Author Topic: Cable has been cut  (Read 21232 times)

keith2210

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Cable has been cut
« on: January 12, 2016, 12:45:38 PM »
I'm one month into being cable free and to be honest, I don't know what took me so long to rid myself of that time suck. Not only do I find myself being more productive but I have also increased my savings rate by roughly $70/month. I just wanted to stop in and say thanks to all you mustachians for showing me the way!

AZDude

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2016, 12:52:56 PM »
Congrats! You really don't miss it 99% of the time.

elaine amj

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2016, 01:44:16 PM »
Woot!! We just cancelled our satellite TV and home phone. We had a phone/internet/TV bundle for $110 a month. At the same time, we negotiated a heavily discounted internet bill for the next 6 months. We actually get better internet and will now only pay $40.

To facilitate this, DH bought a $40 Raspberry Pi computer - he is in love with all the things that little guy can do!! For now, we are just using it to stream movies/TV shows but DH has been having a blast programming it...so I imagine he'll do more.

Greenback Reproduction Specialist

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2016, 12:10:48 PM »
Lol congrats, I dont miss it all either, what a waste of time.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2016, 12:54:40 PM »
Great job. Not paying for TV is one of the smarter things I've done.

I still waste a crap ton of time watching it- but now just broadcast TV or old DVDs.

Mr.Bubbles

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2016, 01:20:22 PM »
congrats, that was the one biggest thing i had to convince my wife!

Late2TheGame

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2016, 06:17:44 PM »
In my town a competing Cable Company just arrived - that means package discounts for new Subscribers.  My wife doesn't want to loose our local channels - I have tried antennas, and the indoor ones just don't work very well in my neighborhood.  So the new company offers a package for 19.95 for 20 channels, included locals in HD.  That along with Internet and their discounts, I will be going from a $147 bill each month to right around $60.

That is almost $90/month savings or $1080 for the first year.

I think the only thing I will really miss is ESPN, however with the Football season winding down I will survive.

Maybe after the initial discounts I will drop cable - or get to work on an outdoor Antenna.

Late2TheGame

Mr.Tako

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2016, 10:38:30 PM »
You'll also find that over time, the savings from not having cable will grow!  You'll have more time to DIY stuff or optimizing your life!

I's also important to remember not to replace TV with another even more expensive hobby.  It's best to find another "frugal" hobby.  I wrote about this recently:  http://www.mrtakoescapes.com/2015/12/13/how-to-get-rich-ditch-your-hobbies/

MakingSenseofCents

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2016, 11:00:51 PM »
Congrats! We got rid of ours around a year ago. We even got rid of Netflix a few months ago as well.

FIRE me

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2016, 06:13:01 PM »
I'm one month into being cable free and to be honest, I don't know what took me so long to rid myself of that time suck. Not only do I find myself being more productive but I have also increased my savings rate by roughly $70/month. I just wanted to stop in and say thanks to all you mustachians for showing me the way!

Next up, cut your land line telephone. You won't miss it either.

keith2210

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2016, 07:46:51 AM »
I'm one month into being cable free and to be honest, I don't know what took me so long to rid myself of that time suck. Not only do I find myself being more productive but I have also increased my savings rate by roughly $70/month. I just wanted to stop in and say thanks to all you mustachians for showing me the way!

Next up, cut your land line telephone. You won't miss it either.

I've never had one. The only phone I have is my cell phone and work pays for it.

FIRE me

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2016, 09:58:14 AM »
Excellent badassity, sir.

I cut both cords about 14 years ago, and even deducting the cost of my cell phone and cell service from the savings, I've probably saved about $9,000 over the 14 years.

Davids

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2016, 11:29:53 AM »
Congrats. I cut the cord 3 years ago and it has been great. I do subscribe to Netflix though and that is fine for me.

mom22boys

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2016, 05:30:01 PM »
I cancelled my Dish two weeks ago (but still have service through January). I was a little surprised when I got an email today saying my next bill will be $98 and due in a couple weeks. Someone obviously didn't get the memo that I cancelled the service. I'll be on the phone right away tomorrow to have a chat.

And no, I wasn't paying the full $98/month. I complained almost a year ago and they cut it in half. I finally got tired of paying even the $50ish bill each month.

francophile

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2016, 06:54:43 PM »
Congrats! Such a good feeling.

We got rid of ours a little over a year ago and I don't miss it. There's more than plenty to watch on Netflix/Hulu/Amazon, all at a fraction of the cost of the cable bill.

Captain and Mrs Slow

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #15 on: January 18, 2016, 12:55:01 AM »
Took me quite a while to convince the wife but we have officially cut the cable as well!!

In our case I mentioned that we were spending nearly 50€ a month we didn't watch it enough to justify the cost. We really only watched the odd movie and those we can rent off of Amazon when we need the fix. I do pay for a Smart DNS service as well as Netflix and Hulu. If I wanted to be really cheap I could stream everything for free but I feel it’s better to pay.

pancakes

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #16 on: January 18, 2016, 01:06:29 AM »
Nice!

We got an apple tv for christmas and I think our $10/month stan subscription (australia) is on borrowed time while we wait for the ABC to launch their apple tv app.

I'm blown away by what we can access through the apple tv without a subscription via our local networks. At least at the moment for the most part I have been able to easily skip over any ads too.

AM43

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2016, 09:53:53 AM »
Did any of you guys try to renegotiate your rate instead of canceling service?
I have 3 accounts with Dish(2 rentals and my primary home)and they always have deals.
You just have to ask and for most part negotiate.
Currently paying $40(all fees, taxes included)per month for top 250 programming.
Cant go wrong with this deal.

Bardo

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2016, 11:00:15 AM »
The problem is that even if they renegotiate, it is just a ploy to lock you in and then continue to jack up the price every year.  In addition, once you get rid of cable/broadcast television you can pretty much free yourself from commercials.  No matter what the introductory price, I have a hard time seeing how cable TV could ever be worthwhile when you have the option of commercial-free Netflix for $8 a month.

tomatops

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2016, 01:14:49 PM »
Nicely done! I grew up without cable my whole life and whenever I flip through a TV with cable, I think about how unreal it is to expect I pay for repeats of Storage Wars...

I'm a red panda

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #20 on: January 19, 2016, 07:20:20 AM »
Did any of you guys try to renegotiate your rate instead of canceling service?


No, because they've never renegotiated to $0, which is what I pay by not having it at all.

MasterStache

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2016, 07:41:18 AM »
Welcome to the club. We cut the cord when we downsized to a smaller home. All part of the savings plan. We do subscribe to Netflix and Hulu. To be honest I think my wife and kids watch more TV now than when we had cable/satellite ) :

alleykat

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2016, 10:12:01 AM »
My bill was around 130 and I always negotiated when they tried to increase it, however, they wouldn't drop it lower than 130.  I think that is a decent price but not when all I was doing was watching a few channels and most days just channel surfing.  So, I cancelled a year ago.  I will say, I do miss it in a way, the news, some other things and know I can catch up via the computer, but something about coming home and turning on the tube was relaxing.

I still pay 60 bucks a month for the internet.  They wouldn't budget on this number.  I have Netflix and am really contemplating whether I want it.  I end up watching too much because the suspense kills me and I can just view the next show.  I fall down the rabbit hole.

Bardo

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2016, 11:08:18 AM »
My bill was around 130 and I always negotiated when they tried to increase it, however, they wouldn't drop it lower than 130.  I think that is a decent price but not when all I was doing was watching a few channels and most days just channel surfing.  So, I cancelled a year ago.  I will say, I do miss it in a way, the news, some other things and know I can catch up via the computer, but something about coming home and turning on the tube was relaxing.

I still pay 60 bucks a month for the internet.  They wouldn't budget on this number.  I have Netflix and am really contemplating whether I want it.  I end up watching too much because the suspense kills me and I can just view the next show.  I fall down the rabbit hole.

I feel your pain.  I don't have a choice of internet provider, so I'm still getting raked over the coals for that.  All the more reason I will never fall for their stupid sales pitches for cable and landline services (dying, obsolete technologies both).  As for me, I look at lack of access to idiotic television news as yet another upside.



keith2210

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #24 on: January 20, 2016, 04:36:25 PM »
I still have Internet and don't plan to get rid of it. It's how I get all of my info! I do however, plan to buy my own router. I'm currently being charged 7.99/month to use there's. Getting rid of this would bring my monthly internet bill down to 28month. I can live with this number.

sisto

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #25 on: January 22, 2016, 10:53:59 AM »
I've done this multiple times in the past and always end up adding due to getting a better deal on my internet by doing the double play with Comcast. I have now implemented a plan similar to what MMM did for internet and completely cut my Comcast. They had just raised my rates to $90/mo and the cheapest I could get for internet only was $80 with taxes anyway. So needless to say, I'm extremely happy with the savings and I too don't miss the cable.

fitfrugalfab

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #26 on: January 22, 2016, 11:33:55 AM »
Awesome! I've been cable free for about 4 years now and people think I'm crazy. But I think they're crazy for having cable bills that are $100+ a month.

Tabitha

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #27 on: January 31, 2016, 10:57:51 AM »
We had a bundle for TV/internet/landline.  We now have (through a different provider) cheaper faster?internet and landline for free for 6 months (postponing the decision).

There was delicate family negotiation involved. We had to wait until the end of this NFL season (Super Bowl will be watched away from home), and I'm committed to buying the NFL access pass next year if asked/reminded. I'm okay with that since the annual cost of the pkg is ~1.5 months of the savings.

tj

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #28 on: January 31, 2016, 11:40:54 AM »
Congrats. What have you replaced the TV time with?

Tabitha

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #29 on: January 31, 2016, 12:19:01 PM »
Congrats. What have you replaced the TV time with?

Starting several months ago, other hobbies, projects, exercise together, social time with friends or about town.
Other than Sunday's, netflicks, youtube, or network websites became the go-to. After a while it just became easy to point out it wasn't worth paying TV prices for Sunday's.  I admit I'd researched cheaper internet options earlier but held off until TV was also on the table. Then, when I switched providers I upped our speed :) I wanted the satisfaction/happiness factor.

fishnfool

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #30 on: January 31, 2016, 04:46:16 PM »
Awesome!

We cut our about 6 months ago, wife didn’t like it at first but now is fine with watching Netflix and the free local channels we get with our hi-Def TV Antena. The free TV we do pick up comes in crystal clear by the way. We're also saving $70 a month and it feels great!

EXLIer

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #31 on: February 01, 2016, 05:54:56 AM »
Ugh - we cut our about 4 years ago when we moved to a new house, and then succumbed to the temptation.  Actually, we signed back up for satellite mostly because we had family visiting often, and wanted to make their extended stays more pleasant.  Now I have a $170/mo bill.

After learning of the Welcome Pack, I think I'll downgrade to that.  The part that sucks I I enjoy my racing, and it just can't be found on the internet.

BFGirl

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #32 on: February 01, 2016, 11:28:35 AM »
Tried to get my bill lower last year and told them I only wanted internet because we stream everything and don't watch the stations, but kept getting the "a bundle is cheaper than internet by itself" and ended up letting them talk me into "more services" for the same price I'd been paying.  Packed up all the cable boxes and remotes and took them to the cable company and said I want internet only and nothing else.  Suddenly,hi-speed internet is available for $59/ month.  With taxes and the modem rental it will now be $72 per month which is half of what I was paying before. I have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime which is more than enough for our TV habits.  Will pick up an antenna so that I can watch the local channels when there is a weather situation. (Tornado warnings in the middle of the night).

katsiki

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #33 on: February 01, 2016, 12:23:17 PM »
You can probably supply your own box and get rid of that monthly fee.

BFGirl

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #34 on: February 01, 2016, 02:39:15 PM »
You can probably supply your own box and get rid of that monthly fee.

I agree, just haven't researched what I need yet.

FINate

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #35 on: February 02, 2016, 10:22:36 AM »
Congrats! We cut the cable way back in 2002. Missed it a little bit the first year, but this waned with time. Now we cannot stand to watch it at all (in-laws house, hotels). 90% of the programming is TERRIBLE, and the ads!!! So many ads!!! Besides saving on the monthly subscription, don't underestimate the value of (mostly) riding your life of ads. The companies paying for these are not dumb, they do it because it works, and don't be fooled into thinking you're too clever to fall for their mind tricks. I believe our consumption is much lower as a result of cutting cable so many years ago.

zephyr911

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #36 on: February 02, 2016, 01:09:38 PM »
It took moving to get me off the fence, but I've never regretted it. Still saving about $100 a month... went from around $125 to $20+tax, and after my initial 1-year promo deal, the cable company voluntarily offered me another year at almost the same rate, AND a data rate increase.

Rubic

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #37 on: February 02, 2016, 03:31:45 PM »
No cable since 1984, when I first shared an apartment with my brothers.  Though I cut my cable service for non-financial reasons, it's mind-blowing to reflect on the amount of money I've saved.  Even better, it's probably improved my health since I haven't spent countless hours sitting on a sofa watching the tube.

beardsly

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #38 on: February 02, 2016, 05:05:28 PM »
My wife and I cut the cord over 5 years ago. 

For those of you interested in seting up a DVR for free over the air television
I had an extreme fringe antenna with a pre-amplifier installed on the roof in order to receive local channels. I paid $350 total for parts and labor which may seem like a lot but it's a one time cost that has been paying off for over 5 years now and I did not feel comfortable on the roof (steep pitch).  A small antenna in the house did not receive any stations but the antenna on the roof with amplifier provides a crystal clear signal.  For a DVR I bought a 2011 era Dell business laptop from craigslist for $150 (E6410 model, i5 processor, 4GB ram, HDMI output) and use Mediacenter which is included in Windows7.  The only other hardware needed is an IR remote with USB receiver (~$15 on Amazon) and one or more TV tuner cards ($50-$100).  The laptop is a dedicated DVR appliance, it sits near the TV and is set to sleep whenever it is not recording or playing video in order to minimize power useage.  It's a very simple/clean user interface, I think it's a bit simpler than Tivo and there is no monthly fee.

Other than that we have a Roku which we mainly use for Netflix and few free streaming apps such as Youtube and PBS.

SMCx3

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #39 on: February 02, 2016, 05:30:49 PM »
Great way save some dollars, cutting the chord is a no brainier.

After two years without cable I can hardly stand to watch regular TV.  Not watching the local/national news every night also makes me a much happier person. 


mom22boys

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #40 on: February 04, 2016, 04:43:08 PM »
I'm going on one week without my Dish.  I don't miss it a bit so far.  I'm sure there will be occasions where I wish I had the DVR again, but I think they will be few and far between.  Thanks to bearsly for the idea on how to have a free DVR, if I ever get desperate. Often I used the satellite to listen to music, which I now replaced with free streaming of Pandora through my internet-ready DVD player....along with a bazillion other services, such as Netflix and Hulu.  I haven't signed up for any of them yet, since so far I'm happy with my OTA stations.  Hello savings!

Captain and Mrs Slow

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #41 on: February 11, 2016, 01:22:35 AM »
as mentioned before if you have good internet everything is available to stream online for free, simply google the name of the show and stream free, highly recommended to have an ad blocker installed

FernFree

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #42 on: February 15, 2016, 03:54:19 PM »
Congratulations!  I cut mine on 1/27/16.  Will see over $100/month savings.  I already had chromecast, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, so it's a no brainer.  I don't even watch sports and almost exclusively used the DVR, so for those few shows I want to watch I can catch them streaming or download the torrents.

Now, what's on the chopping block next? :)

keith2210

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #43 on: February 16, 2016, 07:18:37 AM »
Congratulations!

Now, what's on the chopping block next? :)


Next for me is dropping life insurance as I'm single with no dependents. Also I need to buy a router and get rid of the $7.99/month rental fee they charge me. Once that is done I'll basically be on autopilot as my house will be my only debt. At 3.0% fixed for 15 years and a payment of less than 500/month I do not plan on paying it off early. I'm open to suggestions from you folks though..

HenryDavid

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #44 on: February 16, 2016, 05:55:16 PM »
Today we negotiated internet fees down from 65/month to 40/month, for 3 times the speed/bandwidth.
Plus an upgraded modem/wifi router supplied by the provider, with no monthly rental fee.

How? By taking advantage of a "business internet" deal.
Always be a business. They just take you more seriously.

lcmac32

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #45 on: February 17, 2016, 09:33:31 AM »
I cut the cable cord Feb. 5, 2016.  I have to say I really haven't missed it yet.  A basketball game here or there, but it is kind of cool to go back to the old days of listening on the radio and reading the recap.  I am sure I will miss the Masters, but can probably stream that from the internet.  I saved $130.00/month.  At 10% return that is almost $30,000 dollars!!!  (I can't remember the MMM mutliplier used in a lot of articles, but my figure was close enough). In 20 years its over $100k.   I really do enjoy the spending reductions.  It makes you see how you can easily live on much less. 

vern

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #46 on: February 18, 2016, 12:31:44 AM »
I cut the cable 20 years ago next month.

Basically, I got on the internet in February of 1996 and cancelled cable in March.  Even before streaming and youtube I realized there was no need for that expensive, insipid, and mercantile cord in the house.

I haven't regretted it for a second!

FunkyChopstick

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #47 on: February 18, 2016, 05:28:33 PM »
Congrats on cutting the cord on cable. Hubs and I broke free from the chains of Comcast around 5 five years ago. We have done Netflix ever since, first with DVDs and now just streaming. A few months we added Hulu. It is about 19 bucks a month for both and it works for us.

Trust me- you won't miss TV. Every time I see tv now I feel like my eyeballs are assaulted by shitty commercials and consumerism. *shiver*

libertarian4321

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #48 on: March 24, 2016, 03:51:26 AM »
I cut the cable a few years ago, then re-connected to "basic cable" (which is basically useless- pretty much what we can get over the air) for $9.99 a month ONLY because they dropped out internet cost by $12 to do so.

So now I have "cable" that I almost never watch, because the "over the air" version has better picture quality.  About the only time I use the cable is when it's raining heavily (which kills some of the local over the air channels).

Chanel No5

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Re: Cable has been cut
« Reply #49 on: April 01, 2016, 08:59:13 AM »
I am almost there. My current TV and Internet with Charter cost $83 per month. My plan is to go out and buy a VGA & Audio Cable and experiment this month with watching the few programs I enjoy via streaming through my laptop.

I mostly watch PBS programs only. I want to keep internet as I am taking an online college program and it's easier for me to work from home on that. I could walk downtown to the library when it's open for free wifi.

I plan to go to the Best Buy soon and get those cables by next Wednesday. It's a huge shift of life style pattern. But, I could be saving around $38 per month.

I know I just need to find the energy to change