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Cutting the Cable

February 6th, 2016 at 05:07 pm

We cut the haven't had cable in 3 years. We've always paid a premium for internet because of it. In the sense that we've paid mostly for internet (fios previously and comcast now) sometimes without any extras usually running before $69 and then $79/month. Now it turned into $59.99 but it's internet and local channels.

So I've been thinking a lot about how over the last few years have we saved money? I mean people talk about all the time cutting cable and saving money. But when you pay for all the extras are you really saving money?

I know we are because we aren't paying for extras. But I was just running some numbers on paper and it appears that it really is quite expensive to be a cord cutter. How so?

Well we pay for Amazon prime because both kids have kindles that we use mostly for travel. You can download tv shows or movies and it's free with prime. Plus the free 2 day shipping is a huge bonus. So for $99/year we do it = $8.25/month.

Netflix is another $8.99/month. It's also going to be raised another $1 to $9.99/month. Then Hulu costs $7.99/month commercials to $11.99/month. Then for sling tv it's another $20/month. Also Sling offers kid channels for an extra $5/month. I mean if you are going ala carte and adding all these things or even Netflix and Sling TV you are looking at $34/month! Do Netflix and Amazon Prime and you are looking at $17/month minimally.

I'm not sure do most cord cutters only do Amazon Prime? Or only netflix? We do Amazon Prime but I find myself so annoyed that I have to watch so many TV shows on a computer screen or hook up my laptop to watch stuff like suits or law and order or big bang theory. I have a really old TV so no I don't have a smart tv or ability to put apps on the tv.

But if I were to pay for more streaming like sling, netflix, or hulu then at that point it'd be a no brainer personally to just pay for cable. I'm getting into cable prices. Right now I think it outrageous that we pay so much for internet, but the cable companies have cord cutters between a rock and a hard place. Plus I have to add our internet drops a lot and isn't always reliable. We had to argue with Comcast to install cables before we moved in. Prior tenants used satellite for a and paid a ludicrious $100/month for internet. Uggh.

Anyway I chatted with DH and we agreed as long as we're renting and locked in with comcast (hate them) we'll pay a premium for internet. If we happen to move maybe we'll have more options and different choices.

Do you have cable? Why or why? What do you pay?

9 Responses to “Cutting the Cable”

  1. MonkeyMama Says:
    1454780131

    For us, it's probably more about boycotting the industry. Most of the years we had cable was just small/local companies. The years we were stuck with the likes of Comcast were just horrible. On the principle of it, I can't pay the giant monopolies. We do have a small/local company for our internet but their cable was really expensive. So we did save a bundle when we dropped their cable service.

    Since having access to fiber optic internet, we have been willing to pay a premium for internet. So I feel like that is a expense we would have regardless. But I do admit faster speeds and internet quality does become more important when you stream all your videos and it is probably easier for us to justify more expensive internet.

    We pretty much just pay for netflix and hulu. So it is about $20 per month? No commercials for either. We will by the occasional Amazon show. At $1.99 per episode, it is far cheaper just to pay for the few shows we want to watch and can't get elsewhere. I suppose in comparison that with cable we felt we just paid for a lot of stuff we didn't want or care about. Hulu and Amazon were the only new expenses we added when dropping cable. We already had Netflix and super high speed internet, alongside any cable subscription. Back then Netflix was more for our movie rentals. That has definitely shifted a lot but we can generally get movies for free now and we enjoy a lot of netflix shows. So will keep the netflix. But we did drop the disc rental side of the netflix service.

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    1454783073

    We had fiber optic internet in our last town. Loved it!!

    Until THIS year we have never had cable. We only get basic channels and we do have our internet with the cable company. The only other option, which we may try is a phone company. We have always used antenna in the past for the basic channels, but our town is so far from the actual stations and there are so many trees here the reception, according to FCC, in our area are terrible. So it isn't worth even trying.

    We have Prime and Netflix only. And we do rent some movies from Prime for an additional fee. We do get the most use out of Netflix. In fact, I really need to crunch some numbers on Prime before our membership renews in August.

  3. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1454786642

    Well .. I'm a cord cutter, but I also don't subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, etc. I did for awhile, but have found other free resources (Hoopla through the library), plus I just don't watch much television shows anymore. Or movies for that matter.

  4. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1454786716

    Although ... when Mr FT and I get our house, he wants to get cable. Ugh. We'll be going with the absolutely smallest possible package. He may be paying the difference out of his spending money. Smile

  5. livingalmostlarge Says:
    1454813814

    I loved FIOS but the customer service with Verizon I wanted to choke them through the phone. Twice they didn't show up in their window they said they would. OMG. Comcast is just a jerk. None of the cable/internet companies are really great customer service wise.

    How much do you guys pay for internet?

  6. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1454857163

    My base rate is $59.99/month but then when you add on surcharges, fees and taxes, it becomes about $78.80/month. Just for Internet.

  7. creditcardfree Says:
    1454857446

    Ugh. I think about $45..but just found out that our TW bill has been increased without our approval, by about $10. I'm not sure we will last being a cable customer...

  8. MonkeyMama Says:
    1454866102

    $60 for internet. We have like 100 MB speed or something absurd like that. With the smaller companies we have always had excellent customer service. Our prior company was both better and cheaper, but eventually got bought out by Comcast or one of the others. I believe it was Comcast. We refuse to do business with them. Now I'd say we pay a little extra for the quality. We do have access to several different internet providers.

    Our local internet company offers like $100 referrals. We would do so well with that except they don't offer service to anyone we know. !! I just heard the other day that not everyone in our housing development has the fiber optic. These are all new houses so no idea why they ran fiber to only some of the houses. I do not understand the logistics. It just gives me a new appreciation of how lucky we are.

  9. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    1454878042

    Ours is $59.99 plus taxes and fees I think is around $65? I find it annoying when I hear of friends switching every year for $39.99 or $49.99 seems to be more common for cord cutters. It's certainly not that cheap it seems to go without cable. We were paying $69.99 for cable and internet before.

    we have 50 mb speed.

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