Cable/ phone options

[Free For All]

I'm not sure if there's another thread about this, so sorry if there's redundancy.

I'm looking at what I pay to Comcast and Verizon each month and it's ridiculous. I'm thinking about:

1) getting rid of my smartphone and going back to a cheaper and more basic phone. I find I don't really need most of the smartphone features. I'm around computers enough I don't need to get online via my phone. I could cut my phone bill way back if I ditch the internet. Talk, text and video- that's all I really need from my phone. I'm also tired of being so fixated on my phone and want to de-tech a bit.

2) ditching cable TV and just using HuluPlus, Netflix & Amazon streaming services via my PS3.

I do want to have a solid wifi connection at home, I'll probably keep that. Comcast's internet connection is very good, I've had no problems with that.

Are there wifi options that are reasonably reliable?

So, what are y'all doing?

[kinuta]

Although I clearly can't give you any advice, if you are so inclined, I'd be interested to know what kind of monthly bills you pay for your various services.

Here you would need a degree in logistics to begin to unravel the complex pricing systems and never ending options.

[Eric]

2) ditching cable TV and just using HuluPlus, Netflix & Amazon streaming services via my PS3.

So, what are y'all doing?

Several people I know are doing this (substituting Roku for the PS3, but same difference). If you really have to watch something live, well that's what bars and friends are for

[PHILLYQ]

Although I clearly can't give you any advice, if you are so inclined, I'd be interested to know what kind of monthly bills you pay for your various services.

Here you would need a degree in logistics to begin to unravel the complex pricing systems and never ending options.

i was just speaking with a friend today and he added HBO and a couple of other premium channels(he has the Verizon bundle of cable/phone/ISP)and his bill is now less than it was before. He also got his cellphone added to his bill(Verizon, too) and it reduced his bill even further!

[Free For All]

Although I clearly can't give you any advice, if you are so inclined, I'd be interested to know what kind of monthly bills you pay for your various services.

Here you would need a degree in logistics to begin to unravel the complex pricing systems and never ending options.

My cable bill (internet & cable, I got rid of my phone land line some time ago) is about $120. My cell bill is about $100. Dropping the internet access for my phone would cut about $30 from the bill.

The first thing I'm going to do is call Comcast & Verizon and tell them about possibly bailing and see what their reaction is. Some folks have said they will lower their rates some folks have said they act like "tough shit, we don't care".

[GA Russell]

FFA, I suggest that you first call the competitors to find out what kind of a deal they will give you before calling your current providers. Then you can ask your current providers to match the competitors' best offers, and threaten to bail if they won't.

I did this two months ago with my ISP, and cut my monthly bill $15.00, from $44.99 to $29.99.

PS - This may not be relevant to you, but I make all my calls from home using my magicJack. The initial cost is only $39.99 for the device and one year's service, and then after the first year the cost is only $19.99 per year for US calls. I don't know if Canada calls are included for free.

Edited September 12, 2011 by GA Russell

[Free For All]

So after doing some investigating looks like I can do the following:

Get rid of my cable and HD box and switch to a basic cable & internet plan. Cable bill goes from $130 to $70. It's actually cheaper to keep the basic cable than to get rid of it entirely. There are cheaper internet options, but the speed suffers and I'm not interested in that. I've got Netflix and Hulu+ to try out, we'll see how they look. I will miss some of my cable shows, but most of them I can watch online.

Get rid of smart phone & internet charge. I can reactivate an older phone I still have and change my plan without any penalties. When my "contract" expires next July I can then get a new non-smart phone if I want. Cell bill goes from $100 to $60.

So about $100 less on those two bills. I can live with that.

[DukeCity]

Quitter.

[Free For All]

More $$ to spend on tunes!!

[Pete C]

I got rid of my land line and ported my old number to a VOIP service, Callcentric. I pay about $3.50 a month for the service including voice mail and 1.5 cents a minute for outgoing calls, which I rarely make (I use my cell for most calls).

My cell is a simple flip phone. I have a Verizon voice-only plan and get a 20% discount through work.

I scaled back to "basic" cable from Time-Warner--just broadcast channels and C-SPAN, basically.

I watch Netflix streaming through a networked Blu-Ray player. I just got rid of my DVD component with the price hike.

I watch MSNBC for free online at:

http://www.rentadrone.org/msnbc-live-rockinroosters/

The same site also has CNN, CNBC, FOX, BBC, Al Jazeera.

All told, my total monthly expense for Cable, Cable Internet, Cell Phone, VOIP and Netflix is under $150.

[thedwork]

i got rid of my cell phone about 6 months ago. i only have a land line. and i haven't had cable, or any tv, since the move to digital a few years back. fuck both of 'em - cell phones and cable. there's free internet everywhere and you can catch up on tv programs in a few ways: hulu, rent dvds from the library for series, etc...

$19.99. that's it for me. public library is free...

[JSngry]

Keeping a land line until I die, most likely, if only because cell phones can get lost or stolen.

My kids think I'm crazy, my wife knows I am.

But she likes the kind of crazy I am, at least whenever Major Harris comes on the radio.

[BERIGAN]

FFA, can you get Metro PCS where you live??? $40 a month on a dumb phone still gets you free unlimited text, minutes, and access to the internet...bought a $40 photo from Best Buy....If not them, check Wal-Mart they have a $30 plan which gets you 1000 minutes I think and $45 gets you unlimited everything...

EDIT: Sorry, doesn't look like Metro PCS is available in your area yet...here is some info on the wal mart straight talk deals http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_query=straight+talk+cell+phone&ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_constraint=0

Edited September 17, 2011 by BERIGAN

[Free For All]

OK, I did it!

Smart phone gone, I re-activated my old dumb phone (glad I held on to it!) so w/o the internet fee and an 18% FSU employee discount my monthly cell bill will go from $100 to about $50.

Digital cable gone, I retained basic cable and high speed internet (I added HuluPlus and Netflix streaming) and my cable bill goes from $130 to $60. I know I'll miss some of my favorite cable channels, but many of those shows can be watched online. Limited live sports will be a drag, but I'll manage.

I'm just glad that Comcast & Verizon will be getting much less of my paycheck!

Edited September 23, 2011 by Free For All

[thedwork]

OK, I did it!

Smart phone gone, I re-activated my old dumb phone (glad I held on to it!) so w/o the internet fee and an 18% FSU employee discount my monthly cell bill will go from $100 to about $50.

Digital cable gone, I retained basic cable and high speed internet (I added HuluPlus and Netflix streaming) and my cable bill goes from $130 to $60. I know I'll miss some of my favorite cable channels, but many of those shows can be watched online. Limited live sports will be a drag, but I'll manage.

I'm just glad that Comcast & Verizon will be getting much less of my paycheck!

:tup

[Dave Garrett]

OK, I did it!

Smart phone gone, I re-activated my old dumb phone (glad I held on to it!) so w/o the internet fee and an 18% FSU employee discount my monthly cell bill will go from $100 to about $50.

Digital cable gone, I retained basic cable and high speed internet (I added HuluPlus and Netflix streaming) and my cable bill goes from $130 to $60. I know I'll miss some of my favorite cable channels, but many of those shows can be watched online. Limited live sports will be a drag, but I'll manage.

I'm just glad that Comcast & Verizon will be getting much less of my paycheck!

Did you get rid of just the premium digital cable packages, or did you actually revert back to analog cable? Comcast, along with almost every other cable provider, is phasing out analog cable as they can cram a lot more digital channels into the same bandwidth that analog transmissions consume. Sooner rather than later, existing analog customers are going to get a letter mandating the switch to digital cable if they want to continue receiving service.

Also, Comcast has a 250GB cap on residential internet service, so you may want to keep an eye on the usage meter available on their website under your account settings if you're going to be streaming a lot of video. I don't really use Hulu or Netflix streaming, so I'm not sure how much bandwidth they consume, but I've heard that streaming a lot of HD content can cause you to hit the bandwidth cap quickly.

[Shawn]

I have no TV service whatsoever anymore, I just use the broadcast HD channels that come in over the antenna. I have internet through Time Warner for $29.99 per month and my cell phone bill is around $40 per month, entertainment comes from Netflix for $7.99. At the moment that's good enough...there are many things to do outside of the apartment.

[GA Russell]

Congrats FFA!

It's possible that the radio broadcasts of many of the sports you enjoy are available on the internet, so you might want to look into that.

[Free For All]

OK, I did it!

Smart phone gone, I re-activated my old dumb phone (glad I held on to it!) so w/o the internet fee and an 18% FSU employee discount my monthly cell bill will go from $100 to about $50.

Digital cable gone, I retained basic cable and high speed internet (I added HuluPlus and Netflix streaming) and my cable bill goes from $130 to $60. I know I'll miss some of my favorite cable channels, but many of those shows can be watched online. Limited live sports will be a drag, but I'll manage.

I'm just glad that Comcast & Verizon will be getting much less of my paycheck!

Did you get rid of just the premium digital cable packages, or did you actually revert back to analog cable? Comcast, along with almost every other cable provider, is phasing out analog cable as they can cram a lot more digital channels into the same bandwidth that analog transmissions consume. Sooner rather than later, existing analog customers are going to get a letter mandating the switch to digital cable if they want to continue receiving service.

Also, Comcast has a 250GB cap on residential internet service, so you may want to keep an eye on the usage meter available on their website under your account settings if you're going to be streaming a lot of video. I don't really use Hulu or Netflix streaming, so I'm not sure how much bandwidth they consume, but I've heard that streaming a lot of HD content can cause you to hit the bandwidth cap quickly.

I got rid of the digital package and now use a DTA to get the basic cable (instead of a box). Thanks for the info, many things there I didn't know about. I don't use the streaming services a lot so far, we'll see how that goes.