The Definitive Guide To Cutting The Cord With Your Cable Company In 2017
Kyle S. Reyes | May 16, 2017
“I love my cable company,” said nobody, ever.
For years, the cable companies have been grabbing you by the …remote control … and squeezing.
They wanted to raise rates? Great. Nothing you could do about it.
They wanted to cut channels? Sucks to be you.
They also convinced us that we had absolutely no choice. And we didn’t – it wasn’t like you could leave Cox and go to Comcast. Somehow they managed to pull off what was essentially mini-monopolies in each of our neighborhoods.
But the time has come for us to rise up and tell them all where to shove it. In this article, I’m going to walk you through exactly how to do that … and save your family enough money for a vacation this year.
What’s Changed
For years, companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast have owned exclusive rights to carry some of the premium channels … but that’s no longer the case. We’ve now got companies like PlayStation Vue and SlingTV that offer bundles of cable channels that you can stream online for as little as $20 per month.
Hulu has rolled out a beta version of a live streaming TV service.
Netflix has some unbelievable original programming, along with many of our favorite movies.
And TV antennas are giving us high definition feeds of local channels – for free – with the ability to DVR them with things like a Tablo 2 tuner.
What does it all mean for you? Slashing your cable bill from hundreds of dollars a month … to a tiny fraction of that … while, in many cases, actually picking up MORE channels.
Step One
Make nice with your cable company. That’s right … it’s like going out to a fancy dinner with the significant other you’re about to dump.
Why do you want to make nice with them? Because you want to get a great deal on great Internet.
In many areas, your cable company has the best – or the only – Internet service. Right now, my family pays about $80 a month for a premium Internet package. (You probably won’t need Internet as fast as I do – I often use it when working from home at night.)
Negotiate with your cable company before you cut the cord. Ask for special pricing on faster Internet … or for a discount. Let them know you’re considering other options and would prefer to stick with them. Nine times out of ten, they’ll want to keep your business and will offer you some kind of a promotion.
Yes, I know they’ll start by telling you that there’s nothing better they can do for you. They are trained to put you down in your mind and to scare you into thinking that you have no other options. You’ll want to ask for the “cancellation department.” That’s where they have secret pricing and lower deals used to retain customers.
Set a date with them to cancel your plan and for you to return your equipment. Be ready to follow through with it.
Trust me. What’s the worst that happens … they tell you ‘Too bad’? Try it. You’ll be happy you did. They won’t let you leave.
Step Two
Sign up for your replacement service.
First – your telephone. We went with Magic Jack Go. We paid $33 on Amazon and got a year of service included. (It then goes up to $20 per YEAR).) In doing so, we dropped our telephone bill from $120 a month to nearly nothing.
Next – the cable. In our household, we’ve gone way over the top. (And are still saving a small fortune.) We subscribe to Netflix and Hulu Plus. Combined we’re paying less than $25 a month.
We also have Amazon Prime – but the programming is just a bonus for us, as we subscribe to it for the free Prime shipping anyway.
The real win for us is Sling TV. We pay $40 a month (a higher-end package) and have every channel we had before PLUS some new ones. It is essentially a la carte television on steroids.
Here’s a list of several subscription-based apps we pulled from other sites that are worth exploring.
We then stream it all through the Amazon Firestick (or Google Chrome at work). As long as your Internet service is up to speed, you shouldn’t have any problems with the streaming!
Step Three
Cut the cord.
I should warn you, your cable company WILL charge you a fee. Cox charged us $80. There’s no way around it. It’s their final middle finger to you when they realize you’re leaving them for someone better.
Don’t get too hung up on it. If you’re like us, you’ll end up saving about $160 per MONTH by getting rid of your cable and telephone line, which more than makes up for it.
On a side note, many of you are also renting a modem from the cable company and paying $5-$10 a month. Go buy your own. Usually you’ll end up getting faster service by eliminating the cable company’s monthly fee and having your own higher-end modem.
Rejoice
I’m not going to lie – we were a little nervous about cutting the cord. There are so many different options that it absolutely takes a little time to piece together what’s going to be the best fit for YOUR household.
But do the math. It’s worth the $6 for a bottle of Advil to deal with the headache of dealing with the cable company and the homework. This year, we’ll save nearly $2,000 and have more channels than ever before.
I don’t know about you … but I can think of some fun family vacations we can spend that money on instead of forking it over to the cable company.
NOW are you ready to cut the cord???
Kyle S. Reyes is President and CEO of The Silent Partner Marketing. He’s also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can follow him on Facebook.
