We cut the cord a while back. Several months ago actually. Our satellite bill was getting out of hand. We were paying somewhere around $120 a month for TV. That is insane. So, we cut it off cold turkey and then went without TV at all for several months. However, a couple of months ago we started getting antsy, jonesing for our TV fixes {hey, Castle and Vampire Diaries were back and we were missing out!} so, after a little internet research to see if we could come up with cheaper TV options, we decided to try out Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime.

Cord Cutting: Pros and Cons of Netflix

At $8.55 per month {after tax}, Netflix is the most expensive of the services we have tried. Netflix has a huge selection of older shows that you can watch complete seasons of, as well as a large variety of older movies. We are streaming Netflix on our TV through our Wii, which means less movies to choose from {than if you choose to do the mail version of the program} but it is also instant access. You have to love instant.

Netflix also allows you to set up different lists for each user. There are 3 of us who currently use Netflix and we all have our own screen. For instance, I can watch Private Practice on my screen and be on one episode and Amber can watch it later on her screen and go back to her episode, which could be a completely different season. There is no overlapping and you can start each episode exactly where you left off. You can also rate what you watch and get personalized recommendations.

So far, Jay has been watching Miami Vice: Season 1, American Horror Story: Season 1 and he and I together have been watching Law and Order: SVU {since season 8, where Netflix episodes start}. Amber and I have been watching Private Practice together and I have been watching Wings. We have also watched a few movies, including Side Effects {which is newer} and we have The Rum Diary and Playing For Keeps in cue. Netflix doesn’t offer a lot of newer movies when you do the online version, but there are enough to keep us entertained.

Pros: Netflix offers a variety of series not offered on all TV traditional packages. For instance Amber watches the UK version of the show Skins which she couldn’t see in the US. Also, shows start back right where you stopped watching them, even if everyone has the same show saved on their list – the list caters to that person. Netflix is also commercial free. 🙂

Cons: The movie collection is smaller online than if you do mail order. This is also the most expensive service of the three.

Cord Cutting: Pros and Cons of Hulu Plus

Hulu Plus costs us $7.99 per month. Hulu Plus offers a lot of newer programming that is not available on Netflix. For instance, Jay and I have been watching Castle {a show that we love and watched when we had satellite} and I have been watching Nashville. Amber has also been watching Vampire Diaries and she is very pleased that they have that show available.

As far as offerings, Hulu Plus is great. However, Hulu Plus does have it’s downside. We are not finding it nearly as user friendly as Netflix. It’s a bit harder for Jay and I to read as it is darker, in general and the small print and rotating show and movie advertisements at the top are distracting and make it difficult to read on the TV if you are not watching it on a large screen. This may sound like nit picking but if 2/3 of the users in this house feel this way, I am sure others might want to hear about this. Also, if there is a way to make lists like there is on Netflix, we haven’t figured it out yet.

Amber also just reported that Hulu Plus has been freezing up on the computer on occasion. That could just be the computer, or our internet or something, though, as we have not experienced this on our TV with Hulu Plus. I will keep an eye on this and if it keeps up, I will revise this review accordingly.

Pros: There are lots of current shows and movies to choose from that we would otherwise have to watch on the computer or do without.

Cons: Hulu Plus is less user friendly and can be hard to read. You also have to watch commercials.

Cord Cutting: Pros and Cons of Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime costed us $79 for an entire year. At roughly $6.58 a month, Amazon Prime is definitely the cheapest. With Amazon Prime, you can watch any of the Amazon Prime instant videos for free and you get free two day shipping on all Amazon Prime eligible purchases. You also get other perks {like access to their lending library}, but none of these perks have interested us yet. So far, we have only found one movie that appealed to us on Amazon Prime, that was National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation. We watched that last night and it played fine. Like Netflix, this movie was commercial free.

We also realized after checking out our Amazon Prime membership that we have to scan through tons of movies that are for rent or purchase {some are as high as $14.99!} and it seems there aren’t many Amazon Prime movies at all. We have also been fooled a couple times into thinking that we could watch a movie, only to click on it and find out that it was just a trailer. Ugh. We have watched one actual movie since signing up for Amazon Prime and we have had 2 or 3 packages delivered. We received delivery notifications for all of the packages and one that was scheduled to arrive in two days {we ordered in time for two day delivery} still came in 3 days – with no explanation as to why it was late. So, if we don’t order a LOT of packages, I am not sure if Amazon Prime will be worth it for us in the long run. I don’t really mind waiting longer for packages if they are free delivery.

Pros: Two day shipping on Amazon Prime eligible purchases. Cheaper than Hulu Plus and Netflix.

Cons: Poor selection of movies and shows that are actually free. Most of the movies on Amazon Prime were movies that were also available on either Netflix or Hulu Plus, in our experience.

Cord Cutting: The Verdict

If I had it to do all over again, I would probably just sign up for Netflix and Hulu Plus. I feel like we get our money’s worth with them. We like Netflix the best, but I feel that we could get used to Hulu Plus and the shows they offer are worth the adjustment. I would probably pass on Amazon Prime next time. I mean, it’s not bad to get a couple packages delivered faster and a movie for $6, but I am not worried about the speed of delivery to justify it. We really wanted Amazon Prime for the TV and movie collection and it just hasn’t been working for us so far. Since we have already paid for it for the year, we will probably just use the year up and then cancel it. Who knows, we might like it more later.

In the end, we are very happy with our cord cutting decision, overall, and anything that we miss on TV that we can’t find on one of these services, we can find on the internet. All of these services offer free trials. I encourage you to try each of them out to see which you prefer before paying for any of them.

I also need to let you know, if you are a sports junkie, cord cutting simply may not be the right thing for you. My husband is having withdrawals not being able to watch as many games as he used to. We are currently looking into ways he can watch his games other than by hooking up cable or satellite. If you have any suggestions, please share. 🙂

And finally, if you do not already have the internet, the savings that you generate from cord cutting might not be the same as what we achieved. This is definitely something to consider.

Money We Saved Cord Cutting

Our satellite bill was around $120 per month. We called about adding some more channels and they wanted to up our bill to $180ish. We were tired of paying for all the channels that we never watched which is why we decided to get rid of satellite. After we turned off the satellite, all of our services together cost approximately $22 a month.

That’s a savings of about $100 per month.

I think it was well worth it!

Are You Cord Cutting Or Thinking About It? Do You Use Any Of These Services? If So, What Advice Would You Give A Potential Cord Cutter?