Increasing (?) costs for communications

[Martha]

I am interested in what people are spending for communications, e.g. land line, internet service, cell phones, and whatever else you use.

We dumped our land lines a couple of years ago and each of us has a cell phone. Our plan is a Verizon plan and costs us $50 a month for two phones sharing 500 minutes. Our plan is almost up and we talked about reducing our minutes as we don't use that many. Well we can't. We can only buy more minutes or stay on our current plan. New, two phone plans start at $60 a month for 700 minutes. Hedonistic adjustments that we do not need!

Our internet is via Clearwire, a wireless service. We pay $35 a month and the service has been so so. Cable was a pain. No DSL has been available. A Verizon dataplan with an aircard would cost $60 a month, but could be used on the road.

For now we are sticking with what we have but we are not happy.

Thank god there is no inflation.

 

[audreyh1]

Our plan is almost up and we talked about reducing our minutes as we don't use that many. Well we can't. We can only buy more minutes or stay on our current plan. New, two phone plans start at $60 a month for 700 minutes. Hedonistic adjustments that we do not need!

Yeah that's annoying isn't it. I'd say keep your current phone plan if you can - it's a better deal than you can buy now.

We're thinking of upgrading to two phones. It'll cost us an extra $10 a month plus we drop to 700 minutes from 900! Feels like a rip. We don't need the extra minutes. For us a two phone plan starts at $70, I wonder why it's only $60 for you.

We use the Verizon Aircard for internet - it works great! I think $60/month is pretty expensive even though that is unlimited time/data. I hope it comes down.

There are a few parts of the country where we can't get internet (West Texas for one), but pretty much anywhere else we've traveled, we've had internet access.

Audrey

 

[REWahoo]

Phone - no land line, $70 month for two Cingular phones w/850 minutes. New plans are the same price with fewer minutes.

Internet - After two failed experiments with wireless radio connections, Cingular aircard/unlimited dataplan at $60 month. Out here in the sticks it is s-l-o-w, but unlike my last two providers, it works.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

while working out of the house (which i did for about 13 years) i had my personal phone line and voice mail. business phone line & voice mail. for long distance callers, an 800 voice mail box. i had a dedicated fax line & a cell phone with, yup, more mail box. add to that my personal email address & the biz email address. sorry but that was just too much wireless & wiring for me.

the day i quit i was down to only my personal email box and one land line. when i started roadtripping last autumn i replaced the land line a verizon cell. while i was at it i hooked dsl through cable.

cable/dsl is $45/month
cell phone 450 minutes for 39.99 but comes to about 48 after this fee & that.

plenty enough communication for me.

edit:

Out here in the sticks it is s-l-o-w, but unlike my last two providers, it works.

you might consider trying a web accelerator such as www.ispeedturbo.com . don't know if these work but they look cool if they do.

 

[wabmester]

T-mobile has pretty good rates on data services. About $20/mo on top of cell, and there's a cheap trick for the Dash (PDA/phone) that can bring that down to $6. You can also get a wifi hotspot deal thrown in for another $10-$20 depending on your package.

I allow myself some fat in my "digital" budget. I think we spend about $260/mo, but that includes a dedicated high-bandwidth web server out in the net cloud.

 

[UncleHoney]

$19 and change for basic phone service, 30 calls a month free and about 10 cents for each one after that. We haven't gone over the 30 call limit in years.

$44.95 for Roadrunner Cable internet. All you can eat. Farily reliable and the price hasn't changed since we got it in 97.

We turned off the satellite Tv about a year and a half ago. Don't miss it a bit.

UH

 

[Martha]

We're thinking of upgrading to two phones. It'll cost us an extra $10 a month plus we drop to 700 minutes from 900! Feels like a rip. We don't need the extra minutes. For us a two phone plan starts at $70, I wonder why it's only $60 for you.

I double checked, you are right it is $70 for 700 minutes. Yuck!

 

[figner]

$48/mo for cingular cell with 500 minutes ($39.99 plan plus fees)
$37/mo for landline + dsl.
No cable.

Communications costs have steadily decreased for me over the last 5+ years. Being in a major metro area probably helps.

A few days ago AT&T announced they would offer nude DSL (ok I like that word better than naked) for $19.99, in which case I'd be tempted to drop my landline. The only reasons to keep it are 1) I'd want to screen more calls on the cell if I gave out that number to everybody, and 2) have heard 911 service is more reliable, as in they can locate you accurately faster. Anyone have anecdotes to share regarding #2?

 

[Bikerdude]

I have Tracfone for emergency cell service @ $100 per yr. and 250 minutes. I never use all the minutes and they roll over.

AT&T land line @ $22 per month,

USADATANET long distance @ .05 per minute.

PeoplePC Internet dial service @ $9.95 per month.

TV antenna. 7 local stations. Free.

Considering AT&T DSL 750Kbps @ $14.99 per month and Basic TV cable service @ $12.00 per month.

 

[scrinch]

For you Verizon users, if Sprint is available in your area, its voice and data prices are typically lower than Verizon. Sprint has a SERO program (Sprint Employee Referral Offer) that is available to just about anyone who can find the e-mail address of a Sprint employee. There are a number of plans, but the most popular one is a 500 minute + unlimited data plan for $30/month. Check out www.sprint.com/SERO. You will have to log in with a Sprint employee e-mail address which you can find by Googling for a Sprint press release. I just got my brother to sign up for this plan for himself and his wife, and he is saving almost $100/mo compared to his old plan with AT&T.

 

[VoyT]

For the moment, we're paying about $40 a month for landline and DSL. Another $50 for satellite. Right now, our cell phone is a pay-as-you go plan with Beyond Wireless. Runs about $5 per month. But that's going away in March when Cingular stops supporting that particular network. I'm considering T-Mobile pay as you go...

 

[lowflyer]

Comcast HS Internet: $50
Sprint Landline: $30
Verizon Wireless: $110 for 3 phones w/2100 mins

For what it's worth, I had Sprint PCS for many years with tons of dropped calls. At least one every day. Been with Verizon for 10 months and I'll bet I've only had a dozen total dropped calls. I use my cell phone alot, so it really makes a difference.

 

[KM]

We're paying too damn much but I don't see any way out of it.


Internet - Verizon DSL $32.

Landline - no long distance, but DH still lives in the dark ages and we need to keep it for the DSL anyway $23.

Two cell phones for myself and daughter, who is away at school $58/mo

Cable just went up to $53. It's our only option....and we have no special movie channels either. I am seriously considering looking into some form of satellite, as the cable has gone up $3-$5 each year for the last few years. Verizon also just sent us something that might be worth reading....

 

[LOL!]

Cell phones for wife and daughter: $80 a month
Landline + DSL: $55 a month
We don't have cable. HDTV via antenna is fantastic.
My company gives me a blackberry (has e-mail, phone and internet browser). Yep, I can read this message board on my bb. That's more than enough communication for me.

 

[dumpster56]

Verizon wireless 700 mins with 2 phones 69.00

basic phone embarq 22.95 no long distance

embarq dsl 24.95

time warner cable 74.13 for the wife, me give me rabbit ears but then again I would miss MTV!

 

[Nords]

I allow myself some fat in my "digital" budget. I think we spend about $260/mo, but that includes a dedicated high-bandwidth web server out in the net cloud.

You "think" you're buying a $3000/year server?!? How many eBay sales do you need to pay off that nut?

$57/month for a land line & DSL from Hawaiian Tel GTE Verizon Hawaiian Tel brought to you by the Carlyle Group.

We could save another $1.65 if we switched the tone dialing to pulse but I'm not sure it's worth the effort to hear Cut-Throat in the back of my mind shouting "What are you saving it for?!?" Our final couple hundred minutes of long distance is coming from an AT&T calling card, but we might go OneSuite when AT&T runs out. The problem is that all those years of access dialing have seared the 23-digit sequence into my cerebral cortex.

No cell phone. Last night our phone rang for our kid, and it was her posse in our driveway... too intimidated or too lazy to ring the doorbell I guess.

 

[larry]

2 Alltel phones (nationwide plan) sharing 1k mins/mo = $75/mo. 256k DSL, 20 free LD minutes, local phone service with caller ID = $55/mo.

Would like to eventually drop the landline but old habits die hard.

 

[TromboneAl]

Landline $25/month
Tracfone $8/month so far (with some refer-a-friends)
Cable Internet $50/month
Long Distance (Kallcents) $3/month

 

[larry]

We could save another $1.65 if we switched the tone dialing to pulse

Nords, I had a Southwest Bell guy confirm to me that even though we had tone service, Ma bell's equipment did everything in tone anyway (even if you had pulse service) so we switched back to the pulse service and it had no effect what-so-ever on our touch tone service other than saving $1.50/mo. That was 15 years and 2 providers ago so it may be worth asking?

 

[sgeeeee]

Phone with DSL for computers: $30
No cell phones: $0
High speed internet service with dial-up hours for travel: $21
Antenna in the attic for TV: $0
============================================
TOTAL $51

 

[Spanky]

Qwest (land phone): 26
Comcast (internet): 42
Cingular (cell phones): 60

almost $130 .. ..

 

[OAG]

We cheat - Verizon "friends and family" plan. Costs us $10 a month plus the one time $25 to activate or program the plain bolts excess Cell phone that was lying around. I know this does nothing for the person that has the base plan but it is a great way to save your kids or others some money if you can live with adding them to the plan. We do not use the phone very much. Mostly, we call others with the same Verizon service which makes the call free to both of us. Very good emergency phone for on the road calls or when the internet phone is not working.

Otherwise we pay for communication etc.,:

Internet -- Time Warner RR
Phone (Local and Long Distance) -- Time Warner
Cable TV (Expanded Basic) -- Time Warner

Package Price: $89.95 + 5.23 Taxes: $95.18 (Locked for a year)

So along with the F&F Cell Service the total is $105.18 a month. Way too high and we are considering dropping back on the TV -- since we do not watch if very much and the local stations on Rabbit Ears works fine for what we usually watch.

 

[fluffy]

Just a tip for those of you paying $40+/mo for cable internet... Many if not most cable companies (including Comcast and Time Warner) will usually give you $19 or $29/mo for 6+ months (depending on promotional offers available) if you call in and tell them you want to cancel cable internet because you are switching to cheaper DSL available in your area. After the 6+ cheap months are over, you can call in again.

The actual availability of cheap DSL and your willingness to switch to it are irrelevant . If by chance, the rep calls your bluff and goes ahead with cancellation request just tell them you'll call back with cancellation date, hang up, and try again (some reps are more flexible than others with this).

 

[BarbaraAnne]

For TV: Using FIOS (fiber optic) Verizon service with 2 hi def TV's and DVR: $75 (after tax).

For Internet: FIOS (fiber optic) Verizon $41 after tax (DH company pays for this)

Cell Phone: $60/month for 850 minutes and unltd nights and weekends (DH company pays for this but we add $10/month plus taxes each for 2 kids -family plan)

Landline: Verizon $36 after tax/month. Would love to get rid of this but waiting till younger kid goes to college. Maybe we'll do it sooner...

 

[magellan_nh]

Monthly communication costs (including taxes)

$14 - TV: Comcast basic (feeds a paid up Tivo)
$44 - Internet: Comcast high speed
$17 - Home phone: Vonage, 500 minutes free anywhere in US or Canada
$8 - My cell: Tracfone
$8 - DW cell: Tracfone
-----
$91

Basically happy with all of these, although the internet cost is a bit high...