Despite living in the most densely populated area of the 3rd most populous state, There is literally only one cable TV provider (aside from satellite). I have searched all Labor Day weekend and it’s true. Comcast, Verizon, wow, etc no one offers service.
I was paying $133 a month for basic cable and 30mbps internet. I consider that excessive. I don’t even watch much tv and my internet is basically M4C, buying guns at G&R, bill pay, and email.
I called the cable company and they were willing to reduce my bill by $10, but I wanted $50. So I told them I’ll just stick with Internet only ($58) until I find something better someplace else.
I also reduced my Verizon Cell phone bill by $30 a month by reducing my data.
Does anyone here have any recommendations? I was paying $225/mo for cable, Internet, and a cell phone. That’s insanity. That’s a Glock 19 every 2 months, or a nice cruise for 2 annually. I’m now down to $130 but I’d like to reduce it more.
Thoughts? Considering there are no other local providers, I feel like I’m out of options. How about Internet through Verizon wireless using cell phone hot spots. Is that a decent speed?
Like another 10 a month gets you all the sports channels and the roku has lots of included streaming channels that are what history, discovery, military channel, etc etc used to be before they went to crap. Add in a netflix and/or Amazon prime subscription and thats all most people need.
I used a Verizon hot spot as my sole internet connection for a while. Speed was OK but you really had to watch your usage. I was barley getting by on 10 gigs a month.
My buddy did the same thing a while ago. He has a Netflix subscription and also bought a digital antenna for the TV. He gets local digital channels with the antenna. Only thing he pays for is internet now from the local Time Warner.
Yes! Welcome to the cable-haters club, Euro! You now have lower bills, no BS 24-hour “news”, and with a high-speed internet connection you can watch your shows on your schedule and commercial-free.
We have just the “premium” internet from our local cable provider. It works fine, we can usually stream video to the TV and one other device without any problems. Their customer service was really confused when I told them I didn’t want the cable/internet/phone 3-pack.
Them: “But it’s such a good deal! You save $10 on your Internet!”
Me: “It’s a total of $70 more a month, and we only use the Internet. That’s not a good deal for us.”
They are still trying to get us to sign up for cable.
We use: iTunes, Hulu, Netflix, and the free channels offered on Apple TV. The apple TV box cost us $100, and the other services we pay for total less than $20 per month. That’s less than 40% of what we paid for cable, and we utilize these services much more. With cable, we wouldn’t even switch it on for weeks at a time, so that money was just wasted.
No cable TV for 5 years. I don’t miss a thing. One thing you can do for internet is call and complain about the price and ask to be put back on a promotional plan. No other industry would get away with jacking prices on loyal customers and the Cable industry should not either, but it is a monopoly.
I cut the cord over a year ago. I do miss some things but not enough for a new bill! I have two Roku Boxes and a pair of Chrome Cast dongles. I have Amazon Prime and Netflix and a digital antenna, I get the networks, it is effected by the weather, just like when I was kid. It’s just not that important. I confess I did buy Walking Dead and Turn and now the new Fear The Walking Dead because those are shows I want to watch. I get Epix, a movie channel from my internet provider. I get Crackle too. I know there are many more free channels out there too.
Could you guys (and gals) post links to what has been posted. Looking to cut the cord myself. Only watch Fox news, local weather, weather channel, and outdoor channels. Plus racing like Lemans and rally.
The money I could save could up my Internet speed to compensate.
Cricket wireless. They run off of AT&T towers from what I remember. I pay $35/month after taxes. Wife is on there too and our combined cell phone bill is $70.Use a roku and netflix for media needs through the internet you currently have. Unfortunately, high speed internet in my area is kinda sparse so I take what I can get.
Cable? I never hooked it up in my current residence (1yr). I have Internet for $25/mo. I waste enough time on here to bother with television, haha. All I know is that twc sucks!
We cut the cable years ago. We had Timer Warner, to rent their On-Demand movies in HD it would cost us $4.99 to have it on our DVR (which ate up space) for a whopping 24 hours. **** that! We have a Family Video down the road from us and with their half price membership I’m paying $0.50 - $1.50 for Blu Ray movies, new release are typically 24 hour rentals but everything else is five night rentals. Plus, the video store has an enormous selection compared to Time Warner’s On-Demand, Netflix, and Red Box. I’m nostalgic, I actually like going into and browsing in a video rental store. With the internet we watch pretty much any TV show we want online.
I’ve done something similar with my cell phone, I do not have a smart phone or need one to surf the web, find directions, etc. The absolute cheapest plan AT&T would offer me was $40 (not including $10 in taxes/surcharges) for no data and limited talk/text on my dumb phone so I told them to go **** themselves and now have a no contract smart phone via T-Mobile’s partnership with Wal-Mart. I get unlimited talk/text and I forget how much data for $24.99 a month.
It would do people good to shop around for better deals on everything from cable to auto-insurance. The various consumer industries out there are a** raping We the Consumers.
Several years ago I was paying $180 a month just for my satellite TV (full package, all movies channels) then another $100 for internet and phone.I dumped the dish and was able to get a Uverse package for $200 a month. This is the premium package with all movie channels, high speed internet and phone.
The internet is not as fast as cable, but results are good enough for me. Btw for consideration, back in 1979 my Dad was paying $110 a month for cable TV but we had ALL THREE movie channels (HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel), we used to call such a setup “galaxy TV.”
I went with just internet for years. Then my wife moved in. I’d like to get rid of cable completely again but my wife insists on having it for NHL games and BBC. We ended up saving a lot more with a package deal. Apparently I have a VOIP phone, but we’ve never so much as plugged one in. With my service, it would almost cost more to have just the 50Mbps internet by itself (some locales around here can get 100+Mbps, but not in my neighborhood. Believe me, I checked).
Most of my media consumption is through the internet. I was running a dedicated media PC but when it failed I switched over to an Amazon Firestick. Since we’re already a Netflix, HBO, and Amazon Prime subscriber that was a seamless transition.We also have a Roku in the bedroom but I can’t remember the last time that TV was even used. Some people add Kodi to their Firesticks to get a lot of television. You have to side-load the application to your Firestick though (and some of the providers are legally questionable. I can’t provide any detail here, as I haven’t done it myself).
I’ve wanted to for years, but it just doesn’t add up for me.
I pay $113/mo for internet and basic HD TV with one DVR. If I cancel the cable, that would knock me down to ~$60/mo which would save be ~$55/mo. Or would it? In that case I’d sign up for Netflix and probably Hulu/Roku/Amazon/Google Whateveritscalled as well. So that’s ~$30/mo for those two services (at least I believe so). So now I’m +$25/mo which is enough to make me think, but then I wouldn’t be able to watch shows live, like Walking Dead, etc. I’d also miss out on live hockey, Formula 1, and some football games not on local channels. To me, the extra $25 is worth it to have those thing. So, meh.
But I will say I am calling those bastards every six months or so because they keep raising my rates like crazy. It’ll go from $110/mo to $135/mo just like that. “Sir, you are no longer on the promotions plan.” “Well put me back on it! Why do you treat new customers better than the ones you’ve had for 10 years.” And yes, I know the answer to that… but every time I call they’re less and less likely to reduce my rate as much as I want. I don’t mind paying for goods as that’s how it all works, but if I feel like I’m getting ripped off I start having a problem quick. I’m already about there at $113/mo but the only problem is if I price out other places to switch, they’re all more expensive… so I am up **** creek.