Have you considered cutting the cable cord?
Are you like me and thousands of others that are sick of paying all this money for TV, but are not sure where to start? Is cutting the cord right for you? In this 2 Part Guide, I will show you how to select an OTA antenna, which streaming service is best for you, and all the other options that you have if you are ready to cut the cord. So let’s begin!
First lets talk about things you need to consider before you cut the cord.
Internet Cost: Once you cut the cord you also lose your bundle deal. Especially if you cancel your landline too, the cost of your internet goes up. If you buy your own Cable Modem you may save some monthly rental fees, around $10 a month.
Data Cap: from your internet provider. A lot of you may have not noticed but sometime in 2016-17 Cable companies implemented a Data cap of 1TB with an option to have unlimited data for a price between $30 to $50 per month on top of your regular internet price. Most of you should be OK with the 1TB cap but for those of you that have a family of 4 that will be streaming your TV, downloading games (digital copies instead of a disk) for your Xbox or PS, stream music, and let’s not forget our surveillance cameras that most check online while at work or away on vacation. All those can add up fast! One way to find out how much data you currently use is to go to your internet provider’s page and log in and check your data usage. Then use the data calculator to get an idea of how much you potentially may use if you start streaming your TV content.
Your Must Have Channel List is To Big: Most streaming TV bundles don’t offer the same selection of channels as you can get with cable. Depending on your must-have channels, you may have to subscribe to two different streaming services in order to get those channels resulting in higher cost.
DVR Needs: A lot of streaming TV services offer some kind of DVR service but also come with some quirks that don’t apply to cable/satellite. Some offer unlimited hours of recording, some offer unlimited series recordings but also depending on which streaming TV service you have, there are also some limitations.
Philo, YouTube TV allow unlimited recordings, but Philo deletes them after 30 days, & YouTube after 9 months.
Sling TV & Hulu don’t let you record individual episodes. Fubo TV doesn’t allow series recordings.
Sling TV doesn’t support recording ESPN channels or pausing Fox channels.
Hulu allows pausing Fox channels but you can’t fast forward through commercials afterwards.
Fubo TV you can’t watch a recording until it’s finished.
YouTube TV won’t let you skip ads if an ad-supported version is available on-demand.
TV’s Used at the Same Time: Every streaming service has a limit of how many users can be streaming on the same time. A trade-off for set-top boxes fees. Here is a breakdown by each streaming service on how many users can be streaming at the same time and any extra cost per month to add more users:
Sling TV Orange: 1 – Sling TV Blue: 3 Sling Orange + Blue: 4 ?
Hulu Live TV: 2 – $15/mo: Unlimited in home, 3 out of home
YouTube TV: 3
Fubo TV: 2 – $6/mo: 3
Philo: 3
You Fear Change: Cutting the cord and replacing it with a streaming service, or set up an OTA antenna for your local channels, or get your content from a non-legal source like Kodi or IPTV (we’re not naïve here). Whichever route you take, the apps and menus will look and feel different, will behave different (like DVR) than they did with cable/satellite TV. If you are willing to be flexible, you will have more control of how much you’re paying for TV. But if you are looking for a perfect imitation of cable/satellite that doesn’t cost as much, you are not ready to cut the cord.
Your Must Have TV Shows List is To Big. If you like your News, Sports or GOT write down your must have TV shows. Now that you know that, let’s figure out how to watch those. The majority of people watch a lot of their TV shows that are available on the local networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, so you may want to consider getting an antenna. 90% of Americans can receive on average about 30+ channels by getting an antenna to watch their local channels plus many more channels that are free to watch over the air. All these great channels come in HD and you connect a DVR to record your favorite shows and watch it when you want. The best part it’s free besides the initial cost of the antenna. So do your research on an antenna, visit antennaweb.org to see which stations are available in your area and what kind of antenna you will need, an indoor or outdoor. Adding Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu in conjunction with an antenna, may get you almost all of your TV shows that you watch and also save you the most money. If you need to add a streaming service like YouTube TV and subscribing to Netflix and Amazon Prime in order to get your must have TV shows, it will result in higher cost, which may not be worth it for you to cut the cord yet.
Breaking it down, the savings are there but it also depends on what you are interested in watching. Because for some TV fanatics, cutting the cord may mean cutting channels that you can’t stream but for others it may be worth it. Which is why it is important to do your research and see what’s best for you.
