Bargain Entertainment?

   When we moved back to the Island in 2008 and bought a condo, we decided to go a different route on our TV watching. Up in Blacksburg we had used Sky Angel, a Christian satellite, but we wanted something more in tune with what we wanted to watch, sports, news, weather and still have access to Christian programing.

   So we bought a new tv to hang on our wall, a Mac mini computer and tried to find what we needed on the internet. It was not the easiest way to watch what we wanted to put on the screen, but we persevered for a time.

   Then we broke down and got a new system, a bundle that included TV, Wi-fi, and residential phone. We had everything but the premium channels.

   We plugged along, and when they attempted to raise our fees, we complained and they made a way to keep our rates somewhat the same, even adding new features along the way.

   So, two months ago our bill was in the $150 dollar range. Then our promotional discounts ran out, and our bill escalated to just over $200. Customer service had no new promotions that would do us any good, and the only suggestion they had was to downgrade our services which we did not want to do.

  We began to look around, and now we are ready to go another route, and, just in time, too. Today we got our new bill, and it had ballooned to over $235.

   Whoa, that is out of reason...

   We took at look at what we had actually been watching over the past few months. College football on ESPN, CBSSports, NBCSports Fox Sports, and Fox News.

   So we ditched out subscription tv, changed Internet providers to get a faster speed for less money, and got our residence phone for $25 less. Then we went with an Internet based site that gave us about 50 live channels, including those sports and news programs that we wanted.

   Our old outlay with the big company, the aforementioned $235.

   Well, what will be our new monthly bill with the new set up? Around $120 plus tax...

   Sure, we had to buy an Amazon Fire Stick to stream from the computer, but since we are saving $120 a month...well, that looks okay to me.

   So far it is good as I sit here watching the World Series, so stay tuned.

   See if cutting the cord away from the big providers actually is a valid way to get the entertainment we want at a fraction of the cost.

   I'll let you know..