- George Takei explains Cord Cutting
- How much you will save
- What you will need
- How to use it
- Considerations
What is Cord Cutting? See George Takei's explanation below
I've been advocating cord cutting ever since 2007, and I am excited to see technology go in this direction (away from television providers). I always push my friends and family to run "everything" on their phone but this is always received as super complicated and expensive, but it's the total opposite. In this article, I take George Takei's explanation of cord-cutting and take it a step further, to save even more. It is super easy and will save you money in the long run!
How much you will save
I have broken down the typical average cost for mobile, internet, and cable per month. If you can see how that adds up in a year, you will be able to save on average, $865 a year!
| Typical household bill | Extreme Cordcutting Bill | |||
| Mobile | $90.00 | Mobile | $106.00 | |
| Internet | $46.00 | (1) Streaming Service | $7.99 | |
| Television | $50.00 | |||
| Monthly | $186.00 | Monthly | $113.99 | |
| Per Year | $2,232.00 | Per Year | $1,367.88 | |
| Savings of | $864.12 | |||
What you will need
1. Use your Smartphone as your primary internet provider. Get a T-Mobile Galaxy S4, S5, or S6 (or a LG G3 or G4) through T-Mobile. The reason I suggest these phones is because they have the Screen Mirroring feature (we will talk about this later) and T-mobile offers an Unlimited Data plan (which means unlimited streaming) and a 5GB Mobile Hotspot data plan (which turns your phone into a router to allow your laptop or any internet connected device to run on). A new Galaxy S6 with an $80/mo plan will run you about $106/mo. If you have an old S4 you can increase your savings even more!
2. Determine the type of mirroring you will do: Wireless or corded. This "extreme" cord cutting method cuts your home internet as well, so in order to do video streaming, you will need to choose a method to get your video onto your tv. See the videos below:
vs Wireless
You will need one of these, depending on your preferred mirroring method:
Corded (reliable): Micro USB to HDMI Cable, Rankie 6.5 feet MHL Adapter Cable with integrated USB Charging Cable Wireless (convenient): A Screen Mirroring Capable SmartTV or a Miracast Adapter: Belkin Miracast Video Adapter (Supports HDMI 2.0)
More info on wireless screen mirroring (Miracast) here.
3. Determine which streaming service suits you better. General rule, if you prefer to watch movies, go with Netflix. If you prefer to watch more current TV shows, go with Hulu. To find out which streaming service has your favorite TV shows and movies, www.canistream.it will tell you the availability of almost every video available online
How to use it
- To watch a video, enable screen mirroring on your phone and TV and open the video streaming service app on your phone to play it on your TV
- To use the internet on your laptop, enable hotspot on your phone and connect to your hotspot.
Considerations
This setup is ideal for a single-person household (maybe two, max) and in order for this setup to work, you will need to make sure:- You have a good T-Mobile signal at home. Ask a friend with T-Mobile to come over to test their signal
- You don't online game or download huge files on your computer. 5GB hotspot data is more than enough for most users, but if you're an online gamer or downloader, then this cord cutting method may not work for you.
- You don't have a ton of internet connected devices. If you have several internet connected devices at home that rely on a constant internet connection (i.e. IP Video Camera, server) then this will not work for you.
Although I have tried all the technologies discussed in this article, I have never made it my primary source because cable and internet is provided by my landlord. But if you are seriously looking to reduce your monthly bills, this is definitely a way to do it! Let me know what you think!
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. This will also turn any Windows Media Center or XBMC enabled PC into your own personal DVR.