Declare Your Independence from Cable!

[Graybush]

To celebrate Independence Day in July, we’re opening discussion on declaring independence from the cable company! With so many streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and even YouTube, there are a lot of options to choose from.

Personally, I haven’t had a cable tv subscription since I finished college. I currently share a Netflix subscription with a few friends and dabble on Amazon Prime – and I'm a pretty big fan!

I’ve found that switching over to streaming services helped alter my viewing habits for the better. I don’t spend nearly as much time in front of a television, and when I do sit down to watch something, it’s because I’ve developed an interest in a show or a theme that’s readily available. Viewing, for me, has become a lot more “intentional”.

We want to hear about how you cut the cord, and what the impact was on you! Has leaving cable behind bettered or worsened your viewing habits? What’s your streaming preference? And lastly, what advice would you give to someone still lashed by the cord to a fat monthly bill from Big Cable?

Let us know!

 

[therealduckofdeath]

It's not so easy to disconnect from a cable connection. They have so many ways to "lock" people in. It's not made easier by the fact that mobile providers (and manufacturers) keeps directing you to your broadband connection every time you want to download something big and throttling your connection if you don't do it on your other broadband.

 

[Colif]

Never had cable TV, I haven't watched TV in over 5 years. I don't feel like I have missed anything of value.

I live on YouTube mostly

I don't live in US so many of those cable networks don't apply anyway

 

[Graybush]

Never had cable TV, I haven't watched TV in over 5 years. I don't feel like I have missed anything of value.

I live on YouTube mostly

I don't live in US so many of those cable networks don't apply anyway

Just out of curiosity, what type of streaming/viewing services are available where you are? I know you mentioned Youtube.

 

[USAFRet]

If it were just me, the TV portion of my Verizon FiOS would go away.
Alas, that woman who sits over there requires it.

We tried free OTA and just streaming services, but it was too fiddly.

 

[Math Geek]

in my house we began by keeping a tv log for each of us. over a couple weeks we could actually see what we really watched and not what we "thought about watching" as we skimmed through the endless channels in the guide. of course most of it was broadcast tv with a few shows we really liked sprinkled in from various cable channels. i then skimmed the various services and picked one that had the few channels we actually watched and got a top quality tv antenna for the broadcast channels. an HTPC next to the tv handles dvr service for the antenna.

we've swapped a couple times but have settled on sling tv (blue package) with the cloud dvr add-on. so for $30 a month we good to go. we do have netflix and prime which provides a ton of stuff we actually want to watch as well. it's still a lot per month once net access is thrown in but it's still a ton less than it was with a cable bill with almost $100 a month in just BS fees they added on to the base price.

my advice would be the same as i did, keep a tv log and see what you are actually watching. you'll be surprised how few of those 200+ channels you actually watch that you pay for. ditch the BS fees, rental fees, constant price changes, long contracts and so on for a simple roku stick and amonth by month streaming service. you'll be happy you did.

i have gotten much of my family to do the same expcept for my dad. he's just old and will be a cable subscriber until he dies. he hates everything about it but can't even begin to imagine life without it. he's convinced himself the multiple bills would be too much to handle and somehow despite me doing the math for him, "just knows" it adds up to more than his cable bill does now. he's also convinced that anything "on demand" is an extra cost so he won't even watch the tons of free on demand stuff his cable channels already provide. some folks are just so set in their ways nothing but a cable bundle will ever work for them. as far as he believes netflix is simply a bunch of pay per view shows and movies that you pay a base price of $10 a month to then pay one by one as you watch. i often ask him what color the world is in his world cause it's probably a weird combo of them all.

 

[Barty1884]

If it were just me, the TV portion of my Verizon FiOS would go away.
Alas, that woman who sits over there requires it.

Same situation for me.

I'm with Telus in Canada..... I'd scrap cable alltogether if it were solely my decision.

Netflix and YouTube are my main sources of content - although I do use the traditional cable setup for watching [strike]football[/strike] soccer. Ways to stream that legally though, so I could certainly get by without.

We have Prime video, but barely use it. Neither of us find much that appeals on there - but we do use Prime in general, so it's essentially "free", so no big deal.

We could easily see a savings of >$85 CAD/month from ~$180 total package (TV, 'net & landline)..... but alas, scrapping the
cable and landline has been vetoed quite a few times thus far.

 

[USAFRet]

We could easily see a savings of >$85 CAD/month from ~$180 total package (TV, 'net & landline)..... but alas, scrapping the
cable and landline has been vetoed quite a few times thus far.

For your landline, look into an Ooma. Not sure if they speak Canuckistan, but that what I have.
$5/month. 0 performance difference vs paying Verizon for the landline.

My internet+TV bill is $121.

 

[Barty1884]

For your landline, look into an Ooma. Not sure if they speak Canuckistan, but that what I have.
$5/month. 0 performance difference vs paying Verizon for the landline.

My internet+TV bill is $121.

:lol:

Looks like they do. I'll take a look, thanks!

I'm not even 100% sure what my landline represents in our bill per month..... I remember at one point it was "free", but I doubt that's truly the case (or still the case, this was 3-4 years ago).

 

[Math Geek]

we gave up landline long time ago. considering we all have cell phones did not see the need for the extra expense. was an easy thing to drop

 

[USAFRet]

we gave up landline long time ago. considering we all have cell phones did not see the need for the extra expense. was an easy thing to drop

For our use, having the Ooma landline is the cheapest option.
We don't use the cellphones a lot. Our prepaid TracFones runs about $7.50/month each.
One time fee of $180 for 2 years (each), with more minutes/text than we actually use.

Another $5/month for the Ooma landline is a no brainer.