how many subscriptions

[LivingAlmostLarge]

How many subscriptions do you guys pay for? Do you think it's less than cable?

We only pay for HBO premium annually for tv. But we have amazon prime, costco membership paid for annually.

We also have from amex platinum walmart+, clear membership, NYT for free monthly.

I go back an forth on having netflix. Mostly because we don't watch enough tv.

[kork13]

Media subscriptions that we actually pay for? Just Paramount+, Pandora Premium (music) & technically Amazon Prime (never used it much for streaming, more for the shopping benefits… but cancelling soon, since that stuff doesn’t work in Japan).

We get Hulu, Disney+, and Peacock effectively for free through Amex benefits. I also get WaPost digital access (free to military). If we didn’t have those ones for free, the only one I’d keep is Disney+, maybe Hulu.

As a whole, we pay ~$30/mo. The free ones would normally cost us another ~$40/mo if we paid for them all. So we are paying less than a basic cable package (I think? Is that $40-$50/mo? Don’t know, I’ve not had cable TV for over 15 years) … but even if we weren’t saving money on it, the streaming services are more tailored to what I’m actually interested in, on-demand selection, and mostly ad-free (we pay the extra for no ads). The better overall experience is well worth whatever the minor cost difference could be.

[Tabs]

Streaming subscriptions are such an atrocious experience right now. I wish I don't have to go to every website just to sign up for each one, but at the same time, I also do not want to go back to the days of cable packages where you are forced to buy 100 channels you don't watch just to get the 3 that you do watch. And then, there are still ads to watch everywhere.

For better or worse though, they are starting to consolidate, such as Disney+ / Hulu / Max (used to be ESPN too), or that you can get Paramount+ on a bunch of other places, such as YouTube or Apple TV.

To answer your question, right now, I have the Apple bundle deal, and Netflix. However, I also like Paramount+, and kind of waffle back and forth between that and Netflix, depending on what shows I want to watch from each one.

Beyond that, I also have Amazon for online shopping mostly.

[disneysteve]

I'm not sure I want to know.

For TV, we have Sling, Netflix, and Disney. Our daughter has Paramount. She had Max but dropped it recently. We have Prime but for shopping primarily though there are a number of shows we have watched on their streaming service.

Non-TV stuff we belong to BJs which is well worth the cost. We have Planet Fitness memberships. We've got an HVAC service contract. I subscribe to Kiplinger's magazine.

Do memberships count? AAA and AARP.

[cypher1]

Main ones are WSJ, YouTube Premium, IPVanish, My Stocks Portfolio (widget), Chase Sapphire, Citi Costco, AAA Roadside Assistance, LA Fitness. Amazon Prime (canceling May 2025 when student discount expires), Spotify (canceling by end of this year).

[srblanco7]

Way too many monthly/annual subscriptions (e.g., hulu+ bundle, amazon prime, gym membership, pest control, wsj, wapo).

As to the original question, the cost of our entertainment related monthly subscriptions is still far less than what were paying for cable, with the difference being largely based on the need to rent equipment (to the tune of about $100/month) as part of our cable subscription.

[Tabs]

...IPVanish....

Why that particular one? I assume it's good, or at least reputable? Does it limit your bandwidth badly, and how is the uptime?

[ua_guy]

Subscriptions are one thing that we don't typically manage as a household, even if we share the service. There's good and bad to that. I'm anti-subscription and have very few, and watch them like a hawk. DH subscribes to something if he likes it, and has many. He shares, of course, if I'm also interested in the service, but I'm rarely ever the one to want to sign up for something on a recurring basis.

[cypher1]

Why that particular one? I assume it's good, or at least reputable? Does it limit your bandwidth badly, and how is the uptime?

IPVanish is more of a budget VPN service. I've used for about six years now, but may start pricing out new services or setup my own. I think the first year annual cost is 49.99 and goes up to 89.99 the following year. The more expensive ones are ExpressVPN and NordVPN off the top of my head, but I think they provide more functions and features for the price. Uptime is great for service on my phone and windows machines, I don't worry about random disconnects.

As for bandwidth limit with mine, I'd say it drops about 50% for download and upload speeds since testing on my phone. I never stream shows, only podcasts and music and use wifi 90% of the time, which is another reason I have the smallest data plan with Mint Mobile. I think it would be a good starter service for that extra layer of protection on any mobile phone for privacy.

[kork13]

The more expensive ones are ExpressVPN and NordVPN off the top of my head, but I think they provide more functions and features for the price.

I've been using NordVPN for about a year now, generally happy with it. Not flawless, but it functions well & has plenty of different servers to play with if for some reason one of them isn't working right.

[EasyMoney00]

We have Amazon prime, YouTube TV and of course cable internet. That's it.

[Tabs]

We have Amazon prime, YouTube TV and of course cable internet. That's it.

How do you like YouTube TV? In your experience, how does it compare to traditional cable TV?

[comicguy]

Monthly Subsciptions:
Amazon Prime (more for shipping than streaming but does have some good shows)
Disney Plus
Hulu Live
Discovery Plus
Kindle Unlimited
Scribd