I’m cutting the cord and I need advice.

[dressedcheeseside]

I’m switching to IQ fiber, high speed, Internet here in Jacksonville AND FINALLY DITCHING COMCAST. Our main residence in town has the IQ fiber but our beach condo at the beach does not. What are my best options for service for both places? I’m tired of wading through the Internet and would like some expert opinions from you guys. Thanks.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Hey, I'll ask a related question first.

For watching GT Baseball, should I do Sling or YouTube TV? Sling is cheaper @$51 per month (versus $65) but YouTube TV has more DVR time.
On You Tube TV, can I DVR ACCNX games?? On Sling I can DVR ACCN and ESPN but NOT ACCNX. So I think it's an ACCNX thing and I wouldn't be able to DVR on You Tube TV either.

Back to OP. I cut the cord over a decade ago and like it a lot since the cost of Cox Cable was insulting.

• I like Sling (Orange $40/month + Sports Extra $11/month) for college baseball and have used it past years; cancelling out of season.
• Do broadcast TV and free streameast.io for other college and professional sports (I watch very little.).
• Have Prime video, Netflix (daughter's), HBO+ (son's) and
• occasionally do a month of STARZ, NBC Sports (cycling) or BritBox or whatever I'd like to see series on.
• There is too much out there for any mere mortal to watch.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

I traded a $300 cable/internet/landline bill during football season due to getting fiber in the neighborhood. Went with youtube tv and it’s been perfect. Haven’t had an issue. My concern was my internet speed before fiber which is why I didn’t switch earlier. I did a channel comparison and I actually have better channels with youtubetv and unlimited dvr. Seriously, it’s solid. For Ballys in the fall I simply used my sisters cable login to watch GT when I couldn’t attend in person thru the Ballys app.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Well, I'm going to try YouTube TV this weekend for baseball. The series is on ACCNX. As a head's up, seems that you have to access it via the ESPN App.

If I can record ACCNX games, it'll be worth every penny since I miss a lot of the baseball games due to life.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

For what it’s worth, I cut the cable a few years ago, got FireStick and YouTube TV.

Agree with the other posters about adding premium channels as needed or situationally.

To be fair, I’ve had zero luck getting Tech games when they are on that weird channel/platform that nobody gets. I’m too lazy to go through the ten steps it would require to make that happen. Not a lot of options in the mountains.

 

[MidtownJacket]

I have hulu TV, it's been fine. One thing I DON'T like is that the "ad free" tier isn't available with some of the premium bundles. Used YouTube TV for a bit as well as Fubo for a two week trial.

My experience was that all three platforms have some pros and cons from a usability / feature set perspective but for us the bigger driver was channel availability and configuring the lowest price point for the most coverage of the shows we want.

This is a pretty good, and I believe recent, channel comparison that might help with your choice: https://cordcutting.com/compare/live-tv-streaming-service-channels/

 

[GTJason]

Regarding ACCNX games, usually (not always) those are the ones that are on Bally and blocked out which is annoying. You will have to access those via a VPN (I use surfshark, but there are plenty of good ones that will run seamlessly with your tv) and the ESPN app. If you are worried about recording them, you should always be able to access the replay on the ESPN app without restrictions. Sometimes it takes a few hours before it's available and there is definitely a chance of getting a spoiler and seeing the score while looking the game up. For the VPN to watch a game live on the ESPN app I typically put myself in Manchester UK and any Bally GT game is available to me.

If the game is on ACCN alternate the channel will show up just below the main acc network broadcast on youtube tv. One thing about youtube tv is you will not be able to use a VPN to fool the youtube location but you can use the google chrome browser and an app called location guard. This works well for viewing any NFL game you want (although now they are getting sunday ticket I suspect this ability will go away in the near future)

 

[GT33]

Not sure how this year will work, but last year I got most of the games on ESPN+. Pretty sure I get that via the Disney bundle which costs about the same price as a lunch these days. Not sure how I get access with the Bally app when none of that works, but think Comast gets you in.

 

[IEEEWreck]

I’m switching to IQ fiber, high speed, Internet here in Jacksonville AND FINALLY DITCHING COMCAST. Our main residence in town has the IQ fiber but our beach condo at the beach does not. What are my best options for service for both places? I’m tired of wading through the Internet and would like some expert opinions from you guys. Thanks.

Extremely EE question here: what's the distance between the two?

 

[dressedcheeseside]

30 minutes

 

[IEEEWreck]

30 minutes

Ah, then no help. You'll need separate service.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Anyone with YouTubeTV know how to get into the ESPN app? I tried to log in to ESPN+ with my google username and password and no luck. I did just start YouTubeTV today so there may be a lag.

Never mind, figured it out. Go to ESPN+, select YouTubeTV as provider and then put in YouTubeTV password.

 

[MWBATL]

There seems to be some difference between GT baseball games that are available on the ESPN app, and those that are ONLY available on ESPN+. I can pick up any of the games on the ESPN app with no problem (I use DirecTV Stream) but any game on ESPN+ is still blocked without a subscription. It would appear that those games are only at schools which require subscriptions, as about 90% of college baseball games are free, but (for example) any Georgia Southern home game is ONLY available on the ESPN+ service. But I had no problem at all getting GT softball and baseball games that are our home games for free...

 

[slugboy]

There seems to be some difference between GT baseball games that are available on the ESPN app, and those that are ONLY available on ESPN+. I can pick up any of the games on the ESPN app with no problem (I use DirecTV Stream) but any game on ESPN+ is still blocked without a subscription. It would appear that those games are only at schools which require subscriptions, as about 90% of college baseball games are free, but (for example) any Georgia Southern home game is ONLY available on the ESPN+ service. But I had no problem at all getting GT softball and baseball games that are our home games for free...

1. If it's an ACC Network game, you should be able to see it if your streaming provider carries the ACC Network.
2. If it's an ACCNX (ACC Network eXtra) game, and your streaming provider carries the ACC Network, you can see the game on the ESPN app when you sign in or link through your TV provider. You're signing in ALMOST the same way as for ESPN+, but it's for ACCNX.
3. If it's an ESPN+ game, you need to have an ESPN+ subscription (bundled in the Disney+ + Hulu + ESPN sub seems the easiest way)