Cutting the cord wasn’t an easy task. It’s something I have wanted to do for a few years now but hesitated in a major way. We had been long time satellite users and by a long time, I mean 22 years. We loved our satellite tv. Even though the last two years on the premiere night of Big Brother (my guilty pleasure show) it was raining and the dish went out leaving me scrambling to figure out how I can watch it without it being on tv, I still kept the satellite!
The only main reason we kept our satellite was due to sports. My husband is a huge sports fan…like a fan of every.single.sport.known.to.man. He will find the weirdest sports to watch and actually watch them. He was the only reason I refrained from pulling the cord.
The Time is Now
Somehow I forgot to pay my satellite bill. I paid it but they said I owed more which if you’ve ever been out of sync with your bill paying for whatever reason, it’s hard to get yourself back on track because charges keep coming at you out of nowhere! Apparently, I shorted them $50 and some change so they turned off (or as they put it, “disrupted” my service)…eh, no big deal I thought, I’ll pay them when we get paid again but that wasn’t for another 5 days. What were we going to do with no tv for 5 days? Yeah, you’re thinking, read a book, spend more time together as a family, etc. And, that’s all well and good, but it was the holiday season and I like watching the Hallmark channel for the sappy, and very predictable holiday movies while I bake and wrap gifts. This might be the perfect time that I put cutting the cord into action!
I decided to get the free trial of Sling because I had heard so many positive things about it. They offer a 7-day free trial so I took it. Then I heard about PlayStation Vue. They offered a 5-day trial so I took it. I found myself flipping around trying to figure out which streaming service I preferred. Both of them offered similar service, packages, and channels so I went for quality.
Cutting the Cord Basic Essentials
But first, in order to stream you need either a smart tv with Roku (I just purchased this TCL 55″ 4K Smart TV with Roku one) or the like included or you need to purchase a streaming device. My main tv is already equipt with Roku so I didn’t need anything for that one, but my bedroom and office tv required the purchase of a Roku streaming device. I purchased the Roku Express streaming stick because I didn’t feel I needed any of the other bells and whistles for a secondary tv. It’s a one time charge so I was ok with purchasing one stick for each of my TV’s that required it.
Now that I have my streaming devices in place it’s time to discuss the packages and options that I have gone with to make this “cutting the cord” transition as smooth and painless as possible.
Streaming Options
PlayStation Vue – I opted to get the Core package with PlayStation Vue primarily based off of the picture quality. When compared to Sling, the picture on each channel was just slightly clearer and it didn’t look distorted. The other thing that helped make this decision was local channels. I was looking for a package that contained as many local channels as possible. PlayStation Vue Core package had every local channel with the exception of WGN Chicago. The last deciding factor was sports and entertainment options. We needed to have certain sports channels (NBC Sports Chicago, ESPN, and a few others) and I needed my entertainment channels (E!, Bravo, The Hallmark Channel, HGTV, and others). The only two channels that my husband really wanted that were not a part of PlayStation Vue was the History Channel and Comedy Central. Other than that, for $44.99 the PlayStation Vue Core package had everything we required!
In order for us to get the History Channel and Comedy Central (that my husband couldn’t live without apparently), we had to get Sling Orange. Do we really need it…no but in order to make him happy for even just a little while, I decided to get that package and see how much he really watches it. It’s an extra $19.99 a month and as an incentive, if we prepaid for two months we would receive the Sling Express stick for free. My goal is at some point to get rid of Sling tv all together. But…baby steps!
Cutting the Cord Savings
By eliminating our satellite I am saving approximately $100 a month! My internet is now $99 a month for high speed and no data limit. With PlayStation Vue and Sling, I’m paying $64.98. Previously I was paying $115.00 for internet *and being charged extra for going over on data* and I was paying $150ish for satellite. Now for all internet and tv, I’m paying around $164.00 a month! And, honestly, if you didn’t know that my tv was streaming, you would think it’s satellite. That’s how clear the quality of our streaming is!
I am so happy that cutting the cord wasn’t a horrible process. Have you cut the cord yet? If not, what’s holding you back?
[…] on strong to Netflix and streaming. In fact, since the start of the new year, we have become a streaming-only family. That’s right, we cut the cord and are now streaming everything! It feels […]
I think you are one brave girl. I couldn’t cut the cord – but let me try.
Oh man, this one I have gone back and forth with for a while! We don’t really even watch that much cable anymore… except for sports and The Walking Dead. I definitely want to try to cut the cord at some point. It would save money and keep us from having the t.v. on when it doesn’t need to be.
We made this move in 2011, and had no TV or even streaming for 4 years till my husband discovered the Roku and we started streaming then. We will never look back, I don’t even know why people pay for cable!
I know! I just purchased an indoor antenna just so we can get one local station that plays the Cubs game! LOL We are a sports family and to be without our local sports even just one channel, it’s hard! 😉 BUT, I got it super cheap for only $19.99! Hope it works! We are setting it up tomorrow.
We did this over a year ago and switched to more affordable streaming options. Its been great on saving money.
I love it! I don’t think I’ll ever go back to cable!