Time To Cut The Cable

One Tough Decision

Never in a million years I would have thought that disconnecting the cable TV service would be an option for me. Well, this all started a couple of years ago. My TV service kept on going higher and higher in price every year hitting a peak of around $200. I asked myself a couple of critical questions. How much time do I spend watching TV? What do I usually put when I watch TV? Do I really need all the channels provided with the service? How much do I hate commercials? All these questions helped me decide to disconnect my cable.

Better Alternatives

Years ago there weren’t that many options to watch TV other than cable itself. With streaming on the uprise the possibilities are endless. All you need is a smart TV and/or media streaming system and apps. I use a combination to get the most entertainment options out of it. The most popular media streaming systems include the following:

1. Apple TV 4th Generation ($149.00)
2. Roku Stick ($45.00)
3. Amazon Fire Stick ($39.99)
4. Google Chromecast ($35.00)

They are all slightly different offering different options. It all depends on what suits you the best. Now all you need are streaming apps. The streaming apps are divided between paid vs free. The most popular main paid streaming apps are:

1. Netflix (Overall entertainment starting at $9.99 per month)
2. Hulu (Best for Network TV starting at $7.99 per month)

These two streaming apps in particular are the ones I use the most. They are on demand so you don’t have to wait and you have full control of what you watch. Let me inform you that these apps can be shared across multiple households. You can either split the small bill or if you’re lucky a family member or a Bro might just let you use it. There are also a bunch of free streaming apps to complement these two main apps. Here are a few popular ones:

1. ShowBox
2. Crackle
3. Youtube
4. Yidio
5. Viewster
6. MegaBoxHD

Bottom Line

I have not had cable for the last couple of years and I have yet to miss it. Most of the media streaming systems also have specific channel apps where you can sign in to use them. Using the savings from cancelling the TV cable service I was able to upgrade my internet to a much faster speed. All the same TV shows I used to watch are in Hulu so I get to watch them when I want and how I want. Streaming is such a threat to the TV service that service providers are now putting data caps on your internet usage. But don’t worry with the many complaints the data cap is very high and hard to reach. I dare you Bros to take the plunge, you won’t regret it.