Cutting the Cable Cord, Continued- The Rest of the Boxes

Did you check out my last post on getting rid of cable? If not, check that out first. You won't regret it!

Initially we discovered PlayOn, and thought that it would make all of our free TV show dreams come true. Not so. Despite all sorts of upgrades to the desktop, and even taking it to a repair shop (which confirmed that we had all the requirements to properly run the program), the feed was choppy at best. So disappointing! This of course doesn't mean it won't work for you, but it didn't for us. Poop.

Fortunately, not all was lost. Thus far we've had good times with Netflix and Amazon Prime, and have barely even scratched the surface of all the good stuff available from Roku. I'm still researching ways to get more CBS shows on Roku, which I'll update you on later!

Our other TV sets are older, and one is used pretty rarely. The other one I use pretty regularly, but I'm more easily entertained than my dear husband! We got two sets of the Roku LT Streaming Player (around $50) for those television sets, and since we now have a bajillion devices on our wireless internet, we upgraded that as well. My husband went and bought the new wireless internet device without consulting me, so we probably got ripped off on that. Grrr!

Still, while there is an initial investment, it will pay off for years and years to come! I would much rather pay $20 or less per month for my entertainment versus $60. Wouldn't you?

Cutting the Cable Cord: How We're Saving Money on TV!

It's happening this week. *Cue Jaws music*

Forever. The cost shall be gone

*Dah dum*

No more cable/satellite bills for us! We're making the plunge into uncharted territory, and cutting the proverbial cord!

How'd you do it?

It's so much simpler than you would imagine. Or at least, that I imagined! First, we do have high-speed internet. This wouldn't work without it. We already subscribe to that, so no extra costs there.

We have three TVs, so we bought three Roku boxes. One is the Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player. This one we placed in our living room, as it has wired (and wireless) capability. Currently it's going for a little under $100, but I was able to get one that had been opened but not used from Amazon for around $65. (Keeping an eye on things does work!)

We connected this Roku box with our old computer tower, so we have a beautiful blue wire streaming across the ceiling in our house. It will later be dropped through the walls. :)
My hubby was going to drive to town (30 miles or so) to a computer store to get a cable, but I bet him that I could get a much better deal than the $20-30 they would charge. And I did! The RiteAV - Cat5e Network Ethernet Cable - Blue - 100 ft. [Office Product] was less than seven bucks, and with Prime shipping was free! Yes, I am awesome.

Since I'd rather not bore you to death, I'll continue telling you all about our new cheap entertainment system over the next few days. So stay tuned!