This is a post I never imagined I’d write, because I never imagined we’d actually give up cable! Cutting the cord is something we’ve wanted to do for years but were too nervous (or lazy) to figure out. Whenever we sat down to figure out the details and try to get out of our contracts in our last apartment, we both got anxious and gave up. Plus, have you ever tried calling a cable company? The worst. That being said, moving to a new place gave us a clean slate and we ultimately decided it was the perfect time to say au revoir to the cord and companies that caused us so many headaches in the past!
There are a lot of questions and misconceptions about cutting the cord. And, while there are lots of posts out there about this (I’ll link anything I found super helpful), I figured I’d share our experience and break it down in normal people terms (nothing too techy or fussy because I am neither of those things) in the hopes that it can help you navigate this process too.
First things first. In our area you pretty much have two options when it comes to cable: Verizon Fios or Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable). I had TWC in the past and more recently we’ve been Verizon Fios customers. I have to say, we’ve had an okay experience with Verizon but the reality was we were paying a lot of money for channels we didn’t watch and service appointments that seemed to grow more and more frequent. And, on top of it all, we were always stuck in a 1-2 year contract that tied us to our plan with penalties and fees for changing it. So when it came time to re-evaluate, our goals were simple:
- Save Money
- Avoid Service Appointments
- Avoid Contracts
Interestingly, in my research for this post I saw that Verizon now has options without contracts – I haven’t dug into this more, and I don’t know about other providers across the country, but it’s worth noting and looking into. Now, with that considered, here’s how we went about the process of cutting the cord and what we use instead!
Evaluating Our Needs
Going into this, we knew we needed two things: good internet and the ability to watch the things we already watch. For us, that means streaming shows, movies and sports (will get to this shortly). I think it’s important to say that we do still use Verizon Fios for wireless internet and we actually pay quite a bit for this. Because we work from home and have 4 phones, 4 laptops a smart TV and 3 smart devices (Alexas, plugs, cameras etc) between us, we wanted fast AF internet and that does not come cheap. KEEP IN MIND if you are just browsing internet plans or combo internet/cable plans the prices shown are NOT for the fastest internet speed! It’s actually usually for the slowest speed, which is really annoying. When you take that into account your cost will rise significantly. That being said, if you don’t have the same needs that we do and don’t need speedy internet, your costs could definintely be lower than ours.
As far as television goes, we actually don’t watch a ton of network television. We don’t watch reality TV (gasp) or any primetime shows consistently (re-runs are another story though). We’ve had Apple TV since it came out and 90% of what we do watch is on that, via Apple Movies, Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime, Disney+ or Hulu. And yes, we pay for all of those services, but we were doing that anyway with cable (which was, now that I think about it, nuts). That being said, those services can add up, so if you’re really trying to lower your budget my recommendation is to figure out which streaming services you absolutely need and cut it down to one or two.
Also, if you have an iPhone remember to check your Apple account to see which monthly subcriptions you are doing through Apple vs. the service directly. To do this, open your phone and go to Settings > your name > Subscriptions. We have all of ours on C’s Apple ID with the exception of Netflix which we set up directly.
Our monthly streaming costs:
| Streaming Service | Cost |
| Netflix | $12.99 |
| Apple TV+ | $4.99 |
| Amazon Prime Video | $9.92* |
| Hulu | $11.99 |
| Disney+ | $6.99 |
| DC Universe | $7.99 |
| Total Cost | $54.87 or **$44.95 |
I know the Prime thing is kinda confusing – basically we pay for Amazon Prime yearly and Prime Video is a benefit, so it’s technically free. If we wanted to calculate the monthly cost of Amazon Prime it would be $9.92 but that comes with all the other perks of a Prime Membership, not just video. Prime Video as a stand alone service is $8.99 and since that is something we would not purchase it made sense to exclude this cost.
Right now we don’t have HBO Max, but it’s something we’ll evaluate down the road. We do not pay for any primetime apps or streaming like CBS, NBC etc. The one downfall with streaming is when it comes to… you guessed it… sports. “SPORTS!” are a necessity in our house…for one of us at least 😉 Where this gets tricky is with RSN (regional sports networks) so you have to do some digging here depending on where you live. This post breaks it down the best out of any post that I’ve found! The only other gap in our cable free life was my morning Today Show sessions and our frequent desire to watch CNN or other political shows that only come with primetime channels. In order to get those without cable you have to subscribe to a LIVE streaming service. So we knew we wanted to at least try one.
Comparing Our Options
Okay so you might be thinking – at this point, if we’re wanting to watch live TV why wouldn’t we just go with Verizon? Which is a great point, and here’s my answer: convenience, fees and contracts. With cable, you pay for installation, monthly equipment fees and any service appointments that come up. You also have to sign a contract and they are really challenging to get out of. Going with a live streaming service meant we could test drive the experience without committing to it long term – no strings attached. Plus, live streaming services require zero appointments, set up fees, or phone calls – just a laptop or cell phone and a TV!
As I briefly mentioned before, Verizon’s new advertising does say they do monthly service without contracts. They also weirdly advertise a YouTubeTV option on their site. That being said, we still didn’t want equipment, service appointments or any type of fee to come up. We figured if we were going to try a live streaming servivce we’d rather sign up for it through that service directly vs. a cable company. That’s just our preference! Again, I don’t know about other companies so you’d have to do your own research there.
The live streaming world is complex, and there are truly options for everyone. I’d say the main and most popular options are YouTubeTV and Hulu Live, but there are seriously so many others that make sense for different reasons. When evaluating our live streaming options I found this post and this post to be the most comprehensive. In order to make our decision C and I reviewed all the channels, pricing and pros and cons of each.
Ultimately we decided to go with YouTubeTV which is around $65 a month and it was seriously the easiest thing to set up. We have a Samsung smart TV and it uses our TV remote and can be launched through the smart TV app or through our Apple TV. Having one remote is a big deal for me as I find a zillion clunky remotes to be super annoying both aesthetically and practically (like…where do you put them?). I also love that the YouTube TV menu and guide include pictures of the networks and the shows – I am very visual and find this so convenient and much more intuitive than your typical cable menu. You can also pause live TV and come back to it, and do pretty much everything you can do with cable.
Our Thoughts So Far
So, to put this all together our current set up includes Verizon Fios Wireless, Samsung Smart TV, Apple TV, streaming apps and YouTube TV. Here is a breakdown of our current costs for all of the monthly services we use:
| Service | Cost |
| Verizon Fios Wireless Internet (940 mbps) | $79.99 |
| Streaming Apps | $44.95 |
| YouTube TV (Live Streaming) | $64.99 |
| Total Cost | $189.93 |
We are still paying quite a bit for everything we have, but it’s still less than what we paid before and we have been much happier with the results! Most importantly, I feel better knowing that if our needs change we can easily cut costs. C says that YouTube TV has all the channels he needs and I’m really enjoying my morning Today Show viewings. It’s also nice to have easy access all our other streaming services. A few things of note:
We did not have a smart TV before and thought our TV was totally normal. We had no idea what we were missing because we had an Apple TV. I will say that cutting the cord is SO MUCH EASIER if you have a smart TV and/or Apple TV/Chromecast/Roku because everything is in one place! Shortly after setting up our smart TV we realized that we technically don’t need a physical Apple TV (which we already had) because there is an Apple TV app on our Samsung TV. The interfaces are very different, and the actual Apple device is more comprehensive than the app via Samsung. We’re also just used to the device vs the app. Another reason we’ll keep the Apple TV around is that it’s really challenging to use the Spotify app on a Samsung TV (long story, but there are a zillion posts online about this) so we use the Spotify app through our Apple TV instead. Our Apple TV does sync with our TV though, so we still only use ONE REMOTE which is postively dope.
I know, I know the remote thing is totally silly. And it’s more of a smart TV benefit but I love that with Samsung/Apple/YouTube TV everything syncs together. I’ve used Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast, and Dish and I think most cable remotes, menus/guides and movie rental platforms are super clunky and annoying. Typing takes forever and renting a movie on On Demand is actually exhausting. NOT so with our current system!
So far we have not had a single moment where we were like “ugh, we wish we had cable”. Not one. So, that’s the gist of it! If you have any questions feel free to pop me a note – I am by no means an expert but I’m happy to help however I can or point you in the right direction 🙂
Also, I will link our actual TV, mount and cord covers because they are all fanastic! Our mount was recommended by our Task Rabbit – it moves left right, up, down and out but isn’t bulky. And the cord covers are EXCELLENT if you only have 1-2 cords (our TV and our Apple TV) which you def will if you cut the cord! Our Task Rabbit said he’d never seen such aesthetically pleasing cord covers. If you’re in the NYC area and want his name just give me a shout!
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