The cost of cable cutting is going up

[youbet]

Our town has it's own cable company, Internet, phone, (and electric). I'm hoping to save $90-$100 per month. Right now, we pay $172 for cable, internet and phone with all fees.


my plan is:

Internet $28
PS Vue $45
Ooma $5



Total $78

What Internet are you getting for $28 that's fast enough for streaming? That's a great price.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

IIRC, ATT told the court that if they allowed their merger with Time Warner the price of TV services would not go up and would actually go down. Did I misunderstand that?

Weren't we told in 1996 when cable tv was deregulated that rates would go down? It's quite shocking that they didn't.

 

[Livefree]

What Internet are you getting for $28 that's fast enough for streaming? That's a great price.

As I mentioned our town has it's own Internet service. This is the low end speed, but should be good enough for streaming.

 

[W2R]

I don't pay anything for TV. I have an OTA antenna. I also have Amazon Prime, but never stream any video from it because I don't have any desire to do that. Maybe some day.

I have Amazon Prime for shipping and love that aspect of it.

I feel somewhat "defective" (defensive?) in that I don't have the desire to watch TV every day like so many others. Must be something wrong with me. I am living in a different world in a sense. Oh well, I'm enjoying life immensely without movies and TV. I do watch youtubes a lot on my laptop.

 

[Another Reader]

I don't pay anything for TV. I have an OTA antenna. I also have Amazon Prime, but never stream any video from it because I don't have any desire to do that. Maybe some day.

I have Amazon Prime for shipping and love that aspect of it.

I feel somewhat "defective" (defensive?) in that I don't have the desire to watch TV every day like so many others. Must be something wrong with me. I am living in a different world in a sense. Oh well, I'm enjoying life immensely without movies and TV. I do watch youtubes a lot on my laptop.

We live in the same world. Except Amazon. Don't use Amazon for much, if anything these days.

 

[ER Eddie]

I pay $8 for Netflix, and I'm considering dropping that. I'm not really into watching fictional stuff. Movies, TV shows... they just don't appeal. I find them to be escapist and not much else, and I get my escapism elsewhere (videogames, which I find more stimulating than TV/movies, because they're more interactive vs. passive). I went 2 years without TV/movies and didn't miss them at all. About the only thing of value I find on TV is comedy.

95% of what I watch is on Youtube. I've just discovered what an amazing platform it is. I love that I can find videos, lectures, or panel discussions on just about any subject I'm interested in. I can get a little carried away sometimes and watch hour upon hour of it, because there is so much content. But unlike with TV/movies, I'm learning a lot.

 

[W2R]

I pay $8 for Netflix, and I'm considering dropping that. I'm not really into watching fictional stuff. Movies, TV shows ... they just don't appeal. I find them to be escapist and not much else, and I get my escapism elsewhere (videogames, which I find more stimulating than TV/movies, because they're interactive vs. passive). I went 2 years without TV/movies and didn't miss them at all. About the only thing of value I find on TV is comedy.

95% of what I watch is on Youtube. I've just discovered what an amazing platform it is. I love that I can find videos, lectures, or panel discussions on just about any subject I'm interested in. I can get a little carried away sometimes and watch hour upon hour of it. But unlike TV/movies, I'm learning a lot.

+1000

I could have written that same post (except for the Netflix part), and agree with all of it.

I enjoy videogames too, for the same reasons.

 

[aja8888]

Around here, Comcast has our internet service (only) rate up to $89/month. That's for a quite good amount of bandwidth. It's very hard to find internet only pricing on their site and a hard sell to buy just that service.

DD got the absolute basic cable service with Comcast that gives only a few channels, no DVR, etc but decent internet speed. She's paying about $120/month for that and has Sling and Netflix. So her bill is about $150/month and that's about the lowest she can go and see what she wants and some sports for her DH.

 

[athena53]

NetFlix + Prime + Hulu + OTA adds up to about $30/mo, still way cheaper than cable. And no commercials for the first three: Priceless!

I've got Netflix only and there's plenty for me. They did increase the rate from $10/month to $11/month recently so yes, prices are going up. I could never go back to programs that have commercial interruptions or that can't be paused while I answer a call of nature or replayed briefly when I couldn't quite get someone's lovely Glaswegian accent.

Before I dropped Comcast in favor of Google Fiber, I checked to see what Comcast's price would be for Internet-only. Not only was it higher than Google Fiber for slower speeds- it was higher than what I was paying them for Internet + TV programming. Idjits.

 

[timo2]

I've got Netflix only and there's plenty for me. .

IMO Netflix has better shows than broadcast TV.

 

[timo2]

I don't pay anything for TV. I have an OTA antenna. I also have Amazon Prime, but never stream any video from it because I don't have any desire to do that. Maybe some day.

I have Amazon Prime for shipping and love that aspect of it.

I feel somewhat "defective" (defensive?) in that I don't have the desire to watch TV every day like so many others. Must be something wrong with me. I am living in a different world in a sense. Oh well, I'm enjoying life immensely without movies and TV. I do watch youtubes a lot on my laptop.

If my family only had OTA TV, we wouldn't watch much TV either. the content is not that great.

 

[Which Roger]

Can you please tell us where you're getting high speed unlimited internet access for free please.

Didn't include that since it didn't change when we got rid of cable TV.


With cable TV, cost was about $200/mo: $80 for internet + $120 for cable TV.
Now it's about $110/mo: $80 for internet + $30 for the streaming services.

 

[audreyh1]

It's all getting ridiculous. I see now CBS is wanting people to pay for their All Access service where they're putting out new shows. I'm pretty sure cable cutters are getting close to paying more than they were with cable. Bare minimum these days seems to be OTA, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and then you start adding others like HBO. Who can even keep up with it all? It looks like pretty much every network is now building their own streaming platform that they will be charging for.

Nope, not here. Still vast savings. Only subscribed to Netflix and PBS. I’m not trying to replicate the cable experience.

 

[audreyh1]

By the time a person adds up the cost of all the individual channel streaming services (CBS, Disney, ESPN, MLB, etc) it will cost more that the original cable TV package.

Nope! Only if they are watching everything all the time.

 

[audreyh1]

Didn't include that since it didn't change when we got rid of cable TV.


With cable TV, cost was about $200/mo: $80 for internet + $120 for cable TV.
Now it's about $110/mo: $80 for internet + $30 for the streaming services.

Agreed. We’d have Internet regardless of streaming.maybe if you upgrade to high speed Internet only because of streaming, you can add the differential.

 

[imoldernu]

Yes, my Dish>PS Vue savings have dropped from $600/yr to $540/yr. Not surprised, I can live with it...

 

[wmc1000]

Technology costs:

1. Entertainment

OTA w/ HTPC DVR (4 program sim. max) $0
Internet $40
Hulu $8

Entertainment costs total $48

2. 2 cell phones unlimited + 5GB data $70

Total Monthly Technology costs $118

 

[Cobra9777]

I could live without the major broadcast networks, but DW wants them. OTA is not an option for us, so we have to subscribe to something. Right now we have PS Vue "Access" for $40, going to $45 with the increase announced yesterday. This provides a nice lineup of ~50 cable channels as well as the major networks, plus a really good cloud DVR and lots of on-demand. DW watches it more than me. I don't watch fictional programs at all. Just YouTube and documentaries where I can learn something.

Our internet is FiOS 50/50, which we love. But an alternative for us is to get Charter 30/5 (we have an old legacy Charter cable network). That would enable us to get Spectrum TV Choice for $21.99 (all locals, including PBS, plus 10 cable channels of our choice from a list of 65). I think that could work for us. They have on-demand but no cloud DVR functionality, which sucks.

Anyway, our internet would go down about $10/mo and TV would go down $20. I think we'd be just fine with 10 live cable channels plus the major networks. And $21.99 seems like a fair price. It would be really nice to get live PBS back for the syndicated shows that you can't get on the app. With the PS Vue price increase, I'm looking at this option a little closer. We also subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and PBS Passport.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Not too surprising, but I just got an email from the PSVue folks. The price of my mid-level package is going up from $45 to $50 per month,effective August 31. An increase of over 11%. .

You mentioned 'cutting the cable'. How about if you did that?

I have no PSvue here.

 

[Chuckanut]

They can keep their streaming platforms and I will keep my money.

 

[T-Minus]

Hopefully not for us - as an early subscriber we grandfathered in at $35 forever for 'go big' package.

I too am a first-day Go Big plan subscriber and am currently enjoying a $35/mo. pricing. I’ve read in several forums that my rate will increase by $5/mo. starting in August.

 

[Mulligan]

Very odd....I use Direct TV and have to run the phone gauntlet every 2 years to get any savings extracted. My present two year $20 off discount was expiring this month (Could have had $30 off for 12 months but didnt want to call again in 12 months, lol ). Anyhow, I just received a letter thanking me for calling and accepting a $20 monthly discount for an additional 2 years (and thus stay under contract, also). The odd thing is I never called. I am fine with it as I was going to call, but now I dont. This has never happened in the 20 years I have had Direct. I suspect its no accident and they are trying to claw into the existing customers and keep them from leaving.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We find cable worth the money. I went to my son’s and watching TV was very complicated and a PITA when he was not there and I didn’t have enough choices.

 

[Mulligan]

We find cable worth the money. I went to my son’s and watching TV was very complicated and a PITA when he was not there and I didn’t have enough choices.

To each his own, and if someone wants to cut the cord, or like internet apps and tv, I certainly respect that....But, I am retired and not interested in learning things I dont want to learn. I huff and bluff to save a few bucks to amuse me, but I have zero intention of ever cancelling my “cable”. $3 a day for having any channel I need on the channel number I know where its at is worth it...Just like having my A/C cranked low...Well worth the $4 a day to be comfortable.

 

[sonarvord]

Yes the hype about cutting the cord for TV is getting to be passe'. PS Vue has glitches too. System hangs, pixel problems, down time, performance issues. I would complain and try to get a credit but no one to contact reliably. I would drop but the sports coverage is very good. However, the big sporting events tend to have performance issues. Tried Youtube Red yet?