Shortly before we went on vacation, my family “cut the cord.” It's been a long time coming. I haven't wanted a home phone number for years, and have grown tired of feeling like live sports was keeping me hostage. With the arrival of netflix, hulu+, and network web-sites I wanted to break free for a while. My wife is more technologically cautious than I am, and so cord-cutting wasn't something we'd consider. For my wife, the biggest issue was the phone. The kids were getting to the age where we were comfortable leaving them at home while we ran errands, or even went on a short date. She wanted them to have a way to contact us just in case of an emergency. That hurdle was overcome when iOS 5 came out and my kids realized they could text our iPhones for free. This fall, my daughter will get her first cell phone, and we'll be able to take a couple of steps further down the track from that particular obstacle.

Even having overcome the phone issue, however, cord-cutting wasn't something that was quite on the table. That is, until Comcast decided to up our triple-play bill to $183 a month. My wife looked at me and said, “We can't keep doing this.” I knew the time had come. I got on the phone with Comcast and inquired about ways to lower our current bill – we were offered a deal about $5 more than we had paid the previous year. I then asked how much it would cost for just internet and was quoted $79 a month if we rented a modem. On a whim, I requested the cost for just phone and internet. If memory serves it was around $120 a month. My wife and I discussed the options, and spoke to our children about the potential loss of service. Neither one minded losing cable, most of their shows are on Netflix and they don't watch that much TV anyway. We decided it was time to cut the cord.

After a week of letting the idea settle in the family, I called Comcast and requested to remove all services but internet. The customer service representative asked me three times, “Are you you want to do this?” Each time I said yes, growing in annoyance with each iteration. Finally, the representative asked me, “Well, what if I can give you your same cost as last year? Would you stay subscribed then?” It was the moment I broke, firmly telling the representative, “I only want internet.” The representative must have realized he was in danger of losing a subscriber completely, and I was getting annoyed enough to consider just that, he relented and reduced my services as requested. That week we also decided to purchase or own cable modem from Amazon, and reduced our bill to $72 a month. For what we use internet access for, it was worth it. To have a “home” number, we just set up a GoogleVoice number, which telemarketers don't bother with when confronted by the presentation prompt.

We cut the cord three days before the Olympics began, and about a week before we went on vacation. The Olympic streaming requirements barred us from viewing much of the games, but in the end it really wasn't much of an issue. The coverage on NBC during the afternoons was fine, and the picture quality over the air was stunning. Our kids didn't miss a beat either, they simply watched shows on Netflix or kept themselves busy elsewhere. We did pick up Hulu+ and, odd Hulu restrictions aside, it's worked out OK for us.

When we arrived back home from vacation, a brochure from Comcast was waiting for us asking, “Are you sure you want to leave all this behind?” As you can see from the photo, they offered us a package which included HD, Starz, voice, and data services for $120 a month. For six months, that is, then it would bounce back up to $139 a month. My answer to Comcast's question was, an remains, “Yes!”

What, after all, am I leaving behind? Let's look, shall we?

• Arbitrary price increases and deals which last for a year in hopes that the customer will never bother to call up and find out why their bills keep growing.
• A feeling of being held hostage to live sports.
• The brain-dead reflex of turning on the TV when I'm not otherwise occupied.
• Channels upon channels of stations we never watch.
• Political robot calls
• Telemarketing calls
• Being around $80 a month poorer, depending on deals and price increases.

Yes, Comcast, I'm through with your TV and phone services. I'm tired of feeling like dealing with you is like dealing with a used car salesman, fudging numbers in hopes of hoodwinking your customer. I'm tired of paying for channels I don't watch. I'm tired of never knowing what my bill is going to be.

Yes, I realize that means you can block me from the Olympics or force Hulu to put some odd restrictions on viewing shows one of your companies produces. I'm fine with that. If you are comfortable explaining to your advertisers why you think it's a good idea to arbitrarily reduce the number of eyeballs watching their ads in order to preserve your business model, that's fine with me.

As for me, I'm looking forward to hooking up my rooftop antenna.

Posted with Blogsy