cutting cable savings

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Okay this is going to sound stupid but how do people save money cutting cable but adding everything else back in? I mean sling is $20/month. Then Netflix is like $10/month, then hulu another $10? Amazon prime is $99/year, doesn't it all add up to the same price as cable?

I mean by not having cable is the only way to save the money. Our "cable" has been $5 or 10/month on top of our interest as a bundle. So the savings can't be replicated by hulu, Netflix, etc. We only have prime and even that i'm not sure if we'll keep. We've had prime because of our kids kindles but now we're thinking maybe it's not needed. We might be upgrading to regular tablets instead of fire.

But can someone explain to me how you save so much cutting cable but adding back all these monthly subscriptions anyway? And we'd get a better deal on our package if we signed a contract but we never do. So I know we don't get as good a deal.

But where we have lived for 2 years it's been 1 subscriber anyway so I don't have any option than Bad. So negotiating is minor. It's Comcast or nada.

So how do save money cutting cable? Is it because most times it's the big packages of cable?

[MonkeyMama]

We had a small cable package (nothing "big") for something like $80/month. The only thing we added when we cut cable was Hulu. That's about $10/month, so a savings of $70 per month.

Even with Amazon + Netflix + Hulu, that's only $30 per month. Still a substantial savings.

I think a lot of it is that people prefer to pick and choose more what they want to watch. With cable we paid for a LOT that we NEVER watched. Lord knows that was a lot of our reason for wanting to cut the cable cord. Along the sames lines, we haven't signed up for every service out there. Amazon/Netflix/Hulu would be a lot of overlap. & I say this as a household that watches a LOT of TV. But there are only so many hours in the day.

(We personally just buy individual shows and episodes off of Amazon, because we don't watch that much on Amazon. Is far less than $99/year to just buy a couple of shows we can't get elsewhere).

P.S. We cut our cable many years ago. I've never seen $5 or $10 cable in our city (with internet). That may be a newer thing and/or varies widely by region. We've personally (mostly) never paid any of the big cable companies, so maybe pricing was just very different for smaller cable companies.

[kork13]

I don't watch much TV, and I've only had cable once since graduating college, when my roommates wanted to have it. But a cable subscription normally costs no less than $30-$40/mo... Often, $50+. I've normally only ever had Netflix, though we did Hulu for a while too. Now, if you go nuts & get every subscription service under the sun, you won't save money. But if you pick the 1-3 you really like & use regularly, saving money by cord cutting is easy.

[disneysteve]

Our "cable" has been $5 or 10/month

Really? I've never heard of anyone having a $5 cable bill. Years ago when we first got cable we paid $10/month for the limited basic package but I don't think they still offer that and if they do I'm sure it's not still $10.

[JoeP]

Easy, just don't add everything back in!

Broadband is $66/mo. Netflix is I think $9. Nothing else except what we get off the antenna.

[Nutria]

Really? I've never heard of anyone having a $5 cable bill. Years ago when we first got cable we paid $10/month for the limited basic package but I don't think they still offer that and if they do I'm sure it's not still $10.

Our TV service is $33/mo (includes $23 Cox TV Starter, 2x mini boxes, Broadcast Surcharge), and the Cox Bundle Promotional Discount (to keep us as customers) is $21. Thus, the monthly net is $12.

[QuarterMillionMan]

The problem I have with cable TV is that the cable company tells you the "fake" price of let's say in my previous bill here of $28 but after all the taxes, rental charges, and fees are added you later see the "real" price. I fired my TV cable company months ago and I'm happy about it.



Starter TV 28.00

Service Discount -13.01

Standard TV 45.99

Digital Adapter & Remote 4.00

Sub Total $64.98

Taxes Utility Users Tax-cable 3.95

Fees & Charges PEG Capital Fee 0.85

Franchise Fee 4.40

Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee 0.08 $9.28

TV Services Total $74.26

[Nutria]

The problem I have with cable TV is that the cable company tells you the "fake" price of let's say in my previous bill here of $28 but after all the taxes, rental charges, and fees are added you later see the "real" price. I fired my TV cable company months ago and I'm happy about it.



Starter TV 28.00

Service Discount -13.01

Standard TV 45.99

Why did you pay both Starter and Standard?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Starter only gets the local channels plus some other cable channels.


Standard gets ESPN, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports West, CNBC, Fox Business News, etc.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Also in order to get the standard TV ($45), the starter TV ($28) has to be purchased.

[Nutria]

Also in order to get the standard TV ($45), the starter TV ($28) has to be purchased.

That's completely different from Cox, where it would just list Standard TV for $73.

[phantom]

It would probably cost us about $20 to add cable to our internet package, more if we wanted it for more than one TV and had to get additional boxes. So, the price difference would be pretty negligible. But, at this point, I can't even imagine wanting cable TV in my life 90% of the time. There's very little there that would bring any value to my life.

Every few months, my husband and I want to have people over and think it would be nice to be able to put a hockey game or a baseball game on. But, that's so very rare that it seems silly to pay for a monthly service. The antenna gets football games and championship games just fine, and then I remember how much I hate watching the same 5 commercials once a half-hour and am grateful I don't see TV all that often.

[scfr]

Our "cable" has been $5 or 10/month on top of our interest as a bundle. So the savings can't be replicated by hulu, Netflix, etc.

When we bought our home 8-1/2 years ago, we installed an antenna. We had to replace it once (hail storm). We watch free OTA (over the airwaves) TV. I supplement with DVDs that I check out at the library. Most of the "hot" shows eventually make it to DVD. We pay no monthly fees for TV, and we're mostly satisfied. What I do miss about cable, I'm not willing to pay what I'd have to pay to get it.

If you are getting lots of enhancements that you want (and can't get another way for less or free), and it only costs you $5-10 per month, and you can easily afford that extra amount, then by all means pay it! Most of us can't get cable that cheap, or if we can, it doesn't add value to what we can already get for free. The lowest cost cable that we could get would mostly just include what we are already getting for free with the antenna, plus a couple other channels that I don't care about.

Just keep an eagle eye out for rate changes. Was the $5-10 per month a "teaser" to get you to add cable in your new house?

[msomnipotent]

I have been trying to lower our bill for 2 months now. It shot up to $240 per month for cable, phone, and internet. My husband doesn't want to change from Comcast, drop one or both of the extra receiver things, or drop the phone. Comcast will only offer $189 + taxes with a 2 year contract and I don't think that is a good price for 2 years. I'm seriously considering telling him that he is responsible for paying the Comcast bill, and then I will just pay someone to install the antenna I bought last year when they turn off our service for non-payment.

[LizfromtheBronx]

I've just done this, so I can chime in.

Where I live, I luckily have 3 options - RCN, Spectrum, or Verizon Fios. When I was moving into my apartment a year and a half ago, I compared all 3 and RCN came out to be cheapest. So I had that installed the day after I moved in. I got cable (basic package with 1 DVR box) and internet (mid-range speed plus modem rental). They threw in Showtime for the first year for free. The cost was going to be $80-$90 a month. The day of the installation, my tech informed me that Food Network, HGTV and the like were not included in the basic package, which I've never experienced. I immediately called and bit the bullet to upgrade to the next best package, which shot the bill up to $120 or so.

I also had an Apple TV which I used to access Netflix (use a friend's account), Hulu (used to use my brother's account), and HBO Go (usd my mom's cable log-in, which she will not be getting rid of anytime soon, and I contribute $10 a month to her cable bill). So I could access pretty much any content I wanted between the Apple TV apps and the cable box.

Fast forward a year, once my free year of Showtime expired, I informed the cable company that I would not be continuing Showtime (since I can use my mom's log-in for that as well), and I also dropped back down to basic cable. I switched the Apple TV for an Amazon Fire stick, so I could download apps (my Apple TV was an older generation that didn't allow you to download apps), and I downloaded the Watch HGTV app and the Watch Food Network apps. Again, used mom's log-in.

Then I realized that I was essentially paying a cable bill for the DVR service of network television. I cancelled cable, and retained my internet plan, got my own Hulu account (got a promotion, so I am paying $5.99 a month for the first year, then will pay 7.99 a month after that). I have to wait until the day after shows air to watch them on Hulu, but I generally did that anyway. Anything on CBS, I watch via the CBS app on my iPad (there's no app for any of the streaming sticks for free CBS, since they want you to purchase their All Access. No thanks. I also have Amazon Prime, so I can access their shows and movies.

Total monthly cost is now $56.62 (internet) + 5.99 (Hulu) + 10.00 (contribution to Mom's cable bill for using her log-in for HBO, Showtime, HGTV and Food Network). 72.61 total as opposed to $120 for cable. Worthwhile.

It took a while to figure out, and where you have to start is by analyzing your viewing habits. I watch a lot of currently airing TV, but not a lot of sports. So once I figured that out, I just had to figure out the best way to access the programming I want.

Sorry for the long post, but it was a bit of a journey to cut the cord