I have been thinking about Cutting The Cord & Ditching Cable for a while, but it’s not as simple as I first thought.
When we moved to Phoenix years ago, we signed up for Cox Cable, my hubby also used their service for our email addresses. That means that I have a cox.net email out there for all kinds of things like bank accounts, blogging, and other things.
My son has a Roku TV and loves it, so he bought me a Roku Stick to use to try out not using cable. It will work with a few additions and I like the idea of saving almost $200 a month.
I will add an inside antenna to get local channels and possibly pay for HGTV and Hallmark Channel to be added.
Just when I thought I was ready to cancel Cox I found out that all my Cox email accounts will go away if I close my Cox account. I can shut off the TV and keep my internet with Cox, however, the price to keep what I have will be almost $100. I can downgrade my internet and it will still be around $76. There are several other places where I can get internet way cheaper, so spending that kind of money doesn’t make sense. That means I have to switch a ton of accounts with the @cox.net email to a new email. I need to set up a different email account with someone like Gmail, Yahoo, or whoever.
One saving grace is my blog, when I set that email up, I set it up as astrollthrulife@live.com and that works perfectly. Now if I can get the other gazillion things set up to my another email account, I can finally pull the plug.
Have you cut the cord and what challenges did you find? Also any tips for cutting the cord would be appreciated.
Yes, cut that cord! I had Time Warner Cable for 25 years and after watching the prices steadily increase, I cut the cable and now just pay for their internet. $74 a month, but with streaming and internet TV I just don’t miss it:)
I cut the cord and kept internet for $73 a month. Its worth it. You can always slowly change your email. I would suggest a Gmail account for your email.
I have never had cable. I purchased a digital antenna from costco for 40 dollars, it is a piece of square plastic approx 12 x 12 and can be hung in your house, a window, wall, bookcase or anywhere to get the best reception. That is how I receive all of my local channels. Then I signed up for Sling and received a free roku. Sling has 2 basic plans $35 each or both for 60 and add-on small packages of channels for 5 or 10 extra a month. So if you are pretty much only interested in HGTV, sling would be 35 a month. The cost of my internet only service is 55 a month. I also have Netflix which is 10 a month. There are also free movie, documentary apps through our local library system (HOOPLA and Kanopy), all you need is a library card. Your area may offer something similar. Good luck and it saves a ton of money, plus who really has time to makes use of so many channels…not me. LOL
I would have all your email from the cable company (just go into your settings and do it there) forwarded to your new email account. You’ll probably need to wait a month so you can get the emails and then go into that account and update to your new email. We have a Roku and cable. I currently pay $135 roughly (no extra sports channels). We have an argument going on about paying for cable when I could just go with the Roku etc. I’m addicted to both Hallmark channels and HGTV so I want to have those at immediate access. Some of the channels that are available to get programs on for free come in at only 720p so the resolution is poor. The cable company has made it difficult to pair down your channel selections, which stinks. It’s complicated in my opinion.
Thanks, good advie.
Try the antenna before you cut the cable. We could not get a good antenna signal for the local broadcast networks. So we had to purchase the basic cable along with internet service. Here’s another hint: your cell phone company may offer free trial subscriptions to streaming channels (Apple TV & Discovery Plus), which you can get using a Roku. Some local libraries will offer free streaming channels like Acorn TV using your library card. It is streamed through the Roku.
We have Internet with Xfinity and use an Amazon Firestick and an antenna in the attic. We also have Philo. We just added a mesh wi-fi to the house and it works well. Xfinity is the only internet we can get in our area. AT&T does not have the fast service in our area of the county. If you use Philo you can get HGTV and Hallmark in your channel list. I am addicted to the History Channel.
My kids gave me a Samsung Smart TV last year. I used to use Spectrum Cable. Streaming Spectrum. saves me about $100 a month. You get local channels and can choose which other channels you want. I have the smallest package and with internet and my landline, I pay $142 a month. I pay $4.99 a month for the Discovery + app so I get HGTV, the Magnolia network, the Food Channel, etc. I also have Amazon Prime and Paramount Plus. I saved money by paying for a full year of Paramount upfront. I think it was just under $50. Internet is the most expensive part of my plan. There doesn’t seem to be a way around that!
I used to do Hallmark movies and more but was greatly disappointed because it was not Hallmark’s latest movies nor did it have the Hallmark mysteries. I have Comcast for just Internet and it is $40 a month. I know T-Mobile has a cell phone plan for those 55 and older that is cheaper than my current $59 one – I’m looking to do that soon. I’ve gotten my antenna, 10 x 10 inch square with long cord from Walmart and I had local channels plus ION channel came in pretty good which was a nice surprise. Good luck.
We have Internet with AT&T and use an Amazon Firestick. We have Disney, Britbox, (Christmas/birthday gifts from our children!). My son had Netflix for years and we’ve kept that. There are so many stations through the Firestick that we didn’t miss cable at all. We save about $130 monthly if you factor in the cost of the add on subscriptions. A BIG monthly savings! We use Protonmail for $53.00 yearly so I don’t ever have to change email again!