Helping the parents cut the cord

How do you help your parents cut the cord?

Well, in all honesty, maybe they shouldn't. There is no one size fits all solution when it comes to streaming television. But that's part of the beauty of it. TV your way. What you want to watch, when you want to watch it. No scheduling your life around that big picture box in the living room.

Of course, for me, that was a benefit. The reason I cut the cord in 2011 was to save money. I did, and continue to, despite the price increases.

But, let's suppose your parents know about your saving money and want a little bit of that saving money action. How do you make that happen? Well, from personal experience, it's not easy.

My mother loved her Roku device and used it all the time during the last years of her life. But she never did drop cable entirely. It was her security blanket. She didn't watch it, but it was there if she needed it.

This is coming up because I read an article by one of the staff at Cord Cutters News, Roger Cheng, who just went through helping his parents cut the cord.

The first step was to get my parents out of their triple play bundle of internet, TV and phone, which had steadily gone up in price over time. We were fortunate that AT&T Fiber launched right around when we were considering making the shift, so changing internet service providers offered a good excuse to break out of the triple play. The service would cost $70 a month.

This isn’t a situation that would apply to anyone, so I would suggest having a conversation and calling either the existing provider or a competing ISP and exploring the broadband-only options. Just be sure to not fall for the triple play pitch all over again.

I found the article interesting, and a little familiar, as a lot of it mirrors what I ran into when helping my mother convert to streaming.

My Streaming Life has been enjoyable. My mother enjoyed hers. Perhaps the article can help your family members enjoy theirs.