I bought a TV with a built-in Fire Stick. It was my attempt to "cut the cord" in my living room. While the Fire Stick has a billion apps, most require sign in with your cable provider. CBS and some others require a subscription. NBC and ABC don't offer live TV. Verizon doesn't offer an app.

If you don't have cable service, most of those apps charge monthly. This can add up if you like a variety of programming.

As for the quality, Amazon Prime video is awesome. It looks like the characters are in the room with you. The other stations that I have seen just look like regular digital TV.

It's great if you want to binge watch TV, or want access to shows not on VOD. I like it, but I'm keeping Verizon.

I know what you mean, Honny!! I have a ROKU...and today, while hubby was watching Yankees through our DirecTV, on Fox Sports 1, hard rains have come, and this has knocked out the satellite. So I go to ROKU and open up the Fox Sports app. First, I have to sign up for their free account...no problem. Then, I have to log in through my paid subscriber...DirecTV!! So I go to my laptop and sign in with the code, and now all is good. BUT...how can anyone really "cut the cord" if you still have to have a paid subscription to something??? And like you say, if you don't, you have to pay for a lot of them. I DO have Webcaster on my phone and on my ROKU app, and sometimes I can cast stuff through that onto ROKU, so that's handy.

But I hope you enjoy your Fire Stick! You can spend HOURS & HOURS finding quirky and unusual apps! Have fun with it!

guysmom, even with the Amazon Fire and Verizon, some apps I would still have to pay for. Also, there is no way (that I can see) to add apps that are not already included.

We have Netflix. Used to have cable years ago but decided to cut the cord in 2015. No complains. Netflix has a lot of good stuff. We upgraded our Xfinity Package. Well, we had to since the previous deal had expired and the only option left was to upgrade at a new price. Xfinity gave us a basic cable package with the upgrade and so we ordered Roku through Google. The funniest thing happened. The notification on the email said that Roku had been delivered and yet we did not see a package. We notified Google and they refunded the money. Minutes later, I found the package opened and lying at our doorstep. We sent another email about us receiving it and they asked us to keep it for free.

Basically, the whole thing is useless since you get channels like HSN and JTV but others require a subscription. I don't care since I love my Netflix too much.

I got rid of Netflix in January. I could only use it on one device. Since I had Prime and FIOS on all devices, I got rid of Netflix.

I have a Samsung smart TV in the bedroom, but I can't figure out how to add apps to it.

Remember when tv was free and uncomplicated?

@HonnyBrown wrote:

... I have a Samsung smart TV in the bedroom, but I can't figure out how to add apps to it.....
Remember when tv was free and uncomplicated?

LOL. We've had a smart TV for a number of years and I sill barely know how to use it... I remember when we had four TV channels, one of which (UHF) rarely had good reception - no matter how much you tinkered with the antenna....

We have a set. We have old equipment. We watch a few old things and remember others.

I recommend this!

MFJ, don't forget PBS!

I get that Verizon is "the cord," but they should make their app available on other platforms.

Shop-et,

Why is your equipment old?

I don't think we got that one... PBS did not start until 1969 and I'm not sure it was available everywhere for a few years thereafter - at the very least, we did not get the channel at our house. I know: I stood at that TV and manually turned the dials many times looking for cartoons.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

MFJ, don't forget PBS!

I get that Verizon is "the cord," but they should make their app available on other platforms.

It's old school. I use *gasp* vhs and dvd. I also use other old equipment which provides me with wonderful stuff. Oh, my. I get this stuff for nothing or next to nothing and have a few backups for future, just in case...

@HonnyBrown wrote:

Shop-et,

Why is your equipment old?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2019 10:10PM by Shop-et-al.

Try adding Tubi & Pluto for free tv options on your Fire TV. You'll want to have the instructions right by you so you can follow, step by step. They are free apps. And, at least 2-3 times a year, Amazon offers me a free trial of Prime & I can catch up on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel".

While PBS didn't start until 1969, "public television" or "educational television" goes back much further. WNET began in Newark, NJ / New York City in 1947 and became an educational TV station in 1962. WHYY in Wilmington /Philadelphia began in 1957 and even then was one of 23 non-commercial educational television station in the United States, and the second to operate in Pennsylvania, after WQED-TV in Pittsburgh. I don't know where you were living (or exactly when), but you might well have had access to an educational TV station years before PBS began.

@MFJohnston wrote:

I don't think we got that one... PBS did not start until 1969 and I'm not sure it was available everywhere for a few years thereafter - at the very least, we did not get the channel at our house. I know: I stood at that TV and manually turned the dials many times looking for cartoons.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

MFJ, don't forget PBS!

I get that Verizon is "the cord," but they should make their app available on other platforms.

There is an option to add apps on the fire stick and Roku. If you Google it, there are easy instructions to follow. Not all apps are paid, for example YouTube is free unless you want the paid subscription. There are others but youtube is the only free one I use. I think I recall seeing a free yoga one and some workout channels. I'm sure there are more but I just searched for what I was interested in. On that note, I have Hulu and Amazon prime for TV, all I need. Much cheaper and easier than the old school services.

@HonnyBrown @MFJohnston @myst4au
If you're a fan of PBS's Masterpiece Theatre / Masterpiece Mystery, you can watch episodes of the current release(s) online for free starting the day after the episode is shown. The viewing window is limited to roughly 2 weeks. Most recently, it was their production of Les Miserables and it was very, very good! New shows starting next week! [www.pbs.org]
Also - usually I can get the full season on DVD from my local library system a couple of months after the series ends. I love the costumes, settings and camera work, and the actors are top-shelf.
Cheers!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2019 02:18PM by JSM2019.

I was in Yorktown and Chesapeake, Virginia in the mid-to-late 70's. I was pretty young, so my awareness may have been a bit lacking. I do know that we had four stations: NBC, CBS, ABC, and a UHF channel wherever we lived. The UHF channel was always pretty dicey. I learned about "cable television" in the early 80's, when we moved to Alexandria. Reading a bit on Wikipedia, it looks like the UHF channel would have carried educational programming - so we are likely simply talking past one-another a little bit.

Again, I'm drawing upon my memories as a five-year-old, so not everything is particularly clear.

@myst4au wrote:

While PBS didn't start until 1969, "public television" or "educational television" goes back much further. WNET began in Newark, NJ / New York City in 1947 and became an educational TV station in 1962. WHYY in Wilmington /Philadelphia began in 1957 and even then was one of 23 non-commercial educational television station in the United States, and the second to operate in Pennsylvania, after WQED-TV in Pittsburgh. I don't know where you were living (or exactly when), but you might well have had access to an educational TV station years before PBS began.

@MFJohnston wrote:

I don't think we got that one... PBS did not start until 1969 and I'm not sure it was available everywhere for a few years thereafter - at the very least, we did not get the channel at our house. I know: I stood at that TV and manually turned the dials many times looking for cartoons.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

MFJ, don't forget PBS!

I get that Verizon is "the cord," but they should make their app available on other platforms.

I feel fortunate, we had 3 network channels and 2 UHF channels in Cleveland in the 60's. It is amazing now, get 350 channels.. maybe watch 15 lol.

I have typical cable (Spectrum/Time Warner) and get all the channels and don't want to learn about apps, very happy, got it on a promotion along with internet service wireless....if it ain't broke, not fixing it. My Sony is 15 years old, works like new 52 inch...don't have surround sound.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2019 05:44PM by Irene_L.A..

Thanks!

I downloaded those, and watched Pluto. The TV keeps disconnecting my wifi.

@Monk-N-Nut wrote:

Try adding Tubi & Pluto for free tv options on your Fire TV. You'll want to have the instructions right by you so you can follow, step by step. They are free apps. And, at least 2-3 times a year, Amazon offers me a free trial of Prime & I can catch up on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel".

That was the channel we got, WHYY. Nova, yoga, and other sciency stuff.

@myst4au wrote:

While PBS didn't start until 1969, "public television" or "educational television" goes back much further. WNET began in Newark, NJ / New York City in 1947 and became an educational TV station in 1962. WHYY in Wilmington /Philadelphia began in 1957 and even then was one of 23 non-commercial educational television station in the United States, and the second to operate in Pennsylvania, after WQED-TV in Pittsburgh. I don't know where you were living (or exactly when), but you might well have had access to an educational TV station years before PBS began.

@MFJohnston wrote:

I don't think we got that one... PBS did not start until 1969 and I'm not sure it was available everywhere for a few years thereafter - at the very least, we did not get the channel at our house. I know: I stood at that TV and manually turned the dials many times looking for cartoons.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

MFJ, don't forget PBS!

I get that Verizon is "the cord," but they should make their app available on other platforms.

My Fire Stick is built in to my TV, so that takes a lot more effort.

@nixkit wrote:

There is an option to add apps on the fire stick and Roku. If you Google it, there are easy instructions to follow. Not all apps are paid, for example YouTube is free unless you want the paid subscription. There are others but youtube is the only free one I use. I think I recall seeing a free yoga one and some workout channels. I'm sure there are more but I just searched for what I was interested in. On that note, I have Hulu and Amazon prime for TV, all I need. Much cheaper and easier than the old school services.

Saturday afternoon kung fu!

@RobG wrote:

I feel fortunate, we had 3 network channels and 2 UHF channels in Cleveland in the 60's. It is amazing now, get 350 channels.. maybe watch 15 lol.

We have Verizon FIOS. Too expensive for what we watch but neanderthal husband loves his golf, soccer, tennis, baseball, football, you get it. I will watch TLC and the Food network when I can. I bought a ROKU TV for our bedroom and love it. With the closed captioning, I can keep the volume on very low and enjoy movies galore late at night.. I am a night owl. I want to get rid of Verizon but other options do not include phone. Another neanderthal husband thing. Obi or some other VOIP requires research on my end that I won't make time for, so we continue to pay.

I have been able to add Vudu, Tubi, Filmrise, Nosey and a whole bunch of others. Love Tubi and Vudu. I just paid for a HULU subscription and love it. Bought a ROKU streaming stick for our 52 incher. Works well. I f I had it my way, it would be WIFI and streaming all the way.

Googling how to do something is a lot of effort?!?! Searching a TV guide or reading what is on at what time takes just as much effort, if not more.

Honny - If the tv you're using has "built-in" FIRE, try an external FireTV device (if you have one). There have been several upgrades to the Fire device and so you may get better connectivity if you use a newer version. I got my newest one for $14.99 on a special I saw on FB Marketplace.

HULU for sure! Handmaid's Tale - Season 3 !!!!!

I cut the cord several years ago and finally convinced my sports fanatic husband to also. it was the WWII/Hitler content, along with sports, he had to have. There was a bit of a learning curve for him, and he had to get used to a different way to search for something to watch, but so far so good. He has even started to try to convince our parents to do it! I just roll my eyes as he was auto NO for eons!
We both have Roku on our respective TV, and 'free tv' as he calls it (read antenna). He has Sling (a skinny bundle) to accommodate the sports and history stuff. I was hoping to go to Hulu live, but Sling added MLB and that caboshed that. Even with Sling we cut our tv bill from $170 a month to $40. A good site to learn or keep up with trends is: [www.cordcuttersnews.com] . I read it daily.
We also cut the cord with Ma Bell. $45 a month for basic phone was entirely to much! We still have the kitchen wall phone with the LONG cord! I went with OOMA, a VOIP. Bought a used device from eBay and have been very happy with it. You pay only taxes for the service. Ours is about $4. We haven't had any call clarity issues with the phone, computers, tablets and Roku all running at the same time on the internet. I have Xfinity 60mpbs. Since we have their internet, I'm about ready to try their cell service for him. He also is a Neanderthal as he doesn't have a cell phone. It's also taxes, unless you use more than 100gb of data, which I doubt he would, then it's $12 gb. Even at $12 that's not bad. It uses Xfinity WiFi hotspots and Verizon. You have to already have their internet.

This is what is working for us and not a paid advertisement. ; ~)

So, the benefit of completing several Comcast shops in different stores allows me to give you some information about Xfiinity / Comcast cell phone service. 1) You have to be a Comcast internet customer. 2) You have to have a smartphone to use their cell phone service. 3) If you have a recent iPhone, they can simply change the SIM card which is great if you already own the phone. 4) If you have an Android phone, they will most likely say "sorry, buy a new Samsung S10 from us", but the truth is that they have been testing recent Samsung phones with great success. So, if you own a Samsung S7 or more recent, within a few months they will be able to swap out the SIM card. 5) They rent bandwidth on the Verizon network, so if you like Verizon coverage, you will be happy. 6) There are a few other wrinkles, but hopefully, you will find an honest employee who does not focus on selling you a new Samsung if you already have one. If you have an issue, confront them with the truth that they have been beta-testing Samsung phones in the Philadelphia market area (makes sense since Comcast headquarters are in Philadelphia.)

@eveb wrote:

I have Xfinity 60mpbs. Since we have their internet, I'm about ready to try their cell service for him. He also is a Neanderthal as he doesn't have a cell phone. It's also taxes, unless you use more than 100gb of data, which I doubt he would, then it's $12 gb. Even at $12 that's not bad. It uses Xfinity WiFi hotspots and Verizon. You have to already have their internet.

This is what is working for us and not a paid advertisement. ; ~)

@Monk-N-Nut wrote:

Try adding Tubi & Pluto for free tv options on your Fire TV. ".

YaY! Pluto TV finally added their BBC aquisitions: the Dr Who channel showing ORIGINAL Dr Who. Yes from back in the day! And Antiques Road show