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Following up on the other thread I thought it will be use to run a poll on the topic.
It is all about cost vs convenience.
So if you cut cable, how much are you spending now compared to your last cable bill?
How many hours of TV do you watch?
True or False: the convenience of the triple bundle is worth the cost.
Spectrum where I am (suburb of Los Angeles) is $201/mo. with a few premium channels, no sports and no fancy ones like Smithsonian. That includes Internet and a landline. Outrageous price but we have no place to put a satellite dish. Fortunately, our budget is about 8K/month so it's not a hardship for us. But it's still outrageous.
I changed my cable package last summer and dropped the premium channels (HBO, Showtime, etc). I have the basic stuff (they called it expanded), internet and a landline. $180/month. This pkg is for 2 years, so I'll decide when it expires as to what direction I'll go in.
Cut Direct TV last year. Saving over $90/month in Portland Oregon.
Do NOT miss anything we had on there.
We did reduce the # of hours wasted in front of TV but we still have plenty of options with streaming and internet.
Watch 1-2 hrs/day in evening after dinner.
Cutting cord was a GREAT move and I highly recommend it.
I cut the cord in 2016 and at the time I was paying $1200 a year for Uverse.
How much spending now: $0 .... no ongoing costs. A one-time $12 antenna from Target.
Hours watching TV: Only watch College and NFL football so I get enough on FOX, NBC, CBS and ABC. September thru first week in February. Otherwise, I have no interest in TV.
We have basic TV with our internet. Basically an $8 add on. Get 30 Channels. $75 for 90 meg speed.per month Netflix for $12 and amazon prime. The monthly cost of amazon prime streaming can’t be broken down, because we use amazon for a lot of shopping. We occasionally rent a movie from amazon for$4
Time spent on TV; I’ll watch news 30 to 45 minutes. I mostly do news online, but like the passive nature of tv news. Streaming an hour or two depending...shows or a movie.
5-6 years ago my triple play cable costs had averaged around $150+/mo but with occasional higher months.
I cut the cable 5-6 years ago; bought a refurb Ooma Telo for phone - $60 or so - phone bill became $3.50/mo, now it's around $6/mo
(If it wasn't so cheap I would've just dumped the landline entirely, but it attracts all the robocalls & my cellphone is robo-free)
Bought indoor antenna, best working one here was $40 or so. (Actually turned out to be free due to a vendor mistake.)
Bought modem to stop rental charges, about $60
Bought a Roku for around $35 (later got a FireTv for $15 for travel/comparision to Roku)
So $60 + $60 + $40 + $35 = $195 in one time charges
Now:
Internet access: $50/mo
Netflix: $13/mo
Britbox: $6/mo
HBO: ($15/mo) I actually don't pay for this but I would otherwise
Monthly Charges: $69/mo ($84 w HBO)
I also have Amazon Prime streaming but I was a Prime member for years before streaming video so that isn't an extra charge. I would pay for TCM & maybe MSNBC or CNN if possible.
This year I finally succumbed to music/audio streaming too with Apple Music. They also have podcasts, calming music for meditation/background, internet & broadcast radio stations from around the world. I picked Apple Music over Spotify because they will match my personal music collection & upload from it any music not contained on Apple Music & I have some older non mainstream albums. They also have a larger music library than Spotify.
Cost is $10/mo, but $100 iTunes gift cards can regularly be bought for $80-85
The people I know that "cut cable" subscribe to countless streaming services, go to movies more often, and go out to eat so they can watch "the ballgame" since they cannot watch it at home.
They end up spending 3x as much than they would if they didn't go down the "cut cable" rabbit hole.
I like my cable. I like that I can press Guide on the remote and instantly see what is on. I like the OnDemand service so I can watch a show I missed or a movie. I have absolutely no patience for trying to find shows on 6 different streaming services. And I also like the live cable news, which you miss on streaming services.
I have Comcast with TV ( mid level package), internet ( not the fastest speed) and a Vonage phone.
How many hours of TV do you watch?
True or False: the convenience of the triple bundle is worth the cost.
I watch TV for 2 hours every day, husband watches anywhere from 4-12 hours every day.
The convenience is not worth the cost, no.
We pay $15.00/month for Netflix and Hulu (I only pay for this because an antenna doesn't work in our location). Everything else we watch is free.
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