cable TV Archives

My Cable is History

It’s been a couple of weeks now since I returned my cable boxes and cut the cord. It didn’t save as much as I hoped because the internet alone is pretty pricey. I also switched from T Mobile for my cell phone to Xfinity because that saved me $30 on the cell phone cost. I figure if I’m keeping Xfinity internet I might as well put my cell phone with it too.
For Live TV I took the HULU Bundle and have way more channels now. It saved me a little because the bundle has Disney + and I had a separate subscription for that so I’m saving $10.00 there. I don’t know if I will be able to say with HULU because I hear Disney plans to buy it out. If that happens I’m sure the price will go up.

The only complaints so far are trivial. Sometimes the sound drops off when the feed switches from an commercial back to the program. That’s annoying but its easy to get the sound back by clicking out of the program and them back in. The other annoyance is that the live now guide isn’t always accurate but that’s a small annoyance.

Noise Canceling Headphones

In an effort to be a good neighbor I bought a set of noise canceling headphones that are supposed to automatically connect to my TV’s. So far I haven’t had much luck. I’m going to try to connect them again today.

27+ Headphones Pictures | Download Free Images on Unsplash

I bought them because I like to have my windows open during the nice weather but the traffic noise means I have to turn the TV up and that means possibly bothering a neighbor or two. One of the drawbacks of living in a condo. I hope I can get them to work. I hate going through the fuss of returning things if I can’t figure it out. The instruction book is very limited and the YouTube videos are for a different model and don’t match up with my headphones at all.

Observations on my Life

Clearly my life is rather boring but I’m getting used to the slower pace. I think I like it. Traveling (due to budget restrictions) is still on pause but maybe I can find some local places to visit over the summer. Banner has gotten his opera renditions under control at night and mornings and now sporadic. He was so quiet the other morning that I got up just to see where he was and what he was up to LOL Sometimes silence is not a good thing.

Photo Credit- Deb Neumann

Cable is so Expensive

Now that I’m one of the retired community I’ve been looking for ways to cut my expenses with the least possible impact on my lifestyle. I’m waiting patiently for the real estate world to recover from the Interest increases so that my retirement account will get healthy again. But one of my biggest monthly expenses is cable. I have the Bundle which is supposed to save me money but it just keeps going up. Even worse is that there is nothing on TV . I watch only about 5-6 channels and can probably do the narrations on each program since they are all re-runs. I can’t cut out those unused channels because then I would lose the package with the ones I do watch.

Stock photo

The phone is part of the package but I get so many spam calls that I shut the ringer off. When I see the message light I check it but other than that it just takes up space on my desk. We all want to remember to get the car warranty updated, right? Everyone uses my cell phone.

Spam call vector phone fraud and scam design Spam call vector Phone fraud and scam illustration. Hacker unknown number calling on smartphone. Fake robocall, vishing and anonymous incoming call robocall stock illustrations

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Step 1

Photo credit- Deb Neumann

I started the process a couple of weeks ago when I found a sale on Roku TV’s. For $99 I was able to order a nice TV for the bedroom. I need Forensic Files on when I try to go to sleep. My old TV couldn’t stream so a new TV was needed. That worked out great. The new TV even has an easy to set sleep timer. So far it’s been working great.

Step 2

Now that I’ve figured out the new TV, I took the 2nd step. I upgraded my HULU account to add Live TV. Then I switched back and forth between cable and Streaming to be sure the Live TV matched what was on the cable. It did! I’m going to see if I can handle streaming only for about a week. I don’t see a “guide” on the streaming platform so I’m probably just not familiar with it yet. Anyway, if it goes well I will turn off the cable and phone next week. I will keep the internet.

Step 3

So as I said, If all goes well I’ll be cable and phone free next week. Then I’ll turn in the cable boxes (That’s $20 just for the box rental) My cable company will want their modem back since it’s a phone and internet modem so I think I’ll buy my own internet modem and then the transition will be complete

Techniclor Formerly RCA TC8305C Wireless Gateway 802.11b/g/n GigaPort x 4 Port Router w/ 2-Voice Lines XFINITY/COMCAST

Image of modem

Almost There

So I’ll let everyone know how it goes. If I decide to finish the final steps it should save me about $100 a month. Hulu is $70 and includes Disney Plus which I’ve been paying extra for. I’m not sure how much internet alone costs but I’m guessing it’s probably around $80 / mo. So that’s $150/ mo. instead of the $250 per mo. I’ve been paying. That kind of savings certainly makes this experiment worthwhile.

I’ve checked the channel list on HULU and all of the channels I watch are there. Just have to figure out how to tell what’s on the schedule, I’m so used to scrolling the channel guide!