Snip, snip and it’s done – Goodbye cable, hello streaming

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We have completed the disconnect with the TV cable. It wasn’t easy for many reasons, some of them relating to our age and limited attention span for technology (or anything really). For a 20-year-old this would have been a non-decision.

The first roadblock is that we don’t like technology change. Nothing is intuitive to us. Even the best YouTube videos that save our butts have a different screen than what we see.

It took 87 phone calls to our cable company. Each call went to a different phone rep and each rep gave a different cost. How can that be? We even got one person who would put us on a plan that was slightly lower than what we were paying. The only catch is that in six to twelve months we’d be back at square one calling to try to lower the insane increase we got. I found it odd that more than one rep recommended we start streaming instead of staying with their company. Hmmm.

In the second to the last phone call, the beloved husband (who made ALL the phone calls, bless him) asked when the current cycle would end so that he was sure we wouldn’t be charged for the next one. She offered to terminate then, but he said that we had a few shows recorded we wanted to watch first and he would call again in four days.

After that call, our cable did not work. She must have snipped it. We had already signed up for a streaming service, so we didn’t miss anything. We were forced to LEARN (I hate that word when it comes to technology) new ways of navigating.

We have more TVs than people. The beloved husband likes his convenience. Some TVs are smart (they are already equipped for apps) and some TVs needed a firestick. (I had no idea what that was until one appeared in my house). Each has a different way to navigate so it requires thinking. (I hate thinking later in the evening. I just want to veg in front of the TV.)

Fast forwarding through commercials is tricky. I am still working on that (more thinking). One system marks when we have watched a show and the other does not, so we must remember which episode was the last one we watched. (More thinking and remembering!)

We are doing ok. Watching TV at the end of the day isn’t about sitting in the recliner and relaxing. It’s about thinking how to navigate these complex systems to find what we like. I still haven’t found Golden Girls (no judgment please, if ever I needed mindless programs, it is now!).

Helpful to have on hand!
Source: HGTV

We will learn eventually and pick up speed with navigating. Hopefully, this will happen before we die. We are saving money (which was the original goal). At this point I honestly think the cable system was easier but I’m trying not to be a dinosaur.

I suggest having a 6-year-old grandchild or neighbor conveniently located to help you out when you get stuck.

60 thoughts on “Snip, snip and it’s done – Goodbye cable, hello streaming”

  1. Streaming definitely takes more thinking than cable, but you will like it better in the long run. And as you say, cable prices are just crazy! You’re a smart cookie – you will figure this out!

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  2. We stream most of our shows but still watch a few via cable (husband tortures himself daily with the financial channel) so I haven’t made the switch yet. I really wish we had a grandchild to help us with our techie issues. Funny that a few cable reps suggested dumping their service.

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    • Rumors have it that the cable companies will eventually dump TV. Folks younger than us stream so their customer base is getting smaller and older. Kudos to your husband. I can’t even open my quarterly statements for fear of a heart attack.

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  3. Good for you. I may need to join the 21st century soon and cut my cable. The prices are getting absurd. When I go babysit the great grandbaby, I’m at a total loss since I have no clue how to do streaming. Just as well…I can be entertained by that sweet one year old! She may not appreciate it because she seems intrigued by some of her videos. Lord help me try to turn them on though. 😉

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  5. we hope there is a god of streaming and he protects us from all evil… ours sleeps , because we had some unsmart moments with the smart tv… it is a little scary if a pladtic thingy is smarter than we are… (I always imagine how I throw the remote into the grinning drisplay LOL)

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    • Smart thingies are smarter then us a lot! It’s getting better. Maybe I’ll be a smarter electronics user in the end. Nope, that will never happen!

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  6. I don’t envy you and as I mentioned before, the TV downstairs and upstairs are the same, Curtis Mathes bought in the early 1990s and I cancelled the cable and unplugged the TV right in 2010. I have to one day deal with them as they are heavy and cannot be put out in the trash anyway. Another pain. I am not that savvy and only watch a very occasional show on the laptop using Amazon Prime. As to the rep saying “try streaming”, I had that happen with AT&T where I have my landline. They will no longer have landlines in 2029 but they keep raising the rates every few months – when I complained they acted like they were doing me a favor letting me have a landline and encouraged me instead to get a cellphone and port my number over and be done with the landline. Nice reps!

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      • Interesting – do you have Comcast? I do and I know Comcast is based in your state. I see in the Facebook neighborhood forums when people ask about internet outages that a lot of people are touting that they’re streaming using Verizon. Verizon has been putting up a lot of poles etc. around here, so I guess I am not surprised … how in the heck do you do connect your phone to your smart TV? I am fast becoming a dinosaur!!

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        • Cell phones can connect to almost anything smart. We have underground utilities here so we can only use Astound (the only cable in the underground conduit) unless we go to satellite and that isn’t as good at this point. My cell is connected to my hearing aids, my Fitbit, my garage door and yesterday I connected it to our new front door lock. All of this is so awe inspiring for old dinosaurs like me.

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          • I am amazed by all that technology! My all-news radio station advertises their app to put on your phone and the ad says “if you are really smart, you can have WWJ coming out of your fridge!” See, I just assumed you had Comcast – that’s probably just their billing headquarters.

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  7. All of the TVs in my house are smart, but even though they have the apps built in, I’ve opted to use Apple TVs on all of them. I’ve used Apple TV for years, so the interface feels familiar—and since I already have other Apple devices, everything works together smoothly.

    We had to buy a new TV about a year ago, and if I’d tried to rely on the built-in interface, I think I would’ve gone completely insane! It was anything but user-friendly. I really appreciate simple, familiar, and predictable tech—and Apple TV gives me exactly that.

    And don’t even get me started on dealing with the cable company. Cutting the cable was the best thing we could’ve done. My partner watches a lot of sports, which was really the only reason we had cable in the first place. Now we use Fubo, and honestly, I probably only watch about 30 minutes to an hour of “television” a week.

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    • I’m giving it a bit more time but we may get a fire stick for the “smart TVs.” The original Sony remote is more complicated, the buttons are tiny and confusing and it’s so easy to hit the wrong one. The only thing it’s good for is doing a sleep time to turn it off at night. We used to enjoy catching up on the news before bed. Now the news gives me nightmares.

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  9. We went to YouTube TV about a year ago. There was definitely a learning curve. We have Roku on all our TVs and that was another learning curve. Now if Amazon Prime and Netflix would stop changing their formats we would be set! 😂

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    • It’s getting better. Definitely prefer the firestick to the remote that came with the smart TV. I find Prime and Netflix easier to use but we’ve been using them for years.

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  10. We cut cable in the early 1990s. When our youngest son was nine we announced that we were finally going to have our promised trip to Disney World. The first thing out of our son’s mouth was: do you think they have cable tv? Haha. Years later we were vindicated as our sons grew up and saw all the commercials and junky shows on regular tv. They thanked us for not having it in our house.

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    • It can be addictive. We don’t have it on during the day (unless there is a huge snow blizzard then we are glued to the screen to watch a loop of the same stories!). Just a couple hours in the evening to unwind. Oh yes, and Jeopardy. That’s how we measure if dementia is setting in. Two correct answers assures us we are still ok. 🙂

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  12. If you get a digital antenna in your attic like we have, there are dozens of reruns being shown on free channels. And there are 65 of them (channels). You just change the channel the old fashioned way. But with a remote. I don’t want to be that ancient. If you haven’t already, you can download the free Pluto app in the SmartTV. Tons of channels there, too, but also tons of commercials (since it’s free). Good luck finding all the shows you like.

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  14. Change is never easy. I got a smart tv with apps, so that took awhile to get used to, but I love it now. I like watching you tube on the big screen. I agree it’s frustrating calling the company for a better deal. Mine is up in two years and I’ll be back on the phone.

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  17. One of my nephews built a thriving little business upgrading and setting up technology for seniors in his neighborhood. Thankfully, I have a spouse with multiple STEM degrees who likes the latest technology.

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    • We had someone come in and set up for us and also give us a tutorial on use. However it takes using it frequently to remember everything. Our biggest issue is that we have two different ways to access — the fire stick on on TVs and smart TVs. There is enough difference to drive us crazy. Your nephew would make a fortune in this neighborhood of seniors.

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  18. I feel you!!! I would love to cut the cable but hubby won’t even discuss it 🥴 I don’t watch much TV anymore but he practically lives for it so I guess we’re stuck. I hope it gets easier for you!!! ❤

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  20. I’m not a big TV watcher, about an hour at night and that’s it. I don’t really completely understand how to watch our TV using streaming, but I know that no cable makes my husband happy so if he can find it I’ll watch it.

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    • I watch 2 hours, maybe another half hour at night if I can find a half hour show. I don’t watch during the day. Sometimes we watch the news over dinner but these days it’s best not to. 🙂

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  22. Just an FYI to get from thinking you are doing it. Our 1 tv, with our 1 YouTube subscription will sometimes mark a show as watched with it’s red line and then it won’t. Same shows – sometimes lined as watched, sometimes not. I’ve tried to start looking at the title. Our cable co that we had for over 20 years and watched them change ownerships and names 3x marked down everything turned in when I turned it in before the next billing cycle. Then Optimum sent me another bill for after that. I refused to pay it. This went on until they said they’d turn me into a credit agency. I don’t want my credit messed up, but let’s just say if cable is every available up here in the woods, I won’t go with them every again! I hate it when businesses run companies stupid. ATT internet is just as bad charging you without providing internet too. Plus I’ve now gotten used to being able to record an unlimited amount of shows.

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    • Yes, I struggle with that red line. Sometimes it also says “watched” (maybe that’s with the firestick) and sometimes it doesn’t. That makes me be aware of episode titles and what I have already seen (more thinking). I would have loved a reasonable and responsible cable company here but that’s not the way of the world. The taxes on the cable were obscene. It doesn’t make sense that we can stream without excessive taxes but we can’t watch the same shows on cable unless we pay them.

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  23. Thanks for the early morning giggles. Talk about dinosaurs – that would be my husband and I….we’ve never even had cable here. We are not big TV people – we are readers for the most part and spend a lot of evenings on our back deck with a glass of wine just talking. Most of our contemporaries think we’re old fuddy duddies (how the heck is that spelled??) but we don’t care. I do wish you luck with your streaming though (I’m so dumb about that I would think streaming was wading through a danged stream for fun!!). Now you can say you know an ACTUAL dinosaur!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • Reading is much cheaper than cable or streaming! 🙂 I have learned more about technology this year than I have in a long time. Between the new iPhone with Siri and now streaming, it’s been work keeping up. I remember my mom. We bought her a portable phone (no cells in the 80s) that wasn’t tethered to the wall. You had to press two buttons on the phone to answer a call and she couldn’t do it. She never had a microwave either.

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  24. We should do the same, but I’m as much a techno-phobe as you are. We do stream some things, but going all streaming…scary.

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    • We’ve had Netflix streaming for several years. It’s relatively easy. YouTube is more complex and laid out completely different. We chose YouTube over Hulu because we were told that it was easier to navigate. I really don’t know if that’s true. The fast forwarding through commercials on recorded shows has been challenging. I’m hopeful I’ll get the knack.

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      • We stream Hulu, and you can’t fast forward through commercials on that. But Hulu mostly gets ABC shows, and their own content of course. I heard Youtube recently raised their prices a lot. That’s the challenge with all of this, cable included. They get you and then they charge you more. My solution – watch a lot less tv!

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