At risk of coming across as a bit of a hypocrite I made a few changes this year.
In the most recent past I've been writing about TV shows and making predictions about different series. So, I have to accept the fact that there are those who may view what I did as hypocrisy. Well, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and write a post about it. Since I decided to do it, I've come across a couple of articles that tout the benefits of ditching cable tv. For example, a blogger at zdnet decided he could save about $300 a year by ditching cable tv and using iTunes and netflix. I also read an article the other day about subscription television. I bring up that link primarily because it's relevant to my post a little later on and because the author states that he hasn't been a cable tv subscriber for some time.
The point at which it has become difficult to balance the cost of cable television and land line phone services offered has been reached. To be honest I reached it a long time ago and finally decided to just do something about it earlier this month. I believe, over the span of about a year I may be able to save $1380 by ditching my cable tv and land line telephone services. This isn't really a scientific explanation or anything like that. Essentially I am comparing what I pay and what I get versus the options I have as I see it. I'm confident that there may be something I overlooked, but really, I doubt it is anything that I can't overcome once I get to that point. Go ahead and give it a look and let me know what you think . . .
In the most recent past I've been writing about TV shows and making predictions about different series. So, I have to accept the fact that there are those who may view what I did as hypocrisy. Well, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and write a post about it. Since I decided to do it, I've come across a couple of articles that tout the benefits of ditching cable tv. For example, a blogger at zdnet decided he could save about $300 a year by ditching cable tv and using iTunes and netflix. I also read an article the other day about subscription television. I bring up that link primarily because it's relevant to my post a little later on and because the author states that he hasn't been a cable tv subscriber for some time.
The point at which it has become difficult to balance the cost of cable television and land line phone services offered has been reached. To be honest I reached it a long time ago and finally decided to just do something about it earlier this month. I believe, over the span of about a year I may be able to save $1380 by ditching my cable tv and land line telephone services. This isn't really a scientific explanation or anything like that. Essentially I am comparing what I pay and what I get versus the options I have as I see it. I'm confident that there may be something I overlooked, but really, I doubt it is anything that I can't overcome once I get to that point. Go ahead and give it a look and let me know what you think . . .
The Land Line:
Cost
Three out of the four members of my household have their own cell phone. That monthly cost exceeds $100. With At&t, I had an additional monthly fee of ( on average ) $40. I had switched over to my cable carrier for phone service. They told me my bill would be lower, but I never had it long enough to really see the difference. If I had, I expect I may have seen a $10-15 dollar difference, if that much at all. By eliminating the land line it may be possible to save $480/year.Use
The only people ( besides family and the kids' friends ) that call are people looking to sell me something or try to get me to vote for them. What's more, some of these people don't even feel that I'm important enough to speak to - they just leave recorded messages and expect me to listen to them . . . on my phone. So, I ask you . . . why should I pay for that? All the cell phones in my home are already listed with the no-call list and telemarketers are not allowed to call cell phones, I do not expect unwanted calls. I have read some horror stories ( sorry no links ) from people who tried to get financing for homes and cars but only had cell phones. Because they had no established land line, the loan could not be processed. I don't know how true those stories are, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it - if it should come up.Options
I could give only the people I want to have my cell phone number and the family can do the same. For example, my kids' school, my close friends, my family. No one else needs it. After all there are other ways to communicate. Email? Instant Messaging? I have excellent home reception with my cell phone so there's no worries there. I don't make international calls. Cell phones have better flexibility. I can get email, pictures, and IMs on my cell phone. I can't do that with my land line telephone. So, my cell phone offers a better value for it's cost - in my opinion.Cable TV:
Cost
Cable TV charges add up. It's important to note here that I pay for: basic, extended basic, digital, HBO ( to watch the Sopranos ), and the DVR service ( for HD ). I have to pay for digital if I want the DVR service. So, all in all, I get a lot of channels for my viewing enjoyment - whether I want them or not. For this I pay approximately $75 per month. Some months I may pay more if I decide to get something on pay-per-view. For example, last month the kids and I watched Click on pay-per-view. ( By the way, I thought that was a pretty good movie ). So, I spend $900 a year on cable tv. ( $75/month x 12 )Use
What do we really watch? My kids tend to watch The Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or The Cartoon Network. I watch the National and Local news ( NBC ) and whatever series I tend to enjoy on it's specific network. In addition I may watch HBO ( if The Sopranos is being shown or there is a good show that I want to watch ), The Sci-Fi Channel, Discovery, and The History Channel, TLC ( sometimes ). If I'm channel surfing for something I may end up on FX, TNT, TBS, Fox, or Spike. Very rarely do I watch anything on any of the digital channels. I won't go off on the fact that I pay for channels I will never watch. Suffice it to say that the number of channels I watch wouldn't even amount to a quarter of the channels I pay for. Cable providers really need to address this limitation.Subscribers need to be able to access what they want instead of what's offered to them. HD channels are limited. If I can, since I bought an HD television, I will watch what I can in HD. Unfortunately I only get to select from about 7 HD channels - NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN, Discovery, UHD, MHD. There might be a couple more HD channels I have forgotten because the programming does not arouse my interest. I know there are more channels I could have if my local carrier decided to add them. However, in the year and a half that I have been paying for it, no mainstream, HD channels have been added.
On local networks, the HD signal has problems. I'm certain most people would agree that when you watch television ( particularly the news ) the audio is just as important as the video. How would you like to be watching the news and the audio signal goes silent for about a half a second every 12 seconds? That's what happens ( especially on one channel in particular ) for me with enough frequency that it gets to be a real pain.
In total my family watches 20 channels with any degree of regularity. I'll even throw in 5 more just in case I forgot any. So let's call it 25. But I pay for significantly more. Granted, I am also paying for the ability to record those shows and save them on a DVR.
Options
I still have my tv and there are signals that can be captured. ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Public TV. I can tune each of them in with an additional antenna.CBS, ABC, NBC, Disney, and Nickelodeon all have episodes of many series online. You can watch them free of charge. I have only glanced at a few of them to verify that they exist. Travis, at Televalues, wrote a post some time back in which he gave a pretty good idea of how good CBS, ABC, and NBC had done providing this service. There are decent arguments on either side regarding watching video on your computer. Since my intention isn't to debate either side, for now, I consider it an option to watching episodes of my favorite series on my schedule as opposed to the broadcasting channel's or recording via a DVR.
I can always rent movies. We do that from time to time - usually we get one or two if the kids want to rent games. For a while now we have been going to Family Video. They have family movies that are free for kids and a wide variety of movies that are $.99 for 5 nights. New releases will still cost you premium prices and late fees apply should you not return them on time. Netflix or other online, movie rental service. Since one of my goals is to put me in charge of how much I pay monthly, I'm not really interested in replacing one monthly fee with another even though it may be lower. With that being said, there is something to say about online movie rental. I do think it's a good deal and enjoy the fact that there are no late fees. I have tried Netflix and DVD Avenue in the past. They're both excellent services. DVD Avenue also rents games, but the wait for some of them is very long.
Unknown ways to "rent" movies for free. However, with regard to movie rental, I think there is an unknown diamond in the rough that few people know about. Your local library also distributes VHS and DVD movies. I am lucky enough to be able to access my library through their website and reserve and checkout DVDs. The library sends them to me via USPS. I return the movies by dropping them in any library return drop box. This is all FREE of charge. What's more, my local library does not charge late return fees on materials. However, there are drawbacks to the local library too. Sometimes the wait is long. Right now I am waiting for The Descent. I am in a queue and am number 68. The library has significant holdings of the movie, but there is high demand for it. And, people don't always return things on time.
There's always the "timely" argument. That is, there's an advantage to being able to discuss the latest episode of Lost ( for example ) around the water cooler. I admit, you lose that ability relying on season DVDs from any rental service. Some may argue that that's where services like iTunes or watching the episode on the web is the answer. I don't have an iPod - and really don't plan on getting one - so I'll watch them on the web if I miss it at it's regularly scheduled time.
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