I tried cutting the cord with Sling TV for a month — here's why I returned to cable

sling tv

After looking at my monthly cable TV bill one day, I thought: I'm paying $100 a month for cable TV, not including internet. $100 a month. And I watch about eight or so channels.

There must be another way to get TV without paying so much.

It was time to try out a live TV internet streaming service. Generally, services like these let you pick cheaper channel packages, which can give me greater control over what I pay for. And because I have a smart TV that's powered by Roku, I could choose most any service I want and still watch it from the comfort of my couch.

My first pick was Sling TV. I picked the $30/month Orange and Blue package, which included the complete list of core channels offered by Sling TV. Then I added a few $5 packages, including cloud DVR and News Extra, which includes more news channels. My SlingTV package would come to a total of $40 a month — compared to my $100-a-month cable bill.

Unfortunately, Sling TV was missing a few channels and DVR features that I've become used to. But I wanted to see if I could live without them, considering the $60 a month I'd be saving by going with Sling TV.

After a month, I went back to cable TV. Check out why:

When I used Sling TV, it worked great.

My TV is powered by Roku software, so getting started was a cinch. I just had to download the Sling TV app, and I could watch it on my existing set with no extra hardware.

Live TV over the internet using Sling TV never had to buffer, and it never cut out for me, either.

The guides and menus took a little time to get used to. By default, Sling TV looks a little like Netflix, showing you a series of thumbnail icons to show you what's available to watch. I prefer to channel-surf the old-fashioned way, though, so I switched that in the settings.

There were three clear benefits to using Sling TV. The best was that It would save me $60 a month, or $720 a year, from my regular cable bill.

Secondly, I could stream live TV to three different media streaming devices, like a Roku, at the same time instead of renting a cable box from my cable company.

Those cable boxes are bulky and cost you to rent them from your cable company. My particular cable company charges me an absurd $10 per month per cable box. Using a sleeker streaming device like a Roku or Chromecast that can hide behind your TV is great, and they can be had for as low as $20.

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