[This is part 2 of our 3-part series on how to save money with your cable, phone, and internet bills (while also FAILING at the same time). You can find part #1 here.]
We’re back! Last article we went over how to get home phone service for practically free by using Ooma, and this time around we’re tackling the heated Cable/TV part of the telecom trifecta. And just like with our home phone line, I unfortunately screwed myself multiple ways in this department too – one of which out of frugality itself!
(See that big honkin’ TV up there? That’s ours. It’s large, paid off, 10 years old and absolutely beautiful. Except when it’s not and your hacking attempts go to $hit. Sigh…)
Let’s start with why we were messing around with TV in the first place
Plain and simple, we’re tired of paying $170+ for cable/internet/phone every month. We still want all three parts in our lives (notice the “want” there and not “need” – except for the internet), we just know there are cheaper ways to go about it if you harness creativity and newfangled technology. So just like with our cell phones last month, and car insurance and home phone service this month, we set out to tackle the TV portion of this outrageous bill all in the spirit of challenging everything.
And why do we still want cable TV? Well, I’ll let my wife answer that part:
“Do you know what it’s like to grow up as a kid without cable? You can’t take it away from me now that I have it – I love it! And you can tell your blogging friends that too.”
That’s reason #1 :) Obviously outside of my control, unless I fancy myself a divorce. Reason #2 is that I too enjoy a handful of the offerings TV and premium channels serve up. I can live without them no doubt about it, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy my reality shows and HBO/Showtimes to catch some of my favorite series. Shows like Game of Thrones, Homeland, True Detective, The Leftovers, and more recently Ray Donovan. My wife calls him my current man crush, and I wouldn’t totally disagree with her – Liev Schreiber is a bad ass now! Like the complete opposite of Cotton Weary from back in the old Scream days, haha…
Anyways, the point is we’re not ready to get rid of TV’s luxuries all the way yet, but we are wanting to scale back and save some dough in the process.
Here was the plan on how to accomplish this
First, find a way to get Netflix/internet onto our TV like all other modern rock stars. I get the appeal of watching it on your laptop, but after 12 hour days behind a computer it’s the last thing I want do when unwinding. The second step – call up Verizon and simply ask them to cut channels out and lower our bill (Hah! As if it were that easy).
We figured if we could find a way to substitute our shows/movies over time by using the internet instead of Verizon, we’d save a nice stash of cash like many of you are already doing and have the best of both worlds going on. Then, maybe, just maybe, my wife would be singing a new tune with those dollars in her pockets?
How to stream internet to your TV, way #1
So off I went… I looked on Amazon for ways to hook up my TV to the internet, and came across a slew of options. There was Roku, Sungale, Apple TV, Amazon Fire and a ton more which I eventually got inundated with until I noticed that many Blu-ray DVD players now come with built-in wifi? Who knew?!
I had never heard of this as we never watch DVDs, but if you can stream the internet on it at the same time while saving that money I was ’bout it ’bout it. And since I thought you needed a DVD player to watch Netflix, it killed two birds with one stone. (That was mistake #1 – you don’t need a DVD player necessarily – you can STREAM shows/movies through Netflix too! Oops.)
So I looked around and landed on the highly rated Sony BDP-S5100 3D Blu-ray that had built in Wi-Fi for $87.03 – on sale from $129.99 which it’s currently at. That was mistake #2. Not because it’s a bad product or anything (the reviews are great!), but because IT DIDN’T WORK WITH OUR TV! I just assumed it would because why wouldn’t it, right?
Here’s our TV again in case you mysteriously missed it the first time:
It’s large as $hit (60-something inches!) and rocks HDTV surprisingly enough, but it never occurred to me that it had long met it’s prime w/ technology. I of course knew it was ancient, but who looks at the ports in the back when buying this stuff? How would I know it didn’t have the much-required HDMI hookup that’s apparently quite important with streaming and internet badassity? I never thought twice, and because so paid a hefty penalty in both time and money w/ this lame hacking attempt of mine.
Then there was mistake #3: waiting two months to open it up and try connecting everything. Meaning, I didn’t realize it wasn’t compatible until it was way too late to return it, thereby losing a cool $87 on the spot, ugh… Of course, I can still hawk it and probably recoup most of that money since it retails for $130 again, but still. Moving in the opposite direction here!
But wait for mistakes #4, #5, #6, and #7 first: I thought I could outwhit myself and find a way to jigger around different cords and contraptions to see if that would save this debacle. So first bought a coaxial cable to see if that would do the trick (the Blu-ray and my TV both had slots for it) but of course that didn’t work – you need HDMI! Then I picked up an HDMI cord (getting closer) and tried plugging that into the DVD player which also connected the cable box, which then connected to the TV. That’s gotta work right? Nope.
I should have stopped there and ate the loss, but unfortunately I went on… I wondered if you could somehow up convert the old stuff into the new stuff, and came across a handful of reviews saying you could by buying a converter doo-hicky for those wanting to use new equipment with old TVS (like DVD players). Exactly what I needed! So I tried my hand at that dropping another $25 to get the well-rated Mini HDMI to 3RCA Composite AV Converter – along with the appropriate cables (another $5), and off I went to convert.
That didn’t work either. Though, I did muster up some resemblance of a conversion as I could at least then program the DVD player into the TV screen, however it was all pretty blurry and I managed to shrink the viewing size of the TV in half too. Damn.
At the end of the day month, I was out another $50 and chalk full of cords and contraptions. So if anybody needs any…?
And here is what we’ve learned so far:
- Do you research before picking up electronics!
- Don’t wait for forever to see if it works
- Hold onto your patient pants and don’t go dumping more money into something with a tiny % of working. Similar to gambling when you keep waiting for that next big chance to recoup your losses!
This brings us to (the cheapest) way to stream stuff to your TV :)
The kind folks at Republic Wireless mentioned they were having a deal going on where all new purchasers of their phones/service would be getting a free Google Chromecast thingamajig, and they asked if I wanted to try one out and then do a giveaway (Unfortunately the offer is now over BUT they say it’ll probably happen again – so watch for it :)).
At first I didn’t know what the hell it was, so I Googled it and found this:
“Chromecast is a thumb-sized media streaming device that plugs into the HDMI port on your TV. Simply use an Android phone, tablet, iPhone®, iPad®, Mac or Windows laptop, or Chromebook to cast your favorite entertainment and apps right to the big screen.”
“Hell yeah!” I said. “I’ve been looking for a new way to stream internet on my TV cuz my dang Blu-ray sucks balls. Send me one to test and then I’ll give one away too!”
But I quickly notice the “plugs into the HDMI port” part again, ugh… Yet another time my awesome TV screws me! Why can’t I just be like everyone else and splurge on a huge (new) flat screen?? It would solve all my problems!!! :)
I once again tried attaching it to my frankenstein concoction of cords I’ve since built in the hopes of capturing that miracle all gamblers hold on to, but yet again no dice (see what I did there?). It then occurred to me that – crap! I actually HAD a newer TV I picked up while pimping out my blogger lair a few years back! Maybe I could try that?? It’s 1/10th of the size, but hell – I might actually be able to pull something off for once!
I ran upstairs to our master bedroom where it sits all alone waiting for action (we never use it), plugged it in to that sexy HDMI port that I’d never had the pleasure of seeing before, downloaded the app onto my smartphone (Android Moto X) And BAM! I was watching episode after episode of Elmo’s World with my baby boy in no time. Best feeling EVER.
I had the internet in the palm of my hand/TV, baby! Literally! ;)
And guess what? It only costs $35.00. A one-time purchase for forever streaming of internet/tv/media etc on your TV w/out any monthly fees – huzzah! And you can pick it up in all sorts of stores including directly from Google, and of course The Amazon. Where it’s been reviewed over 20,000 times and has a total of 4 out of 5 stars.
Here’s more about Google Chromecast:
- Supports Netflix, YouTube, HBO GO, Hulu Plus, Pandora, Plex, MLB.TV, ESPN, Crunchyroll, MLS, Crackle, Rdio, Vevo, Flixster and Google Play Movies and Music mobile apps as well as select content through Chrome browser, works with recommended modem
- Box includes Chromecast, HDMI extender, USB power cable, and power adapter. No remote needed. Chromecast works with devices you already own, including Android tablets and smartphones, iPhones, iPads, Chrome for Mac, and Chrome for Windows.
- Easy setup: Plug into any HDTV and connect to your home WiFi network
- Works with Android, iOS, Chrome for Mac, and Chrome for Windows
- Stream online video, music to your TV using your smartphone, tablet, or laptop; Available for Windows computers running Windows 7 or higher
That was my favorite part: Using your cell phone as a remote :)
So, where does this leave us within the TV money saving world?
Well, for you guys tons of options if you don’t rock an old-ass TV like we do ;) You can go the Blu-ray route if that’s your bag, the Roku route (didn’t look into much but I know some of you readers use and love them), or the cheaper – and more effective route, in my opinion – the Chromecast way. For a whopping $35 bucks. Then you work yourself away from cable and instant savings!
As for us, we’re still up a creek without a paddle. We could move our smaller TV down into our main room if we wanted to have access to everything, but that kinda sucks (first world problems, right?). Orrrrr we can cave in and pick up a new sexy TV to then stream everything to and slowly de-tach ourselves from Cable, but pending a change in the Mrs’ seas, that’s pretty out of the equation right now too. Though, I must admit it would be nice to free up some space up in here and replace that honkin’ thing right up on the wall a la Cribs style! I totally get why normal people do that now – they don’t want to be the next Jay-Z, they just like room to walk around their family room! ;)
So what’s the deal in the end? Well, you’ll have to wait for the last part of our series to drop next week and find out (sorry!). This post has gotten out of control long, haha… Almost as worse as our Ask J$ Anything Day, which was actually pretty fun! You should check it out when you get a chance – over 50 questions asked and answered – some really good ones too (like how much I made in 2013).
Now onto the Chromecast giveaway!!!
For all of you who made it this far and haven’t died of boredom yet, your chance at a reward is close. Answer this question below and one of you’ll win a Google Chromecast courtesy of Republic Wireless:
What’s one way you’re currently saving money with TV? Or on your phone/cable/internet bills?
Drop your answer in the comments and we’ll randomly select a winner next Friday, Sep 5th.
GOOD LUCK! And thanks for reading all of this – and my blog for that matter :) I wouldn’t be here without you guys. Have a save (and non-expensive) Labor Day weekend out there – we’ll see ya when you’re back on Monday…. Or is it Tuesday? My boss never gives me any day offs anymore…
UPDATE: Giveaway Over. Thanks for participating everyone! I wish I could give y’all a free Chromecast but unfortunately I only have one :( At least they only cost $35! So don’t let it stop you from testing it out if you think it’ll save you money in the end :) And now, the winner of this super cool and sleek Chromecast is…. bum bum bum… Nicole A! Congrats! Hope you have some fun with it!
UPDATE 2: You can find the last part of our 3 part series here.
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Big thanks again to Republic Wireless for hooking us up today. Apparently I learn all my money saving and technology tips directly from you now!
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I’m saving money attempting to bundle and use a slightly cheaper internet plan. Making up for some of that with Netflix.
Trade Netflix for Hulu with a family member. Ie, you use their hulu and they use your Netflix. It’s a win win and multiple accounts can watch at one time.
Jay
Hah! Sneaky sneaky!
i canceled 2phones(100 a month) for unlimited everything and now i ride off of wifi for talk such as fb or skype, text google messenger, and data out roaming using freedompop wifihotspot. first 500mb free and device is abput 90 dollars no contract. 2 gb is 14 dollars. tv i use chromecast bluray or a roku (donot get stick breaks easy by bending). and internet still trying to figure out how to get for free unlimited or a big quanity for cheap. i know if you have a kid and low income comcast does for 10 dollars.
I finally found a roku with the old style red, white, yellow jack connected to bigger older tv , not digital. Need a digital convertor for it and other smaller TV is digital about 5 channels come in great but the higher I get an antennae the more I get from in a valley in a valley with surrounding trees. I have now # 3 -10 ft fence top slide together poles with three available hookups great for my one bedroom slide outs camper small living style with/fancy camping and the woods and water for etc.I also have DVD and VCR. Oh of course cassette tapes. But I want WiFi and hi speed internet aside from my landline. Someday.my cell courteously from son and daughterinlaw.
We no longer have cable and steen netflix.
I’m saving money by piggy backing on my landlord’s services. When they said everything is included they meant EVERYTHING! It doesn’t get me a home phone, but I don’t want or need one.
Those of you looking for a home phone to go with this check net talk we pay $3 a month for everything!!!
I’m saving money by not having cable, and letting my employer pay for most of my cell phone bill!
We just cut the TV out of our package and just have internet saving us $100/month. We have an Apple TV but would like to try some of the other options
I have definitely been guilty of waiting to try something way too long after I bought it and missing the window of return when it doesn’t work out. Totally sucks.
In terms of tv streaming, I typically plug the hdmi straight from my laptop to the tv, works great.
Well that’s just too easy ;)
We have Roku boxes and Amazon Prime. Works great.
My parents in NY will never give up on there Cable so i called Verizon Fios using there accuont and was told for 6 bucks a month i can have an extra cablebox added to there account. So i ordered a cable box for 6 bucks a month ( its on there account so i just give my parents the money). I then bought a sling box for 150 on Amazon and hooked it up to the cable box (no TV needed) and stream the television over the internet to my TV in NJ and watch it using the Slingbox APP ( $15) app. All together it is 6 bucks a month and 160 cost down. So ill pay that off in two months and i have all the cable i can handle. .i was paying 145 a month for cable but now just 6 bucks well worth it. So ill pay that off in two months and i have all the cable i can handle. The best part is i can watch the slingbox on any of my tv’s as long as it has the app. PLus if i leave on a trip or go away its there.
WOW. Just…. WOW. You my friend are creative!! :)
We use plex and a chromecast to stream local content, like DVD’s we’ve made into digital copies, and that works great for us.
I’m going through this same debate with my husband right now (I could care less about cable but he’s convinced his life will end the moment we disconnect). I’ve been looking at Playon.TV as it seems to be a great alternative to cable. Anyone have any experience with how well it works? For some reason actually giving the alternatives a try is taking more inertia than I’ve got, and with football season here…ugh.
I used PlayOn for a while, about a year ago, since CBS doesn’t put their shows on Hulu. It was really buggy and there were some days it didn’t work at all, or kept stopping a show at a certain point and starting over. But maybe they’ve worked out the kinks now!
Thanks for chiming in – I had never heard of PlayOn before :)
I’ve cut my data amount on my cell phone, saving $30 a month and we purchased a Roku and are experimenting with Netflix. Our plan is to purchase an antenna (they are small now, not on the roof) and can sometimes pick up hd channels. The only thing we can’t find is the golf channel. Goal: install antenna and explore Netflix and if we can go without cable, we will cancel the bundle that has just kept going up and up, and just keep the Internet. That will save us (with monthly Netflix fee) around $175 a month!! Would love to try that Google Chromecast!
We live in an apartment and Northern California we were paying over $100 per month on cable TV. I bought an outside antenna at Walmart and mounted it on a piece of PVC pipe and my patio. Now we get 85 over air channels for free. For 799 we get Netflix on a Roku box I bought on sale for $50. We have plenty of movies and over the air TV to watch. We save $125 per month.
I understand what you are trying to get with Apple TV, Netflix, Roku, Amazon Prime, Chromecast, Hulu… these are all great options for people who have cable for shows/movies.
I love sports… and literally watch 0 shows/movies. I have HD Cable EXCLUSIVELY for sports (College Football, NFL, NBA, College Basketball, MLB, NHL). Until someone somewhere figures out how to stream sports I am stuck in this cable rut (please someone figure this out… I will buy it). Okay thanks for listening my rant is over.
There are options! I’m not sure about football, but I know you can stream live with the NBA League Pass and MLB.TV.
This is one time where I’m glad I’m not an avid sports watcher :) Though I would be pissed if I couldn’t watch my Redskins play due to frugality.
I have the best streaming box, sports, new releases, pay-per-view and all. It’s called Streamsmart, check it out. $350 on the website but a friend of mine sells them for $250.p I cut the cable in January and have missed nothing. If Anything, we have more to watch now. Blows our Roku out of the water
rock on – thx for the info
Can you watch sports live?? Football hockey baseball games on it?
If u have a smart tv buy chromecast u can mirror wirelessly your phone on a diff hdmi port. Also u can use any app or use anything on the Internet n stream to your phone u turn on nfc.bluetooth connect tv to internet m phone to same Internet. Blam u can play anything in your tv from your phone by remote control to the tv u can save a fortune on cable all u need is wifi
I save money on my internet/phone/tv service by only paying for internet. I have a VoIP phone (it’s an ooma!) and I plan on using a chromecast for the televisions. :D
Saving money by only using my iPhone (no landline), and canceling internet (I work from home, so my work gave me a nifty verizon mifi hotspot). Can’t seem to cut cable though (but a google chromecast sure would help!)
I haven’t been able to stream internet to my tv with my ChromeCast; I am only able to use the apps.
Seeing as chrome browser is technically an app you should be able to steam “the internet” onto your TV, including technically non supported video streaming websites. You can get chrome on android and iOS, may not work on all devices but I’ve had it working on my Nexus 4 and iPad.
J – great article… The Chromecast truly rocks!
I save benjamins by not subscribing to cable and instead using a reliable antenna (affixed on a window) which was a one time cost of under $35 bucks and we get 50 channels! Also saved money on our cellphone bill by switching our plans which lowered our total bill by over $60/month = more benjamins saved :) For movies, we went the Netflix route so I’d really love the HDMI Google Chromecast – and it would work on my tv!
Live in the country. Got tired of paying for satellite. Bought a large antenna for the house. Total cost was under $150.00. Also use Netflix.
We have Dish mostly to watch college football and basketball, so we just suspend our contract in the summer months and watch over the air tv and use chromecast then. It extends out our contract, but we’re honestly pretty happy with Dish during our sports watching months.
I ditched cable a year ago and just have internet and my cell phone. Between netflix, hulu, and pbs.org/video (pbs streams a lot of their videos for free because they’re the sh**), I have basically all the shows I want!
You don’t hear “PBS” and “they’re the shit” together very often, haha… had to re-read that line there for a second ;)
I work for a cable company and get free cable. I am so glad I don’t have to pay 100+ for cable bill.
My cable/internet/phone is all part of benefits from my 9-5.
We are roku people, but just refinished the basement and have an extra tv (my mother is our newest roomie) so we were thinking about another roku, but Google Chromecast sounds awesome! I wanted to get rid of cable forever and finally convinced hubby, without divorce, to do it. The biggest thing he loves, though, is football, so we will see how that works out this season since this is our first one without cable.
I’m loving this series! I desperately want to save some money on phone/cable – I still have a landline because I have a low-tech Tracfone, I have basic cable because I don’t want to rent a digital box every month, and I don’t have internet at home – my total cost is about $100 a month, and I’m trying to figure out how to get internet into the mix without raising the cost, and this series is helping a lot!
I’m so glad Gail! I’m learning (and saving) a ton in the process myself – so glad I came up with this series too, haha… There will be more to come :)
Already save with one Chromecast which is awesome, but would love a second.
We canceled directv about 2 years ago, and haven’t missed it yet. We stream Netflix and Hulu+ over a roku or on an Xbox. No home phone to worry about, and have been with republic wireless for cell phones for about 4 months now.
One note about canceling cable, I also thought it would be difficult and I’d be missing out on shows I enjoy. However I’ve found I watch much less TV now, and have just altered what I watch slightly and am not really inconvenienced at all.
We went down to basic cable this summer, in an effort to watch less tv (it’s so nice out!) and spend less money. But husband misses his sports, and I’m looking forward to fall TV, so I think we’ll be upgrading again next month. It was good while it lasted!
We switched to Ooma about 6 months ago. This allowed us to downgrade to a double play package vs. triple play (with Comcast) and we downgraded our channels at the same time. We also bought our own router (instead of renting one from Comcast, many people don’t realize that’s what they’re doing) so out goes that fee. All in all we are saving over $50 a month from what we were paying before.
Hah, I love your wife’s comment. I feel the opposite though – I grew up without cable and could care less about it now. Thanks, Dad, who knew denying me Nickelodeon and MTV would be such a long term frugal lesson?
Incidentally, if you have a laptop, you can probably plug it right into your “old” TV with a VGA cable, as long as you pick one up with the right number of pins. And then you can download Hippo LITE and it will turn your phone into a remote using your home WiFi.
now that’s an interesting idea! It would get pretty annoying plugging in and then unplugging everytime I need to use the laptop, but I bet you could find a used cheap one to do the trick. though, in that case might as well update the tv too? Haha…
I save money by calling my cable company every year and asking for a lower rate… hasn’t failed me yet!
No matter how you put it..cable companies are ..”RIP OFFS”
Ahh, yes, now I see your dilemma. We save by not paying for cable and instead using a Roku box. We have Amazon Prime, so it’s practically endless amounts of free content. We get our DIY fix through YouTube–turns out, a lot of people have filmed themselves repairing pipes, building patios, planting blueberries, living in tiny houses, chopping wood… it’s pretty epic.
I called one of the two internet providers in our area and told them our current rates. They gave me a faster speed for the same price. I then called current dish and told them I would be disconnecting. After some wrangling, they told me they would waive any setup fees when they go OTT later this year. I then got Netflix free for a month, Hulu plus, and talked Amazon into one year at the student price. All told, I cut my bill from 150 to about 60.
Last summer I cut cable completely and canceled the home phone – even made a couple bucks when I sold the cordless :) The only shows I watch are Game of Thrones and Doctor Who which I can usually stream within a couple days of air, though I did pay to see the DW season premiere at the theatre on Monday. Totally worth the $12 :)
I’ve been saving money on cable by dropping it over a year ago, I have Netflix and Hulu which more than make up for it and the best part is id ont pay for either because my roomates already had em! Also never needed a home phone so I’ve been saving on that for forever? lol Of course once I dropped cable Time Warner jacked up my monthly internet payment but we still ended up saving $40-$50/month.
P.s. pick me to win please!
We’re adding my boyfriend to my current cell phone plan which would save us about $60 a month, however I still think I could do better.
We’re discussing getting our own place, and I’m voting for the NO CABLE approach. When I lived by myself I watched everything on my laptop and had no cable, I was just fine…
The Roku LT (cheapest – about $30 to $ 50) comes with the red, white, and yellow old school cords. It should work with your tv. The hd quality is not as high, but I don’t notice the difference. Also, the roku app works with it as well, so you can use your smart phone as the remote. We cut cable tv two or three years ago and have 3 rokus for our 2 tvs. (One roku is set up with my sisters amazon account, so she can rent movies. We just switch out the roku.) I miss Hgtv, bout not enough to pay the $75 a month to get it.
I think I needed to try this about $130 ago, haha… I’m done spending on this old TV.
I’ve been using Hulu.com for several years. This blog was actually very intriguing to me. For some reason I thought everyone knew about netflix and Hulu video/movie streaming. It’s saved me a bundle and I even have my siblings doing it now. I’m one of those rockstars with a sexy flat screen TV on the wall and it’s actually got the apps preinstalled onto the television. I’m making plans to not re-up my cell plan and just go pay as you go. The good part about this is I can still use data and messaging (don’t do too much of both of those away from wifi) so it’ll bring my $200 bill to just 10 dollars every couple months, if the data and messages are being used. I’m really excited!
I: 1) at least get a 19% discount off Verizon Wireless (personal) cell bill through work so every little bit helps, and 2) I had Verizon take a look at my (smartphone) data usage and we concluded I could go with a 1GB data plan instead of 2GB so that has been a bit of monthly savings.
Love this blog entry almost as much as Ask J$ Anything Day! My favorite part of your writing right up in here was: “That didn’t work either. Though, I did muster up some resemblance of a conversion as I could at least then program the DVD player into the TV screen, however it was all pretty blurry and I managed to shrink the viewing size of the TV in half too. Damn.” You are TOO FUNNY, J$ …. TOO FUNNY! Can totally picture you doing all of this… hah… I don’t know how you even have the TIME to tinker with this crizzap! Have a great holiday wknd~
Hence why I work 12 hours a day – which I need to stop! :)
You can also stream Netflix, Hulu, etc. through a lot of gaming systems like Xbox, Wii, PS4, etc. We have a PS3 we bought in 2008 that we use for Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime. We dropped our cable when I got laid off last year, and didn’t even think about picking it back up when I started working again in Feb. I also bought an old-fashioned TV antenna and get about 20 HDTV channels through it, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS. I think the antenna was about $40-50. The only thing I really miss is ESPN, but that’s my excuse now to head out to a sports bar ;)
Well that’s cool! If only I was a gamer!
Netflix streaming with Google chromecast is great. The only thing I really miss is the sports on channels other than espn.
Time Warner internet with “lifeline” tv channels of 2-12 only which include local news, netflicks thru an old Wii game system, No home phone, new republic MotoX and a MotoG, to get away from Verizon soon :). Have our own wifi router, Also watching TV show on iPod thru free apps ie: NBC and most networks have a free app with their shows for free. So I’d love to try the Google device with the TV channel apps!
We use a HDTV indoor antenna and just watch OTA broadcasts. There is more than enough to watch with free TV, and by having fewer choices it means more time the TV is off and we are doing other things.
Those were way too many mistakes J$. Sometimes you just have to be humble and ask for help, lol. I, along with hundreds if not thousands of people could have told you what you could do to solve your problem. Well, that’s if you would have opened that DVD player on time. Good thing you finally figured it out though.
More like impatient :)
Awesome! We have been a slow transition away from cable. probably cut the cord about 5-6 years ago away from the set top box. Then we finally got rid of the cable too when we realized we were literally wasting every night watching Every Body Loves Raymond re-runs. Now, I love Ray, but CMON. I don’t need to be paying an extra $30 a month to watch it. We then just kept netflix.
I am an NFL fan so a friend of mine and I split the sunday ticket package that’s online only. We are fans of two teams that are in different time zones so we’re able to avoid a lot of overlap.
Finally, we use Netflix only with my PS3. It’s nice but I’ve recently seen the ability of smart phones to pop youtube videos onto your ps3 youtube app. Very handy. I can imagine that Chromecast would make it even easier!
Oh, and of course we made the switch over to RW last year. They’ve given us great service!
we are trying to cut down our tv package but now that my husband is a stay at home dad, it’s tough. That’s his entertainment during nap time!
Someone else said this, and I’ll second it: I grew up without cable, and don’t really care about it now. So I cancelled my cable over 1.5 yrs ago, and I couldn’t be happier. What I do instead is this:
I have a Playstation 3, which is connected to my internet. It has apps for pretty much all the same stuff at the Chromecast, so I stream via the PS3. I already had a Prime membership, and they started offering the free movies and TV shows around the same time I cancelled my cable; for more recent stuff, I used Hulu. About 9 mos ago, more and more shows started moving behind the Hulu paywall, and I didn’t like having to wait 8 days to see the new Grey’s Anatomy. So I bit the bullet and signed up for Hulu Plus. It’s been worth every penny.
Unfortunately, CBS shows don’t stream through Hulu, so I’ll stream those through the CBS site on my laptop, which is a pain. BUT you should know that you can connect your laptop to the TV using an HDMI cable, and in this case, instead of a remote, I use a wireless mouse :)
All told, it costs me $99/yr for Prime (I used to only pay the $39 student rate, since I have an .edu email address, but they caught on to that and now you have to provide proof of student status to get the student rate), plus $8/mo for Hulu. Not bad!
We are saving money on cable by not having it! We stream all of our favorite shows and movies using apps on our Xbox one using our live membership.
Ditched the premiem channels and got Netflix to save. We’ve been considering ditching the cable completely because we don’t use it all that often but I don’t think we’re quite there yet. The chromecast sure would come in handy making that happen, haha :)
We use the Playstation system to stream Netflix to our TV, works like a charm! But I think you may need HDMI for the System.
When we shopped around for a lower internet bill (we didn’t have home phone and cable was included in our condo fees) we found out that the bundle for home phone, internet and premium cable channels came out to cheaper than just internet. And it’s not even a promo! I think we pay $39+tax for the whole thing, but now we have a phone line we don’t use and extra channels that don’t get watched! Oh well, still cheaper.
Cable free of course. Bundled our internet with a home phone line, since our kids are getting bigger and we want to be able to dial 911 if necessary!
I have a blu ray with streaming, and my tv has a few old streaming apps like Netflix and youtube. Im in the same boat as you the wife wants cable badly to help destress with work. So I save by calling every year to reduce our rates, and get a fixed yearly rate for the triple play option. Thanks for the chromecast giveaway, Its blowing up as many people are buying those little thingamajig.
I cut cable a few years ago and just use Hulu Plus and Netflix, which saved a lot but – similar to your experience – unbundling the cable package does mean I spend a lot more for internet. Luckily I’m moving somewhere with Google Fiber soon. Hellooooo, free internet!
Google is owning more and more of us!!! Haha…
I save money on my cable the same as all of my other bills…live with someone who pays for everything ;) BUT since I’m a nice person, I will attempt to save him some money by (hopefully) winning the Chromecast.
I try to negotiate the best cable package I can every six months. I have been wanting to see how many of the shows we currently watch can be streamed so we can eventually cut out cable.
We have an inexpensive long distance phone plan and we have removed several unnecessary cable channels that we didn’t watch anyway.
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This is what causes analysis paralysis in ADHD folks like me. Yes, I want to know the options, but then I’m always one step behind in some part of the technology equation. It’s extremely frustrating. On the other hand, I can always read an actual book, from the library, for free, which I do, along with DVDs of shows past. I’m in the middle of Treme, and waiting to pick up Sherlock, then will do Luther. Part of my problem is the older TV thing as well. Though I don’t watch much, I will be glued for Downton Abbey, and I like my nice big Sony for it’s good view. I just don’t have a clue how to resolve the tech question at hand, or how to decipher all the choices. I need someone to help who will be unbiased, but also, helpful.
My DSL internet (do not mock me) works fine for home. It’s a local company, with excellent customer service, and it’s not Comcast. Yeah! I bundle my wireless internet, land line, and long distance for about $40-52/month.
My cable (with Comcast) is about $21/month, but it’s been creeping up slowly. I just have the basic, though it does include CNN, and some other stuff I don’t watch, but it’s primarily for antenna service. South Mpls gets horrible over-the-air service, as all the big tower transmitters are way on the other side of the downtown Mpls skyscrapers, in the far suburbs. It bites. I’m also concerned about the potential merger of Comcast and Time-Warner, as they will be divesting some of their properties, and we look like one of them. Who knows what we’ll get in return, and how much it will cost? My friend in St. Paul has basic cable with the Big C, and it’s ~$8-10/month, and mine is the $21. How does that even happen (???), and there’s no amount of explanation that will satisfy me. Maybe I need to move to a Greek island…
And J$, these in-depth looks at your various financial components have been most helpful. It’s got me looking into mine as well. Thanks, and I’ve already saved some money!
And, maybe I can make the Chrome thing work with my laptop to my TV somehow, someway. That would be very sweet indeed.
Really glad these posts are useful – they’ve been keeping my finances in check too :) I’ve got 10-20 years without ever paying attention, way too long!
I cut my TV expenses years ago by switching to Netflix/Hulu. And I put a hold on my Hulu account during the summer when no shows are on, because I’m a cheap ass :)
I cut my phone bill by switching to Republic Wireless. $25 a month for unlimited everything? Yes, please!
Trying to save money with a bundling package promo.
I’ve been using a WDTV Live for a couple of years and streaming movies from my PC to the TV using Plex. It only cost me $60 for the device refurbed at the time. The only media subscription I have is through Amazon Prime, which is great if I’m on my laptop, but Prime Instant Video streaming isn’t supported on it. I’m thinking of upgrading to the Roku 3 soon, but am hoping they’ll come out with a new version before upgrading.
Man, I’ve heard “plex” a few times now in the comments – never heard of until y’all started mentioning!
I’m saving by calling my cable/internet/phone provider every 6-12 months and asking for current discounts. I have been doing this for the past 3 years, effectively paying similar discount rates as when I initially signed in for the bundle.
Once a year I contact our cable/internet/phone provider and try to haggle a discount each year. It usually works. I still would like to save MORE! :)
I bundled everything, called around and told them a lower than quote price from their competition.
No cable TV for us. We recently bought a (refurbished) Roku 3 and tied our accounts with Netflix, HuluPlus (for current shows), and Amazon Instant (already prime members). Much cheaper than cable and it has practically everything we’re interested in seeing.
We kept the internet service (need it to work online). Shaved about half of our bill with the changes.
Ooma for phone. Pageplus Cellular for cell. Saving over 4-600/year using these services. Still have full cable since we have a DVR and haven’t had a super good reason to get rid of it…yet…
We went cable free at the start of August and have not missed it one bit. We use the Amazon Fire TV since we also have a Prime membership. Along with that we have Netflix, use my moms Hulu account and my in-laws Showtime password to stream that as well. We are currently only paying $17.00 a month for TV. That’s a savings of $103.00 every single month!
Switched about 6 months ago and purchased a Roku, we use Netflix and Hulu on the “family plan” and we save a nice chunk of change each month and I don’t really miss anything so far and that includes sports, I also have a couple work arounds for when I have to watch something, still free of charge. Good work BAS!
No cable, Netflix subscrip, and blu-ray box that actually works with our TV…
Saving: not having cable. We also don’t currently use any streaming services. I am interested to try this. No more tiny phone videos!
Tiny phone videos? Haha… you’re hardcore :)
I only pay $35 for cable/internet/phone each month! And that includes all of the premium cable channels. That’s right – I’m *absolutely killin* this one area of our budget. And it’s all due to one simple, eazy peezy thing – I work for the cable company.
Hahaha yeah I know that’s kinda sorta cheating, but it’s an awesome perk. Everyone may feel free to now hate me for selling my soul (although it’s not a bad place to work). Oh, one other thing – if you ever have any issue with your service, drop me a line and I can hook you up with a special customer service phone # and code for people having unresolved issues.
Nice!! I might have to take you up on that one :)
it was nice to read about someone who actually purchased the chromecast and seems to enjoy it. i knew your television was old, the moment i saw the pic. as far as saving money, i don’t have cable (only the channels i pick up through the apartment complex) and i have a ps3 (with netflix account) and a basic internet package since i don’t stream a lot of shows on my computer (that’s why i have netflix) i have a cell phone where i pay $50 a month and since i have wi-fi, no worries about burning my minutes.
kristin
Phone: I’m on straighttalk wireless. Better coverage than AT&T in my area (ironically) and I convinced myself I’m only giving away half my freedom by getting a company kickback on 80% of my cell bill. Net to me each month = $9.05.
Internet: I call TWC every 3 months, figure out the best combination of minimum speed I can tolerate and cost and then ask them to move me over (while trying not too swear too often at them).
TV: I’m a diehard baseball fan so it is hard for me to cut the cord. I wanted to do MLB.TV and then stream everything else, but if you are in an MLB town (good) you can’t watch your hometown team on MLB.TV (bad). So, until I solve that problem, I’m still on satellite. The best I can do is add and drop the local baseball channel every 6 months and save about $60/year doing so. Shoot me that Chrome and I might have more success!! :-)
The wife and I are saving money on TV by going the antenna route. I also use a prepaid phone while the wife gets her’s from work. Interest wise using DSL currently as they offer better rates and aren’t forcing me to rent their modem (without telling me I am renting until the first bill, I hate you Charter).
I use bing rewards to get points that can end up getting me 1 month of Hulu Plus for free. I’ve earned over 15 months and still have a ton of points left.
Shameless plug for me to earn more points – https://www.bing.com/explore/rewards?PUBL=REFERAFRIEND&CREA=RAW&rrid=_42b686a1-a97d-9462-46b7-d6326756d204
I’m in the same boat! To get rid of cable, I’d have to get rid of my lovely boyfriend. And nobody wants that :)
We signe up for a triple-service package for phone, internet and cable in our old apartment, even though we didn’t want or need a phone. It was $50 cheaper than the 2-service plan! We also beer plugged in an actual phone so that nobody “accidentally” made a ton of calls to rack up charges. I wish they still offered that deal but I think the company wised up
I meant “never” plugged in a phone. Hilarious autocorrect though!
Haha…. I wanted to see how beer plugs work :)
It did require buying a new TV, but the investment pays for itself in one year.
New Samsung 44″ TV – $600 and something courtesy Sam’s club
Roku – $79 also Sam’s Club – if I had thought about it Chromecast is a better deal
Mohu Leaf HD antenna – $69
Tablo TV – which provides DVR like capabilities AND connects to WiFi – $219
Seagate 2T hard drive – $99
Amazon Prime – $79 but I had it anyway
Netflix – when there is something I can’t find anywhere or I binge watch House of Cards.
And you already know what I think about Republic Wireless … easiest $100 a month I’ve ever saved.
You rock J$
Okay deal – you give me a TV and I’ll try all that ;)
We still use a good ole antennae and watch digital channels over the air… zero $. we do how ever spend $10/month on Netflix.
I’m still struggling with how to save…this post helped. It’s going to help me convince my husband to scale back without losing his many channels/options. I’d love to win!
I’m saving money on my TV bills by joining a 24 hour gym (for $20/ mo **special promo deal), and I go there to workout when my show is on.
*For other shows, I also read episode digest on Google, which give me a general idea of what happened, and the rest I use my imaginations.
If you manage to pull off that work out deal you, my friend, will be a BAD ASS. I’d like to see an update in three months though ;)
I’m working on convincing my husband to cut the cable. I’d love to drop cable and home phone and just go with internet. We have the blu-ray that streams Amazon Prime and that’s helping. I’d love to try the chromecast too.
Roku vs Chromecast: currently trying both setups, at my place and my boyfriend’s.
Chromecast is an advantage for anything phone related – you can vary Netflix, TEDtalks, YouTube, etc… but NOT Amazon Prime (which is not phone compatible for either of our phones).
Roku is great for Amazon Prime, Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu, but NOT random Internet. You can get other channels but have to have a paid subscription to some.
Andrew’s Slingbox idea is very intriguing, will investigate further!
Well that’s interesting to know about all the differences! I just assumed they were all pretty much the same like a dufus.
I got rid of the cable box. No more cable.
We just stream Nextflix to either a Roku or Chromcast. No cable at all and no landline phone. That saves money. I did just have to increase our internet package to include more data and speed because not my fiance works from home and sucks up data on hours long VOIP conference calls. You win some….you loose some!
I completely cut the cord. I have a Roku andand watch amazon prime.
I also hook my laptop up via hdmi and have never looked back!
I would love to stop paying for cable, but, there is no way to watch my local sports teams without it! You would think with all the public money that goes into paying for stadiums and arenas there should be.
Here’s where Craigslist (and people’s infernal need for the newest technology) is your friend. ;-)
Go out to Craigslist, and go to the electronics section, then in the search box, just type ‘720p’.
The results will return dozens of beautiful, perfectly serviceable 2-4 year old flat panel TV’s with HDMI outputs. a 42″ 720p LCD or Pasma TV (gently used) shouldn’t set you back more than $150-$250.
Why?
Because the screen density technology is now two generations old. 1080p, and the new 4K TV’s coming on to the scene, are pusing down prices of the 720p units dramatically. Personally, I can’t tell the difference between 720p and 1080p unless I’m within 24 inches of the screen.
You could likely sell your current TV for $60-100, so you could be looking at a net cost of upgrading for as little as $50!
As the 4K TV’s proliferate, the next 12-24 months are going to be an incredible time for picking up quality 720p, flat panel TV”s with modern ports, for dirt cheap.
Just something to keep in mind… ;-)
Whoa…sorry about all the typos! I was so excited to post the info, that I forgot to double-check my work. ;-)
In any event, here’s a perfect example of what I described, from my local area – a beautiful 42″ Vizio 720P plasma TV for $200 (which you could realistically get for $150-175 with a little negotiation).
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/ele/4602551947.html
Sell yours for $100, and the total cost to upgrade comes out to $50-75…less than you spent trying to upgrade the ports on your current TV. ;-)
YES!!! This comment got me to look at CL too – and I actually found one!!! $170 for a 42″. Unfortunately they haven’t emailed me back yet, which leads me to believe it’s long gone…. still, this is an excellent tip – thank you sir :)
We use an antenna for tv, I have a stupid phone (talk & text only) & I am getting ready to cancel Verizon Jetpack to go to a broadband which is cheaper by $30/month.
I work for an employer that considers my cell phone service a “perk” for working in IT, so I essentially get my plan for free. Other than that, even as a tech-head, I don’t upgrade every time a new iPhone comes along. I use that sucker until it dies of old age and abuse before I upgrade, thereby saving myself from having to pay full price for the phone. My 3GS lasted over 3 years, even though I did outdoor runs multiple times per week with it. The 4S met a slightly untimely not-quite-total-demise on a 14-mile run when I accidentally drowned it in perspiration. (Mostly, it started thinking it was docked part of the time and sometimes spontaneously powered back on after being turned off. Stretchy silicone phone skins are great right up until they aren’t. I got a Lifeproof case after that.)
I phoned AT&T, was honest about why my phone died, and asked nicely about my options, and in exchange for a bit of patience while the customer service person worked her magic, I was allowed to upgrade to the 5 several months early, for $199, the same price it would have been to replace the 4S through insurance. Honestly, I had forgotten the plan even included insurance. Pays to ask.
It was one of my more delightful customer service experiences, if only because the agent seemed a touch amused that I hadn’t tried lying or playing dumb about why my phone had suddenly started acting wonky. She was also just plain fun to chat with while her supervisor approved the upgrade.
And what little episodic television viewing I do, I mostly do it online.
We save money on TV by…not having a TV. We watch all our shows on our tiny laptops from YouTube, Netflix, or Hulu. When that doesn’t work, we rent an occasional DVD from the library.
We only have internet service at our house, which isn’t the best deal, but the ISPs are few and far between and can kind of charge whatever they please. Here’s hoping that Google Fiber comes our way someday!
So while what I write may not be completely ethical, I DO, however, save a ton of money. Basically, if there’s a specific TV show I like and want to watch, I download it from a private torrent site.
I pay for Netflix, which gives us quite a bit of comment, and we use my wife’s parents Hulu account for some other TV shows she likes. I do all of this on our Apple TV, which I LOVE!
Only problem I’ve had is sports. I split a MLB.tv account with a friend, and we plan on doing the same thing as soon as the NFL comes out with something similar. All of our content needs are pretty much met, and I haven’t had basic cable for YEARS!
It takes a little creativeness and ingenuity, but I believe that anybody can cut that cable bill in half if they really took the time to research all the options.
Thanks for the post J, and I can’t wait to try out the Google Chromecast I’m gonna win! Lol!
haha… if only you could download that from torrent too, right? ;)
We only subscribe to Fios internet! All of our entertainment comes from Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube.
I save on the phone by having an OBi and Google Voice for a “landline”.
Here’s my trick: I haven’t upgraded my cell phone in years, which saves me on my phone plan. No home phone for me, as I’m never there. A friend traded me his HBO GO and Netflix info for my Hulu account– and I siphon financial advice from J$ and share it with him.. I’m definitely saving, and he’s starting to! Win win. Every couple of months I ask AT&T about downgrading my wifi to a less expensive internet plan, and they magically find a $10 and $20 off for me!
Smart woman ;)
I’ve been scoring a free Hulu Plus membership each month by using Bing Rewards (Bing sucks btw, which is why they’ve resorted to paying people to use their search engine). I switched over to Republic Wireless last year and we’re going to switch the wifey over as soon as her contract ends. I’ve tried working with the Internet, but Time Warner Cable’s customer service is horrible. All I can get out of them is them trying to talk me into adding cable.
Hahahahhaha…
Using my sister’s Netflix account has saved me the money of having cable to begin with!
As a trade, she uses my Amazon prime account.
We have a prepaid cell phone plan and no home phone. Costs only $70/ month for 2 (which isn’t great, but is cheaper).
We got rid of cable last year! We used to get it only for college football season but this year we decided to save money instead. We watch netflix/amazon through our bluray player. I think it’s the same one you tried to use!
You can always “spurge” for an old receiver that takes HDMI and outputs component (or composite…). You can probably get one of those for $80 or less on craigslist. Much cheaper than a new TV.
Dropped cable completely!
We don’t have cable. I buy 12-month hulu+ gift cards on eBay for a fraction of the price.
I use a Chromecast on one tv and a ROKU on another. The great thing about the Chromecast is you can watch programs from other than the normal ROKU or built in BlueRay options of Hulu, Netflix, etc. With Chromecast we can watch from NBC.com, FOX, ABC, CBS, etc. I still have basic cable but looking to cut the cord soon. I need to order a roof antenna so we can get free local channels because we can’t get many channels with set-top antennas. I used a site http://www.antennaweb.org to get an idea of which is the best antenna for our location.
thanks for the link!
I’m about to make the switch from cable to Netflix and Amazon prime streaming!
no home line and no cable.. use an apple tv to stream and play our shows instead!
My apartment complex gets a deal on the cable and it is itemized out on the lease as $15 for basic plus HBO. I can also get free wifi from the complex, but the service is too spotty so I pay $54 for internet. I tried Republic (I used your link) but the Sprint service was horrible so I went with a $40 plan from T-Mobile.
Hmm, that’s a tough one – what’s the model number on the TV? Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Kanex-Pro-Component-Converter-HDRGBRL/dp/B00BW0XXZ6 will get you most of the way, but will puke when your content throws up a protection flag.
It’s doable… (if you have a DVI jack on the back of the TV, or you get a similar converter from a shadier source) but you’re probably better off getting a TV with HDMI inputs.
I think I’m done messing w/ the old tv, so now it’s just keep it and sulk or go out and get a new (used) one… which I’m thinking I’ll end up doing as soon as I find a good one on CL!
I’m just glad I have The Irishman to sort this stuff out for me. My eyes kinda glazed over as I was reading this post. I’ll show it to him. Then maybe we can translate it into Canadian.
My husband works for a subsidiary of the cable company so we get an employee discount.
I guess we are saving money by not having all the channels (I miss you, HBO) but I know we’d be saving tons more if my sports-fiend husband would even entertain the idea of other alternatives to cable.
Saved us $800 a year. Easy decision a nd there are so many ways to get content online. Not cutting the cord is like holding on to your landline. Just no reason.
That’s not true, actually. Doesn’t make sense for everyone.
This sounds great, will it work in Canada though.
Good question?
We took the slowest internet package known to man to save $30 and we don’t have cable. But like you I’m tired of watching TV on my computer screen.
we are saving money by not having cable. and we share netflix and hulu plus with other family members.
The way I’m saving money on my tv is that I no longer have cable or satellite.
Having internet connection at home can be an alternative to cable. We at home just download tv shows we are interested in the most. Doing that, we don’t have to get cable services.
We just use the antenna. Not a huge deal for us since before we moved we lived for years with only one channel– now that we live in the city we have over 40! For “DVR” service to watch shows at the time I choose, I just use the network websites.
Now for internet my employer buys it for me because I work from home. (SCORE!!!)
Our employers also supply each of us with cell phones (DOUBLE SCORE!!!) Really, the hardest thing though was doing away with the landline. For a long time I didn’t use my work cell phone unless I traveled. I was a cell phone hater. But my frugalness won out so now the landline is gone and we just use our cells. Which gives us a cable/phone/internet bundled total of $0! Woo hooo!
We are implementing the Ooma device you suggested soon! Hopefully that saves us a ton and works out. Will let you know how it goes!
Please do! I hope it works equally as nice for you guys :)
Currently using old wii console and a roku. Called cable to cancel and they have a deal of channels 1-22 plus free HBO for a year, so I’ll worry about how to get HBO when the year mark is approaching!
Our apartment complex pays for basic cable and we just use Internet for everything else with all the channels on their respective websites or ROKU etc. We use Republic wireless too but missed out on the Chromecast so hoping to snag one this way!
We’ve cut out cable, and I have a reminder on my calendar to call our internet provider every six months and ask for a discount. So far so good!
Our cable and internet is built into the rent at our apartment complex. However, we still get most of our entertainment from a free Hulu account and from YouTube. We switched to Republic Wireless in February and have been LOVING the savings on our cell bill!!
I’m still holding my breath waiting for our first (glorious!) Republic wireless bill to come in showing $100+ savings per month! For TV/movies, we pick up Disney vhs tapes for <$1 a pop at yard sales and thrift stores for my girls to watch (they dont know mary poppins isnt a hot new release) and us grownups watch whatever's on Netflix on our computer when we have some rare time together. I would dig being able to watch on the big screen though!
I’m waiting for our first Republic bill too :)
Switched our home phone to Vonage and shaved down our cell phone shared data plan.
I’m planning on calling to see if we can lower the cable bill now that we’ve gotten booted off the promo pricing and finally received the rebate we had been expecting for 3 months from our move (paperwork got messed up-uggh… but now it’s done!). I know that cable is definitely a want/luxury in our budget, but right now it’s still one we definitely enjoy too much to completely cut the cord.
No cable at all, in years – Home Theatre PC hooked directly into the “TV” – which technically is a projector, so I’ve got a 155″ TV. It’s about as baller as it gets.
We cancel service each year when they try to up the fees only to reconnect with the latest & cheapest “bundle”.
I had heard Verizon was considering offering a $5/month home phone service – just to have it for emergencies, guessing it would have then required a pay-per-minute situation. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
My long distance is through Pioneer, which charges ridiculously low amounts, we’ve never had cable, but we do have amazon prime and netflix, mostly because we have kids of a certain age.
That’s a great idea (and smooth move) by Verizon actually :)
We save money by not having cable tv.
Well, I don’t know if I would call it saving money, but I did manage to score HBO and Starz for free by persistent customer complaining and making sure I’m getting the services I signed up for. Comcast sent THREE different technicians to my house, with the final one being competent enough to provide me the correct service and speed, and with that, he also gave us premium channels for free!
We also do not own a home phone and therefore did not need service for that part- bundling our internet and cable is also how to save the most money with our provider.
Dropped cable and got an anyone-basic channels. Netflix streaming only- $7.99 monthly. Cell phone family plan bundled.
We have a smart tv that streams Netflix and Hulu. My sis gifted us the yearly subscription to Hulu Plus, so we only pay for Netflix. No cable!
I’m saving money on my TV by downgrading my television service on my one TV that still gets cable. Last month my bill was $160, this month, $70! I also purchased my own router when I initially got my cable, it was a little more upfront, but after 4.5 years its more than paid for itself by not leasing one through the cable company. I also use a roku on my TV in my bedroom to stream my netflix, and an antenna to get the local channels (and then some)! Though my roku is starting to have some glitches, so a chromecast thingamajig would be awesome!
I wanted to pay for our router too but Verizon doesn’t allow it :(
We dropped cable ages ago and haven’t looked back! Instead, we stream Netflix and very occasionally will check out a Redbox. We also found a reputable regional cell phone carrier and avoided the Big 4. $122/mo for 2 lines, unlimited minutes/texts/data AND wireless internet for our home. We had Ooma for quite a while but realized we never used our LAN line so we cut that out, too. I know you’re a big fan of Ooma, so if you know of anyone that needs an Ooma box for a steal, we’ve got one we’re trying to get rid of! :)
Haha… will keep that in mind :)
We dropped cable in January 2013 and haven’t looked back. The first 2 weeks were the hardest, now we just stream Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime through a Roku on both our TVs. We only pay $35 for high speed internet, which we change from high speed internet to DSL every 12 months when the rates go up, and the monthly/yearly fees for the streaming services. We also purchased a lifetime subscription to PlayOn TV, which allows streaming to the Roku’s. It was like $80/life and we use it for channels/shows that aren’t on the streaming services we pay monthly/yearly for.
We don’t have a house phone, we both have cell phones and get great reception in our home.
I reduced my cable bill by almost $60 last month just by asking for a cheaper bill. I didn’t have to change my plan or decrease my channels. I guess they just gave me the latest promotion because it lasts for a whole year!!! Sometimes you only need to ask!
To answer the question “How am I saving money on TV, cable, phone, or internet?” (Sigh) Sadly, I’m not – YET!!! After reading your blog (and many others) it gave me some great ideas. So, I’m going to start testing things out on our TVs. We have Uverse and AT&T wireless services. I think they should change their slogan from “Your world connected” to “Robbery without a gun ; )” Anyway, we have 3 TVs; one smart and 2 smart ready. Plus we have a blu-ray, in fact I think it’s the same one you bought (but ours was a gift – $free). So, I think I only need one chrome-thingy to get the 3rd TV up-and-running and GOOD-BYE CABLE!!! My problem is that I have to be certain I can access sports channels or my husband’s not going to go for it : (
Good luck! You should be able to cut your bills down just by asking too – so def. at least call up and do that even if that’s as far as you go :)
I use Plex on my Roku to access online content from a variety of channels, like food network, a&e, and USA.
*** Giveaway now over ***
Thanks for participating everyone! I wish I could give y’all a free Chromecast but unfortunately I only have one :( At least they only cost $35! So don’t let it stop you from testing it out if you think it’ll save you money in the end :)
And now, the winner of this super cool and sleek Chromecast is…. bum bum bum… Nicole A! Congrats! Hope you have some fun with it!
Haven’t had TV in years. Have a PS3 streaming Netflix. Even a cheap-o Wii does this.
Just ordered Apple TV through work for free and will be planning to cut my cable once I move in a couple months. Once I am able to see my football without cable I will be set. I have verizon fios paying $119 for home phone, internet and cable
Let us know if you figure out the football dilemma :) I’m just praying I can watch my ‘Skins in Monday Night Football tonight! We nixed ESPN!
Smart Tv stream of digital channels Netflix
I just saved money by switching to Geico!
Just buy a video card with HDMI for your computer and run it to your tv. I have mine on my 60in and everything is wireless “keyboard, mouse” I watch everything and have computer also much cheaper and a lot better. Now a days computers come with an HDMI already on motherboard just check your computer.
Good idea for sure. As long as your computer is somewhat close to your TV :) We ended up selling our old TV and getting a (much smaller) new one with all the modern updates. Then we cut cable even more and now stream netflix/etc. Should help make up for the tv upgrade – and then some – in no time.
If there are stand alone boxes that can receive the Full Shilling Internet, just like a pc can, I would very much like to know about it. Most internet boxes only receive a fraction of what the web has to offer. So far the best solution is to buy a pc laptop and connect it to your tv. Then you will have the true internet! If there is a stand alone box that equels that, please tell me about it?
I don’t know of any myself, but maybe someone in the comments above shared any? Everyone here seems to be a lot more knowledgeable about this stuff than me :)
So it sounds to me that you are still using quite a bit of the technology you are trying to eliminate. In order to stream through Chromecast, you are using a smartphone app. Isn’t that costing you data minutes? Unless your phone plan has unlimited data (mine doesn’t), you will be paying an outrageous cell phone bill every month. Personally, I am sick of the level of technology in my house and the cost I’m paying every month just to watch TV and have a phone. I’m paying AT&T 250.00 every month just to have TV, Internet, and a cell phone. PLEASE give me back my landline, broadcast TV, and my monthly cost of $35!
I have republic wireless for cell phone which is unlimited data/calling for $25/mo :) Here’s why I switched to them if interested:
https://budgetsaresexy.com/2014/07/republic-wireless-review-cell-phone-savings/
I try anything that sounds as cool as at youve posted here.’….Ive had my cable ajusted shut off and had to have it back on as s.oon as i stopped ,it,..them turn it right back on
We are not saving at all. We thought we were by going back to a video store, an actual store, but as it turns out we are still spending over $90. per month.
Time to start changing it up again! We have to too now – all our discounts just got nixed w/ Verizon, ugh…
Is there a way to hook your phone up to your tv so you dont have to have home internet service? Just use the internet on your phone for Netflix ect?
I don’t know of any way to do that, but I’m sure some techies have figured it out :) I’d imagine it would be super slow though if so? And probably jack up your cell bill? (Not many offer “unlimited” anymore, but some do)
I use my smartphone (currently have a Samsung s4)’s data plan to run Netlix and Hulu Plus, youtube, etc and if you have a smart tv you can cast it to your tv which actually uses no internet at all. I have no home internet. You need a smart tv though for this to work. I however, will switch to Republic Wireless after paying off my device as my tmobile bill is too much!
Thanks for that tip on the Republic Wireless!
thanks for chiming in! always blown away at how people rock technology like that – let me know how it goes with RW if you end up trying them out :)
btw, we’re giving out a free phone w/ service this weekend if you haven’t seen the notice yet – make sure to enter!
https://budgetsaresexy.com/2015/08/giveaway-republic-wireless-phone-service/
i saved money by ditching verizon and going to comcast. not a total savings like chromecast or anything but i hated verizon so much. i called up comcast and told them i hated verizon what can u do for me or something and now my bill is about thirty dollars less.
Hah! I did the same thing last week before cutting cable altogether, and Comcast gave me a HIGHER price! I was like “and why would that make me want to switch over???” haha…
They told me it would be locked in for a year straight so I didn’t have to worry about it getting increased. “But you just increased it?? And now want to lock in that increase for 12 months straight???” I quickly retorted.
Some people….
nice post. Big project putting all those actions to ink. Tech stuff is frustrating period! Think I might try the chrome cast .
Thanks a bunch.
I am saving $150.00 a month by using Roku instead of cable. Lately I’ve noticed though that the streaming channels are being updated with new movies as much as I would like them to be but I hate to complain because other than paying $99.00 a year for Amazon I’m watching tv for free.
$150/mo savings is incredible – congrats :) We finally cut cable once and for all too, however keeping high-speed internet didn’t save us that much in the end… though that’s also because we got it down as cheap as we can before vs starting with it being crazy inflated :)
I have cell phone but no internet in my home or cable. Am i to understand i can run tv off of my cell phone. Have hotspot nut use up the data really fast. Can i watch tv with the use of my phones signal?
I’m pretty sure you need internet at home to be able to do it, but things change so fast so some of that might be possible these days? Or prob in the future.
I don’t get to watch TV unless I buy a movie.
We use an digital antenna
I use the clear tv system
I returned my Uverse box to AT&T, cancelled Uverse TV, and started using Netflix to view movies.
By downgrading to the basic TV package with Direct TV and using Netflix on my tablet to view all the programs I’ve previously missed out on.
So my problem is actually trying to find a decent internet provider since I live in the middle of nowhere. We’re using satellite now but it’s pretty expensive and has weird peak hours so you can only stream video from like midnight-5 am. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears!!
I am trying to break up with AT & T U Verse BADLY !!! However, I do not have unlimited data.
They have managed to screw us every time we tried to get a lower bill. I need a reliable internet speed to stream, but I don’t want them to catch me in a corner on data. Any suggestions? I was trying to research another provider who offers unlimited data, but saw bad reviews on most of them.
I have Vizio smart TV, I have digital antennae TV, I have 6 gigs of data from Verizon. Can I stream TV without using my gigs through these new items like u r giving away, a senior citizen in Wi needs ur advice. Thank U
I’m pretty sure it all uses data :( Maybe call them up though and just ask? Maybe you have some special plan or something?
Is there any good websites to find all the movies and tv shows that I would normally watch on cable to cast to chromecast. I have a chromecast, but I was thinking about buying a fire stick and found your site. I am like why do I need a firestick when I have chormecast. I know how to use it and I have. I just don’t know the good sites to go to to get good quality and shows I want to watch without cutting off my cable. Ty in advance for any advice.
After $400 a month bills from Fair point and xfinity
I stream vdvu movies over my smart talk phone the monthly card for unlimited talk n text is $40
I have not paid for television in over 13 years, and then it was under protest. I have been happy with streaming media. I have found that using Opera browser and placing all the free streaming media channels I could find with google searches I was able to place them all into one folder on my browser on opening it.
For shows that my wife and I like to binge watch, I use Aviator browser and go on to sites like putlocker, with that browser if you don’t have a flash player the stream becomes a download without needing a torrent app.
As for saving on my phone, I have been with the big V for a while, they have this new plan that works for our family since we like to keep our phones for as long as possible, once the phone is paid for in two years interest free, it comes of the bill, also we sparingly use 3gb data between 2 phones and get a teachers discount/state employee discount through work.
As for WiFi at home, I am able to access internet for free from the business downstairs that seemingly has no restriction to access for the exception of a password that is freely given to anyone that is a customer.
As a side note, I am able to go to my public library and borrow for free any DVD, CD even Wii games. They even have new releases.
The laptop we use for watching our shows is about 10 years old Toshiba Satellite that I refurbished myself with a new OS, new HD, new power pack and battery, works great.
Thanks for sharing your tips :)
Lmao!
! You actually cheered me up, Knowing Im not the only cheap electronics deficient person out there :)
Glad to be of service :)
And happy to report that we’ve since cut the cable cord!
https://budgetsaresexy.com/thoughts-after-cutting-cable/
Now rocking netflix/hulu only and recently moved somewhere where a cheap $20 antenna gets us a handful of FREE cable stations too – woot woot.
Thanks for a great article! I’d add ArkMC for iOS/Android or Mac. I use this app for streaming my pics, videos, music to different compatible devices that use dlna. It’s also very comfortable because it’s wireless and you don’t have to use any adapters or cables.
Hi. Thanks for the blog. Very informative. To clarify, I can cancel my cable/wifirouter acct and purchase a chrome thingy for a one time fee, and stream by way of Republic Cell/WiFi service? I have an outdated ROKU on my second tv so, the replacement expense may be required for a more current ROKU. My smart tv is with only two apps, Disappointing as I hoped to serve the web on it. One of those learning experiences. It does have ROKU and VUDU apps. Anyway, Ive been paying cable bill for wifi internet and basic cable. I could live without the basic cable channels to save money if I can stream on GC and Netflix. Since I also have a tablet maybe casting would be good, if my tv is worthy. I do wonder about going over with data usage and fees once my cable acct is cancelled. What do you think?
Thanks again for the great read.
I’m wondering if there is an adapter that will let me mirror my android device on my stupid TV that has AV connections. Anything out there that you know of?