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

[W2R]

I refuse to retire unless I can keep my high speed internet and cable TV. It's not whether or not I CAN live without them; the fact is that I have decided that these are luxuries that I am going to pay for and use.

But cell phone? I don't give a flip if I never see another cell phone. I don't like them, and I seldom use mine. I am thinking of ditching it after hurricane season.

Also, my cable TV is "bare bones basic" cable right now. I am perfectly happy with it, to tell you the truth. On the other hand, I think it would be fun to try digital cable once I retire, and have more free time.

 

[Lusitan]

I can (and do) live without cable TV or a cell phone. But I draw the line at high-speed internet, I could live without it sure, but I don't plan to.

 

[chinaco]

Also, my cable TV is "bare bones basic" cable right now. I am perfectly happy with it, to tell you the truth. On the other hand, I think it would be fun to try digital cable once I retire, and have more free time.

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

 

[Outtahere]

I can do without the cable TV, regular free channels are enough for me (not dh), once I retire I'll give up the cell phone, we'll only need one. I love my highspeed internet so that would be hard to give up.

 

[Bikerdude]

Never had cable or high speed internet. That may change in the next few years though. I have a pay-go cell phone and use about 30 min. a year. I could do without it if I had to.

 

[dex]

I don't have a TV; it is insulting.
Cell phone - yes for when I travel
High speed internet yes - about 250/year more than dial up

 

[Fireup2020]

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.

 

[bssc]

DW's Megacorp pays for her cell our high speed internet. We pay for cable and wouldn't live without it.

 

[VoyT]

I probably could, but I'd rather not live without the cell phone and the internet. The satellite TV I could probably do without, but I suspect DH would object...

 

[W2R]

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.

Although I have lived in more than a half dozen states in my life, sadly, I have't kept in touch with any friends that aren't right here in New Orleans. I make fewer than a half dozen calls a year to relatives (all of which live in other states). We keep in touch most of the time via e-mail and blogging.

When I was younger and first went away to college, my mother (a former English teacher) would insist on receiving long, newsy handwritten letters from me each week. A phone call just wouldn't do, for her. (I finally managed to persuade her that phone calls would do in a pinch.) Anyway, as a result my family is used to communicating via the written word. In the computer age, the long handwritten letters seem to have morphed into e-mail and long, newsy blog entries.

 

[Islandboy]

Has NEVER own a cell phone, Has NEVER susbscribed to cable TV but will find it very frustrating to go back to dial-up.

 

[Khan]

I have a cell phone but it's pay as you go: ~$6 /month

You will have to pry high speed internet from my cold dead hands.

Cable mostly for The Daily Show.

 

[aenlighten]

I still have a landline to go with dsl. That is sufficient for me as I don't care to talk that much.

 

[mountaintosea]

I haven't had a TV since the early '80s. But there is a TV wherever I go. My parents just bought a new TV. The color is really gorgeous!
I have dial-up only but toy with the idea of going DSL one of these days.
I don't own a cell phone. Although had one briefly for the job. I must agree it does come in handy once in a while.

 

[Niko]

I've never had any of the three. I do pay $5.50 for dial-up. It can be inconvenient at times, but for the most part your can get the good stuff off the internet (information) just the same with dial-up. I just don't have the luxury of watching the latest You Tube videos! Cable TV is really a non-starter. We don't watch TV (except for the ocassional movie from the library) and really don't miss it at all. Cells might be nice, but I've never even felt the urge to pick one up. I've borrow cells from time to time, and I always have to ask people who to turn the dang things on and dial numbers.

 

[teejayevans]

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]

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]

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]

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.