Points to be considered before cutting the cord

Are you tired of seeing an increment in cable bills every other month? Are you sick of paying high bills and considering ditching your cable company due to that reason? Well, there are a few …

cord

Are you tired of seeing an increment in cable bills every other month? Are you sick of paying high bills and considering ditching your cable company due to that reason? Well, there are a few alternative options like switching over to another provider that offers a bunch of TV plans, which lets you save money with the best bundles. You may visit www.localcabledeals.com to find out about the providers available in your area and what they have to offer you. You may even compare all the providers on the same page to see which provider best suits your needs and budget. Or, you can simply discard the conventional cable connection and kick all unnecessary channels to the curb, which you don’t watch anyway. But, before you make that fateful final call to your cable provider, we’d recommend you to do some homework, or cutting the cord can get you in trouble as well. Below are some important tips on what points to keep in mind before you jump on board with cord-cutting.

Audit your watching habits

Take a deep look into your current cable package’s channel lineup and try to fetch out the list of must-watch stations and the ones you can do without. While you are at it, pay special attention to all the sports programs if that’s important to you. Setting up the right expectations, live local channels are not offered by most of the online TV service providers and even if they do, you need to check if they are being offered in your area. Even though there are various apps available for national team coverage, but most of the specialized sports networks are not available within streaming services. This, in turn, can cost you an additional antenna or a trip to a local sports bar, which is honestly not convenient all the time. Sometimes you just need your favorite couch and a bowl of fresh-made popcorns and do not wanna leave your house.

Similarly, you will have issues finding news channels without a pay-TV option. That’s something to worry about as well.

Internet connection and Data limit

If you’re not connected to the cable, you’re most likely streaming using services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube, or Hulu. A high-speed internet connection is required to make the most out of the streaming, likewise, streaming TV online also consumes a lot more data than just above anything else. Therefore, you are advised to get a better connection with an unlimited data plan, if available, or a limited data plan can cost a lot more than you expected to save.

Additional equipment

If having the ability to record your favorite shows is important to you, you need to figure out what streaming services offer DVR services and if there are any additional fees associated with it. Besides, you need to find out if you get features like fast-forwarding, rewinding, and the total number of hours for the storage, and the time limit to keep recordings. If DVR is not offered, you may have to invest further in external sources.

If you’re looking to catch some shows via antenna, you’ll need an additional antenna. If you’re looking to transfer content from your laptop to TV, you need to get Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV Stick, or any other supplementary devices for that purpose.

Promotions availability

Every cord-cutting streaming company offers promotional prices for new customers to attract them. Some of them even offer free trials and others offer a longer promotional period. Some even have hidden promotions that you can always ask for while signing up. Even big companies like HBO offer free streaming plans for up to 5 days. These deals keep on changing every other day so keep an eye on their website to stay updated on the best deals they have to offer.

Wrapping up

Additional subscription costs, services and extra equipment required to watch your favorite shows can sum up to a hefty total. Therefore, make sure to calculate how much your total bill will go up to before you eliminate your cable provider. With that being said, cutting the cord may prove to be a money-saving move as well if you avoid signing up for all the services, and if proper research has been done beforehand.