I just paid my cable bill. Besides my mortgage it is my biggest bill of the month. It’s ridiculonk. Plus there’s the fact that I rarely even watch the friggin’ thing; it’s usually background noise to me. Or anything I really want to see, I can get via the internet.
Then last night I figured out that my DVR service isn’t even working and probably hasn’t been for a month, so, yep, I’m pulling the plug.
I’m wondering what others did when they yanked the cable. I have Netflix, but that only goes so far. I may get one of those digital antennae, which I hear are pretty decent for your basic channels. What about Hulu Plus, or Amazon Prime, or whatever else is out there as cable alternatives?
I don’t have cable. If I want to relax, I usually read a book instead. But on those occasions when I’m really in the mood to WATCH something, my husband and I choose between three options: (1) Netflix, (2) TV shows on DVD, (3) Redbox.
We had C-band satellite until the providers essentially went all dark. Then broadcast TV went digital. After a year or 2 I got a digital broadcast translator and we can get five or six channels. I mean, fuck subscribing to commercials. And the shit programming that formerly decent channels descended to. In the next decade, subscriber TV will be ghettoized by the internets: from boob tube to series of tubes.
I have all the major streaming services. The one I use the most is Hulu. I pay the premium to get commercial free. Worth every penny.
And for what few shows I watch that I can’t find on Hulu or Netflix, I’ll go to Amazon and pay for them individually. At $1.99 a pop, I still make out like a bandit.
I have a desk top dedicated to my 60". Use a remote keyboard to operate it. It’s a nice set up that works for me.
There are many sites on the web which will show you which TV channels you should be able to receive with an antenna. You’ll likely get the networks and a lot of other channels showing old game shows, old movies, 80’s shows, etc. One good thing about using an antenna is you get uncompressed HD. It’s likely a better signal than your cable. If you just want something on in the background, it’s great for that.
You can get antenna DVRs anywhere from $35.00 (minimal guide and you provide your own storage) to $400.00 (everything you need and support for streaming).
Hulu Plus is a great resource to get many shows from the cable networks. It won’t have everything, but there’s a big selection. It has the networks other than CBS (they have their own streaming service).
Netflix/Amazon are good for watching past seasons of TV shows. Their movie selection is kind of poor.
Amazon is good for renting recent movies ($4-5 each). I don’t feel guilty about paying to rent movies because I look at as part of the savings from ditching cable.
How are people actually saving money cutting their cable and still keeping high-speed internet access?? My cable and internet (and the landline phone that I never use) are all packaged together—three for one at the super duper ridiculously high price (closing in on $200/month now), but when I priced things in the past, high-speed internet alone was only slightly cheaper than internet+cable TV+landline phone!
I did it for years, so I’m nonplussed that it’s becoming a “thing” now that I’ve gone back to cable.
I went through all four years of college without a TV, then five more years of grad school with only local stations and Netflix’s disc service. Then my husband and I met at a thrifty phase in both our lives, and we continued to get by with Netflix … but about five years ago we gave up. Maybe we were a little hasty; Amazon Prime video was just about to get going. But we did. We went back to cable.
No regrets. Like ataraxy22 points out, if you’re paying for internet via your cable provider, the savings aren’t significant compared to the entertainment value. We use the free On Demand stuff extensively.
Depends on who your local provider is, but that doesn’t match my experience. Our internet bill is $60/mo. The bundle with television is $140, and the bundle with a telephone and additional channels is $200, and the absurd bundle with all the nonsense is $300.
Yeah, I went without cable for a couple of years in San Francisco and it didn’t bother me at all. I’m just spoiled now; I keep hesitating on pulling the trigger because cable is pretty handy … when it works.
My DSL costs about $45/month, and I pay for Netflix (1DVD + streaming) about $18, and Hulu Plus, I think about $14. I also have Amazon Prime, but I use that mostly for shipping.
I gave up cable 6 years ago when I moved and couldn’t get the same service package at the new address. Haven’t missed it at all. I don’t get the over-the-air local stations, and don’t miss them either.
Think of it more as a figure of speech. I technically get my internet through cable. But when I gave up the TV part of it, my bill went from $190 to $53.
Personally, I’m fucking stuck. My wife watches all of the DIY channels and food channels. Can’t get them without cable. I watch historical and documentary stuff, and baseball (Fucking Dodgers. Can’t even watch them and you wouldn’t believe my cable bill.) I don’t like movies, in general. TCM, sure; cable only. Old TV series? Nope. I’m stuck paying premium cable rates for their least costly products.
Try calling your cable provider and telling them you want to cancel because of the expense. They’ll generally start offering you deals because they don’t want to lose subscribers.
You might want to check out Sling TV. I have heard they have some of the DIY stuff & ESPN.
I turned off the TV part of my cable in 2008 during the recession. These days it’s Huluplus, Netflix (DVDs & streaming), and Google Play for series not carried on Hulu. Amazon Prime doesn’t interest me since I can’t cast it to my TV and don’t buy enough to make the shipping worth it.
I’m cableless. Can’t get it where I live so I’m on satellite. Works fine for TV, but absolutely sucks for internet. I’d go to cable for internet in a flash if I had the option.
I’m sort of hybrid right now for internet. I have a Mifi (Verizon) that uses the wireless phone network, and also the satellite. Trying to figure out which one is better/worse. It’s a bit of a toss up, so I still have both.
Still have a land line phone that we are planning to get rid of, it’s not that dependable and getting worse. Mobile phone is improving. Not quite ready to make the jump to get rid of the land line, but getting close.
The cable company many not try very hard to keep you as a cable subscriber, if they know you’re staying on as a high-speed internet customer. I read somewhere that the profit margins are higher for them on the high-speed internet service so they’re less bothered by cord cutters than you might imagine. That’s one reason why the cable companies didn’t object too much when HBO, Showtime and others started streaming-only services.
Ugh! When I called to downgrade my service, I got transferred to a “special” department. Apparently, these people are trained to get you to reconsider the error of your ways. :rolleyes:
Anyway, the lady kept going down on price, when I still refused, she got all pissy with me and asked why. I explained to her I cam get all my tv watching through Hulu and Netflix. She didn’t like that, and kept trying to tell me Hulu and Netflix are not the same thing as cable TV! Yeah, no shit bitch.
That being said, I made very clear to her that I did NOT want my service cut off till the end of the month. Out of spite, not only did she cut my cable service off THAT DAY, she cut off my internet as well. I had to wait three days for the cable guy to come back out here and reconnect my cable. So for three days, I was with out cable AND internet.