Cut the cord today

[firecracker725]

I wanted to do it, but each time I call they want to charge me the same to keep the internet. Ridiculous, but I can't find another high speed internet option. So I still have cable, "for free" with my internet, basically.

What do you all do for internet, what options do you have?

We have DSL through a local company for about $45/month.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

I really want to get rid of DirecTV but I haven't figured out what the best option would be. We have Comcast for internet and would love to get rid of them too, but I think our only other internet provider is DirecTV . But our internet is horribly spotty so any cable replacement that streams through the internet probably wouldn't work too well. I'm completely tech illiterate so trying to understand this stuff is like

 

[chiisai]

My internet is from AT&T and was separate from my DirecTV. I was paying $70 for Internet and $153 for TV. Now I am paying $70 for Internet and $35 for TV.

Thanks. I'll look into this.

 

[chiisai]

We have DSL through a local company for about $45/month.

Thanks, will look into this.

 

[MillauFr]

I still don't understand how they can justify charging $100+ a month to force you to watch commercials. They should pay you to have cable in your house. Not the other way around. For $100 a month the programs should be commercial free.

 

[mousefan73]

We did years ago. Helps is you don't care about sports. We don't. My kids did miss some latest Disney channel shows. But youtube or buying a DVDs helps and is cheaper!!

 

[sam_gordon]

I still don't understand how they can justify charging $100+ a month to force you to watch commercials. They should pay you to have cable in your house. Not the other way around. For $100 a month the programs should be commercial free.

Think about this for a little bit...
1) $100/month covers multiple (probably at least 100 if not 200) channels.
2) Cable and satellite companies pay networks to carry them. The more popular the channels (ESPN, NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, etc), the more they cost per month.
3) No one forces anyone to get cable or satellite. OTA is free (granted, not everyone can receiver, but most can). People have the choice.
4) I'd hate to think what the monthly costs would be if commercials were done away with. I just looked at Dish and their "premium" channels (HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, etc) are around $10/month for each package. So think about what networks would charge to do away with commercials.

 

[MomofKatie]

We finally cut the cable when we moved. We were paying $175/month for Spectrum regular speed internet and 200 (mostly unwatched) channels.

We now have high speed internet for $60/month and bought Amazon Fire TV boxes. We have Prime and subscribed to PlayStation Vue for $45/month. It has about 60 channels, including local ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox. We also get all the live sports channels we wanted (the ESPNs, NBC sports, Fox Sports 1 and 2, SEC and Big 10 networks, etc). We are saving about $70/month and getting all the content we want.

It took a little getting used to the new menus and controls,, and there was the one-time cost of the Fire TV boxes, but we will save a lot over time. It has been a great experience and we wouldn't go back to cable or satellite.

 

[Hikergirl]

I am thinking of cutting the TV portion of my Fios, I think it would be $70 less per month if I did.
Between Netflix and Amazon there is plenty for us to watch. My youngest does like NBA so I was looking into Sling or maybe just getting an HDTV antennae for local stations so he can catch some games that way.
Haven't pulled the plug yet but I'm close.

 

[sam_gordon]

My youngest does like NBA so I was looking into Sling or maybe just getting an HDTV antennae for local stations so he can catch some games that way.

I suggest doing some research to see how often the locals carry his favorite teams (or just NBA if he doesn't have a favorite).

 

[Rockette]

I travel a lot with my work. I have an Amazon Fire Stick. It's not as fast as the box, but the portability of it more than outweighs the disadvantages of it.

I've never had cable, and I suspect my age group you will find a similar consensus (I'm 27).

Cable TV is going the way of the dinosaur, and fast.

 

[Hikergirl]

I suggest doing some research to see how often the locals carry his favorite teams (or just NBA if he doesn't have a favorite).

Last year I purchased the NBA pass but I am not doing it this year. I have no idea what channels play the games other than ESPN. That is why I am leaning towards Sling. I will check the local channels though, even though he doesn't like any NY teams. I figure we can catch them when they play his favorites.
I know my dad will be disappointed if I drop my Fios TV, he is always visiting to see me and the kids but I know it is for all my sports channels LOL

 

[firefly_ris]

Cut the cord in 2006.

I pay $50/month for high speed cable internet. When we lived in the 'burbs, I had a home made (from Popular Science) antenna that sat in the attic and got all the locals in hi def. Now we are a little further out in the sticks and so I have a roof top antenna. Sports that only air on cable we view online....

I also pay $10/month for Netflix but am considering cancelling it. It's becoming tough to justify, we hardly use it, and I can't see spending $10/month just to wait for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Stranger Things for me and The Ranch for my husband. I could always watch it on someone else's Netflix when those shows come out.

My parents pay about $250/month for Comcast internet, TV and phone, and they hate the phone service.... and only watch like 4 channels out of the entire cable package. They don't even have a DVR. They do have a lot of TV sets in their house and I guess you have to pay to have some kind of cable doohicky attached to each one... plus they have to "rent" the modem, among other stuff. It seems to really add up. My dad is thinking about cancelling it and trying out SlingTV and Hulu instead but he hasn't done it just yet.

 

[wgeo]

We cut the cord years ago -don't miss it, except the husband who sometimes misses some NFL games, but he finds most of them online if he really cares. We put up aantenna that looks like a piece of paper and get all the local stations from the large city 40 miles away. We have one local station that doesn't come in reliably with the antenna but we can stream everything they show on the roku or internet. We actually watched their stream for about 24 hours straight during the hurricane. Can't imagine going back to paying for cable. It is more work to learn how to navigate the internet streaming of stuff and sometimes takes a minute or two to get a show started instead of how instant it is with cable - but that is so worth the $$ savings to me.

 

[MillauFr]

Cable TV is going the way of the dinosaur, and fast.

Agreed. I don't know why Cable companies aren't adapting faster. The cable companies are in the same position movie rental stores were 10 years ago. If they don't act fast they are going to be eliminated. Younger people expect to have cheap streaming and pick when they want to watch shows.

 

[Tinijocaro]

My husband won't cut the cord because of hockey and football. What do those of you who love sports do?

 

[xlxo]

I cut the cord for 5 years.... but things changed....

• more taller buildings around me causing poor signals
• time shifting (watching programs from another time zone)
• HD PVR which allows me to record 4 or more programs at once
• Better evening programs.... Marvel and DC is my weakness.

 

[HarperLeigh]

My husband won't cut the cord because of hockey and football. What do those of you who love sports do?

Willingly pay for cable every month. We watch a large variety of channels regularly.

 

[magik]

Cut the cord in 2006.

I pay $50/month for high speed cable internet. When we lived in the 'burbs, I had a home made (from Popular Science) antenna that sat in the attic and got all the locals in hi def. Now we are a little further out in the sticks and so I have a roof top antenna. Sports that only air on cable we view online....

I also pay $10/month for Netflix but am considering cancelling it. It's becoming tough to justify, we hardly use it, and I can't see spending $10/month just to wait for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Stranger Things for me and The Ranch for my husband. I could always watch it on someone else's Netflix when those shows come out.

My parents pay about $250/month for Comcast internet, TV and phone, and they hate the phone service.... and only watch like 4 channels out of the entire cable package. They don't even have a DVR. They do have a lot of TV sets in their house and I guess you have to pay to have some kind of cable doohicky attached to each one... plus they have to "rent" the modem, among other stuff. It seems to really add up. My dad is thinking about cancelling it and trying out SlingTV and Hulu instead but he hasn't done it just yet.

That's the beauty of cordcutting. You don't need to subscribe to Netflix all year. You can choose to cancel, then subscribe again when the shows you care about are released, binge watch them, then cancel again. Unlike more traditional cable companies, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Sling TV, etc., you usually aren't locked in to a 1-year or 2-year commitment. Subscribe when you want, cancel when you want, sign back up again if you feel like it. I know many people who only subscribe to HBO Now for Game of Thrones and then cancel again when it's over. They'll sign back up whenever the last season airs and likely cancel again once it's over.

I used to have bundled internet and cable, so when I cancelled my cable, my internet cost went up significantly. If I really wanted to, I could cut off probably $20 a month from my internet bill, but then I'd be back into a 2-year commitment for my internet, and I refuse to be tied back in out of principle. I want to be able to cancel whenever I want without penalty. So I pay more than I probably need to, but even paying the higher internet bill, I still pay probably 50% less per month than I did when I was paying for both cable and internet in a bundle.

 

[aprilchem]

My husband won't cut the cord because of hockey and football. What do those of you who love sports do?

We cut the cord for 9 years, but ended up going back to cable TV because of hockey. The only way for me to see the hockey that I wanted was to find dishonest ways to do so, and I don't steal so I never got to watch any games. I finally said enough is enough and told DH I wanted cable back!

Sling TV does have NHL network, so that's one option that didn't exist a year ago. We had a really bad experience with Sling though (pretty much whenever we wanted to watch something, their system went down and we couldn't see it), so I'm really hesitant to go there again.