Cutting the Cord?

For five years I've had terrible internet service.  Rural living is great except when it came to Internet.  But I'm happy to say a new provider is in town and I now have "IT".  That said, I'm taking a journey down the free TV lane. (which is kind of a myth because you still need internet and that's not free) We've used a satellite provider for TV viewing successfully but I'd like to bring that bill down about half the cost or more.  I am by no means an expert, rather doing this on my own, learning as I go. We have to start somewhere right? Perhaps we can learn together or you can learn from my mistakes.  I was confused and overwhelmed with the many apps and what to choose.  Some are totally free and some you need a provider ($) such as YouTube TV,  Hulu, Sling, ATT&T TV.  Each has advantages/disadvantages. I'm not discussing those in this article.  Here's what I'm doing.

Amazon links included at no additional cost to you.  I may receive a small commission

First I signed up with a telephone tower internet service. I purchased a router and modem up front.  I was given the option of leasing the equipment but decided in the long run, owning it will be cheaper. The gentleman who set me up was very understanding and informative when I explained how tech illiterate I am. The internet service will run about $80 a month.  If you live in an area that has choices, you could probably reduce that amount.  At this time I don't have those choices.  The service I agreed to is non contract so I could easily change if better choices come to town.  Who knows? At least now I have a reliable internet with great speed.

Second I purchased an Amazon fire stick up front. It has Alexa built in.  I bought one a couple of years ago on a daily special that was useless with my old internet but I didn't find it until after I'd purchased a new one and had it installed.  Figures! But we can use it on Hubs TV because it isn't smart either. It plugs into the HDMI port on the back of my Not smart TV.  Immediately I had access to my Amazon Prime account.  I already pay for that service just to get fast delivery of my every day goods like soap, paper goods, non perishable goods, gifts, kindle books, etc. I save that cost each month in gas and binge buying alone!  If you have Prime you already know there are loads of movies and original Prime Series shows available at no additional cost.  If you have a smart TV, you may not need a streaming device like the Fire Stick or Roku. You need to research that. If your TV is not smart, like my older model, you need a device for each TV unless you are okay with moving the device around.

My hubs exhibited apprehension about switching away from his beloved Dish so I left his TV alone while I researched on my TV.  Yes, we're that couple who watches different TV sets because we have different tastes in shows.  There are some shows we watch together and we watch movies together but we also enjoy having the option to watch different shows too.  I made a list of his favorite networks and even listed the shows he likes enough to record. When the time comes, and I convince him it's a good choice we can eliminate that bill.

I spent the next two afternoons exploring the apps that are available on the Fire Stick.  Word of warning, not all apps are free.  If it says you need a TV service, that means something like Hulu, etc. I already subscribe and pay for Amazon Prime. I searched information on the different apps on my laptop - because I have good internet now!!!!  I downloaded Tubi and Pluto TV apps because they are  totally free. There are more available but I held it down for now. The apps I downloaded have some of the same movies available, which means when I clicked on a movie I was given a choice of which app to view it.  Both apps were available with the Fire Stick and only took a few minutes to download.  They are both compatible with Roku device also.

Amazon Prime:

• Annual or Monthly fee (includes TV streaming, free 2 day prime shopping deliveries, books)
• No contract
• 1000's of movies to stream-look for the "Prime" banner for the free ones
• Amazon original TV series-again look for the "Prime" banner
• streaming apps ready to download
• compatible with Alexa
• can purchase color covers for remote
• ABC live streaming app (some shows are locked and require a TV service)
• NBC MSNBC live News app
• Local Now Plus app - free news, weather app
• News by Fire TV app- free news 
• Parental controls

Tubi TV app offers:

• No fee
• No contract
• 1000's of movies to stream
• TV series for binge watching
• Search option
• No live TV options
• Ads (but fewer than Pluto) but still... it's free!

Pluto TV app offers:

• No fee
• No contract
• live TV
• 19 movie channels
• 100+ TV channels
• live news
• CBSN live news
• NBC news
• Weather Nation
• Bloomberg
• Cheddar
• TV series for binge watching
• Channel guide (pretty limited for looking beyond a couple of hours)
• Genre category guide
• Can mark favorites so they show at the top of your list
• Can make watch lists
• Ads (but people.... it's free!)

There are other Free TV apps available to explore like IMDbTV, YouTube, Crackle...

What you need:

• TV
• If your TV is not Smart, you need a streaming device and your TV needs HDMI port
• Internet with Modem and Router
• Mobile device such as smart phone or tablet
• email account
• optional: TV antennae for local over the air free access

Cutting the Cord Cons:

I admit that after using Dish satellite for so long, it will be an adjustment to not having such an informative and extensive guide feature plus the easy to use show recording service. We loved Dish, just not the bill.

There are some live TV options on the free apps and I researched how to obtain free prime time television such as ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX.  They are there, I just had to find out how.  ABC has an app that works on my fire stick.

Cutting the Cord Pros:

I can save some money with the changes even with the up front costs.  We pay Dish about $125 month ($1500 year) and our previous internet was about $65 month ($780 year).  Both of those services include leased equipment. Plus annual Amazon Prime membership $119 (average $10 month).   Total monthly cost = $200. Total annual cost = $2,400

The new internet service is about $80 a month,  plus my annual Prime membership averages about $10 mo.
 Total monthly cost = $90. Total annual cost = $1,080

My Cutting the Cord Savings:

• Monthly savings  $110
• Annual savings =  $1,320

My up front costs for a modem $100, router $60, Fire Stick streaming device $25.
Up font $185 After the first two months I'll have recouped my up front cost plus some.