Dan York cannot give up his landline. For many of the same reasons I’ve not given up on mine. Luca says do it. I think there is more to this trade-off than just the landline. Dan or Luca haven’t talked about their Cable TV or digital entertainment costs. I think they are quickly merging with the telephone bill. In fact it is all communications. Users just don’t see it yet as packets or connectivity. Increasingly I see it as when I am connected / always on… I can do all these things and my access is not limited other than by my time.
Rather than the landline let’s talk TV. What may go here at home next is the TV cable service. My analog TV’s are now almost obsolete by law. Each year when my son comes home from college I learn a little more about file sharing, and watching stuff. He doesn’t have cable at school yet he’s always watching programs that my limited cable service doesn’t seem to provide. The eye opener for me this year is “SurftheChannel.com”. All the latest TV shows and movies of all sorts on demand. It took one quick look for my daughter to be hooked and she texted her friends.
For the most part my watching is all on Tivo. I actually see little difference between my Tivo approach and SurftheChannel, Fox.com, NBC.com which also are streaming hit shows. Add in a site like Jaman.com. If I look at the 50 bucks I pay the cable company for TV then it represents 20 movie rentals easily. Go back to Netflix and I can stream from there too. Twitter provides me with a better breaking news service than CNN so really why do I need this old TV thing?
It’s hard to give up things we are used to having and using. I really think I should try to do more InternetTV watching. I think I will be bugged by missing live sports more than anything should I take this course of action. I’m going to try it now for a month. That’s my commitment after the final of Lost tonight! Which I can see tomorrow streamed as above.
Why would I do this? Drop the landline and the cable TV and I save approx $70 per month. I can reallocate the dollars. It could be 3 family members upgraded onto iphone plans (2 out of 3 would love that) or some combination along with a lot more selective rentals. Plus I’d have some excuse to get a fancy 1080p HD LCD Monitor. Then maybe everyone’s iPhones could become personal remotes etc. etc.
In the meantime I’m stuck with a tollbar on that landline and my wife loves the new convenience of using SkypetoGo that way and our bills are not at risk. I’m basically constantly fighting the increase in our communication costs / budget. VoIP on the mobile is another way I fight it and find convenience. Yet the net is actually becoming more and more entertaining. I also see this on my iPhone where I watch more and more video.
So, how will this shake out? How can I put my laptop in couch potato mode? My son does. His laptop is always plugged into his 32 or 36inch LCD screen and quickly switches from PS3 to TV to InternetEntertainment to Work etc. Between the wireless mouse and the remote it all seems seamless. Then it took me quite awhile to find “FrontRow” on my mac. Apple Key + ESC.
For me this Summer may be the “TeleVideoization” for video content that Napsterization brought to music and changed our musical life forever. It’s about time I started watching stuff I really enjoy rather than just what’s on the tube or prerecorded on Tivo. Plus I want to learn more about it and what I want. On that we know the SNS drill.
Still when I watch my son use his gear I know it could still be easier. A lot easier. Be nice if it also had many less wires. Of that I have examples my Apple Time Machine and my HP wireless WiFi all in one printer.
Then maybe I will find I can’t live without my TV. We shall see.
