How To Get TV in the Boonies?

[skfullgun]

I bought my future retirement home about 2 years ago. It's on acreage in deep east Texas, about 25 miles from Lufkin. I'm talking deep and uncut!

I've got a 30 ft traditional antenna and get one tv channel regularly. Sometimes I get a second channel, and during the winter when the foilage is off the trees I get several more, but only at night when conditions are perfect. I basically get one channel.

My at&t cellphone works dependably.

What are my options for TV?

Would a hotspot and something like SLING or HULU connect to my TV and allow me to see local programming and such?

I'm not into professional sports and at my current home in Houston I have and am quite happy with a tradtional antenna and over the air coverage. I don't think that's an option here unless I go 60' plus!

My neighbors have either Satellite or cable, but I don't think cable is an option for me since I'm almost 1/2 mile off the road. And I really don't want to pay for Satellite.

Thanks for any info or insight you could offer

 

[AZ Refugee]

Hotspot would work, but the cost would be prohibitive as you would need a lot of data to stream HULU or SLING, Satellite would be cheaper in comparison

 

[karlac]

See if the cable company that your neighbors have offers broadband Internet. 1/2 mile is not that far to justify a cable drop is many rural areas.

If so, you can use a smart TV, or device like Roku, AppleTV, etc to pick up both local and many cable channels over the Internet connection.

I'm in a small, but steep valley here in AR, have no antenna reception at all, but pay for an Internet connection only from the local cable provider. Even though I'm in AR, I get Houston stations using GoogleTV.

 

[FireInTheWire]

Sounds like a great place for no TV.

 

[skfullgun]

Sounds like a great place for no TV.

Until you are here for weeks at a time...

 

[baboon]

As sad as it may sound, TV becomes many older folks only company.

 

[WT_Foxtrot]

Honestly satellite is probably your best bet. Close friends of ours have a cabin way off the beaten path in SE OK that we go to often. Their satellite provider (DirecTV I think) set a dish up there on the same account they use at home and it's a nominal extra fee every month, like $5 or so. They just have to bring a box with them when they go to hook up and get the same programming they get at home. I know several people who do the same thing at their deer leases or ranches.

Of course you'd have to get satellite at home too and it sounds like you don't want or need it. But you could get the cheapest package available.

 

[FireInTheWire]

Until you are here for weeks at a time...

TV is disappointing to watch.

But.. if your looking for internet tv, YT or Netflix's... these folks been good to us.
https://www.twncomm.com/

 

[vmax]

I have DirecTV at my home on town and I rent an extra reciever for about $6/month and I have the same service at my ranch house in the country.

 

[karlac]

As sad as it may sound, TV becomes many older folks only company.

Not too bad so far ... have a wife in Texas, but not one in AR, yet; a pup, a fishing boat, internet connected TV news, and an old Marine gunny neighbor I get to trade insults with over drinks every night.

Life’s good ... in no particular order.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Satellite could be the best option, but be prepared to pay about $100 a month unless you can get one of their introductory deals. If you are going to want internet and TV, cable may be a better option if they will string a line to your house. It's still gonna cost you at least $100 a month tho.

Satellite internet sucks. I'm talking to you HughesNet.

 

[sergeant69]

Satellite could be the best option, but be prepared to pay about $100 a month unless you can get one of their introductory deals. If you are going to want internet and TV, cable may be a better option if they will string a line to your house. It's still gonna cost you at least $100 a month tho.

Satellite internet sucks. I'm talking to you HughesNet.

absolutely 1000% TRUE! hughesnet, wildblue, et al

 

[sergeant69]

Not too bad so far ... have a wife in Texas, but not one in AR, yet; a pup, a fishing boat, internet connected TV news, and an old Marine gunny neighbor I get to trade insults with over drinks every night.

Life’s good ... in no particular order.

just living the dream!!

 

[avvidclif]

I don't know about Hughesnet but Viasat isn't bad.

 

[karlac]

I don't know about Hughesnet but Viasat isn't bad.

Parents had Hughesnet at their farm.
Maybe its gotten better, but it sure sucked last time I looked.

 

[GoPappy]

Here are some tips and ideas:
https://moneypantry.com/watch-local-tv-without-cable/

And here's a cool government site that will show you the digital TV signals in your area:
https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

PS: Is "cool government site" a non-sequitur?

 

[Younggun]

Parents had Hughesnet at their farm.
Maybe its gotten better, but it sure sucked last time I looked.

Gonna second this experience with satellite based internet.


We are in an area where we can’t even get dial up. Tried Satellite and it was expensive, the bandwidth limits made its use for TV/movies out of the question. Even using it for work/browsing gave us problems.

Unless there have been some major changes I wouldn’t touch it. Our experience was with Wildblue. By the time our contract ended and I called to tell them to shut it off the company was under new ownership and tried to sell me higher speeds with a lower data limit for more money.


That said, Elon Musk is working on his Starlink internet service. It’s supposed to create a satellite network that will provide high speed internet service to just about every corner of the globe at a reasonable cost. I’m interested to see where it goes and how it compares to other satellite options. For now, I wouldn’t recommend satellite service to anyone simply based on my past experiences.


As far as getting drops for high speed. We have fiber optic lines running in the ditch in front of the house. There is high speed internet a quarter mile up the road at the corner and a mile away in the other direction. I’ve called, they would do nothing for us. Even offered to pay for the installation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sucker76]

I bought my future retirement home about 2 years ago. It's on acreage in deep east Texas, about 25 miles from Lufkin. I'm talking deep and uncut!

I've got a 30 ft traditional antenna and get one tv channel regularly. Sometimes I get a second channel, and during the winter when the foilage is off the trees I get several more, but only at night when conditions are perfect. I basically get one channel.

My at&t cellphone works dependably.

What are my options for TV?

Would a hotspot and something like SLING or HULU connect to my TV and allow me to see local programming and such?

I'm not into professional sports and at my current home in Houston I have and am quite happy with a tradtional antenna and over the air coverage. I don't think that's an option here unless I go 60' plus!

My neighbors have either Satellite or cable, but I don't think cable is an option for me since I'm almost 1/2 mile off the road. And I really don't want to pay for Satellite.

Thanks for any info or insight you could offer

Try this link. Enter the nearest zip code and then you can move the blue pointer on the map over where you actually are. It then displays all stations and directions to them. I found just 3 withing a general rural area around Lufkin. Your results will be more accurate. There is also a check box for antenna above 30 ft. Make sure to check that.

edit for link I forgot: https://antennaweb.org/Address

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I'm in The Woodlands, I tried the website.
Even clicking 30' antenna, it states zero channels.

 

[pronstar]

What are your options for broadband, besides your cell phone?
I don’t see this mentioned in your post...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro