We dumped our 'cable' bill!

[writermommy6]

I have been cutting corners left and right because I am simply tired of barely getting by and not having any emergency money put back. The one thing DH has always insisted on was having the television package with like 500 channels on it. This is so that on his day(s) off he can veg out and watch whatever.
Weelllllll, after I showed him how much we were spending every month ($225) for the same old crap to be on and for our kids to spend way too much time with their head in the screen, he finally agreed to reduce our package to the basic channels. Great! Except that the 'free' cable boxes were no longer 'free'. So the $20 basic with the DVR and two other boxes ended up being $56!

Long story short, we dumped the internet/tv company where we were paying $150 for internet and basic tv and switched to only internet through a faster service(twice as fast which helps with my job as a freelance writer) and now pay $60 a month. We stream huluplus and our existing netflix account. I am so happy to have finally gotten out from under that crazy bill.

 

[starwart]

Congratulations! Free at last! Free from junk TV!

 

[havaneselover]

Awesome! I'm struggling with this. My verizon fios triple play bill is going from $130 to $145. I don't really need a home phone but they tell me dropping phone service will increase my bill. I do need internet. There are a few tv channels I would still like (mainly a cable news channel and the three networks). But $145 is too much.

 

[wiigirl]

Awesome! Congrats!

 

[MacDalt]

I'm trying to do this!! We pay $125 for Direct TV. I want to put that towards savings. We have NO emergency fund! We bought and tried an antenna but it picked up nothing. We live in a rural area so not surprised. We have Netflix but DH wants local channels. I'm not sure what to try next.

 

[wendow]

Congrats!! It's very freeing. We dumped cable over 10 years ago and have never looked back

 

[writermommy6]

I'm trying to do this!! We pay $125 for Direct TV. I want to put that towards savings. We have NO emergency fund! We bought and tried an antenna but it picked up nothing. We live in a rural area so not surprised. We have Netflix but DH wants local channels. I'm not sure what to try next.

We were in a rural area that the only access was DirecTV for a LOOOOOOng time. Not sure what you want for locals. I've been able to access the news by going to their website to watch it live.

Other tv shows don't want to let you watch live which is why we have hulu plus. $8 a month and the tv shows show up next day. We have Xfinity btw.

 

[gunner2010]

you saved $34??

You said you went from $150 for the tv/net to $56 for tv and $60 for 'net. So that is $116.

You did not really get out from anything. I mean hey $34 is nice though

 

[hmack]

We actually started talking about cutting the cable cord today. I think the one thing holding us back is live-sports. but is that really worth $140/month?

I'm not so sure.

 

[ICF]

What in the world were you paying for that cost $225/mo??!!

 

[uccats97]

We actually started talking about cutting the cable cord today. I think the one thing holding us back is live-sports. but is that really worth $140/month? I'm not so sure.

Same here!

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

If you have a Roku look at getting Playon
You can stream a ton more stuff including Hulu (the free one)

 

[Jerseymomof2]

I want to dump our crazy cable too but I am so afraid. I wish one of my friends would do it so I can see exactly how it works. but alas everyone I know is a slave to the cable man. UGH

 

[caitty13]

I cancelled mine last week, it will save about $40/month and I still have local channels. So far so good. We still can watch most of what we did.

 

[writermommy6]

you saved $34?? You said you went from $150 for the tv/net to $56 for tv and $60 for 'net. So that is $116. You did not really get out from anything. I mean hey $34 is nice though

We no longer have ANY TV. So we were paying $150 for the combo of TV and internet. Now it's just Internet for $60 so $90 saved.

And the $225 we were originally paying was the kick in the a** from ATT Uverse after our one year introductory offer was over. AND Uverse wanted to charge us $100 service fee if we downgraded to just Internet. Internet that was really too slow to watch netflix on.

 

[DawnM]

Is this a permanent rate or a teaser rate?

switched to only internet through a faster service(twice as fast which helps with my job as a freelance writer) and now pay $60 a month. We stream huluplus and our existing netflix account. I am so happy to have finally gotten out from under that crazy bill.

 

[MillauFr]

I dumped cable 2 years ago after they forced me to get a set top box. I refused and told them to cancel all of my tv service. I just have cable from Comcast for $39.95 per month inclusive of all taxes.

 

[writermommy6]

Is this a permanent rate or a teaser rate?

It's a 1 yr teaser rate that bumps up to $79 after that. I don't know if we'll keep it after that but if my work speed keeps increasing (I do a LOT of Internet research) then it may even out.

 

[anniemck]

If you have a Roku look at getting Playon
You can stream a ton more stuff including Hulu (the free one)

I was going to say the same... I have had roku for 3 years now and we now have 2, we have the play on lifetime subscription as well as hulu+, netflix and I have amazon prime. Never a shortage on TV. and for sports I have so many "plug-ins" for the play on that i never miss anything.

 

[lilandvisma]

I have been cutting corners left and right because I am simply tired of barely getting by and not having any emergency money put back. The one thing DH has always insisted on was having the television package with like 500 channels on it. This is so that on his day(s) off he can veg out and watch whatever.
Weelllllll, after I showed him how much we were spending every month ($225) for the same old crap to be on and for our kids to spend way too much time with their head in the screen, he finally agreed to reduce our package to the basic channels. Great! Except that the 'free' cable boxes were no longer 'free'. So the $20 basic with the DVR and two other boxes ended up being $56!

Long story short, we dumped the internet/tv company where we were paying $150 for internet and basic tv and switched to only internet through a faster service(twice as fast which helps with my job as a freelance writer) and now pay $60 a month. We stream huluplus and our existing netflix account. I am so happy to have finally gotten out from under that crazy bill.

I'm so ready to join you with this. Cable is ridiculous where we are at and we are so rural that we really don't have another option. Between charter and our sprint bill I'd personally like to ditch them both! lol