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I was helping my Mom sort out her cable bill the other day and I wanted to share my experience with SPECTRUM Cable service in the Los Angeles area.

 

First of all, I suggest you do your homework ahead of time on whether to keep your TV service or not.

 

For one thing, household viewership has been on the decline for much of the decade and continues to decline due to on-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu.

 

Since TV is important to my Mom even though she only watches 3 channels and didn’t want to be inconvenienced by not having a remote; and since she also lives with my brother who sometimes watches TV but most of the time streams shows via YouTube; the bundle we got her was the basic TV and internet service only.

 

Spectrum sure does a good job to bait you into getting their intro offer, which they aggressively advertise everywhere with a price tag of $29.99 for internet service (*) asterisk, asterisk, but then the very FINE PRINT shocks you, where it says “when bundled with TV and phone, tsk tsk tsk…

 

My Mom’s cable charges went from $146 last year to $176 a month ago, so we had to negotiate it back to down to $105.

 

EQUIPMENT FEES

 

One dark not so secret strategy of these cable companies is to nickel and dime you on equipment fees, which is terrible if you ask me.

 

SPECTRUM is one of the awful ones; formerly with TimeWarner we used to have a DTA digital adapter device which was basically an antenna box they provided for free as an alternative to directly plugging in your coax cable to the TV. 

 

The reason they had that program was because the State mandated the company to provide the free service when they transitioned from analog to digital service.

 

Sadly though, after the acquisition, and transition to the new mother ship, these boxes were all of a sudden discontinued and instead a new Spectrum set top box is now required which sets you back $5/month.

 

 

HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS TO SAVE ON YOUR MONTHLY CABLE BILL:

 

 

OWN YOUR OWN CABLE MODEM 

 

This saves at least $11/mo.

 

We got our Mom a TP LINK Archer DOCSIS 3 router, which was approximately $150 from Amazon; a little steep but considering that it’s a compatible device that saves $11/mo., it will pay for itself in 15 months of use; plus it’s future technology that allows 600MB download speeds, that way when Spectrum offers near Gigabit speeds, this router would be able to handle it.

 

 

 

 

 

LEAF ANTENNA

 

If you only watch the basic network channels, the LEAF antenna is a great alternative to the rented set top boxes.  We used this antenna device in one of the guest rooms at my Mom’s house.

 

It basically captures over the air (OTA) HD signals within 50 miles of your house and presents it in crisp clear HD.

 

This is a great alternative to skipping the TV service altogether if you want to save at least $35/month.

 

 

USE THE APP 

 

To minimize renting the set top box, use the Spectrum TV APP for iOS or Android.

 

It turns your mobile tablet or phone into a digital box that streams HD TV service.

 

This basically enables you to minimize renting a set top box to just one main TV and use your tablet or phone instead wherever you are in the house to watch the shows you like.

 

Potential savings is $5/set top box.

 

 

 

CHROMECAST 

 

If you have one of the newer smart TVs, you can display the image directly from your phone straight to your TV by ‘casting’ whatever you’re watching.  If not you can buy one of these GOOGLE Chromecast gizmos for approximately $35 and mirror your phone screen to your TV via this adapter.

 

If you have the SPECTRUM TV app already installed on your device you can essentially use your device as the set top box to watch on your TV; or better, you can skip the TV service altogether and just watch whatever you can from your phone to your TV.

 

By going this route, it pays for itself within 7 months of use if you skip renting the set top box or more if you drop TV service altogether.

 

 

 

 

WRAP-UP

 

In my opinion, Cable Internet and TV is still currently the best bundled service there is, that is if Google fiber is still unavailable in your area.

 

By thinking about the way you watch and what technology you have available, you can definitely plan and purchase alternative devices that you own so you won’t have to rent them from the cable company to eventually save on your cable bill.

 

Do you have other ideas on how to save on the dreaded monthly cable bill? Please do share by leaving a comment below or emailing at thedebtfreejourney@gmail.com.

 

Peace and Blessing to you All.