Saving a few bucks on cable bill

I have had a real hard time getting reliable internet service on the island. I did a little research and found that the U.S. Is lagging behind in this area too, ranking 35th worldwide. It's also much more expensive. Go figure.
 
Internet connection 25 down/10 up is $40 a month.
Add approximately $27 a month for Netflix streaming with one disk at a time and Hulu Plus.
Less than half the price of cable.
 
Little bit funny ... when a similar thread was started 2 years ago I called Comcast and got my bill dropped $45/mo by asking for the introductory offer (even tho I was a existing customer). Now upon seeing this thread I looked at my cable bill and saw that the intro rate "expired" ... so I called again ... same result (bill back down to the intro rate).

THANX!
 
Chuckanut said:
Internet connection 25 down/10 up is $40 a month.
Add approximately $27 a month for Netflix streaming with one disk at a time and Hulu Plus.
Less than half the price of cable.
Click to expand...

$40 a month for high speed internet.
$23 a month for Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and Amazon Prime.
Half the price I paid for cable.
never going back!
 
mickeyd said:
TWC started charging $5.99/month for a modem lease (previously it was free) so I optained a modem for around $60 and advised them to lower my bill that they had just increased. (what a racket!):mad:
Click to expand...
Yep, I'm within days of cutting the cord - at least I think I am. The only thing standing in the way at the moment is getting confirmation from my wireless internet provider that their highly sophisticated OTA two-way broadband carrier pigeon system can reach me out here with a higher speed connection than I currently have.
 
Normally I just plod along every month getting the Verizon bill, grind my teeth and then just pay the bill. Got our latest bill today and I'm pissed. These guys don't know a good customer when they see one and just keep gouging you. Tomorrow I'm on the phone to get this bill lowered. Here's my breakdown:

$30.00 Unlimited digital phone.
78.00 FIOS Ultimate HDTV (just upped from $70). Ultimate includes Golf,
NFL and college package.
39.99 Internet 35/35
19.99 HBO (package includes Showtime)
5.99 Digital Adapter (in addition to 3 free ones)
16.99 HD DVR rental (Also get a 2nd cable box free)
-10.00 12 month promotion HBO

$180.96 Sub Total
22.51 Taxes and fees

$203.47 GRAND TOTAL PER MONTH (plus $8 for Netflix)

A year ago this bill would have been $175. They just keep digging away at you. Really, this is our only entertainment so $2400 per year isn't bad I guess.
 
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JOHNNIE36 said:
Normally I just plod along every month getting the Verizon bill, grind my teeth and then just pay the bill. Got our latest bill today and I'm pissed. These guys don't know a good customer when they see one and just keep gouging you. Tomorrow I'm on the phone to get this bill lowered. Here's my breakdown:

$30.00 Unlimited digital phone.
78.00 FIOS Ultimate HDTV (just upped from $70). Ultimate includes Golf,
NFL and college package.
39.99 Internet 35/35
19.99 HBO (package includes Showtime)
5.99 Digital Adapter (in addition to 3 free ones)
16.99 HD DVR rental (Also get a 2nd cable box free)
-10.00 12 month promotion HBO

$180.96 Sub Total
22.51 Taxes and fees

$203.47 GRAND TOTAL PER MONTH
Click to expand...

On the good side, you do have Fios, which has a better reputation than TWC, you do have Golf, NFL, and College, you do have HBO and Showtime, and you do have a DVR and digital adapter. Are the sports and HBO worth maybe $125 or so/month to you?
 
Let's see... I'm at about ...

$20/month - DSL Internet (not the fastest, but price hasn't increased at all)
$45/month - landline unlimited nationwide calling (yep, landline)
$0/month - OTA TV (of course, just bought the OTA DVR and antenna I'm happy with, so $0 from now on)
~$10/month - tracfone prepaid that I load minutes once a year
-----
$75/month total
 
calmloki said:
On the good side, you do have Fios, which has a better reputation than TWC, you do have Golf, NFL, and College, you do have HBO and Showtime, and you do have a DVR and digital adapter. Are the sports and HBO worth maybe $125 or so/month to you?
Click to expand...

Wait while I ask my wife. She said yes. Just about a year ago we bought a new TV so she could see it better. Big reason was she could better read the on-screen guide. Worked somewhat. Of course we did this just in time for the super bowl last year. It's a 70" Visio smart TV with Netflix built right in. We love it.
 
JP.mpls said:
Keegs,
Mine is only $40/month, but I haven't looked for a while. It has probably jumped to $60 by now.

They kind of have me on this. It is really fast problem free service, and I like the wireless router/modem setup that communicates with my laptop and Blue Ray players.

I can save $10/month by buying my own modem, but if I have problems they can blame my modem, so I've hesitated on doing that. I think nice ones are about $100.


JP
Click to expand...

I bought a reconditioned modem for my mom and one for me when our cable company started charging monthly rent on theirs. I bought on Amazon and I think they were both under $30 each. Brighthouse had a list of 'approved' models so I made sure I bought one of those. We have had no issues over the last year. Money well spent.
 
This will be interesting to watch. It appears cable and satellite providers are heading for trouble. As they lose subscribers, they jack up rates, which causes them to lose more subscribers to cheaper alternatives. It's becoming a circular ride on a lawn cigar.
 
There is a series of videos on YouTube called "cord cutters" that has some good ideas for saving money on your cable bill, or shutting it off entirely. It has hosts that talk about the pros and cons of different setups and review new equipment. Sometimes too they play videos people send in of their home setups. In addition, just viewing these brings up tons of amateur videos in the "recommended" sidebar uploaded by Dick and Jane.
 
OK, like a lot of people, we just recently "cut the cable," so I'll add my numbers to the discussion:

Internet: $69/mo for FiOS 50/25 (I could go cheaper, but we need the bandwidth)
TV: $8/mo for Netflix (local channels included with FiOS, no antenna needed)
Home phone: $0 use Goggle Voice with an Obi100 VoIP device

We also use a PC connected to the TV for free Hulu and other streaming content. And we use XBMC with a bunch of "content aggregator" add-ons that get us virtually anything else we can't find... and for DVR functionality on the local stuff.

We were previously paying FiOS around $200/mo for TV/internet/phone, plus HBO and a bunch of boxes. No more. We get everything we want for less than $80.
 
yeah, the post office is in the death spiral ...
 
The cable companies and other internet service providers are fully aware of Hulu, Netflix, etc., and are working on a way to increase internet fees based on data usage.
 
I have Comcast, and I've heard this isn't true for every cable provider, but works great for me.

I think if I have internet with no cable TV, it's $70/month. When I add the most basic cable TV package (like 20 channels) it saves me $10, so it's $60/month. However, they usually get you with the various fees:

$10 for HD service
$10 for cable box rental

And perhaps others. However, it turns out that cable cards are super cheap to get from Comcast, I think it's $2 for the first, free for any after that. So, you can do a few things, one of which is pretty cheap:
1) Build your own HTPC that runs Windows Media Center (for nerds like me)
2) Buy a TiVo off of Craigslist for $35 and don't pay for the subscription

If you do #2, you get a cheap Cablebox with almost no extra fees or overhead. I have a cheap TiVo as my 2nd cablebox in my house, and it saved me $30 to do that instead of picking up an actual 2nd cable box or DTA from Comcast.
 
I would cut the cable (actually satellite in my case) if I could get my locals OTA but were are in a rural area at the bottom of a high ridge between us and the transmitters so no antenna for us. I think the internet streaming from the locals is advancing bit-by-bit so it may be a viable option for me in a year or two.

That said, I'm fairly happy with the satellite service and the cost. Here is ours:

Dish satellite w/DVR and 3 tvs - mid level package65
DSL internet (sufficient for our needs)50
Ooma phone14
Two cell phones (Airvoice wireless $10 plan)20
Total149
 
>SNIP<

That was the sound of me cutting the cord.

I just got off the phone with DirecTV - canceled our satellite service. We've paid their ever increasing monthly bill for the past 15 years, but no more. Thanks to our property's location high on a hill, we have excellent OTA reception from the local TV towers 40 miles to our southeast. And thanks to a 'smart' TV in the family room, a Wii in the grandkids playroom, and a new Roku in DW's hobby/craft/laundry room, we still have access to 90% or more of what we normally watch.

Our monthly cost reduction from cutting the cord isn't huge - only $30 or so, because we had to upgrade our internet service. That, plus the cost of Netflix (we already had Amazon Prime and the associated instant video streaming) ate into our net savings, but our broadband connection is now 3x as fast as before. However, the fact I no longer have to fight with DirecTV for discounts and suffer heartburn from their annual rate increases is icing on the cake.
 
:clap:

The faster internet connection can be a real benefit.
 
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For those cable-cutters with internet only plus an antenna, you may want to check with your ISP to see if they offer internet+local TV. My experience has been that these offerings are actually cheaper than internet alone, and save you the hassle and expense of an antenna. It also typically includes 20-30 additional channels (like WGN and the Weather Channel), plus the local networks are crystal clear 1080p with 5.1 SS... which is difficult to achieve OTA for those of us living in the suburbs of a major city.
 
We cut the cord 3 years ago. Have survived without pain getting OTA providers, CBS,ABC, NBC,FOX and ION plus their assorted side channels and use huluplus to get the few independent channel shows we used to watch. Use a dedicated pc as our dvr - can record 3 shows at a time if needed - Internet + taxes + huluplus = $58/mo - 1 time cost for HTPC was a total of $300
 
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