The Sneaky Way Streaming Services Get You to Pay More (And Never Cancel)
Free and discounted streaming perks seem like a great deal, but they’re designed to keep you from canceling. And with more bundles launching this year, I expect this marketing trap to become even more common. In this video, I show how easy it is to pay twice for the same service — and walk you through the system I use to avoid overpaying!
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Between my phone plan and spectrum i have all streaming services. not sure if its good deal or not but basically all.
I just have 4K Netflix with no ads, Hulu with no ads, Amazon Prime Video with no ads, and Spotify Duo with no ads. Worth it. 😊
I always go the prepaid route with an MVNO because those postpaid plans are expensive!
Amazon Prime is my only year around service I will keep. I decided I’ll cut hulu and Netflix to 2 months binge watching a year. Youtube TV is tougher being and NFL and College Football fan. If I hated sports I’d never return to it. ESPN and Fox bundles might work but, I think they will be way overpriced but, I’ll try them on the free trial.
spectrum will lower my internet from 90 to 30 BUT i have to take 2 mobile phone lines at 60.00 so that is back to 90. i have used tracfone for over 20 years and i love it.. and by the way they then said oh sorry this special wont work with yoour current phone, we can sell you 2 phones.. that was 3 months ago and they still text and email this special deal which is no deal at all
Are there any deals with Hulu & ESPN?
Check credit cards offers for streaming discounts and offers. We currently get 6% back on select streaming services that we pay with the Cash Preferred AmEx card. Plus, with a separate offer from the card, we also get $7 back a month on any Hulu/Disney+ bundled plans.
I guess the Streaming Services are trying to take the bundling trick from cable and we all know how that worked out. I got a deal last yr for 50% off Paramount + w showtime 4.99 my deal is up in August. I just canceled my Max 16.99. As I was canceling I got offer for 3 months @ 8.49. I took it. so now my 2 streaming service $13.48. I believe since there is no more FOMO people are learning to take control on how & what they watch & what they pay. I always order straight from the Streaming site no 3rd party nonsense.
As someone who has used Tello, US Mobile, and Visible, I can say that if you really don’t use a lot of mobile data, you should go with them. I had T-Mobile, went to these other carriers, then went back to T-Mobile after a year. I only went back to T-Mobile because of the need for high speed and more prioritized data. While I always had a signal with those cheaper carriers, the speed didn’t stay fast for the entire month and when it got slow it was unusable. I also still subscribe to T-Mobile because of the perks, not only for streaming but for inflight Wi-Fi, T-Mobile Tuesdays, and Starlight texting. Another reason that I left at that time was, those other carriers didn’t provide Wi-Fi calling and some other basic things on these MMOs, but now they do. When it was rumored a few years ago during one of the Netflix increases that T-Mobile was going to remove the free Netflix or some of the other perks I would’ve left them and already in my head was ready if they decided to do that. Luckily they didn’t because again that’s what I pay for. If you know you’re gonna pay for Netflix, anyway why not pay a little bit less as well as get better service.
Again it’s not a bad choice to try Tello, US Mobile, and Visible if you don’t really use your perks or if you don’t use a lot of mobile data. I would still recommend them. But if having reliable data on the go is a must for you then I would think again .
Most of the current deals are for the ad supported plans I prefer the ad free experience the ad load on Hulu is too many can you do a video comparing ad load on the different services
No thanks on these deals. They are all ad versions. I’ll only pay the full price with no ads.
Which “perk” streaming deal do you actually use — and is it worth it?
Amazon Prime Video is the best example of bundle service. Because Amazon Prime Video wouldn’t be next to Netflix if it wasn’t riding the coattails of Amazon Prime.
We have a grandfathered 1 GB fiber plan with AT&T that gave us HBO Max, which moved to Max, which will be (has been?) renamed back to HBO Max. It’s currently the 1080p ad-free plan. We don’t use it much, but the wife likes it for a few TV series they carry. Great, so free, right? Not really. If our next door neighbor signs up for AT&T 1 GB fiber with no promo (and no HBO Max), their monthly cost would be $10/mo less than us. Yep, our "freebie" isn’t free. As soon as I can wean my wife away from HBO Max, I will drop service to either 500 Mbps or 300 Mbps to save some money.
what was that "MyNews" package i saw in your window…..??
Self Discipline is the Way, therefore, we Don’t Pay for streaming perks…
I have TMobile for seniors and I travel internationally 3-4/yr. For 95/month, I get phone with coverage overseas (text and data), free inflight wifi, Apple+, Hulu, Netflix and home wifi. I’m pretty happy.
I’m disabled and don’t drive. So I have both Amazon Prime and Walmart+; Walmart has been really great for grocery delivery, and I had it before they added Paramount+. But i had also been paying for Paramount+. When Walmart added the Paramount+ perk, i was able to cancel the paid subscription to the streaming service. So in this case, I got a great deal on two services I would be using anyway.
i saw that a lot of these perks re available with the "discounted" T-Mobile 55+ plans. But those plans are only a good deal if you need more than one line. If you only need one line, well, that’s at least $85/month. It’s actually a lot cheaper for me to get phone service from Mint Mobile, which uses T-Mobile towers, pay outright for streaming services, and still come out ahead.
Also, to me, Netflix with ads is nearly worthless. Unlike other streaming services, ad-supported Netflix also does not have all Netflix content. And the stuff that is missing is always the stuff I want to watch. It’s actually more cost effective for me to sign up for the more expensive plan for a month or two, watch what i want to watch, and cancel. Ad supported Netflix is not much of a perk if there’s nothing on it that I want to watch. That’s why I will also never subscribe to any bundle that has Netflix. I have Comcast internet (only viable option available to me at this time), and I believe they offer a Netflix/Peacock bundle. But as a Platinum customer, I am already getting free Peacock as part of the Xfinity Rewards program. I want Peacock all the time, but not Netflix. Should a less expensive, but viable internet service come my way, I would consider getting that and then just pay for Peacock, maybe wait for a good sale. But I don’t keep expensive Comcast internet for free Peacock, I keep it because I want something that actually works, and as I said, this is my only option right now.
Hmm, I have an "old timers" account with T-Mobile (55+) that comes with Standard Netflix. It might work for others as a retention device, but I don’t think it would occur too me to avoid switching to a significantly cheaper phone carrier to avoid a $10/month streaming service with ads.
I have that T Mobile plan! 😭
But I got it with a vet discount. 🫣
Free… Yeah, right. I don’t want their service in a bundle. When will they realize that we are trying to get away from commercials. I don’t want ads. You offer me a package with the ads… no thank you. You can’t even give it to me.
I got the bundle package of HULU at 26.99 with Disney+ and ESPN+ bundle. I was told that I can access ESPN= at this bunde because it is not a live package.
I have had Hulu for years because of deals like black Friday. I wonder what will happen when Disney Hulu and ESPN are rolled into one.
Free shipping is built into prices!
Well put.
I took some of your advice a few years ago,
and decided to stick with one service at a time.
I did this until my "Pause window of Opportunity"
with Netflix was about to close. So, I signed up for
a month, paid attention to the content available, and decided
to put it back on pause.
On the Amazon comment you made. You’re right, in my case
I don’t subscribe to Amazon Prime to watch the videos, however
I did get accustomed to their videos being commercial free, so
when this changed, I did opt in to paying the $3 additional monthly to keep it commercial free.
It also made me feel a bit more reason to double down on their content.
We have a great problem. There are so many providers with more content than we could ever
watch, so we can decide to be selective.
I have netflix in my phone plan bill and they pay me a part of netflix and in the bill say how much t-mobile is paying,so for me its good because i have a familiar plan. And am with you, i have now the bundle or the triple of hulu,max and disney + and am going to stay with it. And its a good offer, before i had the 3 app separated.
Never cancel vhs tapes blue ray movies
I guess the only downside to those pre-paid providers is the durable of there phones. I have relatives that go that route and they say the quality of those phones they require (some) you to buy or offer are inferior.
@MichaelSaves Just wanted to note on top of everything that you pointed out with bundling and streaming services, if you are a student in any higher education institution, you can receive Hulu at $1.99 per month and also get Disney plus as a $2 add-on for a total of $4 a month. Also Amazon prime gives you a discount for 6 months free of Amazon prime as a trial and then also 50% on the subscription price after your trial is over. Max will give you a discount of $4.99 YouTube premium will give you a student discount of $7.99/month . 😊
Yeah just like when a hotel says it offers "free breakfast" or "free wifi". It’s not free. It’s in your bill.
I sort of agree & disagree with you on the phone plan. I agree from the standpoint that nobody should ever get a phone plan just to get any streaming benefits because it just doesn’t make any sense. However, if you’re getting those plans for other reasons then take advantage of it.
I work in downtown DC and in my commute on the VRE there are a lot of dead areas. There’s also a big dead area when going between Woodbridge and Manassas. I tried using Comcast’s cellphone plan for a while because I figured with them using Verizon it might be better. However I found it to be worse than T-Mobile and if you look at the fine print these secondary carriers that use Arizona, AT&T and T-Mobile will get throttled. I’ve tried almost every plan but getting the T-Mobile plan I have gives me the best results. I also no longer get the dead spots when crossing the Potomac or at Crystal City so the way I see it I’m going to have that plan anyway so why not take advantage of the perk.
Michael, your videos are excellent. However, you so often fail to mention that these services, like Hulu, which offer these "deals" are offering the adds version, not add free. That may be obvious, but you might want to tell viewers that if you don’t mind watching a constant barrage of adds and non-stop interruptions, then the plan might be for you. I would not watch Hulu with ads even if it was free. But I understand others might not mind. It’s just a good thing to remind your viewers that they will be smothered with advertisements ,whatever they watch. Is that really worth it?
All internet should go out of business for watching TV
Vhs tapes more free watching than all that is i think all internet should go out of business vhs tapes taking over now days everything proven online
If I see a free for a month or week deal (or$0 .99 per) I’ll grab it – even at that value it is sometimes NOT worth the effort cuz certain services simply suck @$$.
If no deal pops up when I am out of viewing – I pony up for a month of X -Y or Z.
Any time I do sub (free or not) I always cancel it right away to prevent ayn auto renewal
That’s what I’ve been Rocking for years. Unfortunately since I have plowed thru pretty much all OLD but GOOD content – there is less & less watchable NEW content on any of the Channels.🤮
🤡WOKE & DEI could have something to do with that🤡
I canceled all streaming and bought a blu ray player.
I’m leaning into the myentertainment genre pack also, and nothing else 🙂 It’s a pretty good deal to me, Michael! 🙂 Thanks again for the amazing videos!
Easy…offer me an Ad-free Annual plan.
I left cable cause I hated ads, I don’t want to pay 4 ads.
Hulu comes free when you purchase the Kroger membership. The Kroger membership is $99 per year.
Why would anybody pay for a service that still pushes ads?
I got your Disney+ with Hulu with your Black Friday special of $3. Will I get ESPN with it? Right now I have ESPN+.
As a big baseball fan, the T-Mobile Home Internet perk of MLB TV is a great. I can’t do better for internet than the 50 dollars a month I pay for TMHI. I would likely subscribe to MLB TV for 150 a year even if it were not a perk. In fact I probably spend more time watching MLB TV than any other streaming service I pay for.
My new bill with TMO for 2 lines unlimited and TMO gateway for $107. I’ve been with them 19 years. My bill became $120 when I went to 5G gateway. They have given me Apple, Hulu for a year for free in the past. I currently get some freebies like food and gas discount. I’ve used it for car rentals. I pay for Sling Blue and Netflix no ads. That my base that currently won’t go away.
— Once again. Right on target.
Thanks for the info!