comment on Sunday discussion. I use internet and some cell. As an official senior remember 3 TV channels then UHF. Think letting go of TV is big part of the issue. Also as you say what each person wants. My big concern in this is moving to internet then data caps cost.
2 Likes
For sure. If you can get unlimited data, of course this works better. You might call your internet provider, let them know you’re using more data as a result of COVID, and see if they’ll give you unlimited or raise your data caps.
I’ve been a cord cutter for years, and I don’t miss cable TV at all, but that’s just me.
1 Like
Do not watch TV any more. The main reason is I am not willing to sit thru 10 minute commercials. Another reason was not liking the topics. I feel nauseous if I have to sit thru a cooking show. In the 50s women were put in a box and I never liked being told what interests I should have. 
2 Likes
I’m with you, the egregious advertising drove me away from traditional television. My feeling always was, I already pay a cable subscription; why are you showing me ads? I’ll always pay straight cash instead of watching advertisements if given the choice. If I have no choice, the content would need to be absolutely stellar (TWiT!) for me to stick around.
1 Like
I’ve been on cap-free Internet since the mid-90s. We currently get through around 350-500GB a month.
We watch some streaming stuff (Amazon Prime), but mainly we still watch the FTA channels, here in Germany. A lot of the streaming content is watching the FTA content after the fact from the channels online library of shows.
1 Like
I’ve had the same feeling about newspapers and magazines. They have subscribers, and they sell to newsstands, and the newspapers put out their little street corner self service stands, but they still fill each issue with ads. (I’m looking at you, Wired - seems as though each issue is more than half ads.)
Remember when TV ads were limited. I understand why ads but the “canned” in your face ones I can not tolerate. Leo’s ads are OK to me. But prerecorded ads that are repeated over and over and over… We are people not machines. Maybe if the ads were done in a tiktok style we would be better off.
2 Likes
Old quote “If you want to be heard whisper”
Ads are cheap(ish) to make and pay for the costs of the extravagant episodes. Even back in the early 90s when Star Trek Next Generation was being filmed, they were spending $1.3M per episode. That money had to be recouped, plus generate a profit somehow… so they had ads.
It would be great if companies didn’t expect to make a profit on things, and if old content eventually became free to license so TV channels could show it for almost nothing… but that’s not how capitalism and consumerism works.
Would you still watch {insert name of your favourite serial show} (say Game of Thrones) if you had to pay $100 or more per episode to see it without any advertising? Mhmmm I thought not.
Also, PVRs are a thing. Record it, watch it later and use the skip ad function. I watch very little TV live as it airs.
1 Like
Nope, rather than that much cost, I’d stick to reading, listening to podcasts, and playing games instead. Oh wait - that is what I do. 
Plus the occasional movie.
2 Likes
The question is, do you want to pay, say, $50 for your magazine or newspaper without adverts, or do you want to pay a couple of dollars with adverts? The same goes for TV. If you want ad-free, you have to pay the full cost.
1 Like
Comcast has the best internet service in our area. We’ve thought about cutting the cord, but by the time we paid Comcast the big $$ they charge for internet only, we are almost back to where we are now, dollar wise.
Really wanted to drop Comcast for years. Pathetic upload speeds (150/5) to get you to pay extra to get the next highest tier (250/10). Typical. Just when I’d about had all I could take, and after already dropped cable TV in favor of streaming, along came AT&T fiber…symmetric, no problem with upload speed. Jumped on that and ended up with 100Mbps for less than I was paying to Comcast. AT&T isn’t a better company, but fiber is much better than Comcast broadband. Worked great, plenty of internet. And no problem with the 1TB data cap, usually use between 300-500GB in a month. Partly due to having an OTA TV setup with DVR as well as streaming TV.
In the next year, AT&T offered me 300/300Mbps for the same price as 100, and now I’m on 1Gbps, unlimited data, for the same price ($50/month). And getting HBO Max for free, since we’re on the 1Gb plan.
So things have worked out okay. In a few months I’ll have to figure out what’s next, my promo year will be up. Not looking forward to that…if I go back to 100/100 I’ll have to pay for HBO Max. If I can get 1Gbps from AT&T for $60 or $70, most likely go for that.
For phone, I’m with AxVoice. Costs a bit more than Ooma, but works well. With Ooma the people on the other end of the phone were always asking me to repeat what I was saying…annoying. Asked Ooma to fix this at least 3 times, and they said that they did each time. Finally gave up on them and went elsewhere.
So that’s internet and phone. For TV, it’s Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ (free), HBO Max (free), Britbox, and Apple+ (free). Since I had Netflix and Prime Video for years while I had cable, I don’t count those as being extra cost above my previous costs with cable. The Apple+ is funny, it’s free because we bought a couple iPhone SE 2020’s. Haven’t been motivated to even check it out, not sure that it adds anything to what I’ve already got :-). I mentioned the OTA antenna/Tablo DVR setup above, as well.
TMI, I’ll bet.