Eliminate Your Cable Bill
Think about the time you spend in front of a television. How much of that time is spent flipping through the guide looking for something to watch? If you are unsure, then stop reading this article for 5 minutes, go turn on your television and find something that interests you. This should be live television, not a show you recorded to your DVR. If you are anything like me, you will find yourself flipping through the guide for several minutes, maybe stopping on a channel every so often for a minute and then it’s back to the guide. More times than not, I find myself settling on something simply because there is “nothing on TV”. Why am I wasting my time watching a show I don’t really care to watch? And better yet, why am I wasting my money? The average cable bill in 2011 was $128 a month. And that is just the average. I know people paying $175 - $200 for the “luxury” of flipping through a TV guide. Wow! Granted, people paying these amounts typically are bundling cable, internet and phone. Still, the cost of television service likely comprises more than 50% of that $175 - $200.
So here are some ideas on how to eliminate your cable bill, keeping the only portion of that bundled service that is truly worth paying for: the Internet.
Cell Phone
You are likely already paying anywhere from $50-$100 a month for a cell phone depending on your plan. Cell coverage these days is pretty much everywhere. The only areas where I have problems are in remote mountain areas where I purposefully go to get away from it all. So why pay for a landline to your house when you are already paying for a cell phone? Some people complain that their cell phone does not work at their house. But there are 4 major cell phone carriers, all of which have cell towers in different locations. If your carrier is not providing adequate coverage in your area, find a carrier that does!
Antenna
In 2009 the United States Federal Government mandated that over-the-air broadcasting be transmitted using a digital signal instead of an analog signal. What does this mean to you? Free digital television! Over-the-air television is free to everyone but many people just don’t realize it. The government mandate made snowy antenna reception a thing of the past. Over-the-air television broadcasts are now crystal clear. And if you have a high definition television built within the past 5 years, that television should have the ability to display these channels in high definition without the need for a separate cable box. So just run a cable from your antenna right to your television and you have instant, FREE, high definition television. And it gets better… the cable company must compress their high definition signal before sending it to their customers. This means they must decrease the quality of the signal to decrease the amount of data needing to be sent over the wire to your house. The airwaves do not have this limitation, which means the quality of the free signal is actually better than the signal for which you pay the cable company! My dad often comments on how beautiful the picture is on my 720p television from 2007. He says his 1080p Sony television from 2010 doesn’t even compare. And while I’m sure the television itself is part of the equation, I attribute most of it to the quality of the signal being sent to the television. Mine comes over-the-air to my homemade antenna and his comes from the local cable company. Here is a picture of my television displaying a free high definition broadcast of the Broncos v. Steelers game.
Ok, this all sounds great, but how do you get an antenna? Easy. Purchase an indoor antenna:
Click here to view indoor antennas
Place the antenna behind your television so it is out of sight, hook it up to your TV, and you are set. If you want to get even more channels, put the antenna in the highest point of your house (perhaps your attic) and run the cable to your living room, or wherever your main television is.
If you are the creative type and you don’t want to purchase an antenna (after all, we are discussing LESS consumption), you can build one using some items you already have around your house. Follow these instructions to build the antenna that I have been using with great success for 3 years:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw
This picture shows the antenna I built and placed behind my television. I get roughly 30 channels with this antenna.
Free DVR
If you are not yet convinced that you can live without paid cable there is more, including what I refer to as free DVR. It is called Hulu. By now you may have heard of it. Hulu is a service on the Internet owned by some of the major television networks. In fact, there are several hundred television networks that provide their content for FREE on Hulu. Using your laptop, you can go to hulu.com and stream any television show that is offered. If a TV show airs on a Tuesday, it is typically available for viewing on Wednesday. Visit http://www.hulu.com/browse/network?src=topnav to view the several hundred networks available, and the shows that they offer. You can create an account and subscribe to different television shows. As soon as a new episode is posted to Hulu it appears in your queue. It’s like having a free DVR!
Even Better
Have a Mac or a Windows PC? Download Hulu Desktop, which is an application that runs on your computer and allows you to scroll through all of Hulu’s offerings in a user friendly interface without visiting their Web site.
For Windows users, the Hulu Desktop application works with the Windows Media Center remote control so you can eliminate using a mouse and keyboard altogether! Buy a Windows Media Center remote control to enhance your experience:
Click here to view Windows Media Center remote controls
Better Still!
Hook your laptop up to your television and instead of watching shows on your 15 or 17 inch laptop screen, you can watch them on the big screen! The type of cable you will need to make this happen depends on the video output on your laptop. Most Windows-based laptops will use a VGA cable. A VGA cable only transmits video, so you would need a separate audio cable or you can listen to the audio through speakers connected to your laptop. Purchase a VGA cable:
Click here to view VGA cables
Newer MacBooks use what is called a Mini Display Port. Purchase a Mini Display Port cable for your Mac laptop:
Click here to view Mini Display Port cables
So those are the free options. You can also subscribe to Netflix to stream movies to your laptop or enhance your Hulu experience by signing up for Hulu Plus account. Whatever you choose, your savings could be well over a hundred dollars a month!