Poll on "utilities"

[pb4uski]

Interestingly, over $250 has the most responses thus far by a fair percentage.... surprising to me for a LBYM crowd.... other than that we are all over the place which is predictable.

 

[MichaelB]

Interestingly, over $250 has the most responses thus far by a fair percentage.... surprising to me for a LBYM crowd.... other than that we are all over the place which is predictable.

I think some of the cell phone amounts are the total spent for multiple lines, not the per capita cost.

 

[pb4uski]

Are you suggesting that people on this forum have trouble following instructions? [emoji3]

 

[VanWinkle]

Are you suggesting that people on this forum have trouble following instructions? [emoji3]

We gave that up when we quit working for a living

 

[kcowan]

I think it is divide by two... you have 2 residences and 2 cellphones in your monthly total so you divide by 2, not 4.... right?

If so, then your wish has come true.

There are 2 of us in each of 2 residences. So according to OP:

Since we have both singles and couples, adjust as if you were single (eg; include only one cellphone).

so I divide by 4.

 

[Midpack]

Interestingly, over $250 has the most responses thus far by a fair percentage.... surprising to me for a LBYM crowd.... other than that we are all over the place which is predictable.

That was a surprise to me too. Especially given how many people spent little or nothing on TV? But that's what polls are for.

I think some of the cell phone amounts are the total spent for multiple lines, not the per capita cost.

 

[Spanky]

way too much money:
cell - $150 (lightly used)
land line - $50 (hardly used)
Internet - $50 (best value!!)

$250 -

 

[Spanky]

I think some of the cell phone amounts are the total spent for multiple lines, not the per capita cost.

Yes, ours is a family plan of 4 people. It is about $150.

 

[GTFan]

Landline? What's a landline?

Had Google Voice for many years on a whole-home phone system, finally ditched it when they changed authentication and my old Obi100 quit working. Just cells now, best deal I've found is Mint Mobile for $15/mo. including 2GB LTE data.

So our current cable/HSI + 2 cell monthly is a little over $150. Would be even cheaper if we could use Xfinity mobile (free talk/text) but they only let you BYOD with iPhones right now and I'm not buying one of their phones (I use Android, wife is iOS).

 

[John Galt III]

About $70.

TV: nothing
Internet: $50
Land line: $13
Cell phone: $7

Er Eddie, I have a land line, local calls only, for $28 per month (yes, I have my reasons for having it). How do you get a land line for only $13 per month? Thanks.

 

[Rianne]

DH cell included:
ATT: Landline, internet, cable TV (all the bells and whistles) bundle-$115/month
Cell (Consumer Cellular 2 phones) 2GB data, unlimited text, calling - $48 tax included
Netflix and Amazon Prime: $19.95


Adjusting if I were single: $159/month

 

[W2R]

That was a surprise to me too. Especially given how many people spent little or nothing on TV? But that's what polls are for.

I just have an indoor OTA antenna.

I stopped paying for TV reception, and I don't pay for streaming video or devices to receive TV shows.

Frankly I just don't enjoy TV as much as I did "back in the day", and I almost never watch TV any more. For me, the TV experience was beginning to feel like almost hypnotic, mindless indoctrination and it occurred to me that nobody was forcing me to watch it so I almost never do. I speculate that maybe others have come to the same conclusion or epiphany.

I'd rather do other things for entertainment, such as read and participate here on the forum, play video games, follow my investments and spending, spend time with Frank, enjoy what New Orleans has to offer, and more. We have so many other entertainment options these days that to me are preferable to TV.

 

[oscar1]

You have to normalize your coats factoring in promos which run out within a year typically. I have even heard Spectrum is tracking people who flip to another service provider’s promo deal only to be refused service on the way back (sounds like more of a threat than reality. After all, can they really refuse service? Doubt it.)

I have been a cord cutter for 4 years now. But Spectrum Internet (non-promo, no GB limits) is up to $74 a month now.
Spectrum Internet = $74
TMobile 55+ Cell Plan for DW, 1 iPad, DH (unlimited data) = $70
SlingTV, Hulu = $60
Landline = $N/A
Total = ~$200 USD

 

[pb4uski]

There are 2 of us in each of 2 residences. So according to OP:
so I divide by 4.

I guess I was looking for the cost of one residence and one cellphone, irrespective of how many people inhabited the residence (thought in most cases here one or two). NOT the cost per inhabitant of a residence.

 

[athena53]

Landline? What's a landline?

I keep MagicJack because my cell phone plan (Ting) is pay-as-you-go and I HATE it when my cell phone number gets used by marketers or for post-service "customer satisfaction surveys". If my phone rings when I'm out running errands it's fine if it's a family member, a friend from church calling about an upcoming event, etc. I get really annoyed if it's anything I define as "spam". The MagicJack number is fine for businesses. Most of the time I just let it go to voicemail. Well worth the annual cost, which I think is about $40/year.

 

[GTFan]

Free Google Voice numbers are the answer for that.

 

[NoMoreJob]

TV (YouTube TV) - $37/month (grandfathered at original rate)
'Landline' (Voipo VOIP service) - $8,00/month
Cell (Google Fi) - $23/month incl. normal data use
Internet (local fiber provider) - $47/month

Total - $115/month

 

[cranberryjoe]

TV $0
Landline with slow crappy DSL Internet $95
Cell $45 (my share of a $90 bill shared with SO)

Total for me: $140

I dropped my Satellite TV service early this year (about $80) and don't miss it. Haven't replaced it with anything since my traditional TV viewing had dropped to almost zero. I occasionally (less than monthly) watch content on Amazon Prime, but I use Prime primarily for its other benefits so I don't consider it a TV bill.

 

[arch57]

I cut the cord last year and went with over-the-air antenna, just keeping high-speed Internet from Comcast (still an expensive $80/month) but we're bigtime PC, iPad, streaming users. While the dozen or so channels (all major networks) were okay as we really just watched weather and news I added YouTube TV ($40/month) to watch my beloved Red Sox this year and it was well worth it (wonder if I would've said that had they lost).
The cool think about YouTube TV is we can take it with us to our vacation home in Maine (which barely offered 2 channels via antenna) so for the one price we get about 60 channels in each place. No land lines or cable TV but (2) Verizon cell phones (about $80/month)

 

[maingram]

TV.... Dish----$95
Landline and Internet though Atlantic Broadband--$94
Cell phone AT&T--$85
Total............................................. ........................................$274

 

[pb4uski]

...The cool think about YouTube TV is we can take it with us to our vacation home in Maine (which barely offered 2 channels via antenna) so for the one price we get about 60 channels in each place. No land lines or cable TV but (2) Verizon cell phones (about $80/month)

That is a nice benefit to streaming for those of us with more than one home... unfortunately, my condo association has Xfinity basic cable bundled into our HOA fee... I'm trying to convince them to let it all go when the contract is done (they just renewed for two years a month or so ago).

For many years we did a similar thing with Dish.. we had 3 tvs at home and our 4th tv was at our second home 25 miles away... we had to pay extra for the satellite dish and installation but only had one satellite bill that covered both properties. Dish would allow tht but Direct TV wouldn't play ball so we ended up with Dish.

One bad thing about the streaming services is that if your streaming service includes locals then the locals that you get are based on your IP address rather than what you designate as your home base... so streaming does me no good trying to get my local home news or watch the New England area sports teams while I am in Florida.

 

[arch57]

One bad thing about the streaming services is that if your streaming service includes locals then the locals that you get are based on your IP address rather than what you designate as your home base... so streaming does me no good trying to get my local home news or watch the New England area sports teams while I am in Florida.

I find with YouTube TV that I can "fake" my Home area for awhile but once I switch from CT to Maine I can't go back. YouTube TV uses an app on your smartphone to determine location. However, I do setup recordings of my home TV stations so I can catch up on local CT news while in Maine. My DW still thinks it is all to COMPLICATED

 

[pb4uski]

.... My DW still thinks it is all to COMPLICATED

+1 When we returned home one spring I tried SlingTV as a possible substitute to Dish... DW would have nothing of it... even changing the source of the feed to the tv/monitor is difficult in her mind.

It might be a possibility now that we have Fire TV cube and can change sources as easy as just saying "Alexa, change to HDMI2".

 

[MoPops]

My Verizon bill is over $250. Two iPhones, iPad, hotspot, all unlimited. But I’m still working. Might be changing my plans once retired, especially after reading here how much others are spending.
Dish is $109.. But that’s for Home and farm combined.

 

[mickeyd]

Was paying about $240/month for TV, LL, internet, but recently jawboned Spectrum down to $179 for a better (for me) package. But that still sounds high to me. I recall when I initially signed up for cable (30+ years ago) the cost was $24.99.month.