Can you live with OUT cell phone, high speed internet and cable TV?

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by chinaco

Digital cable with HDTV and DVR.... You will be hooked!

300 channels and there is nothing on worth watching

I've become a minimalist...no actual TV, but...
I occasionally watch local stations (HDTV), using my laptop with
USB TV thingy.

There are these things they once used as entertainment, they're
call "books", the worst of which is 10x better then any reality show.
TJ

[chinaco]

Originally Posted by teejayevans

300 channels and there is nothing on worth watching

This is a sad fact. 300 channels - 150 running infomercials, 50 running the same reruns. 25 playing the same movie over and over for days on end.

I have about 150 channels. I really only watch about 10 of them and 4 or 5 are available via normal broadcast. If the cable company offered the channels ala carte... I would probably purchase about 10.

[timarmite]

Personally if I do not check my email or my phoen inbox regularly I do not feel well.This sure answer the question.

[Eagle43]

Yep, and I've done it. Heck, in the 50s, I lived in New Orleans without air conditioning.

But, I shan't. I agree most email is junk. So is most TV. But I just bought a big 50" flat-screen and only having the local channels will not do.

Of course, the most important of the three is high-speed internet, so I can communicate with people from around the world about retirement.

Pensions and Vanguard are making me rich. I've got a Cajun brother-in-law who repeatedly tells me, "I'm not gonna deprive myself of nothing." He could be right.

[Moemg]

I could live without a TV and a cell phone but high speed internet NEVER !

[kcowan]

DW and I each have a paygo cell phone. Landline with Yak for LD. Home entertainment bundle is $100/mo with 100 channel digital cable plus PPV and VOD, and high speed internet. We do home swaps so the expense is needed because swappers expect it. Plus we save a bundle on hotels. We take the cells with us so people can reach us wherever we are. It saves a lot of notifications when we travel. Total $180/mo.

Right now we are in a home swap and the home has a DVR. So there is lots of recorded stuff to watch. We might get one someday. It enables you to improve the quality of viewing and at your convenience.

[HFWR]

Have a cell phone; no landline.

Have broadband; don't want to go back...

Have digital cable with HDTV; as someone else said, I have 300 channels, and watch maybe 10. TV has no tuner, and I don't watch the on-air network channels unless a tornado is on the way, in which case I'll watch the weather, so over-the-air TV is worthless, and I'd need a tuner to go backward to basic cable.

[Sue J]

Originally Posted by teejayevans

I've become a minimalist...no actual TV, but...
I occasionally watch local stations (HDTV), using my laptop with
USB TV thingy.

TJ

I saw one of these in a magazine article recently. How much was this? Was it worth it? How easy or hard is it to use?

[Enuff2Eat]

we can always live withOUT. yes, that's include a wife, kids, cars, toys, phones, cable tv... but why should I all of those people and things makes me and happy and poor.


enuff

[Celany]

Originally Posted by Enuff2Eat

Can you live with OUT cell phone, high speed internet and cable TV?

like a lot of people, I don't use the landline, so I need the cell.

I also agree w/the people that mentioned how valuable the internet is. Considering how easy it's made keep track of friends & family all over the world, plus the amount of information I get from it, PLUS the savings I get by being able to buy things cheaper, after online research (or by buying online), it more than pays for itself.

cable, I can (& would) be able to live without. The only reason I have it now is because of an odd agreement with my mother. But it's on maybe once a week.

[theoldwizard]

First to go would be my cell phone, although I'm using it more and more.

Second would be cable, mainly because of cost. Although I have become a cable TV addict ! 2 people, 6 TVs, 5 on cable ! I really hate our cable company. The cost has doubled in about 10 years.. I can't wait until AT&T starts service and give our local company some competition !

I switched from cable modem to the slowest DSL from AT&T about 18 months. Fastest enough for me and it was a huge savings !

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Fireup2025

For those of you without phones, how do you talk to your families and friends if you do not see them? (my friends are scattered all over the world, and family is in CA and I am here on the east coast.) E-mails and IM's are sufficient to a point, but...there is more than that.

We use MS messenger with webcams. It's great and saves a whole lot on long distance and international calls. My sister, my wife's brother and her sister and her 80 year old mother all live in different parts of England and all have webcams - it is better than phone calls as well costing nothing extra. (same goes with our son and daughter).

We do have satellite TV. We have the slower DSL from AT&T and a land line for only local calls. Total bill each month is $38 for phone and DSL.

We use a calling card for rest of long distance and international calls (very low rates) but we do very calling these days.

We have a cell phone for emergencies and when we travel ( less than $100/year)

[deserat]

Cell phone is paid for by work - is turned off on weekends - so probably, yes, could live without. Actually hate it when people answer phones in the middle of meetings, dinners, etc. RUDE!

High speed internet and Cable TV - lived without until husband whined so much - he wanted to surf web at home vice library and HAD to HAVE his sports on cable - he pays for it - I get to use it :-) - I probably could do without - however, have found internet access at home is *very* convenient and FAST.

Deserat

[old woman]

I don't have a cell phone and have basic cable but don't care if I lost it.
I don't want to live without internet, I watch the stock market, do my banking, chat on message boards, IM my family, email and play games.
I will have to seriously decided if I would move someplace that didn't have it and I would never give it up without a very good reason.

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by Sue J

I saw one of these in a magazine article recently. How much was this? Was it worth it? How easy or hard is it to use?

Was about $60, Hauppauge HVR 950, well worth it, the digital picture on my laptop
is every bit as good as any HD TV, just not as large. Install software, plug it
into the USB port, attach antenna, assuming you are in a bigger city that
has HDTV over the airwaves. Can attach it to cable as well, the TV
application will scan for available channels, and you are off. Works with both
regular as well as hi-def channels. Note, the hi-def channels require some
serious CPU, you'll need a recent laptop (3 years or less is my guess) to be
able to handle it, I have a dual core laptop and it consumes close to 50%.
You can record as well.
TJ