Struggling to Cancel Your Subscriptions? Try These 3 Workarounds
Cole Kan/CNET
The Federal Trade Commission's "click to cancel" rule has been blocked.
The rule would have made it easy to cancel unwanted subscriptions. However, the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule earlier this month because the FTC failed to conduct a preliminary regulatory analysis, which is required for rules that could impact the US economy by more than $1 million.
"While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission's rulemaking process are fatal here," the court's ruling stated.
As CNET's consumer insights editor and someone with quite a few subscriptions, I was looking forward to this rule being finalized. It's easy to rack up streaming subscriptions and other monthly services with just a few taps or clicks. Before you know it, you're paying more in subscriptions than you budgeted for.
On average, we spend over $1,000 a year on subscriptions and waste around $200 a year on unwanted apps. And trying to lower that cost by canceling your subscriptions can be tricky when companies hide their cancellation buttons or require you to call or visit an office location just to cancel.
If you're struggling to cancel your subscriptions, here's what CNET experts recommend.
How to find and cancel unwanted subscriptions
Before you can cancel your subscriptions, you'll want to do an audit to make sure you flag any services you no longer want to pay for.
You can spot unwanted subscriptions by combing through your bank account and credit card statements from the past month and looking for recurring charges. If you spot any unwanted subscriptions, log in to your service account and cancel or pause the service. If you're struggling to find an option to cancel, call the service's customer service phone number to end your account. In some cases, like with certain gym memberships, you may be required to cancel in person.
This app can cancel subscriptions for you
If that sounds like too much work, CNET Money editor Kelly Ernst has an easier solution. "The budgeting app I use, Rocket Money, can help you find subscriptions you're not using and cancel them for you. It saved me $400 in 15 minutes."
Rocket Money is CNET's pick for best budgeting app, and it comes with both a free and a paid tier. You can have the app look for recurring subscriptions for free. If you'd like it to cancel on your behalf, you'll need to sign up for the paid tier, which starts at just $6 a month.
You can also find and cancel some subscriptions from your phone
If you pay for subscriptions using Apple Pay or Google Pay, you may be able to cancel them from your phone.
For Apple devices, navigate to your settings and click on your Apple account. From there, click "Subscriptions" and you'll see which ones you're paying for, the amount and when it will renew. From there, you can see other plans or cancel your subscription.
If you have an Android device, you can cancel your subscriptions by opening the Google Play store and tapping your profile icon. From there, you'll navigate to "Payments and Subscriptions" to click on "Subscriptions." You can then see which subscriptions you're paying for, but which you'll need to cancel through the servicer's app or website -- like Netflix or Hulu, for example.
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Trump's Tariffs Explained: What You Need to Know as Inflation Picks Up Again
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More recently, the administration hiked tariffs against Canada to 35% and threatened Brazil with a 50% rate. Amid the uncertainties and upheavals, Trump has barreled forward with his plans, including doubling the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and announcing a new plan to increase the rate for China to 55%. He also hyped up a trade deal on July 2 that leaves Vietnam's import tax rate at a historically high 20%. The sweeping tariff initiative will likely affect your cost of living, which we know from our surveys is something you're worried about. That all came after Trump's push hit its biggest roadblock yet, when the US Court of International Trade ruled late last month that Trump had overstepped his authority when he imposed tariffs. That ruling was stayed, but the fight is likely to head to the Supreme Court. All the while, major US companies like Apple and Walmart have butted heads with the administration over the tariffs and their bluntness about how tariffs will make affording things harder for consumers. Should You Buy Now or Wait? Our Experts Weigh In on Tariffs Should You Buy Now or Wait? Our Experts Weigh In on Tariffs Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. This video is either unavailable or not supported in this browser Error Code: MEDIA_ERR_SRC_NOT_SUPPORTED The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported. Technical details : Session ID: 2025-07-25:dce0bd601bb37e029646c8a1 Player Element ID: vjs_video_3 OK Close Modal Dialog Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Should You Buy Now or Wait? Our Experts Weigh In on Tariffs Amid all this noise, you might still be wondering: What exactly are tariffs, and what will they mean for me? The short answer: Expect to pay more for at least some goods and services. For the long answer, keep reading, and for more, check out CNET's price tracker for 11 popular and tariff-vulnerable products. What are tariffs? Put simply, a tariff is a tax on the cost of importing or exporting goods by a particular country. So, for example, a 60% tariff on Chinese imports would be a 60% tax on the price of importing, say, computer components from China. Trump has been fixated on imports as the centerpiece of his economic plans, often claiming that the money collected from taxes on imported goods would help finance other parts of his agenda. The US imports $3 trillion worth of goods from other countries annually. The president has also shown a fixation on trade deficits, claiming that the US having a trade deficit with any country means that country is ripping the US off. This is a flawed understanding of the matter, many economists have said, since deficits are often a simple case of resource realities: Wealthy nations like the US buy specific things from nations that have them, while those nations in turn may not be wealthy enough to buy much of anything from the US. While Trump deployed tariffs in his first term, notably against China, he ramped up his plans more significantly for the 2024 campaign, promising 60% tariffs against China and a universal 20% tariff on all imports into the US. "Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented," Trump said at a campaign stop in Michigan last year. At one point, he called himself "Tariff Man" in a post on Truth Social. Who pays the cost of tariffs? Trump repeatedly claimed, before and immediately after returning to the White House, that the country of origin for an imported good pays the cost of the tariffs and that Americans would not see any price increases from them. However, as economists and fact-checkers stressed, this is not the case. The companies importing the tariffed goods -- American companies or organizations in this case -- pay the higher costs. To compensate, companies can raise their prices or absorb the additional costs themselves. So, who ends up paying the price for tariffs? In the end, usually you, the consumer. For instance, a universal tariff on goods from Canada would increase Canadian lumber prices, which would have the knock-on effect of making construction and home renovations more expensive for US consumers. While it is possible for a company to absorb the costs of tariffs without increasing prices, this is not at all likely, at least for now. Speaking with CNET, Ryan Reith, vice president of International Data Corporation's worldwide mobile device tracking programs, explained that price hikes from tariffs, especially on technology and hardware, are inevitable in the short term. He estimated that the full amount imposed on imports by Trump's tariffs would be passed on to consumers, which he called the "cost pass-through." Any potential efforts for companies to absorb the new costs themselves would come in the future, once they have a better understanding of the tariffs, if at all. Which Trump tariffs have gone into effect? Following Trump's "Liberation Day" announcements on April 2 and subsequent shifting by the president, the following tariffs are in effect: A 50% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports, doubled from 25% as of June 4. A 30% tariff on all Chinese imports until the new deal touted by Trump takes effect, after which it will purportedly go up to 55%. 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Samsung, based in South Korea, is also likely to avoid the full force of Trump's tariffs. In an effort to minimize its tariff vulnerability, Apple has begun to move the production of goods for the US market from China to India. Will tariffs affect prices immediately? In the short term -- the first days or weeks after a tariff takes effect -- maybe not. There are still a lot of products in the US imported pre-tariffs and on store shelves, meaning the businesses don't need a price hike to recoup import taxes. Once new products need to be brought in from overseas, that's when you'll see prices start to climb because of tariffs or you'll see them become unavailable. That uncertainty has made consumers anxious. CNET's survey revealed that about 38% of shoppers feel pressured to make certain purchases before tariffs make them more expensive. 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CNET's Money team recommends that before you make any purchase, especially a high-ticket item, be sure that the expenditure fits within your budget and your spending plans. Buying something you can't afford now because it might be less affordable later can be burdensome, to say the least. What is the goal of the White House tariff plan? The typical goal behind tariffs is to discourage consumers and businesses from buying the tariffed, foreign-sourced goods and encourage them to buy domestically produced goods instead. When implemented in the right way, tariffs are generally seen as a useful way to protect domestic industries. One of the stated intentions for Trump's tariffs is along those lines: to restore American manufacturing and production. However, the White House also says it's negotiating with numerous countries looking for tariff exemptions, and some officials have also floated the idea that the tariffs will help finance Trump's tax cuts. 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These issues, and the general instability of American economic policies under Trump, are part of why experts warn that Trump's tariffs could have the opposite effect: keeping manufacturing out of the US and leaving consumers stuck with inflated prices. Any factories that do get built in the US because of tariffs also have a high chance of being automated, canceling out a lot of job creation potential. To give you one real-world example of this: When warning customers of future price hikes, toy maker Mattel also noted that it had no plans to move manufacturing to the US. Trump has reportedly been fixated on the notion that Apple's iPhone -- the most popular smartphone in the US market -- can be manufactured entirely in the US. This has been broadly dismissed by experts, for a lot of the same reasons mentioned above, but also because an American-made iPhone could cost upward of $3,500. One report from 404 Media dubbed the idea "a pure fantasy." The overall sophistication and breadth of China's manufacturing sector have also been cited, with CEO Tim Cook stating in 2017 that the US lacks the number of tooling engineers to make its products. For more, see how tariffs might raise the prices of Apple products and find some expert tips for saving money.
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CNET
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I Tried These 4 Easy Router Tweaks to Solve My Slow Wi-Fi Issues
Like most everyone I know, I rely on the internet for nearly everything: streaming, working, gaming and keeping all my smart devices running smoothly. A fast, stable internet connection isn't a luxury anymore; it's a necessity. But even though I'm paying for gigabit internet, I still run into random slowdowns and frustrating Wi-Fi dead zones in the house. If you've been in the same boat, you get it. It's annoying when your speeds don't match what you're paying for, especially as the internet price tends to increase yearly. The good news is that there are a few easy tweaks that can seriously boost your internet performance -- and you don't have to be a tech expert to do them. To keep your Wi-Fi running smoothly, consider these simple tips and tricks. They are designed to optimize your Wi-Fi set-up and keep your Zoom meetings and gaming sessions running uninterrupted. Read More: Best Wi-Fi 6 Routers for 2025 1. Invest in the right router for your space First things first: you can trace many connection issues back to your equipment. It all starts with choosing the right router. Not all routers are the same, and your wireless speeds depend on variables like the size and layout of your home. Locating local internet providers A single wireless access point should suffice for most apartments and smaller homes (under 1,500 square feet). If your router is several years old, consider upgrading to a newer model or Wi-Fi 6E. That's not the latest and greatest generation of Wi-Fi technology -- that would be Wi-Fi 7 -- but it's newer than what most have in their homes. It should give you faster wireless speeds and better overall coverage for a reasonable price. For bigger, multilevel homes, it's worth considering upgrading to a mesh network to offer consistent coverage throughout the house. If you install the main access point and find that a far corner of your home doesn't have solid wireless coverage, just add another node to that area. Problem solved. To learn more, check out our list of the best mesh routers. If you need some additional guidance, consult our router buying guide. It's worth noting that where you place the primary access point still matters, regardless of whether you have a single access point or a mesh network. 2. Find the best place for your router Chris Monroe/CNET When you first move into a new home or apartment, the modem is usually installed along the wall in one of the far reaches of the house. This is simply because that's where the line comes into the house and the technician's job is to set up the connection, not optimize your network. That part is up to you. It's tempting to leave everything where the technician set it up, especially if you feel clueless about the best place to put a router, but it's unlikely that the original location is the most optimal place for your router. That said, location might just be the most important consideration when trying to boost your Wi-Fi. Even if you have the newest router technology, you might not be getting the fastest speeds if your router is poorly placed. Here Are The Wi-Fi Range Extenders We Recommend Here Are The Wi-Fi Range Extenders We Recommend Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 4:45 Loaded : 2.10% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 4:45 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Here Are The Wi-Fi Range Extenders We Recommend Choose a central location Routers send the signal out in all directions. If you keep your router in the left corner of the house, you're losing wireless coverage, and if your neighbors can guess your Wi-Fi password, they can easily access your network. Moving the router to a central location is your best bet for consistent speeds (and network security). Installing a router across the house from the modem may prove troublesome. It may require manually running an especially long Ethernet cable under the floor or along the bottom of your walls, or enlisting the help of power line network adapters, which use your home's electrical wiring to pass an internet signal from point to point. The improved wireless coverage will be worth it. If you're curious about the difference between a Wi-Fi and Ethernet connection, former CNET broadband writer Hallie Seltzer tested both connections at her house to determine which worked better. Raise the router Routers tend to spread their strongest signals downward, so it's best to mount the router as high as possible to maximize coverage. Try placing it high on a bookshelf or mounting it on the wall. Search online, and you'll find many custom wall mounts built for specific routers, like this stick-up mount for the Eero Pro 6 mesh router. A router mount is an easy solution if you're struggling to find an elevated spot for your router without a tangle of messy cords. Avoid other electronics Pick a location that's away from other electronics and large metal objects. The more walls, large obstructions and electronics near your router, the higher the chances are that something will interfere with the strength of your signal. One type of electronic device to especially avoid is the microwave, which emits a strong signal in the 2.4GHz band, the same wireless band your router operates in. Be careful not to stick your router behind a large TV, which can cause electronic interference while also physically blocking or disrupting the signal. Along with electronics, keep an eye out for bulky furniture and the like that might be limiting the signal's reach. Wi-Fi doesn't travel well through water, for instance, so if you have an aquarium in your home, try to avoid situations where it'll be in between your router and the device that needs to connect. 3. Change Wi-Fi channels The Wi-Fi bands your router uses affect your speeds, but it's pretty easy to switch between channels. Most routers come with 2.4Ghz or 5GHz channels -- you can think of those channels as the highway your internet network uses to transmit data. More advanced routers, like the Wi-Fi 6E and the Wi-Fi 7, come equipped with a 6GHz channel. You should be able to switch your router's Wi-Fi band in the Wi-Fi network settings, though that may differ slightly depending on the router. While most routers use a dual-band technology, which allows them to use both frequencies at the same time, you may be able to choose a Wi-Fi band to prioritize. The 2.4GHz band offers a wider range but is slower than the 5GHz band. Conversely, the 5GHz band is faster, but it struggles with short range and keeping your entire house connected at fast speeds. Still, switching channels is a quick solution to slow Wi-Fi. 4. Set up your Wi-Fi antennas properly Some routers have no antennas at all, but some have up to eight. These antennas help direct the signal. If there are two or more antennas on your router, don't position them all in the same direction. Instead, make them perpendicular to one another -- position one horizontally and the other vertically. Or slightly change the position of all the antennas to cover a wide range of angles. You might have to experiment with speed tests to find the most effective configuration. The signal from each of those antennas will come out like a wave traveling in all directions, and that wave will be perpendicular to the antenna itself, so a vertical antenna is going to be more helpful in single-story homes, while a horizontal or angled antenna is going to put out a signal that travels upward, which might be more useful in a multistory home. Wi-Fi mapping software -- like NetSpot -- can help you visualize your network's strengths and find and address weak spots. Matt Elliott/CNET 5. Map your Wi-Fi signal In worst-case scenarios, you may have to map out the Wi-Fi signal in your home to find dead zones and analyze the range of coverage. Several years ago, we used the NetSpot software to map out the signal strength throughout the CNET Smart Home. Ultimately, we got a great look at the weak spots in our Wi-Fi network, which helped us shore things up by moving our hardware to more optimal locations.
