Review | 5 Reasons Sling Was Stupid and 1 Reason It Wasn't

Back to school stuff is already out in stores, but for me back to school season means Fall Shows! That's what I'm excited about. The past 2 years since I started working, I've signed up for cable at a whopping $90/mon incl taxes and fees.  However when summer rolls around, the TV show offerings leave a lot to be desired. And while this still doesn't motivate me enough to frolic outdoors, I don't seem to have as much focus on my television watching.  So for Summer 2016, I opted for a seasonal hiatus for about 2 months. Then in Summer 2017, I did a seasonal hiatus for 3 months. For Summer 2018, I actually started my hiatus in Feb 2018 because my side hustle did not allow for much free time to watch TV. For the spring of 2018, I relied on access to my brother's Netflix subscription (via app on free-ish iPad) and free CBS app. Every now and then, I sprinkled in a few 1 week trials (e.g. Hulu, CBS All Access) to catch up on some shows. The seasonal  hiatus is a good way to justify the expense the other parts of the year. Right? 

Anyway in my intermittent pursuit to cut cable costs, in May I had reason to try streaming TV via my (now) beloved Roku (no affiliate).

Related Content: My Week Ending May 11, 2018: Duty Free, Tampa, Roku

I tried Sling TV. While it met my basic needs, Sling was a stupid choice for a single 30-something.

What you get
If you prepay 2 months ($20/mon for basic package), you get a free Roku device.
You get about 20 something random "lifestyle channels."
You think you might get into these channels, but you don't. The good channels are extra. And to add extras, that's at least 5 more dollars.
7-day free trials available (try that first).
 

Sling was stupid, here's why:

• You need an antenna to get basic channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc).
• Of the 20+ a la carte channels, most of them were news and sports. Lame.
• Between watching TBS and HGTV, I chose to watch the wall. I knew the channels beforehand, but I love TV so much I thought any channel would be better than nothing. It wasn’t.
• When you do succumb and watch HGTV, all the shows glitch at the end.
• Sound quality on the Lifetime on-demand shows was diseased. Watch the shows on volume = 82, commercials on volume = 12. Annoying.
• 3 desirable channels aren’t worth $20/mon.
• The app crashes if you watch too long. With 'too long' being various amounts of time.

Final thoughts
Granted it was gotten in an un-researched attempt to get quick access to TV for my elderly relative, as the rich people say, I've had better. I would probably go back to cable before I paid for Sling again. Thanks for the Roku!

Oh! The one positive...
I was able to watch the Royal Wedding live and that was really nice!

Related Content:

• 5 Free Things I Learned From YouTube: A Listicle
• 7 Cheeky Ways To Save on Your Energy Bill This Month: A Listicle

Follow/ Like/ Subscribe