Since being on here I have been trying to bring down all our expenses. This topic is on the cable.
We had Directv and when I signed up through At&t's bundle they said I can cancel in a year before the intro price went up. (I know, never listen to them and read the agreement yourself.) I did read the agreement when I signed up and a day ago when I decided to cancel. There is no where in the agreement that mentioned a 24 month contract. But there was another email that said "in another email is the agreement that includes:" and then it lists a couple things including a 24 month equipment lease agreement with cancel fees of $20 per month. But in the actual agreement this is not mentioned at all. (It was confusing that it wasn't included in the agreement and didn't make sense.)
Anyways, I cancelled at 13 months in, and now have to pay a cancel fee of $220 for the remaining 11 months of the "equipment" lease agreement. That's where they get you. You can cancel the "service" anytime, but you are held in an agreement for the equipment lease; which isn't even mentioned in the actual agreement, just alluded to in a set-up email.
I also cancelled Hulu plus.
The savings so far on cable/tv since my case study is:
Directv: $45 (limited to the first 12 months, then it was $95)
Hulu Plus: $8
But it cost $220 to cancel Directv
Still have Netflix at $8 per month
Going forward:
I did some research and wanted to keep my current TV lifestyle but on the cheap. My options of course revolve around OTA antenna. The options I found included Windows Media Center, Channel Master, or Tivo Roamio OTA.
But I should also mention, that we live outside the utility lines of cable and therefore fast and cheap internet. We currently get 3 megabytes per second with At&t (which I had to fight for because they didn't want to give it to me and I can't get it any faster.) We are also limited to 150 GB per month and will be charged for anything that goes over.
Because of our internet limitations, I am afraid to stream our TV shows too much because it will cost us if we go over.
My solution is to try to get most of the shows over the air and record them; hence, my Windows Media Center, Channel Master, or Tivo OTA options.
My dilemma is that I am trying to keep our costs of TV down as much as possible while at the same time keeping the convenience that I had with Directv. But not use the internet because of our internet limitations.
I bought an antenna for $80 which is awesome, very happy with it. We get all the channels and it is omnidirectional so we don't have to keep turning the antenna to get channels. In our area, we have the TV Towers surrounding us so we would have to keep turning it.
I bought the Tivo OTA to test it out and am so far very happy with it. It is like having cable still. The problem is that I am having issues deleting the recorded videos without paying for the service which is $15 per month with a 1 year contract, then month to month contract after that. This paid service would also allow me to record up to 4 shows at a time without having to do it manually (pressing record at the right time and stop record at the right time).
I am considering getting the Netflix DVD option as well because there are shows I can't get OTA or through Netflix streaming but can get the DVDs after the season is over. I tried to get through my library but they don't allow holding and the branch is an hour drive away (it is not in the branch close to me but I can drop it off near me). This Netflix DVD will cost $8 more.
I don't want to do the Windows Media Center because you can only record one show at a time. I have sometimes 3 shows showing at once.
I don't want to get the Channel Master at this time because I am already spending $220 to cancel Directv and the Channel Master will be an upfront $300 and some reviews describe it as lacking, which for $300 I would expect better.
The only bad thing people review about the Tivo OTA is the cost of the service over time. In year 2, you would pay the same as the Channel Master, and the price will continue to add up over time. But with the Channel Master it is a one time payment of the $300 cost of the equipment. But I think with the CM you can only record 2 shows at a time.
My idea at the moment is pay for Netflix stream and DVD for a total of $16 per month. Pay for the Tivo OTA service for $15 per month. Then in year 2 get the Channel Master and cancel Tivo service. This will be about $30 per month for cable-like services. Does this sound like a good plan?
My concern is after getting jibbed by long term contracts and agreements (where they get their money out of you even if they don't provide the service they promised, like my Alarm service that doesn't even work but I am stuck paying for or Pet Wellness Plan that slowly kills your pets with annual vaccinations that really should be every 3 years), I am afraid to get into another long term contract. I just don't trust any services with a contract and cancellation fees anymore. I mean there must be a reason for the cancellation fee because if they had great service why would someone want to cancel? And why would they feel that have to force someone to stay with them?
I feel that I already made my decision because I am thinking, risking $216 for the year on the Tivo OTA service is small for the convenience and only for the first year. But then I think, is this being mustachian?
From my past experience, my gut is saying, don't get into another contract. But that part of me that wants what it wants, wants to have the convenience of cable-like services and thinks $216 is a small risk to take.
BTW, we are very happy with the OTA channels. My husband still gets his football. I still get the majority of my TV shows, and the ones we don't we can get online. His parents pay for cable (will not get rid of it) so we are going to use their password to get online access to the websites that need cable to watch those shows. The only thing lacking is the recording of the shows so that we don't have to stream everything and go over our internet limits.
And despite what it sounds like, I am not a couch potato. I have a farm with lots of work to do, I have a full time job, and I take care of the kids. It is at night when all my day's work is done that I love to sit and veg out in front of the TV to empty my mind which otherwise doesn't turn off. My brain needs a break and this is the only way I can turn it off. But I only want to use this time on entertaining shows I can enjoy and not just anything on TV.
