Cutting the Cable Cord...but wait, there's more!!! (1 Viewer)

[Clark Bradley]

Hi All,


I have been working at hacking away my cable costs. About two months ago, it was roughly $200 per month. Keep in mind that I never actually paid that, I called in once a year to get a deduction/special on my rate to cut it to about $150.00 per year. My options are:


$125.00 for cable (broadcast/basic/digital package).

$15.00 for HBO

$15.00 for DVR

$45.00 for Digital Home Phone


I cut HBO after the series we were following concluded and then cut Digital Home Phone for Ooma ($3.50 a month!). I am now looking at what else I can cut. We watch a lot of reality TV shows...but only the good ones (Ice Road Truckers, Snapped, Whale Wars, Deadliest Catch, Dissapeared) plus some series on premium channels (Mad Men, Breaking Bad). All of that is well and good, we can supplement our TV shows and DVR with Tivo which comes with Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video and Netflix.

The problem I hit is with Discovery HD Theater. I really like this channel and I watch quite a few shows (What's My Car Worth?, Motorweek, Chasing Classic Cars) and non-series shows (Mecum Auto Auction). I cannot find this content on any website for purchase or download.

Anyone know where to catch these shows or do I just have to suck it up and continue to pay for Basic Cable and all the other junk it includes?

 

[Mark Leiter]

Dude, if you're gonna cut the cord you best go all the way. I put an antenna up in my house so I have all the broadcast channels, in Uncompressed HIDEF I might add, for free. For everything else. I purchsed a Roku box for $89 and have a Netfix subscription for $12/mth. Add to that a lifetime subscription to Playon.TV (www.playon.tv) and I pretty much get everything I need.


Yes when I first did it I missed all my favorite shows. I can even tell you exactly how long I missed those shows. 30 days. Because after 1 month when my cable bill went from $100 to 0, I realized I didn't need to watch all those shows that much, and to be honest most of then are an insult to any human beings intelligence anyway.


My total monthly bill, $12.


Cant get any better than that.


I also haven't had a home "land line" for over a decade. If you have a cell phone it is simply duplication of services.

One other thing, don't go overboard with your internet access speed. According to Netflix all you need to watch Hi-Def movies streaming from their site is a 2.75 mega-bit connection. So unless you are downloading gargantiun amounts of data for some reason, anything more than about a 3 mega-bit connection is a waste of money.


I went that way over 2 years ago, I am also a gamer, honestly I play World of Warcraft more than I watch TV, I never have a 'net speed issues streaming or gaming at a 3 mega-bit connection speed.


Good luck.

 

[KevinGress]

What's the lowest level you'd have to maintain in order to get it? Do you have multiple setups (DVRs)? If so, a suggestion would be to drop down to one DVR - most shows on the cable networks are available multiple times so you can DVR them during off hours - and not watching live (which you're probably already doing). It's a small step, but when there's multiple people involved, whittling away can be a smoother path than just hacking away. I attempted to cut back on my DirecTV package but the wife flew into a rage because it dropped Discovery Health and Fit and she has to have her hoarding and trauma shows. (and I haven't found a way to get these shows over the internet, either).