The Globe’s TY Burr has written two back to back columns on something I often think about: Cutting the cable TV cord. For me the challenge has always been not wanting to miss Red Sox and Celtics games. I’m also aware of the fact that NewTV — something we should all value highly — depends on our cable TV fees to operate. But could I cut the cord and donate a much larger chunk of my saving to NewTV than they get from my fee and still be saving?
Have you cut or looked into cutting the cord?
I did cut, a year ago. Just paying for scores of channels I never watched made no sense.
I replaced with YouTube TV at $35 per month, equivalent to basic cable, including NBC Sports Boston and NESN. I am satisfied with the picture quality and it only rarely glitches.
We haven’t yet but every month when that sizeable cable bill arrives I consider it anew. I think the only thing that has kept me from doing it is inertia and laziness. Mostly I’ve got to catalog what all family members watch and make sure that we replace it with the necessary services. …. one of these days.
We cut the cord a couple of months ago. We went from $135/mo Fios triple-play to $40/mo Internet (75 Mbps up and down), with YouTube TV ($40/mo), Netflix ($13/mo) and Amazon Prime ($10/mo).
One of the major benefits was getting rid of the useless landline, as most calls are now scam calls, and anyone we want to hear from has our mobile phone numbers.
YouTube TV works pretty well, although it has too many useless sports channels for my taste, and lacks Comedy Central and PBS. PBS can be picked up using a local antenna, however, and there’s also the PBS app on the Apple TV which allows us to get WGBH programming. The cloud DVR works very nicely, as there are no limits on how many programs can be recorded. Plus, with the streaming services, you can watch your shows on the go.
Switched to FIOS internet only from RCN internet only and am very happy. Cheaper and more reliable. Never really used any cable TV service, so there was no cord to cut. I watch movies on Amazon prime, but not much. I don’t watch sports except for the Super Bowl, so that’s not an issue for me.
Our big move was switching from Comcast to Verizon Fios in 2009 at a time when that was the cord cutting option. It was/is much better. As for the present cord-cutting options, I can see the attractiveness of the alternatives, but I’m not convinced that the a la carte options are cheaper/easier/more convenient than cable. At least for now.
Regardless, it’s clear that big cable, like most other legacy establishments, will be unrecognizable in another decade thanks to millennials.
We took the leap 4 years ago and have never looked back. Hulu and Netflix are fairly priced, and broadcast HDTV is free. I enjoy being able to decide month-to-month if something from cable is worth $35-40 for the month. And I love sticking it to Comcast, a company that raised poor customer service to an art form.
We switched to Vue a while ago and have been very happy.
90% of the time my TV is set to CNN, MSNBC and HGTV. I also like to access chanel 9 for Newton news.
If I could get those channels while cutting the cord I would consider it. But don’t think I can
I’m one of the last die-hard landline users, because the sound quality is better. I use my old answering machine to screen calls, but really appreciate it being easier to understand my son or mother for long calls, not to mention the better ergonomics of real phones.
If I keep the landline and internet, then the cost of getting the TV stations I want separately doesn’t seem to be any cheaper than sticking to RCN for everything and is less hassle.
We never got around to signing up for cable TV when we moved to Newton 10 years ago. I think if I stood on my roof I could see the broadcast towers in Needham (so reception is excellent with an antenna in the attic), and Netflix / Amazon suffices for most of the rest. We’re not sports people, though.
@Andy Levin. Does that You Tube service also allow you to access on television all of the videos found on regular You Tube?
Land lines are good for one thing, locating your cell phone if you can’t find it (and it’s no extra charge on RCN).
We cut the (cable TV) cord over a decade ago. With the towers so close, it doesn’t even require much of an antenna to get a good signal, just a loose wire hanging out the back of the set. I resented paying high prices for “basic cable” which was essentially less than I could get for free for broadcast TV, plus a forced subsidy to Fox news, country music, etc. And we got our lives back not having HGTV shows on in the background. Local sports programming at home is the only thing I miss.
It has become increasingly difficult to get our providers to give us Internet-only service at a price that’s less than the TV bundle, even with three providers in town. They seem to think they can bully you into watching their crappy TV programming again.
For phone service, we switched our “landline” to a VoIP provider several years ago. I still worry whether the E-911 will work, but we avoid FCC fees and taxes that probably cost more than what we now pay for service. Best to just keep the NPD number handy by the phones.
I often wonder why NewTV doesn’t also “cut the cord” and just become an online video streaming channel. With Smart TVs and web browsers, their service would be pretty easy to access, and they could do a far better job of organizing their archived content than they do today.
We have a landline for many reasons, including we don’t get reliable cell phone service in our home. And it provides a better connection. And the kids know there is a landline on each level, including the basement, where we can’t use our cell phones.
@Bob Burke,
It’s a separate app; regular YouTube is free.
We did several months ago, subscribing to Playstation Vue. The dealbreakers that kept me from looking into it sooner, but have since been solved, have been:
– Availability of local channels. A digital antenna would work, but it’s kind of a pain. We still don’t get the local PBS station, but we use the app to get shows, and I understand the rights issues will be cleared up this year and we will get WGBH/X
– Local sports. As Ty pointed out in his second column, that is a big consideration. When I sow PS Vue had NESN and Comcast Sports Boston for Sox/B’s/C’s games, I was all in.
Monthly nut is $50. I upgraded our internet service to a faster tier to make sure we handle the load, but that wasn’t much- We’re saving about $40-50 a month under our old bills (I’m not counting Amazon Prime and Netflix subscriptions, as we already had those).
I’m in my mid 20’s and most of my peers have never paid for cable to begin with. My set up is $50 for internet, a shared Netflix account with my siblings ($5/month), antenna tv (25 channels). I originally thought I was going to miss live sporting events, but I’ve found that the ones I care most about can usually be accessed with my antenna.
Cable would be nice, but why would I pay an extra $50/month to watch tv with commercials? I get the major channels and local news via antenna, and my leisure shows via Netflix.
I have not had cable for going on 8 years. Went retro and only use an over the air antenna – no monthly subscriptions related to televised or streaming content.
Am not much of a TV watcher, but when I do, I usually can find something interesting that is pulled out of thin air – for free. Today’s digital antenna reception in our area is quite good!
I use a mobile hotspot for my internet reception on a laptop or tablet.
I don’t have a smartphone either. When they first came out, I said I would get one as soon as I ran into a situation where I regretted not having one. To my surprise, that day or moment has never come.
I work in high tech and over the decades, my experiences with and knowledge of the dark side of technology has led me to become a bit of a Luddite as a side effect.
We replaced Comcast with YouTube TV over a year ago and couldn’t be happier. $35 for more programming, all local live channels, more sports than you could ever want … including local teams + it’s on your mobile device so it’s with you wherever you go. Took a little getting used to using your phone as a remote, but it’s one of the smartest things Ive done in a while. FYI we also have a Netflix account. You can also share the YouTube TV account with 4 family members … I shared it with niceses and nephews that live 50 miles away.
FYI if you are a Spotify Premium subscriber, ad-supported Hulu is now included in your monthly fee.
https://www.spotify.com/hulu/
No affiliation etc.