Cutting the Cord

Cable TV was once the ultimate entertainment necessity. The over-the-air days of VHF/UHF television signals could not keep up with voracious viewers who needed more, more, more channels. Having a cable directly pumping all that content into your home became the norm, and the cable providers—which likely provide your high-speed broadband internet access as well—knew they had you on the hook.

But cable providers did not factor in that the internet they provide would become their worst enemy.

Services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video are the most well-known names in what's become known as "cord cutting"—doing away with pay TV to get all your "television" programming via internet streaming services (or, in some cases, over the airwaves). Cord cutting means no more paying a huge monthly fee for thousands of hours of TV you don't watch. Instead, you pay individual services for the programming you essentially select a la carte. For the most part you are paying for just what you watch. Almost.

Sorting through these new options isn’t always easy, though, especially if you aren’t tech savvy. Whereas cable made everything simple, cutting the cord requires picking from a dozen different hardware options and an ever-growing list of streaming services, from Netflix and Sling TV to newcomers such as Disney+. Adding an over-the-air TV antenna to the mix creates even further headache potential.

You will almost certainly need home internet/Networking service to cut the cord, along with a Wi-Fi router, so your streaming devices can get online from any part of the house. As a rule of thumb, home internet speeds should be at least 15Mbps (megabits per second) for each device you plan to have running at the same time.

Internet: If you tend to have three TVs playing at once, you will ideally have home internet speed of at least 45Mbps. That is tough to get with DSL or satellite service, so you might need to stick with your cable company for broadband service (unless you’re fortunate enough to have access to fiber broadband or a similar fat pipe).

Streaming Services: To replace your TV service, you will subscribe to one or more online video services. These can include on-demand video services such as Netflix or a bundle of live TV channels such as YouTube TV. There are also plenty of free sources of streaming video that you can use to pad your subscriptions.