Cut the Cord

[virgonomic]

I recently signed up for IPTV. The going rate is $15 CDN per month but I found it for $45 USD/year. No brainer. Hundreds of international channels and series.

[Sour Masher]

The wife has agreed to cut the cord. We added paramount, Peacock, and will add Sling Blue soon. Then the cable gets cut off. We are still negotiating if we are keeping the phone service. She wants to keep it as she is paranoid about giving her cell phone for anything. But all we get is scammers and surveys on the home phone, for the most part.

[revo]

To answer an earlier question, the only issue so far has been a lag on live sports. So when I text buddies, I’m always anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes behind.

[revo]

An update:
3 months later, and I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. If you have less expensive internet than I do ($120/mo.) without data caps, what are you waiting for, lol?

I have 1 gig speed internet + YouTube TV, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Showtime, Apple TV, Hulu, ESPN+, Disney, the NBA package, and Paramount+ for a little more than half the price of what I paid before. It’s crazy. When you add up cable box rentals, DVR, taxes, fees whatever, it’s insane. If cable companies don’t adapt to the new environment, they’re sitting ducks.

[Sour Masher]

An update:
3 months later, and I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner. If you have less expensive internet than I do ($120/mo.) without data caps, what are you waiting for, lol?

I have 1 gig speed internet + YouTube TV, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Showtime, Apple TV, Hulu, ESPN+, Disney, the NBA package, and Paramount+ for a little more than half the price of what I paid before. It’s crazy. When you add up cable box rentals, DVR, taxes, fees whatever, it’s insane. If cable companies don’t adapt to the new environment, they’re sitting ducks.

Yes, I am exactly where you are, except just a couple of months into being cable free. Have mostly the same subscriptions, except we went with Sling over Youtube TV. Not only are all of our services combined still $80 less than cable, we now have whole house dvr with Sling. Our only regret is not doing this sooner, and the funny thing is we wouldn't have even done it if they didn't keep increasing their fees. Had they stayed even close to competitive with the Sings and Youtube TVs of the world they could have survived. As it is, it seems just a matter of time before their last cable customers die off. They companies will still do well, since they will be internet service providers, and it will be many more years before cable goes the way of the Dodo, but it seems inevitable.

[revo]

Yes, I am exactly where you are, except just a couple of months into being cable free. Have mostly the same subscriptions, except we went with Sling over Youtube TV. Not only are all of our services combined still $80 less than cable, we now have whole house dvr with Sling. Our only regret is not doing this sooner, and the funny thing is we wouldn't have even done it if they didn't keep increasing their fees. Had they stayed even close to competitive with the Sings and Youtube TVs of the world they could have survived. As it is, it seems just a matter of time before their last cable customers die off. They companies will still do well, since they will be internet service providers, and it will be many more years before cable goes the way of the Dodo, but it seems inevitable.

When I was cancelling cable, they asked why and I said I was switching to streaming only. They said "oh, we have streaming now too." Except it was only slightly less expensive than the regular cable service and the DVR service, they said, would cost by how many hours I wanted to record. Like an extra $20-$40 a month. I was like, whaaaaaat, you realize DVR service on YouTube TV, for example, was free. They're really out of touch with reality.


And to be clear, when I said I have all of the above "for a little more than half the price I paid before" that meant OF CABLE ONLY. I was STILL buying most of those streamers anyway. So the reality is it's probably 60% less of the total monthly nut it was before, and I now get MORE than I had before.