If you haven’t already done it, you’ve probably considered it – Cutting the cord. Trying to save money by getting your TV through your internet connection. Netflix, Hulu, DirecTV Now, Sling TV, Playstation Vue – there are tons of options for being able to watch live and streaming television without cable or a satellite dish.
But if you’re an existing Charter customer, there’s another option – a sort of “Secret” package that is cheap, but also probably exactly what you’re looking for.
How many channels do you actually watch? A couple locals for the news, and maybe 10 other channels you’re actually interested in?
Awhile back, I was in the same boat, paying over $140/month for a bunch of channels I never watched. I did some research on alternatives and signed up for DirecTV Now and got a Free Amazon Firestick. I tested the service for a few days before calling up Charter and telling them I wanted to cancel my cable service. It was too expensive, and I was paying for hundreds of channels I never watched. They tried to talk me down to a slightly lower tier, but I felt like It left out some of the channels I actually watched.
After turning down that option, the rep finally switched to Plan B and offered me what they called “TV Choice” – it shows up on my Bill as Spectrum TV. They said, I could get local channels, plus 10 channels that I pick, and either HBO or Showtime for $31.99 a month.
Bingo. Bundled with internet, my bill is now $86 and change each month.
I get a dozen or so local channels, 10 regular channels that I picked out, and HBO, and Internet and I saved over $50/month.
A Couple Notes
I do pay $14.99/month for tivo service, because I love tivo’s interface. So instead of paying for DVR and boxes from Charter, I pay a couple bucks for TV card that my Tivo uses to tune the channels. So your bill might be a little higher if you have to keep renting your current boxes from Charter.
I can’t really confirm if they’ll offer this to you if you’re not currently a customer. It may be an offer reserved for existing customers looking to jump ship, but it never hurts to ask. My dad tried to get this package as a new customer and it was a no-go, so assume to get it – you’ll need to be an existing customer for a year or two before they’ll offer this to you.
Also ask about DVR and box costs. Depending on how many tv’s you have, you might be stuck paying for DVR Service and an extra rental fee for each additional tv.
Watch for Data Caps
If you’re an AT&T Customer and you plan to cut the cord and start streaming, look at your contract carefully – you likely have a data cap. It’s likely a pretty large amount, but doing a lot of streaming could put you in jeopardy of going over.
If you’re wth Charter, you’re in the clear. When Charter acquired Time Warner Cable and Brighthouse networks, in order to get blessing from the FCC, they had to agree not to cap data usage for at least 7 years after the merger.
A Unified Experience.
If you do cut the cord and start streaming most of your services, but prefer to get local channels over the air, Tivo makes a box called the Roamio OTA, for $399 that acts as your DVR and channel guide, and has nearly all the popular streaming services baked right in, so you can record The Voice while you’re catching up on Orange is the new Black. It’s a bit expensive compared to an Apple TV, or Amazon Firestick, but neither offer true DVR for over the air channels.
If you plan on using an antenna to get local channels over the air, AntennaWeb has this awesome tool that lets you put in your address, and see what channels you can get using different types of Antennas. In the Greenville area, WLOS – the local ABC carrier is broadcast from Asheville, so you’ll need a larger Antenna, mounted higher up to get this channel. WYFF and WSPA both broadcast locally, so they can typically be picked up with a cheap, indoor antenna, mounted near your TV.
