Today’s blog is guest written by Michelle, a friend of Sarah’s (Mohu’s usual blogger). Michelle recently cut the cord and is going to tell her story.
We’ve had cable for at least the past ten years. While cleaning out some file cabinets I found some old cable bills. The same service we have today used to cost about $25-$30 less. To put it mildly, I was surprised. I’m currently getting a promotional deal which is $67.75 a month with taxes. Once the deal ends next month, the price for what we have will jump to over $80/month. For television. Ouch.
We definitely watch TV in my house. I’m a big fan of Modern Family because I feel like that’s my life right now and my husband is a big fan of Law and Order: SVU. My kids are pretty limited in their TV viewing and often stream something (approved by me) from Netflix onto a computer or tablet. But $80 a month is $960 a year and I’m pretty sure I could find something else to do with that money.
So Sarah loaned me her Mohu Leaf 30 and I hooked it up to the TV. We searched on You Tube how to do a channel scan and in about 10 minutes I had about 12 channels, including 2 PBS stations I never even knew existed. Before I finally cut the cord we did a week-long experiment courtesy of the Mohu Leaf. I unhooked the cable box and left the Mohu Leaf hooked up to the TV. First of all, the picture was beautiful. Clear, bright, crisp colors and amazing resolution. A big rainstorm did pixelate the picture a little bit, but nothing awful. I admit I missed the DVR but not having it makes me more mindful and aware of what I’m watching on TV. Sarah also suggested Hulu+ as a defacto DVR since many TV shows end up on Hulu+ the next day. The cable DVR was going to cost me $25/month. Hulu+ is $7.99 a month. Hmm….that’s a pretty easy decision.
The next step: calling the cable company. I’m not always as assertive as I should be and I was afraid I was going to be sucked into another year long promotion. So, I told them I was moving out of state immediately and after ten minutes on hold we were done. All I need to do is drop off the equipment this weekend to the cable company and we are officially cord-cutters! It feels good.
My final steps will be buying my own Leaf since Sarah wants hers back (!) and going on Kickstarter to sign up for the $89 Channels package. I can’t wait!
