But the best part about this method of replacing cable is that it requires zero technical knowledge. If you know enough to put a DVD into a DVD player and hit play, then you know enough to replace cable with DVDs.

Plus, if you’re not a heavy internet user, you could potentially get a cheap internet plan (through FreedomPop for example) and not have to deal with your cable company ever again.

Of course, the real question is, are the attractive NetFlix and RedBox prices for DVD rentals really attractive enough to ditch all of my cable programming? And what would I really lose if I were to replace cable with DVDs?

To help answer that question, we made the comparison chart below…

Especially if it’s right after you’ve paid your internet service provider somewhere in the ball park of $47/month (source) for internet.

Cheap, fast internet is hard to come by. Cable companies have a stranglehold on the market, and there are trade-offs you’ll have to make if you want to get around them.

There are however, a few options left to those who still want to pursue fast, but relatively cheap internet.

Option #1: Use Your Mobile Phone Plan

My wife and I currently employ this option. I personally love it and I legitimately think this is the best option.

While it’s certainly not lightning speed, it’s plenty fast – even at one signal bar. It’s definitely faster than my previous $60/month internet plan from Comcast. Here’s a speed test to prove it…

Besides the speed, it mainly means that I don’t have an internet or cable bill. I just have a (somewhat) reasonable phone bill at around $120/month after taxes and fees.

That said, however, you’ll need to be willing to give up a few freedoms that broadband cable companies give you.

First, you’ll likely have to budget your internet data usage. Our T-Mobile plan comes with unlimited data for phone usage. If I want to tether my laptop or iPad to my phone, I get 5gb of tethered data per phone.

In other words, I can watch unlimited TV shows and movies on my phone, but if I want to use my laptop or TV, I can only watch about the equivalent of 6 hours of HD content per month (source: USCellular Data Estimator). I know that sounds pretty limiting for someone who writes and edits a site dedicated to TV. But we’ve found it’s actually very sufficient for our needs. If we do want the big screen experience, we mostly watch DVDs rented on RedBox.

Second, you’re limited by the phone’s connectivity. So if you know that you get bad service in your own home for example, you probably won’t be able to use the internet as often as you’d like or at all.

Our main reasoning behind going with our phone plan is our general hatred of Comcast which is the only reliable internet provider in our area. They have screwed us out of so much money in the past, that we have committed never to deal with them again.

Option #2: Get a Separate 4G Home Internet Hotspot

This option isn’t usually that much better than option #1 unless you can offset the cost with a really cheap prepaid cell phone. That said, if you can live with a cheap dumb phone, this option might be worth the trouble.

Getting a separate home internet hotspot is mostly a matter of choosing the best deal on home internet from one of the Big Four telecom companies: Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, or Sprint. In most cases, you should be able to get the speeds you need to stream your shows. Here’s a great article on the topic by Tom’s Hardware.

According to that article, most of what you need to do is research what service providers have towers in your area and then shop around for the best prices.

FreedomPop is the one alternative in this category to the comparatively more expensive telecom plans. It’s a service that provides low cost internet at reasonable speeds but limits the amount of data you can use per month. If you can make some of the sacrifices I mentioned above in option #1, check to see if FreedomPop has a signal around your house. They might be worth it.

Option #3: Keep your Cable Internet but Cancel Cable TV

Your cable provider likely still provides the fastest internet available because they provide what is called broadband. If you absolutely have to have the fastest internet possible, this is really your only option.

I currently don’t know of any cable company out there who won’t charge you less when you eliminate TV service. If it seems reasonable, stick with them and just keep your internet but cancel TV. But if you’ve ever dealt with a cable company on the phone, you’ll know that they’ll try everything in their power to make you pay more than you need to.

There are all kinds of call scripts on the internet that will give you line-by-line the things you need to say to negotiate your bill down to the absolute lowest amount.

Keep in mind that all you really need is 3mbps to stream TV. Don’t let your cable company give you any lines about how you need at least 25mbps to stream video online. It’s not true.

You will however, need to buy their 10mbps option in order to get a minimum of 3mbps. What they really mean by 10mbps is that it is the absolute top speed you can expect. When I bought the 10mbps option with Comcast, it really averaged around 3 mbps.

However you want to negotiate for that is up to you. But whatever the case, buying a 10mbps package of JUST internet should be significantly cheaper than their special TV, Phone and Internet packages.

Have you found a better option for internet? Please let me know in the comments…

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. An HDTV with an HDMI connection (I’ve never seen an HDTV without one)
2. An internet speed of at least 3mbps or above (use this to test it)
3. A laptop with an HDMI connection (most windows machines less than 5 years old have one)

If you meet all three of these requirements, all you need to start watching TV on the internet is a simple HDMI cord to connect your laptop to your TV. Once you’ve connected your laptop screen to your TV it is simply a matter of knowing what websites will give you the content you want to watch. Hulu, Neflix, and Amazon are great places to start looking if you want to pay a few bucks a month for your shows. That covers just about everything you could want to watch except sports (see our more in-depth article on getting rid of cable for that).

If you want to go the “ethically murky” route, you can watch everything those providers will give you free at SolarMovie or just about any other movie streaming site. Just make sure you have a good ad-blocker (free) installed on your browser before you visit those sites.

Once you’re sure you can watch what you want to watch entirely over the internet, you can go ahead and slash your cable bill. Consider yourself cable-free and enjoy your new freedom.

Now if you don’t have one of those three things listed above, this gets a little more complicated but I’m going to try to break it down as easily as I can. I’m going to group you into your constituent parts. All you need to read from the next few paragraphs is the section that applies to you.

Situation #1. You have a Mac without an HDMI connection

If this is you, you’ll need to buy an HDMI adapter for your Mac.

Situation #2. You have a laptop or a TV that is too old and does not have an HDMI connection

You have a few options at this point. The first is to buy a new TV or Laptop that probably needs to be upgraded anyway…but then who am I to judge?

Aside from that, your computer probably still has a VGA connection. If your TV has one too, then you can just buy a VGA cord and probably never know the difference between that and an HD picture.

If your computer has only a VGA connection and your TV has only HDMI or only A/V connections, then it’s simply a matter of finding the right adapter. A quick Google search with [insert your laptop connection here] to [insert your TV connection here] adapter in it should pull up what you need.

Situation #3. You don’t have a laptop, but you do have a TV (HD or otherwise)

Your best option is probably to get a Roku and pay a small monthly fee for Netfilx, Amazon Prime (yearly fee only), or Hulu (or all of them). There are other options out there for you, but they all require some tech savvy. If you’re without a laptop, I’m assuming you’ll want something with minimal tech savvy requirements. Roku, as far as my research is concerned, is definitely the best device for the tech UN-savvy.

Another perk to Roku is that it has an A/V connection for older TVs, so you don’t have to buy an adapter. A/V and HDMI cables come with the unit as well.

Situation #4. You don’t have a TV, but you do have a laptop.

Easy fix. Either buy a TV with the appropriate cables or just watch TV on your laptop.

Situation #5. You don’t have an internet speed of 3mbps or above

This one is a little tougher. The FCC says that all you need to stream HD quality videos is 4mbps. But in my experience, you can stream anything you want at about 3mbps. It’s all a matter of how long you want to wait for your shows to buffer or download before you can watch them. Most of you in this category will want to stream your TV (watch without downloading like YouTube) due to the tech savvy required in downloading.

If you’ve ever noticed that your YouTube videos pause and then start up again every 5 seconds or so, that is how the rest of your internet TV will be like. YouTube is generally the fastest of the video players so anything you watch outside of YouTube will be even slower.

Now, if you have the patience to pause a show and let it load the video (buffer) then you don’t need a faster internet connection. If you don’t like waiting at all, you may need a connection more along the lines of 10-25mbps.

It’s important to note here, however, that internet service providers will often try to “ask you some questions” about your internet usage and upsell you to a speed you don’t really need based on the fact that you “stream video.” Please don’t listen to them. If you’re between 5-10 mbps, you’ll be fine.

So in conclusion, if you can wait for your TV and movies to buffer, you may not need to upgrade your internet. If you can’t wait, go with a connection between 10-25mbps. If you can deal with waiting a few times out of the day, but not all the time, go with a 5-10mbps internet speed.

Situation #6. You don’t have a TV, a computer, or internet

You may not want to waste any more time reading this book. Or you may want to buy enough materials to put yourself in any of the 5 situations above and go from there. At the very least, you need one of two set ups:

• Internet, a TV, and a Roku
• Internet and a computer

If you can’t commit to either of those, don’t read any further. Enjoy your life in the great outdoors. I genuinely wish I wasn’t addicted to TV so I could join you.

That should have covered just about everyone. If I missed you, or if you have any questions about getting started quickly,

But if you don’t have a lot of time and you just want a high quality tv for a good price, go with…

…the Panasonic TC-PST60.

Below is a review from CNET for why it’s the best choice.

View the Panasonic TC-PST60 on Amazon >>

What makes it better?

There are several factors that FindtheBest integrates into it’s “Smart Rating” but among them are number of tv shows and movies, PC mag ratings, cost and included networks.

However, if you are looking for a specific show or feature in your tv streaming service, you may want to dig deeper than simply the best all around option. You may even want to use more than one service.

Each tv streaming service has different features and gives you access to different content.

The Cheapest Service

Finding the cheapest service for you is a little more complicated than a bottom line price. For one thing, Hulu has a free option, but you may not get access to all of the shows you want.

Overall, however, the cheapest tv streaming option is Amazon Prime. The yearly cost is $79 compared to the two next cheapest options, Hulu Plus and Netflix, both $95 a year.

Granted, that cost is calculated at 10 rentals per month. If you only want 5 rentals per month, Netflix is the cheaper option at $40 per year.

The Service with the Most TV Show Episodes

Hulu Plus again takes the cake for the most TV show episodes with around 29,000. What’s surprising is that in second place is the free Hulu with 25,000 episodes. So even without paying for anything Hulu gives you a broader selection of episodes than all the other services.

Whether you’ll like the episodes they give you for free is yet to be seen…

The Service with the Most Movies

The widest selection of movies goes to VUDU, by a long shot. VUDU has 17,000 movies compared to runner up iTunes with only 3,500. If you’re more of a movie buff or you’re looking for some obscure movies, VUDU is definitely where you’ll want to look.

The Worst Service

And finally, the absolute worst online tv and movie streaming service award goes to…Best Buy owned, CinemaNow. How do you sell the worst streaming service in the industry? You package it up with SmartTV’s that aren’t actually very smart and sell it to people who don’t know any better in your store.

While today’s Smart TV’s are mostly sold as HD (High Definition) TVs, they still come in all shapes and sizes and are not exclusive to a single manufacturer. Samsung, LG, Sony, Toshiba, and most other major TV manufacturers all have their own iterations.

A quick search on Amazon for the term is probably the best way to give you an idea of the scope and variety of Smart TVs on the market.

The more pressing question regarding these devices, however, is this…

Are Smart TV’s Worth It?

The quick answer is “no, probably not.”

The truth is, if the goal of these televisions is to give you access to internet content, then there are much better and less convoluted ways of achieving that.

In fact, the term “Smart TV” itself is mostly just a marketing buzzword that confuses people just enough to allow places like Best Buy to sell second-rate entertainment systems.

Most of the TV’s on the market that are so-called “Smart-Enabled,” are simply HD televisions with prepackaged software that will likely be difficult to use and outdated in 6-months to a year.

But besides that, the biggest reason Smart TVs aren’t really worth it is most of these second-rate software packages don’t give you access to all the online content you’ll probably want.

Most probably give you Netflix and maybe Hulu, but the options drop significantly from there. So far, I haven’t been able to find a Smart TV that will give me access to all of the online content I consume.

Corporate politics, business contracts, and lawsuits all prevent these small-time TV manufacturers and their even more small-time “Smart” software packages from giving you access to the best the internet has to offer.

So What are the Alternatives?

As far as I can tell, there are three viable alternatives to getting the internet content you want on your TV:

1. Apple TV
2. Google TV
3. A Custom, DIY Home Theater Set-Up

The first two are probably the best “plug and play” options. They are for people who don’t really want to put in the effort of doing a lot of research to get the absolute best options out there for a custom job.

However, if you go with the third option you’ll get the most flexibility and also the widest variety of content on your TV.

Alternative #1: Apple TV

Apple TV is essentially a mini computer that hooks up to any HDTV (High Definition Television). Due probably to Apple’s size and political clout, their system gives you access to many of the major internet content providers and a few of the smaller ones.

And thanks to it’s AirPlay feature, whatever content you can’t get through device, you can get through your other Apple devices.

Apple TV is probably your best bet if you just want internet content on your TV that just works. It’s an even better bet if you already have a few Apple devices lying around because of their ability to integrate well.

The only major drawback is the finagling you’ll have to do if you would rather get your content on cheaper platforms like Amazon’s Instant Video which is usually $1 cheaper per tv episode.

If you didn’t feel like paying that extra $1, you’d have to get on your Apple laptop, buy the episode from Amazon, and connect the TV to your laptop screen via AirPlay. Not all that complicated, but you can’t just sit down in your chair, grab a remote, and start watching your favorite TV episodes unless you want to pay.

Alternative #2: Google TV

I personally am not an Apple fanboy, so if I were to go the “plug and play” route, I’d probably go for Google’s option.

Google TV is a bit more complicated than Apple’s sleek minimalism and user-friendly design, but what you get in return is a wider array of internet content that you can access with just a remote. The cheaper Amazon Instant Video is only a click away, for instance.

There are three ways to get Google TV:

1. You can buy a special 3D LG TV that comes with Google’s software installed on it (essentially the only Smart TV worth buying)
2. You can buy a mini computer with Google TV on it that hooks up to any HDTV you have.
3. You can buy another mini computer with Google TV on it that hooks up to a VIZIO HDTV you might have.

I would personally go with the second option because I would rather just do some extra research and get a high-quality, but cheap HDTV, then be shackled to the few TV’s that were simply lucky enough to do a business deal with Google.

The only drawback with Google TV is the price. The separate mini-computer that is comparable to Apple’s device is $199, where Apple’s is just $99.

However, the wider array of content more than makes up for the $100 difference in my mind.

Alternative #3: A Custom, DIY, Home Theater Set Up

The third alternative is the most complicated of the bunch and requires a bit of research and work to get it set up right. But what you lose in simplicity, you gain in money savings and flexibility.

By going the DIY route, you get access to all the internet has to offer, and you get the satisfaction of custom-building your own online content experience.

I’ve written a complete DIY guide to setting up your Home Theater from scratch in my article on getting rid of cable. Don’t worry, you don’t have to get rid of your cable to have all the benefits of this alternative to the so-called Smart TV, but once you see what you can achieve with this option, you may think twice about what you’re getting out of your cable company.

Putting it All Together: Why Smart TVs Aren’t Worth It

To sum things up, there are three things you should take away from this article:

1. A Smart TV is just a TV with pre-packaged software that enables you to watch internet content.
2. Most Smart TV’s aren’t worth it. The software is complicated and you can’t access all the content you probably want.
3. There are three viable alternatives to Smart TVs that ARE worth it. It’s just a matter of choosing the option that best suits your tastes and entertainment needs.

Thanks for reading this article. If you have any comments or feedback, feel free to leave a note in the comments section below…