Can you live without cable television? It’s the sort of question that is best answered after putting yourself to the test.
When we recently moved, there was a ridiculous amount of difficulty getting either AT&T or Comcast to come hook up a package including phone/internet/cable. Consequently we were without television for almost a week. Not having any form of television viewing, and not even having the option, is a difficult experience. No one is advocating that. However, do you really need 300+ channels? Ask yourself: How many of these do you really watch on a regular basis?
There were times in my youth when I have been without “expanded” cable, and thrived on a limited channel selection. This was before the digital conversion, and when paying a cable bill was not an option based on my salary and budget. Fortunately, almost every time I moved into a new apartment and connected my TV into the wall jack, I miraculously had a limited number of cable channels available to view. Some might call this “stealing” cable – others would see it as “luck” that the utility company failed to turn off the previous tenant’s connection.
In any event, living without expanded cable was liberating. I spent more time on constructive endeavors and less time vegged out in front of the boob tube.
With the economy the way it is now, it might be time to consider finding other ways to get your TV fix rather than paying an expensive cable bill. Major networks are putting their shows on the internet, and thanks to startups like HULU, viewing television on your computer has become a reality. There is a ton of free video content on the internet (think YouTube), so keeping yourself entertained shouldn’t be a problem if you have a broadband connection. And many networks offer their shows online for free through their websites. Or, if you’re addicted to a particular show, you can often find the entire season on DVD.
Bottom line – think of cost versus benefit. Are you spending close to $200/month on cable? If so, getting rid of it could be a great way to reduce your monthly expenses. That’s cash in your pocket if you’re really not doing that much television viewing anyway.
The only caveat is if you’re a huge sports fan. If you are, the idea of living without ESPN and FOX Sports might be simply impossible. But to watch sports, other local programming, and possibly more, try AntennaWeb to find out what signals are available in your area and what type of antenna you’ll need to capture them. This can help expand your viewing options.
Filed under: Home, Lifestyle, Uncategorized Tagged: | dump cable, eliminate cable, how to live without cable, live without cable, monthly budget, monthly budgeting, save money, save on monthly expenses
I am afraid to get rid of it. I have actually found more educational and stimulating programming on the higher channels and I like the options. But you are right, a lot of this stuff can be watched on the internet.. heck you can even watch tons of stuff on your phone these days. Good advice… I will think about it!
Great point about dumping cable…I realized recently that I couldn’t afford it either. However I wasn’t prepared to let it go. I found a couple of satellite companies in our area that had great promotional rates. I was also able to get a package with the channels I loved along with DVR for about half of what I was spending on cable. Check it out. It maybe a good alternative.
I have just completed the transition, and I don’t miss cable (or the bills) at all.
My first worry was trading 300 channels for 3. I am 40 miles outside of a major city, so I thought my reception would be horrible. Then I realized that 90% of those channels were either music, ppv or “east west”, so really I only had 30 channels. Only 10 were worth watching at any one time. Also, with the Digital TV transition, a good high gain antenna will net you crystal clear HD and SD reception. My antenna is even inside my attic, so I don’t look ‘redneck’. Another surprise is that my three stations turned out to be 5 stations (not including the spanish and church stations), each of which had 2-3 channels. For instance, I have 2 local PBS affiliates. Each has their main HD channel, then a second all-kids all-the-time channel, and the third is the “Knowledge” channel which has adult educational programming 24/7. My only out of pocket expenses were two digital converter boxes (not needed if you buy a newer TV sicne they have ATSC tuners built in), a high gain antenna (if you have an old roof mount “yagi”, you’re already good to go) and a signal aplifier (mount close to the antenna, use if you have a splitter or long cable run). Total price about $150 all in – about one month of cable.
My next purchase was a Roku set-top player. This allows me to stream movies from my netflix account direct to my TV. For new releases, my favorite TV shows or content that Netflix can’t stream, I can buy off of Amazon’s on-demand service. There’s also a bunch of little “channels” on Roku which are fun to “flip” through.
Lastly, I have high speed DSL. I was worried about DSL because I paid for it a long time ago and had problems. So far, DSL has been flawless, reliable and as fast as my cable speeds were advertised to be. (Cable is shared, so when everyone in your neighborhood gets online your connection crawls. DSL lines are dedicated.)
I used to pay about $140/month for my TV, Phone and Internet. My bill is now $65. And I don’t miss trash TV at all.
Thanks for sharing the great tips Andrew – especially the Roku information & the Amazon on-demand, which sound like great money-saving, but fun options! You certainly are the definition of fabuless!