Cable & Streaming Guides
Is cutting the cord still making as much sense as it did three years ago? Let's talk about it.
Let's talk about it
Is cutting the cord still making as much sense as it did three years ago? Depending on where you live, the answer is not necessarily. Some of the biggest cable players in the game are punching back in a real way. The new hybrid stream boxes — Xfinity Stream, Verizon Fios Stream, Spectrum TV Stream, Cox Contour Stream, Optimum Stream Box — ship with full local live TV channel lineups baked in, work over your home internet (no coax-fragility), and after a 10-minute retention call frequently beat the YouTube TV + streaming-stack math by $30 to $50 a month.
That doesn't mean cord-cutting is dead. For non-sports households outside fiber markets, streaming is still the right call. For most households, the honest answer is somewhere in the middle — keep what works, switch what doesn't, and audit the stack every year.
These guides walk through the math both ways. No hype either direction. The right answer for your house depends on your ZIP, your bill, what your household actually watches, and which providers compete in your market.
Featured guide — start here
The Ultimate Guide to Cutting the Cord in 2026 →
A start-to-finish, 7-step playbook from a 28-year residential AV installer. Written with my Dad — a 44-year cable industry veteran who ran a 100-technician install company. The guide is honest about when cable is the right answer and when it isn't. The order of the steps matters; skip one and you'll pay more.
Covers: the honest bill audit, the internet check, picking the right streaming device, picking the right Live TV streaming service (or staying with cable), the install order that prevents you from paying for two systems, how to cancel cable through the retention department (or how to negotiate the right retention price to keep cable), and the annual audit that keeps you saving year after year.
Just published
- Pirate IPTV Boxes & Jailbroken Fire Sticks — Stay Away — SuperBox, BuzzTV, Tanggula, jailbroken Fire Sticks. Why an installer refuses to put these on client networks. Legal risk + product is broken.
- Streaming Password-Sharing Crackdown 2026 — how Netflix, Disney+, Max, Hulu, Peacock are detecting and stopping password sharing. IP tracking, device fingerprinting, behavioral analysis, and what's coming next.
- Will Blockchain Fix Password Sharing and Piracy? — prediction piece on the next architecture for streaming licensing. Tokenized viewing rights, transferable content ownership, what changes for the average viewer.
- Free Legal Streaming Map 2026 — Tubi, Pluto, Roku Channel, Xumo, Sling Freestream, Plex FAST. The $0/mo cable replacement stack.
More guides — in the writing queue
These are next up. They go live one at a time.
- The Cable Comeback — When Hybrid Stream Boxes Beat YouTube TV — full breakdown of Xfinity Stream, Fios Stream, Spectrum TV Stream, Cox Contour Stream, and the household profiles where cable now wins. (Companion piece to our editorial coverage of this trend.)
- How to Lower Your TV & Streaming Bill — The Complete Guide — every bill-reduction tactic, in order of impact. Retention calls, plan downgrades, bundle audits, ad-tier tradeoffs.
- How to Audit Your Subscriptions and Stop Wasting Money on Streaming Services — the 60-minute audit that reveals what most households are paying for and not using.
- Roku vs Fire TV vs Apple TV — Which One Should You Actually Buy? — the three-way streaming-box comparison most households actually face.
- How to Know Exactly What Channels You're Paying For — most cable customers can't list their channels. This guide walks you through pulling your real channel list from your bill.
The shortcut
If you don't have time for a long guide right now, run the 60-second quiz on the homepage. ZIP in, current bill in, what you watch in. Out comes a personalized plan that's honest about whether cable, streaming, or a mix is the right answer for your house. No signup. No email. Same logic as the full guides, automated.