Cord Cutting For Dummies. Paul McFedries
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be ad-free. For example, Netflix, which is currently commercial-free, has run tests in which they show commercials between TV show episodes.
TV watching will become more complex for you
You can bad-mouth cable companies all you want (and I know you do), but they do have one genuinely good feature: simplicity. Sure, you pay a ton of money each month, but in exchange you get all your channels and apps and more in a single package with a single interface.
Once you cut the cord, that simplicity will probably become a thing of the past. I say “probably” because it is possible to create simple cord-free experiences where, say, you watch only live TV or you subscribe to only a single streaming service. But you're more likely to end up with multiple subscriptions on multiple services. That means paying multiple bills, configuring multiple accounts, and learning multiple app interfaces. And you also run smack into a very modern problem: trying to remember which streaming service offers which content!
I wish I could tell you that the cord-free experience is getting simpler, but the opposite is happening. Media companies are falling all over themselves to launch their own streaming services. Whereas a few years ago you might have been able to count the number of streaming services using the fingers of one hand, the way things are going you'll soon need the fingers of every member of your extended family.
You'll use way more Internet bandwidth — and perhaps pay for the privilege
Streaming media comes to you via the Internet, where it's distributed through Wi-Fi to your various devices. You don't normally give it a second thought, but perhaps you should. Why? Because media streams such as movies, TV shows, and music stuff huge amounts of data into the pipe that delivers the Internet to your home. If your Internet service provider (ISP) puts a limit on your monthly bandwidth, blowing through that cap because you binge-watched Better Call Saul may cost you a ton of money.
Your monthly Internet bill will probably go up
When most people are budgeting for a cord-free lifestyle, they usually compare their total cable bill with what it might cost for a few streaming services. That's a legit comparison if all you get from the cable company is cable TV. However, if you get multiple products — such as cable TV, Internet, and phone service — the comparison falls apart because the Internet portion of that bill is almost certainly discounted.
When you tell the cable company that you no longer want their stinkin' cable TV service, the first thing they'll tell you is that your monthly Internet bill will go up because you no longer have a proper bundle of services.
The quality of the streaming video might be poor
I talk in Chapter 7 about the Internet connection you need to support a cord-free life. For now, you just need to know that to be able to watch streaming media — particularly streaming video — you must have fast Internet access. How fast? The necessary download speed — measured in Mbps (megabits per second) — depends on the video quality you're streaming.
If your Internet download speed isn't fast enough, your streaming experience will be poor: slow starts, playback pauses and stutters, and overall lousy picture quality.
You might have to wait a long time to watch new shows
When a new cable show (or a new season of an existing cable show) is released, cable providers get first crack at broadcasting it. When you banish the cable company from your life, you also lose the privilege of being first in line to watch this new content.
Sure, there's a decent chance that the new episodes will eventually end up on some other service, such as Netflix. But eventually is the operative word and often means up to a year after the show's release.
You might never see some new shows
Some folks are calling this the Golden Age of television because so much great content is being created. Think of shows like The Handmaid’s Tale, The Queen's Gambit, The Morning Show, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Besides starting with the word The, each of these shows is original programming created by a streaming service: Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV+, and Amazon Prime Video, respectively. It's great that these services are pouring so much money into creating amazing television, but the downside is that the only way to see each of these shows is to have a subscription to the service that created it.
Is it possible that some of these shows might appear down the road on another service? Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it.
The Benefits of Severing Your Connection to the Cable Company
Given all the reasons listed near the beginning of this chapter as to why the cable company is so awful, clearly the main advantage to cutting the cord is never having to deal with your cable provider again! However, although getting Big Cable out of your life forever is a huge benefit, it's not the only one you get when you snip that cord. Let me take you through a few more.
You save money
Carving a sizable chunk off your monthly television-watching bill is the most common reason most people dream about cutting the cord. Sure, earlier I talked about how you might not save as much as you'd like, but how much you save depends on you. If you're happy to just “Netflix and chill” every night, you're going to save a ton of money each month. If you're a sports nut or news junkie, or if your TV tastes run towards premium channels such as HBO, you'll pay extra for the privilege.
Don't get me wrong: Cable subscriptions are so expensive these days that almost everyone ends up paying less each month when they cut the cord.
You'll probably be happier in the long run
Cable TV has what smarty-pants economists call low perceived value, which means you don't feel like you get your money's worth from your cable subscription. That is, although you pay a ton of money each month, you enjoy only a few shows, are indifferent to (or downright dislike) many more, and ignore the majority of what's available. That almost-no-bang-for-your-buck experience is depressing.
By contrast, surveys of cord cutters routinely show great satisfaction, which comes from having a high perceived value of the new lifestyle. To be accurate, the cord cutters who are happiest with making the change are those who've kept things simple by subscribing to only a few streaming services. The combination of saving money, having a simple setup, and being satisfied with what the services offer is the ticket to cord-cutting nirvana.
You unshackle your TV
A big problem with cable TV is the cable itself. Sure, lots of TV comes to your TV via Wi-Fi these days, but many people still have a cable outlet on one wall and a coaxial cable running from that outlet to a set-top box, which then connects to your TV. This setup is fine as long as you're okay with having your TV (and therefore the rest of your entertainment center) relatively close to the cable outlet.
However, what if one day you decide that your TV-watching experience would be much better if you could move your TV to the opposite side of the room? Well, sure, you could do that, but it means buying a really long coaxial cable and stringing it along the base of your walls to the new TV location. That's ugly with a capital “Ugh.”
And if you