Life without cable TV

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HadEnuff

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Dec 15, 2015
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When we got home from our snowbirding and renewed the Cable-internet-phone bundle, we were once again taken aback by a 23% increase in the bill.

First call: I get two channels I didn't know I had removed (HBO and Showtime) and my bill goes back to what it was. I was skeptical, but accepted.

Bill comes...still the price of last statement...

2nd call: Oh..well...no...she was wrong.....So I say, cancel the Cable...I'll keep internet, but of course she can't to that, I have to be sent to another person...


This person offers me another tier of special discounts. This person is called a "retention specialist" and because he is so high up in the chain of bullshite he can offer me a deal that is incomprehensible to me as to what exactly it is, but it's a little cheaper than what I had...I say "NOPE",,,so he puts me on hold and comes back with even better deal...no more understandable to me though, so now I'm getting pissed and giving him some sh!t, like "what is it with you guys, you keep pulling new deals out, and I don't want them!!! Why don't you treat your customers better to begin with and you wouldn't have to go through this ****" ....but then, he wouldn't have a job... eventually he gives up and lets me go...

So, without sports on TV I don't miss it a bit...my wife doesn't miss putting up with my sports, and I don't miss the constant HGTV...

we do have Netflix and Amazon Prime, and occasionally watch it, but mostly the house is peaceful and quiet. Long summer days, no problem.

I suspect I may miss it come football season, if there is football to be watched.
 
That’s why many of us dumped cable or satellite for live streaming (e.g. YouTube TV, Hulu Live) at 1/2 to 1/3 the cost IF you’d have Internet regardless. We cut the cord in Feb 2018 and still have all the live real time network/broadcast TV we’d ever want. Without the crummy customer service and pricing games above...
 
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Never paid for cable in my life. It came free with an apartment I rented once back in the 1980s. Life without cable has been most excellent. Of course, I haven't seen any of those shows that people and the media discuss, but so what?
 
Congrats on being able to cut the cord. I will never be able to get my DW to agree to cut the cord.
 
DW watches a few hours OTA a year. Me, nearly zero. Never had cable, can't imagine that we ever will.
 
Cut the cord(Direct TV) last week and no regrets. I was paying 132.00 per month to watch 1 channel. It went from 40.00(discount from retention dept) per month last December to 132.00 this April after returning from Florida. I have antenna TV with about 36 channels and Netflix- total cost is 0.
 
VanWinkle said:
Cut the cord(Direct TV) last week and no regrets. I was paying 132.00 per month to watch 1 channel. It went from 40.00(discount from retention dept) per month last December to 132.00 this April after returning from Florida. I have antenna TV with about 36 channels and Netflix- total cost is 0.
Click to expand...

How do you get Netflix free?
 
We pay $115 monthly for cable and internet, so still low enough to keep everything.
 
OK, so I need an intervention. I've always had cable/internet/phone as a bundle and yep my bill has been slowly creeping up . I have Verizon. can you get internet without the cable?
 
Go to your provider's website, but I can't imagine you have to get cable with internet if you don't want it. You will lose any bundle discount so be sure to consider that.

You might think about ditching the land line as well if you get adequate cellular reception at home. Our cell service at home is not great but our phones have wifi capability so that's not an issue for us. I have a relative in her 80s who keeps her landline because she's had the same number since the early 1960s, but frankly she could do without it because I think most people are calling her cell phone anyway.
 
bclover said:
OK, so I need an intervention. I've always had cable/internet/phone as a bundle and yep my bill has been slowly creeping up . I have Verizon. can you get internet without the cable?
Click to expand...

Of course. They would try to convince you that internet alone would be mad expensive but those are just sales tactics. I pay $60 for the very fast Verizon FiOS instead of $120 for the Phone/TV/Internet bundle. Interestingly the only reason I had TV included in the bill was that Phone/Internet bundle was more expensive! I didn't even have cable in my apartment and never got the cable box since I don't watch TV. And once I realized my landline was exclusively used for receiving robo calls I cut the cord and couldn't be happier.

You could be even more frugal and use your phone unlimited internet for all your internet needs.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-turn-your-phone-into-a-wi-fi-hotspot
 
We have internet only from CenturyLink. About $45 for a relatively slow 5mbs connection. It is adequate for our needs although I am just in the process of switching to a 100mbs connection that will cost us about the same on a first year promo, then go to about $60. This is mostly because Centurylink has fairly frequent interruptions of service. Short duration but enough to break our internet radio connection and very annoying when we are using the internet.

Our "landline" is a VoIP phone from Ooma, so very little additional cost. Ooma has pretty good anti-spam tools too; our spam calls have gone from a couple a day to maybe a couple a week.

We have no interest in TV.
 
$45 a month for 30/30 FIOS. Very reliable. More than fast enough for computing, Netflix and Amazon Prime video.
Note: when comparing speeds note the upload speed also.
 
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We pay $55/mo for Frontier FiOS 50/50 internet. It's been rock solid since 2006. I could probably reduce it to around $35-40/mo by switching back and forth between Frontier and Charter to maintain new-customer intro pricing. But I really like the symmetrical upload of fiber as well as the stability and reliability compared to cable.

Regarding TV, most of what we watch is free YouTube channels. We each have a profile and are subscribed to various channels that interest us. We both find this type of content to be more informative and entertaining compared to commercial TV programming. I watch a lot of history, language, science, DIY, woodworking, music, and travel. DW loves all the sailing and travel channels.

We have no OTA signal here but we still want access to the local broadcast networks. So we subscribe to YouTube TV for $50/mo, mainly for the locals (including PBS), live Sports, some news, and cloud DVR. We watch very little of the traditional "cable" channels. The only thing I routinely watch on YouTube TV is PBS NewsHour and a few other programs like Nova (and baseball if it ever comes back). DW watches and records a few shows on the broadcast networks.

We also subscribe to Netflix and Prime, mainly for movies and originals. We sometimes subscribe to other streaming services for one month and then cancel, such as BritBox, Curiosity Stream, HBO, CBS All Access, etc.

Home phone is a free Google Voice number and an Obi-200 VoIP device. Totally free, but no 911 service.

Including internet and all taxes/fees, our total cost is around $125-130/mo. Our last cable triple-play was 7 years ago at a cost of around $225, about $60 of which was for various STB rentals and add-on junk fees. No thank you!
 
Every 2 years we switch between direct tv and charter to keep the prices low.
 
statsman said:
Congrats on being able to cut the cord. I will never be able to get my DW to agree to cut the cord.
Click to expand...
It took me about two years to get my DW to try it - she would never go back to cable/satellite now - she has all "her channels" and we're paying less than half, she does like that.

I warmed her up to the idea by streaming PBS and YouTube free using a $35 Chromecast so she could see it firsthand. Then I showed her she wouldn't have to deal with multiple remotes or switching TV sources. She finally relented to trying it after the umpteenth Dish Network increase. You could do the same today with Pluto or another TV-like free streaming service.
 
To the OP... cutting the cord seems like a major change but this too will pass. You'll find ways to enjoy the time (as you said).

We have never had cable and while I know we've missed some interesting shows (particularly in the days before streaming) our life has been fine without all the cr@p shown on cable TV. It really bothers me that you pay so much for cable and still have to sit through commercials. That's blasphemy from an engineer who worked in the cable TV manufacturing industry for well over 20 years!

In this day and age of streaming services we've decided to avoid that too. We tried Amazon Prime and determined we seldom found a show we liked or wanted to see. Same with Netflix. Haven't tried Hulu and some of the others. Instead we have a Tivo box with lifetime license, given to us by a friend, and it records all the over-the-air shows that we enjoy for free. Mostly PBS - drama, science, documentary, etc. And we can stream PBS when we want.

Our internet is provided by Earthlink and the price doesn't go up every year like so many ISP's. The actual fiber connection was installed by AT&T but we pay the monthly fee to Earthlink. I know Earthlink is not available in all areas but we've been with them since the late 1990's, through dial-up, DSL and now fiber.
 
YTTV tried to whoo me back with a 14 day free trail. Honestly it showed me how useless cable is. $50 a month for just a few channels that are interesting, the rest i get OTA, and I'm not into sports.

I get Internet from a 4GLTE hotspot @ $135 a year, special deal for low income people.
 
I cut cable not because I can't afford it but because I refuse to pay for ads. Also don't do YTTV, Hulu Live, etc. I also rotate services like Netflix, Hulu OnDemand, HBO Max, CuriosityStream, Maggalen, etc. instead of subscribing to all of them every month. And there's plenty of good free stuff (w/ads) on Pluto, Tubi, Crackle, Roku Channel, etc.
 
When living I Europe fore 18 months we couldn’t be advertised to because of the language barrier. When returning to US I tried to watch TV and listen to the radio and found the commercials too many and too long. We have some dvd movies and music on a usb for music at home and when driving. I went to a movie and watched a half hour of commercials before the movie. No more movie theaters!
 
VanWinkle said:
My son pays for it, at his house in Colorado.........
Click to expand...

Uh oh!! We have a deadbeat freeloader. The forum ethics & morality police should be along any minute now with some tar and feathers.
 
Cobra9777 said:
Uh oh!! We have a deadbeat freeloader. The forum ethics & morality police should be along any minute now with some tar and feathers.
Click to expand...

Actually this is a good form of continuing LBYM.
Now if he was getting paid for submitting "stuff" to Netflix, well then.......
 
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