In my household we are sort of half-assing the cord cutting thing. I dumped Direct TV and replaced it with Directv Now. I still have Fios for internet, phone and yes a limited TV selection. Lots and lots of cords there. It is a step in the right direction though, from paying close to $300 per month for all services. I got in at the beginning of the Directv Now launch and took advantage of the lifetime special pricing and free Apple TV.
It’s been 11 months now since my foray into streaming television service and results have been mixed. As you may have heard, the issues at launch were numerous and nearly fatal to the experiment. The picture would freeze constantly with the occasional error message mixed in for a change of pace. The only way to get the programming to continue was to log out of the app or change the channel and then change it back. This was less than ideal. One of the things I like to do is have TV on for going to sleep. Clearly I don’t want to be refreshing the stream while snoring.
Channel selection was a bit off as well. There was no CBS and NBC would only show certain programming using the Apple TV app (no NFL…big loss I know). 
More importantly for certain members of my household, there was, and is no DVR service. Egad! No chance of switching completely out of cable or Fios without that. You could technically pause the live show and come back to it later. The only problem was that it would seem to start up live again rather than where you had paused. Helpful.
Okay, that was then. AT&T has come a long way baby. There are very few picture issues these days and I almost never deal with a frozen picture. Even when this does happen, it will come back before too long all on its own. As a matter of fact, I only watch the Premier League on Directv Now. The Fios broadcast always seems to be jumpy and pixelated, while the stream on Directv Now is perfect.
CBS and NBC have been added to the lineup and for all of their programming. This is certainly a big step and saves time having to switch between services, depending what is currently on. Obviously, this is a necessity for cutting out cable/fios altogether.
And then there’s Maude.
Wait, no…DVR is what I’m talking about. Direct TV Now is set to launch DVR service at the end of 2017 (currently in Beta testing). Wait a minute, make that early 2018. This is your game changer and I can see Fios hittin’ the road soon. Well, except for needing them for internet service of course. With any luck, this future update will take care of a couple other issues I have with the service. Namely, a better way to change channels, a last channel button, and the number of separate streams you are allowed. Currently you can only have two streams going at any one time. When my children grow up this would not work at all.
Am I happy with Directv Now? Absolutely. Would I switch again without the favorable rate? Yes, I believe I still would. From what I can see they are still offering some good deals to switch. Give it a shot if you’re up for cutting one of your cords. (Just keep in the back of your mind the issue of explaining to your parents how to watch TV if they come over to babysit 😋).
Chico