We encountered a scenario yesterday that we didn’t think was unique, a situation that many empty-nesters find themselves in all over Canada and the U.S. We spoke to someone who is slowly retiring, he’s down to a day a week now and works solely to keep his additional health benefits. In Canada, just so you know, basic healthcare is free but does not include private or semi-private rooms, dental care or prescriptions. In this case prescriptions aren’t a concern since they’re free for seniors anyway. Faced with a fixed income, many people are looking for ways to lower their monthly bills. Cutting the cable is where we can offer some help.

Current Costs: 

We’ll work on a figure of $150.00 a month for a cable TV package that includes Internet, TV and cell phone. On top of that, there is a charge for a landline and long distance calls from another company. That amounts to about $60.00 a month with the ability to call anywhere in the U.S. or Canada at no extra charge. Total then is approximately $210 a month.

Needs: 

Bob, not his real name, doesn’t use his home phone (landline) very much at all. The possibility exists to dispose of that charge completely, leaving the long distance charges to be transferred to his cell phone plan.

As far as entertainment goes, Bob really only watches sports on his TV, despite having the normal 500 channels available to him. His sport is basketball and he probably watches thirty games a month during the NBA season.

The Internet is almost not part of the equation, at this point anyway, since Bob’s needs for bandwidth are very small. Email, sharing photos and Skype are about all he does on his iPad. Our plans will certainly change this usage but it will be worth it.

Options: 

As we see it, there are a few ways we could go here but we’ll stick to one for now. The toughest item might just be the TV package but we’re fairly sure that Bob could get by using the Internet for news and entertainment in lieu of the hefty monthly charge from the cable company.
Solutions: 

An Internet/home phone package that includes unlimited Internet usage plus unlimited long distance in North America, complete with premium features can be had for about $85.00 a month from a small but very reputable Canadian company. There would be some extra costs in setting things up, items such as a modem, shipping and an activation fee. Let’s put a figure of $200.00 on this. That figure is on the very high side, by the way, but we don’t want to low-ball anyone on this. (We should point out that a 300 gigabyte a month plan would be about $12.00 less every month but, for now, we’ll use the figure for unlimited Internet usage.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as entertainment goes, there are Netflix and the various sports packages available, all able to be streamed to HDTVs or mobile devices. Netflix is $7.99 a month while NBA League Pass is only $80.00 for the full season. All the major sports have packages such as this. Not only can you see your home team in action but you can follow any team around the league. Divided by twelve, even the most expensive package is only $10.00 a month. On top of that, we’d suggest a VPN account in order to access the American version of Netflix as well as to defeat the blackouts that prevail in professional sports. An account with the VPN that we use is only $4.99 a month.

Lastly, Bob uses his cell phone a fair bit. He travels frequently to the States however so we’re looking at a plan that would allow him unlimited roaming in the U.S. We’ve found one that includes everything for $55.00 a month. Everything in this case is unlimited data (to a 5 gigabyte limit before speed limitations set in), unlimited text and talk across Canada and the U.S. Add a new phone to that and you’re looking at $80.00 a month for the first year, $55.00 a month thereafter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Totalling It Up: 

Let’s add it all up: (Costs are for the first year, everything would be lower after that since we’ve built the extras into the monthly fee)

Internet and home phone: $85.00/month

Entertainment: $33.00/month including two sports full season packages.

Apple TV: Required to stream the Internet entertainment to Bob’s HDTV, $10.00/month for the first year, free after that.

Cell phone: $80/month for the first year, $55/month after that.

Total: $208.00 for the first year, $163 afterwards. Take out one of the sports packages and the price drops a bit to around $150.00 per month for a saving of $60.00 a month from what Bob is currently spending. The plus side is that he would be getting substantially more for less, except for the cable TV channel assortment.

Once Bob pays for the hardware and miscellaneous expenses, the monthly price would be substantially less than what he’s paying now. On top of that, dropping the home phone would lower the monthly tag even more. Whether or not you see yourself in this picture, we hope we’ve shown you that there are options open to you. You don’t have to be tied to your cable or phone company. Cutting the cable can put some money back in your wallet . Depending on where you live, there are probably many more options out there than you realize.

Thanks for reading! As always, if you need help, ask us. Use the comment section below or head over and check out our Facebook page. Here is the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook  Keep up to date on our posts and occasional tips and tricks.

 

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