| I'm officially a cord-cutter … I think. I mean, can you really "cut a cord" that wasn't there to begin with?Anyway, I cancelled our DirecTV service today. We'd had their service since 08/27/2004 (4,186 days if you're keeping score at home) and, quite honestly, we've never had any issues with them. That's probably why it's taken as long as it has to finally do this. After a rate increase at the start of 2015, our bill was up to $118.45 per month, which I'd imagine isn't too terribly outlandish for most cable/satellite customers. Lately though, our little family of six has watched very little TV, instead playing video games, making use of streaming services like Netflix, or watching DVDs/Blu-rays. Dropping that kind of money every month on something that was hardly being used was just not smart. I can't say I'm surprised, but when I called DirecTV to cancel, the service was superb: there was no pressure to stay, there weren't any temporary offers ("We'll knock your price down to $9.99 per month for a year if you sign a new two-year contract!"), etc. Instead, the service agent I spoke to asked how we did use the service and made several suggestions that would cut our bill significantly and permanently – in half, in fact. We just haven't used DirecTV's services lately to even justify that reduced amount, so it was just time. She completely understood, expressed gratitude for my long-time patronage, and proceeded to explain all the intricacies of the service being turned off, how final billing works, how I go about returning equipment, etc. Honestly, the conversation was significantly easier – and briefer – than I'd feared. DirecTV has a referral program that, unfortunately, I'll no longer be able to utilize, but I do highly recommend their service if you watch any mentionable amount of TV. The cable companies would have you believe that satellite is unreliable, but in 11+ years of service, I only ever lost signal because of extremely heavy rain (no more than once or twice per year), or slush/ice build-up on the dish (no more than once or twice per year). I lose my cable Internet service about as often and the reasons for that are far more difficult to pinpoint and solve. We're replacing DirecTV's service with quite a few different things, some of which we already had: - Netflix
We did upgrade from the $7.99/mo. 2-stream account to the $11.99/mo. 4-stream account - Hulu Plus
I'm eagerly awaiting the 11.22.63 series coming exclusively to Hulu. - Starz (via Amazon Video)
Anna's a big fan of Outlander. - Sling TV
For $20/mo. we get cable staples like ESPN, CNN, Food Network, Travel Channel, etc. - Live, over-the-air digital TV via the Xbox One
I bought the $99 Live TV Bundle for Xbox One from the Microsoft Store. It's yet to arrive so I obviously can't say much about it yet.
These total $48.97 per month vs. the $126.44 per month for DirecTV + Netflix before. We'll save nearly $80 each month and now have a veritable cavalcade of content at our disposal on a litany of devices with nearly no advertising at a considerably more tolerable monthly cost.I'll admit that sports were my biggest concern, but between having access to the major networks via over-the-air digital TV and ESPN / ESPN 2 thru Sling, I feel like the bulk of the major sporting events will be covered. As for the Cubs... well, I'll have to wait for Major League Baseball to finally consider cord-cutters with their regional blackout rules. For now at least, I prefer the savings over having access to about half of the Cubs games via Comcast SportsNet Chicago. |
