Cable TV was once the ultimate entertainment necessity. The over-the-air days of VHF/UHF television signals couldn't keep up with voracious viewers who needed more, more, more channels. Having a cable directly pumping all that content into your home became the norm, and the cable providers—which likely provide your high-speed broadband internet access as well—knew they had you on the hook.

But cable providers didn't factor in that the internet they provide would become their worst enemy. Services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video are the most well-known names in what's become known as "cord cutting"—doing away with pay TV to get all your "television" programming via internet streaming services (or, in some cases, over the airwaves). Cord cutting means no more paying a huge monthly fee for thousands of hours of TV you don't watch (in theory). Instead, you pay individual services for a la carte programming. It's a lot like paying for just what you watch. Almost.

According to eMarketer, pay TV will have about 72.7 million subscribers in the US by 2023—down from 100.5 million in 2015. In Q2 2019 alone, pay-TV providers lost 1.53 million customers, Leichtman Research says.

What's ironic is, pay-TV providers don't always lose those customers entirely, because more are also ISPs. Companies like Comcast, Charter, and Altice are weathering the pay-TV subscriber loss easily because people need them for broadband. Cord cutters need a hefty internet pipe to get the same quality of TV programming over the internet. Without high-speed broadband, cord cutting is probably not for you.

But a fast pipe isn't all you'll need. Here's what you need to become a full-fledged cord cutter with access to (almost) everything you'd get via regular cable TV.

Over-the-Air Antennas and DVRs

Before we get to into the apps/hardware you need to make it as a digital cord cutter, consider what you can still get via over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts of the major networks.

Major network affiliates in big cities still broadcast over the airwaves in HD—you just need an HD antenna to get the signal. Modern HD antennas don't have to mount on the roof or take up as much space as a satellite dish. Many are simple affairs you set up next to the TV or flat units you hang in your window. That said, powerful outdoor antennas remain a viable option.

Before you jump on the antenna train, determine if OTA HD is an option for you. Visit AntennaWeb or TV Fool for a list of the stations broadcasting nearby. If you can position your antenna facing the nearest broadcast transmitter, all the better. Don't be surprised if you don't get access to any stations, or to only a few. It happens.

Top-rated HDTV indoor antennas include the window-mountable Moho Leaf Metro ($17, above), which plugs directly into a TV tuner. Outdoors, you could try the roof-mountable Antennas Direct ClearStream 2Max or 4Max models, with 60- and 70-mile ranges, respectively. Other antenna makers include 1byOne and View TV.

Unless you're living next door to the local broadcast tower, you will probably want signal amplification. Amps don't make the signal stronger coming in the house; they make an already low signal strong enough for the TV tuner to use. Even some of the flat antennas have amplification options; but amplification increases the cost. Setup is easy, but you'll have to play with antenna position to maximize reception—just like fiddling with rabbit ear antennas. Some outdoor antennas can work from inside, assuming they're up high—say in your attic—and there isn't a lot of obstruction.

You can use a TV antenna to watch live TV, sure, but this isn't the 1970s. You need a DVR (digital video recorder) to capture shows to watch on demand. Consider the TiVo Edge for Antenna, a system with four antenna tuners and 300 hours of recording on a 2TB drive for $349.99 (plus a $6.99-per-month subscription). The companion Mini Vox box sold separately for $179.99 lets you expand DVR coverage to other rooms. As the "vox" implies, you utilize voice control through the remote to run the DVR. Plus, it has plenty of built-in streaming apps.

TiVo has some other OTA DVRs, as do companies like Tablo and Channel Master.

Media Hubs and Smart TVs

There are a lot of ways to watch internet-based streaming TV as a cord cutter.

Screen options include your phone, tablet, computer, or the TV itself. All are perfectly capable: just download the apps for the services you want. Big names like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video,and YouTube are all available on just about every platform. On a PC, visit their respective websites.

If you've got a decent laptop and a nice TV, an HDMI cable between them is all you need to be a cord cutter: stream on your laptop and watch on the big screen. You can also use your phone; the apps out there for casting or mirroring what you see on the phone to the TV are too numerous to mention. (Read How to Connect Your iPhone or iPad to Your TV for more.)

Then there's the TV itself. Leichtman Research says 69 percent of households in the US have a connected TV of some sort. A lot of modern sets are "smart TVs" with apps (and app stores) and networking integrated to get on the internet. Use them to download (most of) the cord-cutting apps you'd want.

If you don't have a smart TV, get a media hub. You may already have one, in the form of a game console: Xbox One and PlayStation 4 support most streaming apps (the Nintendo Switch only has Hulu and YouTube). Several Blu-ray players also integrate media hub options.

Media streaming devices (hubs) come in two other main forms: a thumb-drive sized unit that plugs into the HDMI port on the TV, or a larger hub that's more of a set-top box.

Our Editors' Choice products for the small "stick" media hubs include the Amazon Fire TV Stick With Alexa Voice Remote. If you don't like Amazon, there's also the Google Chromecast. Roku, pictured above, is a big player in this area. The Roku software is integrated in some smart TVs like the TCL 65S517, so you don't even need the stick.

If you're thinking about a larger unit that promises better performance (like 4K support) and even onboard storage, you want the latest Amazon Fire TV Cube or the Apple TV 4K. Again, Roku makes an entire line of products like this, but our analysts haven't cared for some of the latest.

Know Your Cord-Cutting Services

The key to effective cord-cuttery is being aware of what apps are available on your hardware of choice, knowing the programming on the various services, and just how much they're going to cost you.

The types of apps you can use to watch streaming video break down into the following main categories:

However, there are a couple more odd streaming options for those who still have a cable or satellite subscription:

On-Demand Streaming Services

These are the services you're used to reading about the most, like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and all the upcoming services like Disney+,HBO Max, and Apple TV+. They're subscription-based, let you watch whatever you want whenever you want, depending on availability, and offer original movies and series. Some originals are prestige programming, some are foreign imports, some are cheap junk—so a lot like all OTA TV.

$8.99 per month for one SD stream; $12.99 per month for two HD streams, $15.99 per month for four streams plus 4K/Ultra HD content support.

Netflix is the grand pappy of online streaming. It started as a DVD-by-mail rental service, and while that's still part of its business, streaming is what it's known for now. It's got a slew of original shows, far too many to mention here. The company spent up to $13 billion on originals in 2018 alone. This makes Netflix a destination, giving it not only market share, but mind share, but the competition is fierce.

Here's a complete list of devices with Netflix support. It doesn't have add-ons, extra channels, or live TV. Netflix is an island and it likes it that way.

For more, read Netflix Tips to Boost Your Binge-Watching.

$5.99 per month with ads; $11.99 for no ads

Hulu is the place to go to find the latest TV shows from ABC, NBC, and Fox the day after the program airs. It also gets select shows from CBS, BBC America, Comedy Central, AMC, and others, usually a year after airing, give or take.

For original programming, Hulu started weak, but hit it out of the park with The Handmaid's Tale. It's also done some amazing Stephen King adaptations like 11.22.63, and even brought back Veronica Mars. There are a smattering of movies, but Hulu's strength is TV shows.

For an extra charge you can add premium content to your account, including HBO ($14.99), Showtime ($10.99), Cinemax ($9.99), and Starz ($8.99). That's the same or cheaper than paying for those channels separately, but you get them all in the Hulu interface. This doesn't even cover the Live TV option from Hulu—more on that below.

For more, read Hulu Tips for Streaming TV Fans.

$8.99 per month for Prime Video alone; $119 per year or $12.99 per month with Amazon Prime

Prime Video is a nice hybrid of an all-you-can-eat streaming service like Netflix, plus a video-on-demand store, with plenty of original content to go with it. Amazon has invested heavily in creating original TV shows. Great shows include The Man in the High Castle, Catastrophe, Bosch, The Boys, and multiple Emmy-winners The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Fleabag.

Amazon Studios produces/distributes movies, including some highly praised films like Manchester by the Sea and The Big Sick, so Prime Video gets those first. You can also rent or buy a movie to stream, even if it's not part of the Prime streaming—just pay for it on Amazon.com, then watch it in the Prime Video interface. It technically gives Prime Video the largest catalog of available content of any streamer.

Want to add on services? Amazon calls them "channels" and they include: CBS All Access, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, Hallmark, Shudder, Acorn TV, Epix, and many more. They cost an extra $3.99 to $14.99 per month per service, depending on which one you pick. Prime Video channels also includes all the "free" (ad-supported) films found on IMDb TV—because Amazon owns IMDb.

For more, read Amazon Prime Video Features You May Not Know.

$11.99 per month; $17.99 per month for 5 family members; $6.99 per month for student plan

If YouTube is a staple of your cord-cutting experience—and with millions of hours of video uploaded every second, it probably should be—then maybe this paid experience (which used to be called YouTube Red) will be to your liking. After a one-month trial, 12 bucks a month gets you completely ad-free YouTubing—plus access to original shows behind the paywall. You can even download some shows for watching later when you don't have connectivity. A subscription also includes YouTube Music Premium.

Don't confuse it with YouTube TV, which is discussed below.

Free, ad-supported

Pretty ubiquitous among the streaming hubs, Sony-owned Crackle offers an eclectic selection of content for free, mostly with ads. We are talking really bad commercials cut in at odd moments in movies—sometimes in the middle of a scene—as if an algorithm handles the edits rather than a human. The movies tend to be pretty craptacular with occasional Sony-owned gems. Crackle is trying more and more to do original content, but nothing has become mainstream. It once could brag about having Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee but lost it to Netflix.

$5.99 per month with limited commercials; $9.99 per month for no ads and downloads; 24 percent off for students; 15 percent off if you pay annually

When you're the No. 1 TV network, you get to do your own thing. That's why CBS launched its own streaming service. You get one week to try All Access for free before the fee is applied.

Six or nine bucks a month gets you access to some of the most popular shows on TV the day after airing, including Mom and Survivor, even daytime shows. There are also a few thousand old TV shows streaming here, such as Cheers, all the versions of Star Trek (the rights are owned by the CBS Corporation), Brady Bunch, The Twilight Zone, and Hawaii Five-0. You can insert your own joke here about how the Tiffany Network is for your grandparents. Also included: some live sports.

The crown jewels driving this premium streaming service are Star Trek: Discovery, The Good Fight, and The Twilight Zone, which can only be seen via All Access, at least in the US (ST:D is on Netflix in other countries). Coming soon: Star Trek: Picard, which is going to be reason enough for a lot of us dorks to subscribe.

You can also add Showtime to the All Access interface (because CBS owns it) for $14.99 per month. You'd probably be better off adding CBS All Access and Showtime both to a service like Amazon Prime Video, where Showtime is $4 cheaper per month.

Other Streamers

Other streaming services you might want to check out. Many are also add-on channels with services above like Amazon Prime Video.

Tubi —Free: Ad-supported video on demand, Tubi features 15,000 movies and shows.

—Free: Ad-supported video on demand, Tubi features 15,000 movies and shows. Britbox —$6.99 per month: All the best of British TV from the BBC and ITV, sometimes the day after airing.

—$6.99 per month: All the best of British TV from the BBC and ITV, sometimes the day after airing. Acorn TV —$5.99 per month: All the rest of British TV, including even more high-rated, independently-produced BBC and ITV shows, plus some programming from Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

—$5.99 per month: All the rest of British TV, including even more high-rated, independently-produced BBC and ITV shows, plus some programming from Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Shudder —$5.99 per month: It's all about horror and terror and chills—you know, things that make you shudder.

—$5.99 per month: It's all about horror and terror and chills—you know, things that make you shudder. CuriosityStream —$2.99 per month: All non-fiction and documentaries, all the time.

—$2.99 per month: All non-fiction and documentaries, all the time. Facebook Watch —Free: Why wouldn't Facebook want to get some programming online? To be fair, it has a show starring actual movie-star Elizabeth Olsen.

—Free: Why wouldn't Facebook want to get some programming online? To be fair, it has a show starring actual movie-star Elizabeth Olsen. Mubi—$10.99 per month: Mubi is a hand-curated collection of high-art films.

There are also anime-specific streaming services like Funimation and Crunchyroll.

For more, read The Best Video Streaming Services for 2019.

Live TV Stream Services

For some services, it wasn't enough to just provide on-demand streaming of shows. They wanted to take on cable itself, by providing a cable-television subscription experience over the internet.

Live TV streaming services won't necessarily give you super-granular control over content—it's not really like you pay just for the few channels or shows you really want to watch. However, they provide access to a lot of content you might not otherwise get without a cable subscription—especially news and sports. They are also known to some people who like unpronounceable acronyms as virtual multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs).

$44.99 per month for 69 channels with ads; $50.99 per month for Hulu (No Ads) + Live TV

We talked about Hulu above as an on-demand streamer, but it can be much more. Its live TV option is a PCMag Editors' Choice in this arena. Yeah, you pay more, but it provides access to the entire Hulu library we discussed above, plus lots of cable channels, including many local affiliates that stream live (depending on your location) with sports (more on that below) and kids programming.

Fifty hours of cloud DVR is built-in and holds your shows indefinitely. It runs on almost every device (sans PS4, but including the Nintendo Switch). Options you can pay for: a 200-hour cloud DVR ($9.99, unlimited screens), premium channel add-ons (Cinemax, HBO, Starz, and Showtime, same as on regular Hulu), and Spanish channel options. There's a reason this is our 4-star winner.

$44.99 per month

We mentioned before: YouTube TV is not YouTube Premium. Premium is mainly a commercial-free version of regular ol' YouTube. YouTube TV is like YouTube plus cable. It has made so many strides, it's our second PCMag Editors' Choice option for live TV streaming. YouTube TV has 70+ channels for a single price per month, with personalized channels for your location when available.

You get unlimited online cloud DVR option at no cost, three simultaneous streaming screens, and it runs on almost any device. However, it does NOT include YouTube Premium, so if you watch any user-provided videos in the YouTube TV interface, you'll still see adds unless you pony up that extra $12 per month. Premium channel add-ons include Showtime, Epix, Starz, Shudder, and Acorn TV, among others.

$25 per month for Sling Orange basic package (32 channels) or Sling Blue (47 channels); both are $15 for the first month. The Orange & Blue package (53 channels) is $25 for the first month and $40 thereafter.

Sling TV was the first of the Live TV streamers back in 2015. It's available on almost all devices (though notably not on PlayStation 4) with a ton of add-on options like premium channels (Starz, Showtime, Epix, and many more) and local network affiliates for Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS in some areas.

There are Kids extras, News extras, Sports extras, and more. The channel selection is pretty extensive, but Sling doesn't carry every channel under the sun. It does offer a cloud DVR option for $5 per month to "record" and play back up to 50 hours of your favorite shows later. You can get it in Spanish, or even order it in many other international flavors.

$49.99 a month to start with 57 channels, $54.99 per month for Core (78 channels), $64.99 per month for Elite, $84.99 per month for Ultra (90+ channels with HBO and Showtime).

There's a reason the PlayStation doesn't have apps for a lot of other streaming services: it has its own exclusive live TV streaming setup—and thankfully, it's not limited to PS4 use only. You can view Vue on Android, iOS, Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku products, and a browser on any computer. Each new tier of service adds more channels. There is a $10-per-month add-on package for sports channels and $4.99-per-month one for Spanish channels. And you can pause or rewind or fast forward on every channel. All of them. Perhaps the best feature on PS Vue: a cloud-based DVR for storing up to 500 programs to watch whenever you like.

$54.99 a month for 116 channels; $59.99 per month Family plan increases cloud recording and simultaneous screens; $74.99 per month Ultra for 185 channels including Showtime and Sports Plus package.

FuboTV isn't sports exclusive but it is sports TV intensive in its basic tier of 116 channels of live TV—even though the service doesn't include any ESPN networks. Plus there's no lack of entertainment and news channels to watch live, including local network affliates. The standard plan supports two simultaneous streams; Family and Ultra offer three, but you can pay $5.99 per month extra to add another stream to any of those plans and up the cloud DVR from 30 hours to 500 hours. Add-ons include Showtime (which is included in the Ultra tier). It's available on most of the usual devices, but not the game consoles.

$20 per month for 58 channels

Philo lacks things like local channels/networks, sports channels, and has little in the way of the news channels. What it does have are 58 channels for lifestyle and entertainment at an almost bargain price. You can use it on mobile devices, plus Roku, Apple TV, and Fire TV, on up to three devices at once. There's unlimited cloud DVR recording, but it only holds a show for 30 days. Whether you like Philo depends on if you like the channel lineup, but if you do, you'll like it plenty.

$50 per month for 54 channels; Max plan is $70 per month for 71 channels

Formerly called DirecTV Now, this service has several tiers, starting with $50-a-month package, making it the most expensive of all the live TV streamers. Both its tiers come automatically with regional sports channels and HBO—because AT&T now owns HBO. Adding Showtime, Starz, or Epix is an option. You can watch it on almost any device, but not on game consoles. Cloud DVR option doesn't cost anything extra but is limited to 20 hours of video for 30 days. It also includes Spanish and International add-ons, but the packages don't build on each other logically. Its recent changes make it the lowest scoring live TV streamer we've reviewed.

For more, read The Best Live TV Streaming Services.

Sports Streaming

Streaming of sporting events is an odd duck in this world, where much of what you see is pre-aired and recorded. Fans want their sports live. Thankfully every single one of the above live TV streaming services frequently have excellent sports channels included (fuboTV in particular, as it started with a sports focus) or as add-ons. You can also get premium sports channel add-ons on Amazon Prime Video.

We still pick Hulu with Live TV as the best live streaming option, even for sports, as it features BTN, CBS Sports, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNEWS, ESPN U, NBC Golf, and the Olympic Channel, in addition to local channels you get in your ZIP code, such as ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC cable affiliates. It's also our top pick for streaming games from the National Football League. But there are a couple of services that are so specifically sports-oriented that you may want to consider them.

$4.99 per month or $49.99 per year

This is an inexpensive way to get some select live sports and lots of archived ESPN shows, but that doesn't make up for what it lacks: which is a lot of flagship ESPN programming (no Sports Center!). While it does have Major League Baseball, you're also not going to get any live NBA or NFL games here. You'd be better off using the ESPN add-on that comes with YouTube TV or Sling TV. This is more of a complementary service, not the real deal, but that's why it costs so little.

$19.99 per month or $99 per year

Dazn (pronounced Da-Zone) focuses on boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) events (which includes lots of pay-per-view matches in the price), plus a few other sports in the US that don't usually get big coverage, like darts, cricket, and soccer out of Japan. There's no free trial, but it all might be worth it for fight fans. In our tests, it didn't work with a VPN service running, because like may sports streamers, Danz content is very region-specific and they don't want to mess with that.

For much more, read The Best Sports Streaming Services.

Premium Cable With Paid Streaming Services

You've heard of premium cable. Those are the channels you used to pay extra to have because they had prestige programming you didn't want to miss. Now most of them also provide apps for watching their exclusive content on your devices. They typically have options for users who already subscribe via cable, or those who don't but are still willing to pay for access.

HBO GO requires cable subscription to HBO. HBO Now is $14.99 per month.

HBO GO is only available to existing HBO subscribers with a cable plan. HBO Now, however, is currently the only option for cord cutters (if you don't have a generous friend with an HBO GO password). Anyone with internet and supported hardware can subscribe and watch original HBO programming like Game of Thrones, Succession, Big Little Lies, Westworld, Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Silicon Valley on either service. They also include the entire back catalog of shows: The Sopranos and The Wire forever! Try it free for a month.

HBO Max is in the works and promises to be a super-set of what you get with HBO Now, with exclusive originals, all at a higher price.

For more, check out Secret HBO NOW and HBO GO Features.

$10.99 per month

Showtime, owned by CBS, had to have a streaming service if rival HBO had one. If you already subscribe to Showtime on cable, you can use the Showtime Anytime app to watch anywhere. Or sign up to get Showtime direct for $10.99 a month after a month-long trial. Shows include Twin Peaks, The Chi, The Affair, Shameless, Homeland, Billions, and the whole back catalog (including Dexter and Nurse Jackie). As noted above, Showtime has made itself an add-on with just about any service that offers the option so add it there if you prefer the interface of other services.

$8.99 per month

Premium cable channel Starz—home of some great shows like American Gods, Counterpart, Power, Outlander, and The Girlfriend Experience—is available for those with a cable/satellite subscription to it, as a discrete streaming service (Starz Streaming), or as an add-on to services above. The cost is the same no matter how you get Starz.

TV Provider Services/Apps

Just because you subscribe to cable (or satellite) doesn't mean you have to use the provided set-top box. In an effort to become part of the cord-cutting landscape, many of the major cable and satellite providers—which double as internet service providers—let users access all programing via apps rather than the cable box or even the tuner in the TV. For a price, of course.

The apps have names like Spectrum TV, Xfinity Stream, RCN2Go, Cox Contour, Dish Anywhere, Verizon Fios Mobile—you can probably tell who provides each.

With Spectrum TV, for example, you get access to live TV streams for any of the networks in your tier of service. There's on-demand content for individual shows and some movies. It integrates channel guides and search for select shows/movies. If a channel (or show on a channel) that isn't available to you shows up on a menu, it's generally grayed out. You may mark shows as favorites so they're easier to follow. But it takes a lot longer for a show to appear in the on-demand section—three or four days, instead of just one with a show on Hulu or even a network's own app, for example.

The commercials are still there—and repetitive to the extreme. Each break may show the same commercials over and over, sometimes the same ad back-to-back, as if they couldn't find any sponsors who believe in streaming. Or perhaps it's to torture you into using regular cable and a DVR (if you get a DVR from Spectrum, the Spectrum TV app can be used to program it.)

Thankfully, using such apps typically won't cost a dime above and beyond what you're already paying for cable/satellite. But you can always pay extra for premium channels, sports packages, or international programming.

Networks' and Channels' Apps

Sometimes called "TV Everywhere" apps, these are the apps created by individual networks or basic cable channels to provide video-on-demand of their shows (usually a day or two after they air). All of them have wildly different interfaces. Almost all of them force you to watch commercials while viewing shows, with no way to skip them. But that's what you get for "free"—they typically will not work unless you have an active cable or satellite pay-TV subscription to authenticate who you are in the app.

No two of these apps are alike in interface or even features. You'll learn to hate how some provide captions, love others that provide a usable fast-forward or rewind, etc. Some provides deep catalogs of their content; others provide a few recent episodes.

Networks like ABC, NBC, Fox, PBS, even CBS have such apps. The CW has two—the second one is called CW Seed and is used to stream old shows for which it bought the exclusive rights. There's even the occasional original-only on there.

The list of basic cable channels with a TV Everywhere app option is staggering:

A&E

Adult Swim

AMC

Animal Planet Go

Bravo Now

BBC America

Cartoon Network

CNN

Comedy Central

Cooking Channel

Discovery Go

Disney Channel

Disney XD

Watch DIY

E! Now

WatchESPN

Food Network

Fox Business

Fox News

Fox Sports

Freeform FX Now

Golf Channel

Hallmark Channel Everywhere

History Channel App

HLN

Watch HGTV

IFC

MSNBC

MTV Play

Nat Geo

Oxygen Now

Science Channel Go

Sony Movie Channel

Sundance TV

SyFy Now

Watch TBS

TLC GO

Watch TNT

Watch truTV

Turner Classic Movies

USA Now

That is far from a comprehensive list. You may find some of these on your big TV streaming hub (Roku has a great list of apps), but not all—some appear only on mobile devices.

Remember, a lot of the shows that you watch on these channels end up on other services—especially Netflix, Hulu, or Prime Video. Don't suffer through watching shows on small screens with un-skippable advertising if you can afford to wait.

Consider the Cutting Cost

Cord cutting has its conveniences, but will it really save you cash?

At least one survey claimed it does. LendEDU found that the average cord cutter in 2018 saved $115.33 per month after killing cable. That's probably true...if they only use one or two streaming services.

Now consider all of the services we've mentioned above. Assuming you need subscriptions to all of them to get as much content as you'd get with cable with premium channels (in red below), it's not cheap. Here's a pre-tax breakdown without even factoring in live TV or sports needs:

Service Monthly Yearly Netflix (with SD streaming) $8.99 $107.88 Hulu (with commercials) $5.99 $71.88 Amazon Prime Video $8.99 $119.00 (Cost of Prime) YouTube Premium $11.99 $143.88 CBS All Access $5.99 $71.88 HBO Now $14.99 $179.88 Showtime $10.99 $131.88 Starz $8.99 $107.88 TOTAL $76.92 $ 934.16

That monthly total is not inexpensive, but according to Techwalla the average monthly cost of cable now is $64.41 per month. And that's before the launch of Disney+ ($6.99 per month), Apple TV+ ($4.99 per month), and NBC's Peacock.

Even if you keep cable, you're not going to get access to much-discusssed streaming originals like Stranger Things, The Handmaid's Tale, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Star Trek: Discovery, and too many more to mention without streaming. How you proceed as a cord cutter really depends on what you want to see.

Keep Streaming Private (and Global) With VPN

We always suggest you use a virtual private network (VPN) service when you're online, but you should consider it even using a streaming service. The top reason: the right VPN connected to the right server in another country can give you access to region-locked content.

That's right—the films you see on Netflix in the United States may not be the same selection as they get in the UK or Australia. But if you use a VPN to look like you're in those countries, well, Bob's your uncle: you can see their movie selection as if you're right there. It also may let you access entirely different streaming services, like getting access to the BBC's iPlayer in Britain.

Of course, streaming services are not taking that lightly and many are cracking down on the practice. But most VPNs have a trial service so you can test it out and see if it works to give you access to content you may not otherwise have.

For more, read How to Unblock Netflix With a VPN and The Best VPNs for Netflix.

Further Reading

Computers & Electronic Reviews