Paul McFedries - Cord Cutting For Dummies

In Part 2, you get your post-cord life off to a free and easy start by learning all about over-the-air TV, where you get high-quality channels free (yep, that's right: free ). You learn how over-the-air TV works, what equipment you need, and how to set everything up.

In Part 3, you dive into streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu. You learn about streaming media players and smart TVs, and how to get your Internet access ready for streaming. You then check out a bunch of free and paid streaming services.

Finally, in Part 4, you learn ten ways to save money after you've cut the cord and ten tips for troubleshooting streaming problems.

The chapters present their info and techniques in readily digestible, bite-size chunks, so you can certainly graze your way through this book.

Cord Cutting For Dummies is for people who are new (or relatively new) to cord cutting. This doesn’t mean, however, that the book is suitable for everyone. I've made a few assumptions about what is necessary if you want to flourish in a cable-free world. Here they are:

You know how to connect devices to your TV.

You have an Internet connection and a Wi-Fi network.

You can use a web browser to navigate to a particular website given that site's address.

You know the basics of launching and using mobile device apps.

That's about it, really. Cord cutting is a big topic, but it's not one that requires a huge amount of technical literacy. And what literacy you do need I explain as we go along.

Like other books in the Dummies series, this book uses icons, or little margin pictures, to flag info.

This icon marks text that contains info that’s useful or important enough that you’d do well to store the text somewhere safe in your memory for later recall.

This icon extra information that either is a bit on the advanced side or goes into heroic, often obscure detail about the topic at hand. Do you need to read it? Not at all. Does that make the text a waste of page real estate? I don’t think so, because the information is useful for folks interested in delving into the minutiae of cord cutting. If that’s not you, ignore away.

This icon marks text that contains a shortcut or an easier way to do things, which I hope will make your life — or, at least, the data analysis portion of your life — more efficient.

This icon marks text that contains a friendly but insistent reminder to avoid doing something. You have been warned.

To locate this book's cheat sheet, go to www.dummies.com and search for Cord Cutting For Dummies . See the cheat sheet for some recommended streaming media services for kids' programming, sports, and news.

This book consists of a couple of hundred pages. Do I expect you to read every word on every page? Yes, I do. Just kidding! No, of course I don’t. Entire sections — heck, maybe even entire chapters — might contain information that’s not relevant to you.

In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the King of Hearts tells Alice that she should, “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” But you don't have to follow his advice here.

However, if you’re just getting started down the cord-cutting road — particularly if you’re not sure you even want to cut the cord — no problem: I’m here to help. To get your cord-cutting education off to a solid start, I highly recommend that you start with Chapter 1to find out if you really do want to go cable-free. If you do, continue with Chapter 2to find out how it's done. From there, you can travel to the post-cable territory of Chapters 3and beyond.

If you have some experience with cord cutting or you have a special interest or question, see the table of contents or the index to find out where I cover that topic, and then turn to that page.

Either way, happy cord cutting!

Part 1

IN THIS PART …

Discover some excellent reasons why you should — or maybe shouldn't — cut the cable TV cord.

Follow a step-by-step guide to cutting the cord.

Chapter 1

IN THIS CHAPTER

Having fun dissing the cable company

Seeing if cutting the cord is right for you

Understanding the benefits of cutting the cord

Touring a world without cable

You can get a TV signal into your home these days in many ways, but most methods involve running some kind of cord into your home and then into a device. That device might be a TV, a set-top box, or even a cable modem.

So far, so obvious. My point here is to bring your attention to the cord itself, which carries this book's symbolic load. Why? Because a new and growing legion of people are using their cable TV cord as a symbol for protest.

Who are these people? The cord shavers (also called cord trimmers ) take steps to reduce their cable TV bill. The cord avoiders look for online alternatives to paying for cable TV offerings. Next are the cord haters, who really dislike paying for cable TV. All these people look on in envy at the cord nevers, people who have never had a cable TV account.

The cord shavers, cord avoiders, and cord haters can't be cord nevers, but they can certainly become cord cutters . Those are people who metaphorically snip their cable TV cord by non-metaphorically canceling their cable TV subscription and looking for televised entertainment elsewhere.

If you find your blood pressure getting dangerously high each time you pay your cable TV bill, you might be ready to become a cord cutter. To make sure, this chapter talks about why you might want to go the cord-cutting route (and a little bit about why you might not).

Every year, various media organizations publish articles with titles along the lines of “The Ten Most Hated Companies” or “The Twenty Worst Companies.” A wide variety of industries is represented, from airlines to social media companies to banking institutions. The lists change year to year, but you can always count on at least one or more cable companies making the list.

Let's face it: Many of us really dislike our cable provider. What about you? How do you feel about the company that brings cable TV into your home?