A Straightforward Guide To Cutting The Cord And Saving On Tv Now
For the better part of a decade, I was a loyal Directv customer. I enjoyed their service, but it kept going up year after year. I would call their retention department and threating to cancel the service and they would throw me a bone to keep me as a customer. After a few years, they wised up to it and stopped cutting me a break. The next thing I did was downgrade my package. I had their lowest cost package and I was still paying over $100 a month! I heard about cutting the cord for a while and actually had a friend who did it a year prior and they had no complaints. My hesitation came from the fact that my internet connection was relatively slow. I always heard you needing major MBPS when you cut the cord because in addition to everyone using the internet on their phones and laptops the Wi-Fi would also be providing all of the television in the house. At the time the fastest speed available to me was a paltry 12 mega bites per second through Century Link. I had been an early Netflix adopter and also had Hulu. I realized I was watching those services more than Directv but I also recognized I needed something for live tv. I did some research and stumbled across this little tidbit of information on Netflix’s website of all places. It said you only need 3.0 MBPS to stream standard definition and 5.0 MBPS for high definition. You can see that here https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306?ba=SwiftypeResultClick&q=internet%20speed It was then that a light bulb went off in my head and I realized there were countless times where I would be watching Netflix in the living room and my daughter would be in her room watching Hulu or Netflix at the same time, both in HD mind you. My measly 12 MBPS was plenty for my needs! I bought into the farce of the internet service providers telling me that I need 10,0000 MBPS or some ridiculous speed to be able to handle my streaming needs! I did my research and sprang into action.
The Right Tool For The Job
Any person who decides to take the dive and cut the cord needs a few essentials no matter what streaming service you decide to subscribe to. I will leave links to the devices I have in my home. Obviously, you need a television, preferably a 1080P HDTV. The current hottest tv trend is 4K Ultra HD. At the time of this writing, I have not switched to the 4K TV. They have come down in cost over the last couple of years, but they have not reached economies of scale where I am ready to jump on one. Plus, I have no need for a new tv just yet and will certainly not run out and get one just to have current hot “In thing.” The next thing you need is an over the air HD tv antenna. Finally, you need a device to connect you to the internet. There are TV’s that are “Smart” which means they are already connected to the internet. These are ok but unless it is a Roku smart tv I would not recommend using that as your only streaming option. (More on that later) There are several inexpensive streaming out there. Amazon has the Fire Stick, Google has the Chromecast, Apple has Apple TV, and there is, of course, the Roku which has an entire line of streaming devices. In doing my research I found that Roku by far was the best option. The reason for that is in addition to being inexpensive, Roku by far has the largest selection of channels or apps on its platform. There are thousands and thousands of channels on Roku’s platform. This gives you the flexibility to subscribe to whatever streaming service you want. In my house, we have three Roku streaming sticks and one Roku TV. It makes for a very seamless experience and I can move between the different devices without issue. You have a Roku account so they will all have the same channels.
What Streaming Service Should I Use?
There is not a simple answer to this question. It will depend on your personal viewing habits. If you are someone that does not have a need for a live tv option and are very price-sensitive, you can go with a basic Netflix and Hulu subscription. Netflix is by far the king of content with tens of thousands of tv shows, movies, and documentaries and more. They also have made a huge investment in original content which has given us shows like Orange Is The New Black, House of Cards and my personal favorite Stranger Things. Hulu also had made a strong push into original content in addition to also having a strong line up of movies and tv show options. I like to use Hulu primarily for tv shows that you would be able to get on cable and network television. The major drawback with Hulu is you must wait until the day a show airs on television before it is available on Hulu. Since most people don’t watch live tv anymore it is really not an issue. In a nutshell, I use Netflix for Movies and Hulu for tv. You can get both of those for around $15 a month. Combine that with an over the air antenna for any network television shows you want to watch that is not available on Hulu and you will have a very strong exposure to a large majority of the content out there. Compared to the average cable bill of around $100 and the savings are astronomical! However, if you are like me and still need the comforts of live tv and things like a DVR then your savings won’t be quite as massive but still quite substantial. There is still a little work to do on your end. First, get out a sheet of paper or pull up a Word doc on your computer. Then pull up your DVR and write down every show you have on there any and any other show you like to watch. Then, next to each individual tv show you watch write the tv network that the show is on. When I did that, I found that I only watched about a dozen tv networks between all the shows I watch! Once you are armed with this knowledge it’s time to go out and compare streaming services. I personally settled on Playstation Vue because it gave me access to all my tv shows except for one. The show was Supergirl which is on the CW. PS Vue did not have a local affiliate for that network in my area but guess what? I have an over the air antenna, and the CW has a free app where you can watch all their shows so I would not have to miss out on it! Playstation Vue also allows you to stream up to five feeds at one time and has an unlimited cloud DVR. These were the biggest selling factors for me. Some of the other streaming services only allow you one stream at a time and don’t have a DVR feature without paying extra for them. If you have a family there is a good chance more than one person at a time will want to stream something on tv at the same time as you. There are a lot of options out there as low as $20 a month and up. See the link here https://www.cnet.com/news/at-t-now-vs-youtube-tv-vs-sling-tv-vs-hulu-and-more-live-tv-channels-compared/ to compare the different options with their costs and what channels they have available. You will want to have the tv show list you made earlier handy during this step. Playstation Vue cost me $50 a month. It was a little lower when I first got it but that still represents a 50% savings on what I was paying for Directv! Once you find the service you like best and are ready to pull the trigger you are ready for the last step
Go For The Jugular
Now it’s time to call your cable or satellite company and cancel your service! Before you do that you need to make sure you are not under some kind of contract and subject to any kind of cancelation fee. If you are then you need to find out how much that is and compare that savings, you would be getting and how long it will take you to recoup the difference. In my case, I was not under any contract with Direct. It was so satisfying calling them up and telling where to stick it! I remember speaking to the gentleman who was pleading with me and trying every which way to get me to stay. It was not going to happen. At one point he said, “But you have 100 more channels with our service!” to which I replied “You could give me 1000 channels. If I don’t watch them then there is no value to me.” He finally gave up and I scheduled the cancellation. The great part about these services is there is no equipment or installation. You just need your trusty Roku or whatever streaming device you decide on and you’re ready to go! In the months and years since left Directv they sent me offer after offer. At one point they even offered me a $300 gift card to come back!!! Let do some quick math to see why I never took them up on it. My bill was $108 a month or $1296 a year. It has been over 3 years since I left Directv. My savings is $58 a month or over $2000 during the same period had I kept Directv. You can keep your little $300 gift card, I’ll be counting my more than $2,000 in savings over here. All of the streaming services are no contract so once a year I do a comparison to see if there are any better options out there for my needs. Eventually, there will be a better one and you can bet I will switch when that happens! Remember, those of us in the Cheap-O Elite don’t sign contracts if we don’t have to! Below you will find links to the products I use in my house. Happy streaming!
Over the air HD antenna 4K Ready https://amzn.to/36cYhzz
Roku Options:
Roku TV (This is not the one I have now as it is not available but the one I would get) https://amzn.to/3paLjLa
Roku Express (Cheapest Roku device. Still has 1080P HD)
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Ultra HD Ready