Cutting The Cord & Keeping Cable TV With Amazon Fire Sticks
3 min read
Cutting the cord is the concept of breaking free from the traditional method of receiving television. A cable ran from the cable company to your house which then is connected to your TVs. You watch and record your shows at home. Cutting the cord is doing just that, breaking out of that model to a more mobile, flexible method to get your entertainment not on just your TVs but on all your devices. Phones, tablets, videogame consoles, and televisions now can all be used to get your television and viewing activities done.
In my case, I cut the cord from the traditional cable company I have had for 10 years for several reasons. The first being cost. It was cheaper by over $100 a month to get out of the cable company’s grip and move to a digital TV platform. The other primary reason was mobility. Our lifestyle, especially in the summer months, was very mobile. We travel all over for sports, activities, and trips. There are many times in rain delays, hotel rooms, and other situations where I’d like to watch the baseball game on TV or catch up on a DVR show. Our new TV platform I can now do that on any device I have on me.
You can cut the cord to go strictly to streaming services but I still wanted to have the full TV experience. I wanted to watch my local news, especially when there is severe weather. I can do that. The challenge was at home with all the TVs. Not every TV was a smart TV and not every smart TV had the TV service’s application on it to access my new service. (I am holding the name back for a reason) I had two options to get the TV service on my TVs that couldn’t get the app. The first was to lease TV boxes from the platform service for $10/year per box. I got one box free with the service but needed 4 more. After three years that’s $120 just for the boxes. I went with option two and put Amazon Fire Sticks on the TVs. They are cheap, a one time cost and I get the TV app along with all the other benefits and features of the Fire Stick.
This way I don’t have another recurring payment. I can use the Fire Sticks on all the TVs and I am still saving money each month. At times you need to get creative with technology and it’s not necessary to have to use what ‘they’ tell you. In the world of applications and software, we are becoming more distributed with how we can consume digital products. Knowing what devices are out there and what they can do you can come up with clever solutions that, in the end, will save you time and money.
If you have a 4K TV you can trade-in older equipment and get the 4K Fire Stick and stream in 4K (where available) for a few bucks more.
End of line.
Binary Blogger has spent 20 years in the Information Security space currently providing security solutions and evangelism to clients. From early web application programming, system administration, senior management to enterprise consulting I provide practical security analysis and solutions to help companies and individuals figure out HOW to be secure every day.
Subscribe
Facebook Page
Follow Me On Twitter
contactme@binaryblogger.com
