Missing the Point of Cord-Cutting (Premium)

Cord-cutting isn’t about saving money, though that’s still very much the case despite recent price increases. It’s about freedom. Period.

Have you ever tried to leave a cable company? Like, really? I had an easier time getting out of Israel when I traveled there for work in 2000, and our small group underwent what felt like an hour of interrogations, with airport security moving from person-to-person to make sure our stories aligned. I also had to open my laptop, let security locate a document, and then explain what it was about.

That comparison will only seem hyperbolic to those who have never tried to drop a cable account. I had an easier time selling my house … OK, sorry. But you get the idea. It ain’t pretty.

It also isn’t the biggest issue with cable (or cable equivalents like FIOS or DirectTV/satellite). The biggest issue is that the monthly price creeps up month after month. A few years in, you’re suddenly wondering why you’re paying $200 per month for a set of channels you never use, a supposed land line that really went VoIP without your knowledge long ago, and, if you’re truly unlucky, some number of cellular phones that are tacked onto the bill. You know, to save money.

It’s infuriating just thinking about it. Cable TV is a black hole of terrible service, terrible hardware, and terrible pricing. And God help you if you need multiple screen support. That cable typically comes with an annual subscription requirement is just the cherry on the shit cake.

Cord-cutting, by which you replace cable TV with some number of online services frees you from all that, assuming, of course, you have a decent Internet connection. Which, ironically, you may need to pay a cable company for. Which is part of the problem: Once you’re sucked into a cable contract with TV service (and phone service, and more, possibly), they don’t want to let you go. And you’ll find, as so many have, that cable will make it “cheaper” for you to stay on your current plan by pricing an Internet-only plan for existing subscribers at some artificially high level.

Som the only option is to leave. And go to another cable provider. Assuming, of course, that you even have a second viable choice where you live.

Yes, it’s daunting. But even in the pre-cord-cutting days, we switched from FIOS to an inferior Comcast service for one year in order to escape from our ever-escalating FIOS costs. We saved almost $100 per month doing this. And when we went back to FIOS a year later as “new” customers, we saved money yet again. Doing this the first time was terrible. But you get used to the EU-style bureaucracy that is designed to keep you down. And you fight through it.

No matter the savings, it’s hard to do this. It’s designed to be hard. But you gotta do it. And once you do, you’re free.

And that’s the point.

Now, you can choose between various cording cutting services---YouTube TV, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now,...

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