resolution. You’re stuck at around 480p, which won’t look great on your TV.” There’s also the fact that, while you won’t be charged for the data, it still applies to your overall uses, which means if you’re a heavy user, you could potentially experience throttled speeds. That being said, T-Mobile’s Binge On app probably won’t be a full internet replacement for an entire family of cord cutters. However, it might work out for a family that sticks to OTA TV but has kids who like to stream on their mobile phone. For more information on Binge On, check out the official page here. In General, Wireless Internet Isn’t Going to Be Your Home Internet Solution So can you cut the cord on internet? Technically speaking, yes. But odds are you use too much data for it to be a realistic solution. By the time you pay for all the data you use, you’re probably better off paying the ISP for high speed internet.







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Most recommended from 42 comments

adam1991

join:2012-06-16

united state 12 recommendations adam1991 Member Since when? Since when did "cord cutting" mean "completely doing away with someone else's coax cable coming into your house"?



It never meant that. It always meant "cutting out pay TV".



What's with this "sure you cut the cord, but you ended up crawling back to your cable company to get internet" BS???



Nobody ever said "screw you" to cable broadband. The entire cord cutting movement is strictly doing away with pay TV and the BS that the content providers have attached to it. It never had anything to do with the pipe.



I've seen a lot of BS comments around here where anal freaks want to take the words "cord cutting" to the extreme literal end, but those are anal freaks. Now we have such anal freaks writing articles for DSL Reports??? "Crawl back to the cable company"????? Jesus.

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA 8 recommendations ctaranto Member Depends.. Questions like this do not have a "yes/no" answer. It always depends.



Anyone who is even remotely technical will not want to be on a wireless cell phone connection as their primary ISP. Upwards of 1TB of data/month? Nope.



Anyone who uses VoIP for their home phone service? Unlikely to work well over wireless.



For those who are neither of the above? Perhaps. But it's location, need, and expectation dependent.

jchambers28

Premium Member

join:2007-05-12

Alma, AR 5 recommendations jchambers28 Premium Member OTA is useless where I am OTA is useless where I am too may mountains.