After almost eight years being a slave to the cable company, we elected to cut the cord entirely. Now having two weeks under our belt....I must say, I don't miss it at all. Traveling back in time a bit...way before kids, we were one of the first to get the new fiber optic high speed doohickey back when it was cool to have all the latest stuff. I believe this was sometime around 2007. I remember those days fondly....we had to wait nearly 4 months after we moved in to our Banner Place house just to get the fiber optic service that was being rolled out across the country. Four months was a small price to pay for not having a dish attached to our brand new home and also being one of the first people in the area to get this new service. The reason for the four month wait was apparently the fiber wire was not completely hooked up in our phase of the neighborhood. Again, part of being the first on the edge of the new technology....and we had money to spend. Remember the whole Sans kids thing? Those were also the days when the new HD flat panel's came into affordable territory. Not really as affordable as today, but at least in the grasp of the everyday man. So, for four months we had essentially a TV that cost me nearly 2,000 and rabbit ears protruding out from behind the sleek, black frame. This provided us with essentially everything we really needed as it turns out. In High Definition might I add. Both Ali and I were working Full Time and we I think had a Netflix subscription so we managed to get by crying in the corner when we had to watch an episode of "This Old House" on Saturday evenings. Then one day, the magical people from India called me and let me know that AT&T was available in crystal clear HD right to our house. No worry about the crappy cable going out, or the rain killing the satellite signal on the days that we needed the local channels the most. We were set!!!! I will admit it was nice. Especially before the kids. We had access to lots of TV crack with no little ones to hear/see the horrible dreck that is now part of the HBO/Showtime lineup.
Well Fast forward seven or eight years or so and guess what? We no longer really watched any of the stuff we once did. There really is not time. We also are parents that have a good grasp on what is appropriate for kids to view....even Max at 2.5 years picks up on things that are surprising (whole other blog post). I found myself essentially constantly turning off essentially everything but PBS and Nick Jr. Why are we paying upwards of $200.00 a month for something we don't use????
We had been kicking around this idea for about six months, having set up Netflix streaming and really liking the content.....we kicked the cable (Ahem....Fiber Optic) to the curb. Done. Gone. No More. It was actually somewhat of a relief. I bragged about it to my friends at work. Told customers about it. You know what? 80% of them were in the process of debating the same thing. Strange.
Ironically, we ended up with a TV in our bedroom this weekend for the first time in our married history. I will elaborate on this later (purchased with Camping in mind). We laid in bed with our two kids for an hour tonight watching Master Chef Jr. on Fox. In Crystal Clear HD quality I might add. It actuality was one of the most fun weeknights I have had in a long time. All being pulled in from a broken rabbit ear antenna I had in college. No worries about the rain knocking the signal out or the cable company's service taking a dump.
"This Old House" is one of my favorite shows by the way. Always had it set to record on the DVR prior to dumping the Cable. Now I just need to be in front of the TV when it starts...On Saturday evenings just like when I was a kid.
