Pulling the Plug

Pulling the Plug.  I'm not talking about pulling someone off life support, although at this point, the decision to pull my cable TV cord is weighing on me heavily. I'm talking about pulling the cable from my television and landline phone, entering the modern world (of the young) and streaming video for my entertainment for FREE.  The thought is freeing, but the decision seems so permanent.  A few weeks ago my friend Hawaii Mike gave me a ROKU to get me started.  After some work on his part (I'll explain later), I started using it and exploring all my options.  I'm HOOKED.  I've pulled the cable from the television upstairs (MY television) and I watch what I want when I want it.  Thus far, I don't miss anything....and I don't have 550 channels of which 540 are worthless.  So let me explain the process, then I'll get back to how making the move is scary.



ROKU

The ROKU is a streaming video device. [Warning to my readers who are technical:  I'm explaining this the way I'd want someone to explain it to me.  It might not be technically correct, but they'll understand it.]  This means that you can watch streaming video on your television  through the ROKU.  Most of you are probably familiar with NETFLIX.  The original NETFLIX mailed DVDs to you for viewing (Pam, you know who you are....).  NETFLIX now can stream those same shows onto your television.  The ROKU is the mechanism for getting the videos to your TV.  I don't know how else to explain it, so I hope you understand.

Through the ROKU, I can access "channels" ....NETFLIX, HULUplus, and Amazon.com are examples of the channels available on the ROKU.  Through Netflix, I can watch the complete series for shows such as Breaking Bad and Revenge, which were very popular television shows.  I can also watch movies or my current favorite, the NETFLIX produced series House of Cards.  Through Amazon.com (I am a Prime member) I watch Alpha House, a political comedy written by Gary Trudeau.  It was my favorite before I watched House of Cards, now there is sort of a tie.
 

Through HULUplus I watch television programs that have already been broadcast.  For example, I can watch Saturday Night Live from last Saturday.  I can also watch movies.

I subscribe to the ACORN channel.  This is an all British TV and movie channel.  House of Cards (the original British show, The Office - original British, Ms. Marple, etc., etc.)

One problem I encountered was that I could not access the network stations (NBC, ABC, or CBS) through ROKU.  These organizations do not have a channel on ROKU nor does HULUplus provide some of the network shows (Big Bang Theory being the most serious loss to me), so I also bought and installed antennas on all of our TVs.  Through the antenna, I get all of the network stations, plus several PBS and old movie stations (and infomercial stations, which I just delete).

This is what it has taken to establish this set up:

$49.99 - ROKU - Installation (30 minutes) - per tv
$39.99 - Antennas - Installation (30 minutes) - per tv
$79.99/year - AMAZON Prime
$84.00/year - Netflix
$60.00/year - ACORN

It is not for everyone...if you are a big sports viewer...no ESPN.  If you are a CNN groupie....you can get CNN stories, but not the constant streaming of news all day.

I was so tired of dealing with the cable company.  I resent paying for the hundreds of channels that I never watched, the constant "specials" and "bundles" so that I could never rely on the amount of my bill from month to month.  I resented the need to call them periodically to threaten leaving the service in order to get the bill lower.  The last time I did this, they lowered my bill $90 a month!  What in the hell do older people do who either don't know to call, or just don't call.  They just keep paying.

Anyway, I and Ramiro are very happy with our set up.  I watch what I want when I want.  After the initial set up expense, I'll be paying $62 a month for internet instead of the $152 for the bundle (that included $118 in "discounts").  I'll control what's on.

Pulling the cord was scarey.  Calling the cable company took some courage as I knew they would try to talk me into staying on...lower costs, more features, etc...  But I did it.