I’ve been wanting to ditch cable for free, over-the-air TV for years, but I kept putting it off because I thought I’d have to run coax cable to every single TV in the house. Then a few weeks ago, I heard about the Tablo. I ordered the 2-tuner model along with a Channel Master antenna, and everything arrived today.
I installed the antenna in my attic, hardwired the Tablo directly with an ethernet cable, and had the whole system up and running in about an hour. I am absolutely amazed by how many local channels I’m picking up! Honestly, I’m just kicking myself for not realizing a device like this existed sooner.
I got an Amazon Recast for Christmas 2018. Basically the same as the Tablo. Never looked back. Sadly Amazon discontinued it in 2023 and no longer support it. Mine still works but its just a matter of time… Replaced it with a Tablo 4G and, aside from a couple of irritating annoyances (like having to be connected to the internet to work), it works pretty much the same as the Recast - live TV in every room in the house.
Welcome to the Tablo community, I got the 4 channel legacy Tablo since May 2018 way more expensive to invest before but never regret it save me ten of thousand for the last 8 years. I used to pay $135 a month on cable for the las 8 years it has save me more than 13K.
Congratulations. This is a great story and a great example of how to cut the cord. Don’t look back.
All in, since 2015, we took a chance and spent $199 (I think) on the 2-tuner Legacy and $149 for the lifetime Guide subscription, $60 for an amplified splitter, $13 for a replacement power supply, $14 for a 4" box fan, and the devices are connected to an antenna that came with the house. We have saved much, much more than that - almost incalculable - over the past 11 years.
Then, just a year or two ago, we spent another $119 for the Gen4 4-tuner model.
We’re definitely saving. We just installed one for my M-i-L and they’re now saving $231/month with Tablo after canceling DirecTV. That’s $2,772/year! It’s just amazing that they didn’t do it sooner.
Sad thing is when we cut the cord in 2013 we were at about $130. per month for cable. Our internet only is now $90. per month. And from what I’ve been hearing from others with the same internet I can expect it to go over $100. soon.
Shop around if you’re able. Our local fiber provider is offering 5 Gb for $50/month. My equipment would choke on that much bandwidth. But we realized long ago that OTA with internet-only streaming was the way to go.
5 gig for $50 is crazy. Competition always results in lower costs. The streaming services are subject to these same market forces and the seemingly unending increases in prices will ultimately slow down and stabilize. It’s called equilibrium.
That is pretty amazing. I have Frontier and am paying about $40 a month for ½ Gig service. In my area, that is pretty good. For $50 I could upgrade to 1 Gig, but I don’t really need it. The fastest they offer is 7 Gig for $160.
Meanwhile, I remember when I was all excited to upgrade to a 14.4 modem… with FAX capability.
I knew a lady that worked at TI that designed the first pattern boards for the TI pocket calculator.
Can’t remember her name now. Guess why?
She collected Corvettes and took them to auto shows around the country.
A large woman but so nice. With her beehive she was a good foot taller and outweighed me.
You must have been part of that group of Rowdy Retirees hanging out at Henk’s Restaurant and Black Forest Bakery… Plotting to steal my hubcaps. (Remember those?)
Then in 1983 I worked at the company that created the first ATM network in Texas using TI 99 4A computers. A whole rack of them.
