Football & Sling TV

[Palmetto Hog]

I'm thinking about cutting the cord & switching from Directv to Sling TV.  Has anybody else switched?  Will I be able to get college & NFL football on all my TV's?

[RME]

Would like to know this as well. For a 24 year-old, I'm not very tech-savvy. Read about it on the Sling website but I'm still not entirely sure how it works.

[nchogg]

You can also think about Kodi which I am not a spring chicken and it works on a fire stick, android streaming box, pc also. Cut the cord a couple of years ago and have taught friends of mine how to set it up. Watch games live sometimes  in 720p but the they play good when not.

[Pig in the Pokey]

You can also think about Kodi which I am not a spring chicken and it works on a fire stick, android streaming box, pc also. Cut the cord a couple of years ago and have taught friends of mine how to set it up. Watch games live sometimes  in 720p but the they play good when not.

it works but it's glitchy. sometimes it freezes and crashes, which SUCKS during a Hog game. Best bet is to get a friend who'll let you borrow their cable log in info and just use the cbs, espn, and fox apps. You'll miss nothing that way.

[31to6]

I'm thinking about cutting the cord & switching from Directv to Sling TV.  Has anybody else switched?  Will I be able to get college & NFL football on all my TV's?

There is no service that will get you anything close to what you can get for NFL football on DirectTV / U-verse.

sling gets you espn channels, espn3 and sec network so you are pretty set for SEC football
cbsonline streams all the CBS college games

For NFL, it is more difficult... you can get NFL network from sling and you can get your local broadcasts for free with an HD antenna...
But there is no package that I am aware of that lets you see any/all the games you might want to watch like NFL Season Ticket. If you have a local team you follow, NFL is easy.... if you are an NFL junkie and need ALL the games, you have to pay up to the cable/sattellite networks because they are not letting that go...

it's getting better (because people are ditching cable/satellite in droves) but it's not completely solved yet...

[pg1862]

We use Sling and have never had the glitchy problems unless we're in the room farthest from our wireless router. It's an app in Roku boxes and other devices....it streams through your internet connection. Worst thing about it is you can only watch it on one device at a time. So if you're watching a game on the 50 inch, others won't be able to watch anything else via Sling on a different TV or other device. They'll be relegated to Netflix or something else. $25 will get ya all the ESPN channels and the SEC Network. They have a higher package that will get you the Foxsports channels if you want those.

[rhames]

The best thing to do is call your provider. They will throw everything at you to keep you.

[Bacon_Bitz]

We use Sling and have never had the glitchy problems unless we're in the room farthest from our wireless router. It's an app in Roku boxes and other devices....it streams through your internet connection. Worst thing about it is you can only watch it on one device at a time. So if you're watching a game on the 50 inch, others won't be able to watch anything else via Sling on a different TV or other device. They'll be relegated to Netflix or something else. $25 will get ya all the ESPN channels and the SEC Network. They have a higher package that will get you the Foxsports channels if you want those.

Is the picture as crisp and continuous as cable HD? How fast of an Internet connection do you need to stream this well? I suppose if Netflix looks fine, then Sling would too?

[rhames]

Is the picture as crisp and continuous as cable HD? How fast of an Internet connection do you need to stream this well? I suppose if Netflix looks fine, then Sling would too?

I haven't seen anything from sling but the streaming of espn through my Xbox one is amazing.

The Internet speed needed just depends on how many people are in your house streaming at the same time.



I watch a lot of tv lol. I thought about cutting the cord but then began to do the math of all the services I would get if I did that. Hulu, hbo now, etc.  After that the prices wasn't too far off from direct tv. Well worth me staying after calling them. I also get nfl sunday ticket with them. This is all my opinion though and what works best for me 


Also direct tv seems to be getting more and more 4k content. Hopefully espn with be right behind them.

[DZ]

I have slingtv as well and the glitches are rare, I have the mid-tier cox internet connection. Leaf antenna for local channels.  The only thing that might be annoying about sling is, the delay for broadcast is slightly longer than cable, so  if you have the radio on it will be a good bit ahead. for the money it beats cox uverse direct tv or anything else by a long shot. 

[DZ]

Is the picture as crisp and continuous as cable HD? How fast of an Internet connection do you need to stream this well? I suppose if Netflix looks fine, then Sling would too?

it can actually be better, Cox only broadcast in 720P anyway so thats all you're ever getting on your HDTV, unless something has changed recently. you can set sling to broadcast in 1080P.

[Inhogswetrust]

The best thing to do is call your provider. They will throw everything at you to keep you.

We had uverse for years and they didn't. Cut the cord and saving $1,500 per year even with Roku. Since we have Hog season tickets we aren't able to watch a lot of other games anyway.

[rhames]

it can actually be better, Cox only broadcast in 720P anyway so thats all you're ever getting on your HDTV, unless something has changed recently. you can set sling to broadcast in 1080P.

It's hasn't. All broadcasts are in 720p or 1080i

[rhames]

We had uverse for years and they didn't. Cut the cord and saving $1,500 per year even with Roku. Since we have Hog season tickets we aren't able to watch a lot of other games anyway.

Awesome for you.  In the end it's whatever works out best for the individual.

[Hawghiggs]

 I have it. Works well most of the time. But does glitch/pause a little.

[PigTimePlayer]

It is only as good as your internet connection/speed. I tried it for a while but the sports just drove me crazy because I couldn't depend on it. the picture was ok but not as good as with satellite. I really wanted to do it to save some money, but it just wasn't dependable for us. Plus, I like the DVR too much. I guess you could use it with a TiVo device?

If you have really good hi-speed internet that is dependable and don't mind giving up some picture quality, then you will probably like it. If your internet is slow/sketchy then you will probably be frustrated.

[Inhogswetrust]

Awesome for you.  In the end it's whatever works out best for the individual.

My inability to watch a whole lot of other games when traveling to see the Hogs and the cost savings made the differences for me. That might not apply in all cases. I have missed some games I would have liked to watch but I still could have gone to a sports bar and watched them if I had wanted too bad enough.

[Hammibal Lecter]

PlayStation vue is another option, and has much better selection and a larger channel package. Both vue and sling have signed deals with the NFL and both will have NFL network and NFL redzone available in time for the season. They will be add ons and word is it will cost around $10 to add them both.

We run vue through Amazon FireTV and have had zero issues and love it. The caveat is we have great internet and everything is hard wired so no wifi BS. Picture quality has been top notch with zero difference other than a slight streaming delay(about 20 seconds behind live action, whereas satellite was only maybe 3-5 seconds behind).

[TomasPistola]

PlayStation vue is another option, and has much better selection and a larger channel package. Both vue and sling have signed deals with the NFL and both will have NFL network and NFL redzone available in time for the season. They will be add ons and word is it will cost around $10 to add them both.

We run vue through Amazon FireTV and have had zero issues and love it. The caveat is we have great internet and everything is hard wired so no wifi BS. Picture quality has been top notch with zero difference other than a slight streaming delay(about 20 seconds behind live action, whereas satellite was only maybe 3-5 seconds behind).

Agree with Vue. Good option and flexible channel selections.

[k.c.hawg]

I know people  that try it with 20-30 mb internet and it can suck and be frustrating. 50-100-300 mb or 1gb see no problem.

[songofthesword]

I use sling works perfectly

[daprospecta]

Combination of sling TV and FreeTelly app will have you all set.

[longpig]

We use Sling and have never had the glitchy problems unless we're in the room farthest from our wireless router. It's an app in Roku boxes and other devices....it streams through your internet connection. Worst thing about it is you can only watch it on one device at a time. So if you're watching a game on the 50 inch, others won't be able to watch anything else via Sling on a different TV or other device. They'll be relegated to Netflix or something else. $25 will get ya all the ESPN channels and the SEC Network. They have a higher package that will get you the Foxsports channels if you want those.

We have sling and ours freezes  a lot, TV is about 30 feet and one wall from the router.  Will moving closer help?  I'll watch TV in the hallway if it'll make a difference.   getting paranoid

[20hog11]

I have sling and use a digital antenna for local channels which will cover the games on cbs. I don't have the fastest internet plan from cox it's like the middle tier. I purposely got sling in late June to make sure and test it before football season started. It is a bit glitchy on my roku 2 player, but I have found that you can download the watch ESPN app on the roku and it seems to work better than trying to watch directly from Sling. I wouldn't say that it is as great as cable, but $25 for sling + $55 for internet beats having to pay $150 for cable and internet through cox.

[daprospecta]

Sling now has a 40$ dollar tier that is on par with most basic cable packages and it has multiple streams. I don't have that one but Sling's portability is what I like and you can cancel whenever. I went 4 months without it and just signed back up with the NFL/CFB seasons coming up. No set-top boxes, no contracts and you don't even have to call to cancel. 

[20hog11]

We have sling and ours freezes  a lot, TV is about 30 feet and one wall from the router.  Will moving closer help?  I'll watch TV in the hallway if it'll make a difference.   getting paranoid

I moved my router and modem to the living room and connected the router directly to the roku box to ensure that I get the best connection possible. Seems to do the trick.

[arkhogball]

Sling Orange package ($20 + $5 for SEC net and other sports channels) will give you ESPN and deuce, but the Blue package ($25) will not.  Also with Orange, you will be able to sign into the WatchESPN app with your sling ID and PW.  The Blue package has a few more stations and the NFL Network, but you lose the ESPN channels.  The $5 sports package for Blue does not include ESPN.   This morning I thought I had it figured out, and was going to upgrade to the Blue and just sign in to WatchESPN app with the sling ID and PW.  It didn't work.  Once you upgrade to the Blue, you can't sign on to WatchESPN.  You can add the packages together for $40 total, but that is actually more than most cable companies basic package that will give you ESPN and NFL.  You can't get both with Sling TV for less than $40.  One other difference with the two packages is that with Blue you can stream on more devices that just one at a time.

[Hogimus Prime]

I'm dropping sling tv.  I hav cox's fastest internet.  Been trying playstation uve on our roku 2. Haven't had the issues had with sling.  I got the highest channel package and I'm paying 44.99 a month.  Every espn channel, except espn classic, all the fox sports and the sec network.

With sling you can combine the blue and orange packages for 40 a month, plus tax, but you will have to pay another 5 bucks for the sec network espn u and espn news.

[MissippHog]

We cut the cord and went with Sling, Netflix, and Kodi and we haven't looked back.  The only reason that I have kept Netflix is the kids find it really easy to use.  As for sling, it's been pretty dependable for us.  It rarely cuts out or freezes.  We do have the top tier from Xfinity for internet though but we have multiple devices running all the time. 

[Arkamedes]

We have sling and ours freezes  a lot, TV is about 30 feet and one wall from the router.  Will moving closer help?  I'll watch TV in the hallway if it'll make a difference.   getting paranoid

Longpig, I had a problem with a weak wifi signal. I bought a wifi range extender and plugged it in next to my TV. Still didn't fix everything so I ran a short ethernet cable from the range extender to the TV and it did wonders. You might give that a try before sitting in the hallway. Woo Pig!

[The Great Hambino]

Cut cord years ago. Kodi, [CENSORED], popcorn time, now watch live tv, ota, basically all I need.

[The Big O Oliver Squeeler]

The ONLY reason I stay with DTV is Sunday Ticket.  If Amzn, Goog, Netflix ever buys the rights for Sunday ticket, I'm gone.

[Dominicanhog]

I miss several  Hog games because my cable provider doesn't carry much American football and the SEC network won't work in the Dominican Republic, stating they (SEC network) don't have an agreement with my provider..

Any ideas about a service that might work for streaming when traveling?

[nchogg]

it works but it's glitchy. sometimes it freezes and crashes, which SUCKS during a Hog game. Best bet is to get a friend who'll let you borrow their cable log in info and just use the cbs, espn, and fox apps. You'll miss nothing that way.

I don't have that problem. Mine never crashes or freezes but I set mine own up from scratch and never use a preloaded that comes on a box. The latest version really works good and the picture is good. Watched the Arkansas spring game again last week. That's just me.

[Hog N Bama]

In summary, you get what you pay for more times than not.

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

I have AT&T Uverse.
I'm on a bundled contract that saves me about $30 a month.

Combined, my Internet and cable are running about $120 a month.
Considering I have a ton of premium channels included and the documentary package, that's not bad.

If I actually had more expenses and left the apartment much, I might cut back.
However, I live pretty frugally.
This is my only real frivolous expense.

EDIT:
Why has the documentary been pulled out of many of the documentary channels?
So many are reality TV instead.

[nchogg]

Longpig, I had a problem with a weak wifi signal. I bought a wifi range extender and plugged it in next to my TV. Still didn't fix everything so I ran a short ethernet cable from the range extender to the TV and it did wonders. You might give that a try before sitting in the hallway. Woo Pig!

My sister had the same problem with her media box she used wireless and I checked the speed and it was dropping off too much so I put a powerline from her router to her box and she got good speed and has had no more problems. Something else to consider, a cable provider router many time will drop off the speed. A friend had 75mbs and used his cable router and got 2mbs at his box and laptop and sometimes it would cut out so I connected my Linksys router to one of the ports on his cable router and he was getting 75mbs on both his laptop and his box. Just a thought.

[Hog N Bama]

I have AT&T Uverse.
I'm on a bundled contract that saves me about $30 a month.

Combined, my Internet and cable are running about $120 a month.
Considering I have a ton of premium channels included and the documentary package, that's not bad.

If I actually had more expenses and left the apartment much, I might cut back.
However, I live pretty frugally.
This is my only real frivolous expense.

EDIT:
Why has the documentary been pulled out of many of the documentary channels?
So many are reality TV instead.

to make room for the Shark vacuum infomercial

[FANONTHEHILL]

We have a  SlinGTV with the Blue/Otange combo subscription and ad the sports package for $5 more. It runs just under $45/month.  We have 100mbps internet that we would have anyway, so I don't count it in the total.  For network tv, we have a leaf HD antenna. ABC, MBC, CBS, Fox, and other channels.  If it's broadcast in HD, we get it in excellent quality.  So for SEC games on CBS it antenna, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and SEC Network are through Sling.  You also get Fox Sports if you want to watch things like Big 12 and
Pac-12 teams play 7 on 7.  We're very happy with it.  When we were with Uverse, we had internet, home phone (which we never used and cancelled) and TV bundled and spent almost twice what we do now.

[ricepig]

We have a  SlinGTV with the Blue/Otange combo subscription and ad the sports package for $5 more. It runs just under $45/month.  We have 100mbps internet that we would have anyway, so I don't count it in the total.  For network tv, we have a leaf HD antenna. ABC, MBC, CBS, Fox, and other channels.  If it's broadcast in HD, we get it in excellent quality.  So for SEC games on CBS it antenna, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and SEC Network are through Sling.  You also get Fox Sports if you want to watch things like Big 12 and
Pac-12 teams play 7 on 7.  We're very happy with it.  When we were with Uverse, we had internet, home phone (which we never used and cancelled) and TV bundled and spent almost twice what we do now.

How many people under 60 still have a home phone? I cut ours out about 5 years ago and haven't missed it one bit. I probably should have sooner, but decided I might need the home phone for something other than robo calls.......

[rzrbackramsfan]

We use Sling and have never had the glitchy problems unless we're in the room farthest from our wireless router. It's an app in Roku boxes and other devices....it streams through your internet connection. Worst thing about it is you can only watch it on one device at a time. So if you're watching a game on the 50 inch, others won't be able to watch anything else via Sling on a different TV or other device. They'll be relegated to Netflix or something else. $25 will get ya all the ESPN channels and the SEC Network. They have a higher package that will get you the Foxsports channels if you want those.

I had sling but used iPhone to chromecast and had a ton of glitch problems.  I might give them another try though and use a roku.  Sling has a deal where if you get three months of sling they'll give you a roku 2 for free.

[murthage]

Sling Tv requires a Good internet signal.  It is viewable on my Galaxy S7 Android, iPhone, iPad, and MacbookAir. NO problems... $20 per month plus $5 and... taxes for All the ESPN channels and many other channels.  We love HGTV and History Channel and many others.  NFL is not available on SlingTV.  There is no contract.... you can cancel anytime.  However, when I got ours, they had a special where if you signed up for 90 days, you got a bonus on either a Roku or Amazon FireStick.  I have both, and like the Amazon FireStick since I am an Amazon Prime member and love their AmazonVideos, like Bosch.

There are NFL Apps which would fill that bill, if you have the capability to display your mobile device on your HDTV. 

I live in Memphis and get 30+ channels on my RCA $29 over air antenna.... NOT rabbit ears.

I have been cable free for 2 years, and love it.  Monthly $25 for Comcast Internet and $25 for SlingTV, plus the annual cost for Amazon prime, and of course, my wife's need for NetFlix.

Basically.... for $25 you can try it for a month, and if you don't like it cancel.  I get my moneys worth on ESPNSEC network alone.  Also, I have watched Being Bret Bielema on ESPNU without a glitch.. Only problem I have, is I cannot record programs to view later.  I can use Tivo on some of our channels, but they are not SlingTV channels.

Just checked my internet speed:  21.09 MBS Down and 24.04MBS Up

Works perfectly.....

[popcornhog]

it works but it's glitchy. sometimes it freezes and crashes, which SUCKS during a Hog game. Best bet is to get a friend who'll let you borrow their cable log in info and just use the cbs, espn, and fox apps. You'll miss nothing that way.

Are you serious? If a friend asked me for my log in info so that they could stop paying for cable -- I don't think I would even think they were being serious.

I certainly wouldn't have the balls to ask a friend to essentially pay for my cable.

[popcornhog]

I'm thinking about cutting the cord & switching from Directv to Sling TV.  Has anybody else switched?  Will I be able to get college & NFL football on all my TV's?

Bottom line -- if you do this,'are sure you're paying for the top of the line/premium internet speed.

We're fortunate to have google fiber in KC with gigabit Internet speed at a reasonable rate , so it's all good. But if you're relying on a low speed internet connection, results will be iffy.

[murthage]

Missed one of your questions..... You can only watch SlingTV on one device at a time in the US, unless you are transmitting the signal from that device to your HDTV, using AppleTV or something similar.

[razortaz]

The best thing to do is call your provider. They will throw everything at you to keep you.

not attend uverse they are trying to steer customers to direct TV they used to help me all the time but now will not at all they just recommend switching to direct tv

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

This thread has come around about three times now since about March.

Would it be a good idea to sticky it?

[SooiecidetillNuttgone]

not attend uverse they are trying to steer customers to direct TV they used to help me all the time but now will not at all they just recommend switching to direct tv

They sure we're good to me.

That's weird.

[rhames]

not attend uverse they are trying to steer customers to direct TV they used to help me all the time but now will not at all they just recommend switching to direct tv

Probably because att is slowly going to convert everyone to DirecTV

[31to6]

Probably because att is slowly going to convert everyone to DirecTV

Their network can't keep up with the data demands so they want to push all the TV to satellite. It's not actually a bad strategy.

The problem that I have with all of those guys are: a) local monopolies b) ludicrous equipment rental fees for mediocre-at-best equipment and c) two-year contracts with obscene price hikes after the first year introductory rates expire.

If cable cutting and cable cost *exactly the same* I would still do it for the freedom and to give them the finger.

Thankfully, though, it is also much cheaper.