Readers give tips to cut cable

With many streaming services, there are more alternatives than ever

Is it time to cut the cord? Cable customers trying to answer that question have been balancing rising bills with fear of the unknown. But with the proliferation of streaming services, there are now more alternatives than ever. With Comcast having increased its rates for most customers Wednesday, we asked readers whether any of them had made the jump to a cable-free world and, if so, to share any tips and regrets.

We found no second-guessing. But as far as alternatives to cable, it doesn’t seem there’s one that stands out.

Some went with Hulu. “Cut cable last month and save

$150 a month,” emailed Phil Marquez. “[I] went with Hulu. Lost some programs, but not enough to continue paying the amount cable keeps charging. [I] used Amazon Fire Stick as my platform that allows me to click and watch. As a senior, it was a smooth transition and easier than I thought it would be.”

Others went with YouTube TV, which allows users to keep watching local channels and much of basic cable.

“We did the cord-cutting last September from DirecTV,” emailed Mark Gaurrich. “We had that service for over 25 years. Their rates just kept growing and growing. So we decided to look elsewhere for something that would give us the channels we wanted for a reasonable price. We found YouTube TV for $49.99 a month, and it gives us all our local channels and the cable channels we enjoy. We also have Netflix , Amazon Prime Video and now

Disney+. All together, we are saving well over $100 a month. Also dropped home phone and went with magicJack for phone service, now paying less the a quarter of what we were paying before.”

In fact, for many readers, fear of the unknown wasn’t a factor because many of them said they already subscribed to multiple streaming services. There was a level of familiarity that made the shift easier, they said.

“I just cut my Comcast cable TV service in October when my bill for TV plus internet was over

$225 per month with no premium channels. We were already streaming with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime TV,” emailed Frances Marrero. “My husband and I miss a few shows we enjoyed watching, but we have plenty to keep us busy with the addition of Apple TV and Disney+. Roku has an app where you can watch local and national news for free, so you don’t miss anything like that. And I managed to cut my TV bill to $100 a month with just internet and my streaming services.

We also received word from

several experts on the cordcutting subject, which is apparently now a cottage industry.

Jim Kimble, founder of Cordcuttingreport.com, offered four tips for new cord cutters.

1. Negotiate for a lowercost internet connection

“When I call an internet service provider to negotiate, I don’t tell them that I’m streaming,” Kimble wrote. “I say I have an antenna and need a basic internet plan for my computer. That’s it. I’ve been paying between $35 to $45 per month for internet since

2016.”

2. Make a plan before you cancel cable

“Sit down with a pad and pen with people in your household. If you want live TV, make a list of channels that are important to you. From there, you can explore your options. Depending on where you live, a TV antenna may give you a number of free local stations such as PBS, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox,” Kimble wrote. “You can also shop around for live TV services such as YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV and fuboTV. You might do a combination of the two. So for example, you might use a TV antenna for local channels, then add an inexpensive streaming service for Philo, which has 58 entertainment channels such as A&E, Hallmark Channel(s) and HGTV. “

3. Buy your own modem and router instead of renting from your internet provider

“You’ll save money compared to renting, and you can buy a tri-band router that will perform better than what your ISP will rent to you,” Kimble wrote.

4. Don’t fall into the subscribe-to-everything trap

“With cord cutting, you can be a wise consumer and control your spending,” Kimble wrote. “It’s very easy to pick up a subscription to a service for only two or three months, and cancel it online after you catch up on shows that are important to you.”

In fact, cutting out cable has become such a threat to cable companies that one of the latest entries into the streaming world is, yes, your local cable company.

“Considering the growing number of over the top streaming services available today, we definitely agree that there are more choices than ever before and the way that people are consuming entertainment, including television shows, movies and live sporting events, is rapidly changing. That’s why we introduced our Xfinity Flex service this year,” emailed Cindy Arco, public relations manager for Comcast’s Florida region. “Recently we began offering the service for free to all internet-only customers, giving them the ability to easily access their favorite streaming services and manage their connected home devices right on the TV. It leverages our Xfinity X1 technology, so our streaming-first internet customers can enjoy all their favorite content through the same userfriendly platform our video customers do, including the ability to use the X1 Voice Remote to control their TVs.”

Of course, there’s always another option that the TVobsessed may not have considered, an option raised on our Facebook post of our article asking for readers’ cord-cutting tips.

“I haven’t watched TV in almost three years,” commented Scott Harris. “And I don’t miss the B.S. that comes out of it one bit.”