Cutting Cable

[ivyhedge]

I want to cut my cable because my TV is on probably an hour or two a month at the most, but #$@%#$@&# Comcast has a monopoly in my area, so it would cost me more money to have high-speed internet alone than high-speed internet and cable together. The high-speed internet is necessary for my side hustle. Does anyone have any creative suggestions on how to get around this?

This. It's the same for us: cutting Comcast cable results in a broadband bill almost to-the-dollar similar to one without cable. I "got around it" for several years by owning Comcast's preferred shares (cue pirate laugh) and letting them pay the bill. But they've all been called...Sad face.

[nolajo]

I haven't had any TV for the past 7 months and it's not been too bad an adjustment. I do definitely take advantage of what's on the broadcast networks' websites and Netflix for shows I want to watch - Hulu never seemed worth the bother to me. If sports are the issue, why can't the sports watcher get together with friends, either at a friend's house or at a bar? It might be a little uncouth to invite yourself over every Saturday or Sunday (depending on your sport and what level you're watching), but some of my friends are always down, particularly if I bring over beer occasionally. $8 for a decent six-pack, or a token offering of snacks and I can watch anything they were planning on. Even going to a bar, presuming you're not in a really expensive area, could be done for ~ $12-$15 per game in drinks/tips, and that's only if you're drinking alcohol (I'm presuming roughly three hours of game time and 3 to 4 drinks over the course of that). It's bad form to not drink anything, but soft drinks are cheaper. Most sports bars I go to are quite happy to dedicate a screen to whatever game you're jonesing for if they don't have it on already, so you can watch a game, even if it's not a headliner. All of that would add up to, say $60 per month for one sport, using the highest numbers I've dealt with. It's cheaper than many cable plans, social, and because it involves getting up and going out, might not even happen all the time anyways, further lowering that number. 

[Sparky]

I've never had cable to cut actually :)

But seriously, I've got spoiled the last few months with my phone/internet in Australia. I use my smartphone as a wifi hotspot to surf the internet on my computer, a few texts to my GF in China, using Skype for all but my local calls and when I need to do some heavier downloading I head over to a place with free wifi (like McDonalds, like right now). My total cost for this plan is about $35 a month ($30 for the cellphone, $5 Skype credit) on a pre paid $100 LG smartphone. Awesome.

Back in Canada, I was paying a heck of a lot more for the same thing. $250 smartphone (paid in cash), about $60 for data/phone plan (same as above), $5 Skype credit plus about $20 a month for internet at my apartment ($60 split 3 ways). Total of about $85/month and always felt like I was getting ripped off.

Needless to say, I really hate living in a country that has only 3 carriers and they don't really try to compete with each other in pricing wars.