I recently helped someone cancel their Xfinity cable TV service and switch to live TV streaming
with YouTube TV but this person said there was a hidden cost that they only realized after they
canceled cable TV today I've got five hidden costs to share starting with taxes when you're
reviewing your cable TV Bill and comparing it to the cost of streaming services this one is
easy to miss your cable TV Bill includes all taxes and fees but the websites for streaming
services like YouTube TV Max and peacock they only list the advertised plan prices taxes they're not
reflected until the checkout process now there's a reason for this taxes vary depending on where
you live and not all states and cities will tax streaming services unfortunately where I live in
Florida the Communication Service tax is 13 here's an example YouTube TV 7299 base plan
it actually cost me 82.60 after the nearly ten dollars in monthly taxes are factored
if you're like me and streaming services are taxed in your area this is just another reason to review
your credit card statements and make sure that you are not paying for any services that you
don't actually use because the lower your overall streaming TV bow the less you'll pay in taxes now
sometimes people are so fed up with their cable company they switch to live TV streaming without
carefully reviewing the channel lineups and I've got another example to explain this hitting cost
I'm going to use YouTube TV again and people will switch to the base plan the one that costs 72.99
a month only to realize that it doesn't include a network or two that they really like a lot of
times I hear from people who want a e or history YouTube TV doesn't carry those at recording time
there's a workaround and a pretty popular one it's to sign up for friendly TV this service costs less
than 10 bucks a month it's got a e history and some other networks that YouTube TV doesn't carry
either if you use this workaround just like that you've now got two live TV streaming services to
replace cable TV sure many people are still gonna save money this way but I'm just mentioning it
so that you take the time to compare the channel lineups before you switch to streaming otherwise
you may have to get a little creative like this example I just shown to get all of your must-have
channels number three today when you bundle cable and internet service you typically get a discount
for that but those savings they go away when you switch to an Internet only plan I pulled
my YouTube Community most people say they pay 50 to 70 bucks a month for high-speed internet
and from what I've learned people who live in areas with the most competition typically get the
best pricing for example I live in an area that offers a t fiber Xfinity cable internet and 5G
home internet services from Verizon and T-Mobile that's four options some people have only one so
if cable is your only high-speed internet option you may be able to lower your cost by switching
to a different plan a lot of people pay for more speed than they really need also keep in mind that
streaming is going to increase your data usage most households don't go past their internet
data caps if they've even got one but this is something else to monitor for about a year now
I've been testing 5G home internet from T-Mobile and Verizon these Services cost 50 bucks a month
and there are discounts for mobile customers they don't have data caps equipment fees or contracts
and so far again after about a year of testing I've had no reason to switch back to fiber or
cable internet I'll drop my full reviews in the description below as well as some links where
you can check the availability of these Services Unfortunately they are not available everywhere
moving on to premium features the fourth hidden cost that I want to talk about today Netflix Max
YouTube TV three services that make you pay more for 4K content check out the plans from Max the
cheapest one is 9.99 per month but you're gonna have to pay double that 19.99 a month if you want
4K content now depending on the streaming service you may have to pay extra for offline downloads
additional or unlimited streams and more DVR storage with live TV plans another thing to
consider with those live TV services there are also add-ons for premium channels that you'll
want to factor into your streaming budget things like Sports Plus add-ons that include NFL RedZone
during football season one of the huge benefits of cutting the cord is that you don't pay monthly
equipment fees but you may need to upgrade your equipment at least at the start every streaming
service is going to provide a list of compatible devices on their website included on this list
will be devices that let you stream to a TV set typically it'll include Roku Amazon Fire TV Apple
TV Chromecast plus popular TV brands like Samsung and LG but people who have older Smart TVs they're
sometimes really disappointed and reaching out to me because their favorite streaming apps are not
available fortunately in this case you don't need to go buy a new TV set instead you can
purchase an affordable streaming media player I like the Roku Express 4K plus well under 50 bucks
sometimes about 25 on sale then just hook up that external device to your smart TV and download your
favorite apps of course before you buy a Roku or any other device remember what I just said
and check the website for your streaming apps make sure that Roku or whatever brand you purchased is
listed as one of the supported devices and yeah if you've got multiple TVs in your home you're
most likely going to want a compatible device for each TV set so my advice start with one and make
sure you like it especially if this is your first time buying a Roku or you're switching
from one brand a streaming device to another my name's Michael and I'm here to help you make
every dollar count you can find deal alerts on my website michaelsavesdeals.com thanks for watching