I finally got rid of DISH Network about a month ago, after their latest price increase got us up to $130/month for a basic package (no premium channels). We live in the sticks, so our "cable" options were basically limited to DISH or DirecTV. My biggest hang-up on cancelling was not having access to Packers and Brewers games. After researching the heck out of things (this thread helped immensely), I decided to go the old-school digital antenna route, and bought the mid-range RCA Mini Yagi model for about $50. The box has the color coded wheel (it looks like an old Trivia Pursuit game piece with the little colored triangles.) The color coded wheel matches the color codes from the antennaweb page. With just the antenna alone, I was able to pull in NBC (17 miles away) and ABC (repeater 8 miles away), but couldn't pull in CBS/Fox (low-powered repeater about 22 miles away). I bought a $22 RCA pre amp from Menards to mount to the antenna pole. The finally piece of the puzzle for me was a distribution amplifier, (channel master cm3414 4-port, $30 on amazon) so we had sufficient signal to power our four television sets. So overall we now have a good signal, and spent about $100. We now have 12 channels total from NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, WB and PBS. We did have a few kinks to work out, as some of our coax cable from our previous DISH setup were on splitters. Once we removed the splitters our signal came in nicely. It took me about a week of trial and error, and research to figure it all out.

For cable/access to Brewer games, I bought Roku Express players ($25 each deal on Groupon). We went with the Sling TV Blue package, and I paid the extra to get Fox Sports Wisconsin. Also previously had Netflix and Amazon Prime, as those are our kids' go-to for more programming. Also downloaded a few extra free apps on the Roku system (PlutoTV, Crackle, Roku Channel, Tubi), and our options are now way, way more than we ever had with just DISH and Netflix). So far the only complaint I have (and its very minor) is that the Sling streaming feed is about 30-45 seconds behind on live stuff.

Over all I'm glad we went through the process. Yeah, the hardware was a little but of upfront cost, but we'll be saving about $100/month by not having cable. Internet may eventually be an issue, as we only have a 6 MBPS DSL internet connection speed from Frontier. It's been fine so far, as it's only lagged or kicked us off an app a couple times. We may have to upgrade to the 12 MBPS package at some point.

I've been using all the free samples of the streaming options since Sling TV dropped Fox Sports Wisconsin, and each have their good and bad points. The best was probably YouTube TV, simply due to the fewest glitches and functionality. As for offerings, I like Playstation Vue the best, as it is the only one that offers close to everything I'm looking for channel-wise. I've found it to be a little glitchy with my slower internet speed, though. Tried Hulu Live TV, AT&T TV and Fubo Live TV, and hated them for various reasons.

Not only is Sling the cheapest, it is also the easiest to use IMO, and least glitchy. I'll probably be switching back to Sling once the Brewers are done playing this year, then pick up something else next spring. Really wish that Sling would pick the Fox regional sports networks back up, but it doesn't look its ever going to happen now.

Has been for awhile. People are cutting the cord, and instead of cutting costs, cable companies are raising rates and reducing customer service on remaining customers. I got rid of my satellite service early last spring, and I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. It was an enormous waste of money.