I cancelled cable and my landline this week

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

I had come to the realization that our monthly expenses for communication and entertainment were ridiculous. Time for some austerity measures and pad the savings account.

Goodbye:

- AT&T no-frills landline at $31 per month
- Occasional Sprint LD bills when I was too lazy to find my cellphone
- Time Warner cable at $80-100 per month (depending on what you compare to)

Details - I was on a $100/mo roadrunner + digital, no DVR, contract was about to expire and go up to $140 or so. Plus I was going to switch to Earthlink at $42/mo (versus TW RR standalone at $57), but TW offered me $30/month for high speed (for a year) so I took that.

Hello:

Roku box $50. Been using it for a month, it's great. Challenged the family to not turn on cable for a month, was no problem when I asked "is cable worth $4 a day". BUT if you're a sports fan you're screwed.

Netflix $8/month. Via the Roku. Super impressed with the quality, reliability, and selection. We watch a lot of documentaries, which may actually make us smarter than the crap on Cable.

OTA TV Free. Tweaking the signals with an attic mount antenna, but having some issues. Get about 25 channels.

Obi110 VOIP box $50, service FREE. This is a cool device. It's a VOIP box which you plug your home phone into and it routes calls through Google Voice (via Google Talk protocol). I've been using it for a few weeks and aside from occasional voice breakup when doing a heavy upload, it's great.

Here's the fun part -- I got a T-mobile $10 prepaid card and had T-mo port my home phone number to it. THEN I had Google port my T-mo (home phone) to Google Voice for $20. So I still have my old number, old phone, and it rings and works just like it used to, but with free LD, call waiting, caller ID (all stuff I was too cheap to have before) for free.

Let's tally the results:
$130 for up front hardware and number porting costs
$170 ish monthly fees before
$38 monthly fees after

That's about $1500 a year back into my pocket, or for race tires. It's not for everyone, but hey, it's a brave new world.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:30 pm

I really want to cancel RR and cable and figure out a way to setup my/wife's Droid for tethering.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

JamesShort wrote:

I really want to cancel RR and cable and figure out a way to setup my/wife's Droid for tethering.

Root + wireless tether. I did it on my Epic. Still not quite broadband speeds, and I work at home. Works fine though with no outrageous $40/month fee that I think Sprint wants.

Just cancel cable, see how bad it is ... you can always call back and get some cheap promo offer.

Les Davis · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 2:04 pm **Posts:** 2059

JamesShort wrote:

I really want to cancel RR and cable and figure out a way to setup my/wife's Droid for tethering.

I can show you have to tether the Droid, but I don't think you would want to use that as your primary home internet source, not quite fast enough for that especially if you do and sort of Netflix streaming or the like. I also think Verizon would eventually catch on to all the bandwidth and make you pay extra. Once the Verizon 4G is available in Raleigh, that will probably be fast enough, but right now its pretty expensive.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:10 pm

Using VZAccess you can now tether via Bluetooth. I do that on my new Macbook Pro when I travel. It works pretty well, with very little bandwidth loss as compared to being actually wired via USB. - AB

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:33 pm

I've been on this Plan for well over two years now. Still love it!!

Check out amazon's service. They have daily movie rentals for .99. You generally have about twenty days to watch it after you purchase the rental. They also have their prime service, which might be worth it if you buy a lot from them.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 8:49 pm

I wish I could get on this plan, it sickens me every time I pay our cable bill :stick:

I wish cable channels would got ala carte with Netflix, Discovery, TLC, A&E and History would have me set for the most part.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 8:51 pm

I watch too much live sports to give up cable/dish. While it may be a lot of money, I piss away a lot more money on tires and other useless stuff

- AB

Keith Strassel · **Posted:** Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:52 pm

I did this as well ~4 years ago with the 1st AppleTV.
Just figured I could buy shows I liked on iTunes or DVD and not have a recurring bill.
I bought a few shows, but ultimately started watching less and less television. The shows I like usually get cancelled with-in 2 seasons anyway.
Got the ROKU box when it came out. Entertainment got even cheaper and I could re-watch classic shows.

Now the new TV's have apps built in so Netflix, Hulu+, Amazon instant are even easier to access.

I do like the ability to switch devices from TV to iPad to iPhone and pick up where I left off on any given program.

I'll never go back to broadcast TV. It's too painful to watch with all the commercials.

Does anyone else remember that cable TV was not supposed to have commercials because we were paying for the programming?

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:56 am

I did the same thing recently, Mike, and I like it. I still have TWC for internet, and I pay for "Turbo" (which is appreciably faster). For TV, I have the current generation Apple TV, which I really like a lot. Lets me listen to my iTunes library in the living room, and watch stuff on Netflix, all with a little $99 box. It's not as flexible as a Roku, but for me, it's just about perfect. I plugged it in, turned it on, and that was pretty much it.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

I'd love to do this, but 90% of the TV I watch is sports, so no go there.

Stacy King · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:18 am

I'm seriously considering doing this... my "entertainment" bill is almost $275 a month at this point... and that's not including the netflix I pay for that we rarely use at the moment.

Problem is... I LOVE my Dish Network & DVR. I LOVE my DSL.

And while I think I'm patient enough to learn the technology, and deal with the initial hassles of new stuff, and changing how we currently consume our entertainment... I'm not so sure The Missus would transition well. (Though I KNOW she would appreciate any monthly savings we'd realize.)

And the only real sports I watch much any more I can get on Local channels, or when it comes to racing, via Torrents probably.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Stacy King wrote:

I'm seriously considering doing this... my "entertainment" bill is almost $275 a month at this point... and that's not including the netflix I pay for that we rarely use at the moment.

To put this in perspective, here's some more math that I did:

Lived in this house for 9 years. That's $3,456 paid to Bellsouth, and about $11,000 to Time Warner.

At $275/month you're going to give the utilities $33,000 in the next 10 years.

We're down to $120/mo for mobile phones, high speed access, and netflix now.

What cracks me up is that TW and ATT are pitching their "More! More! More!" plans at a time when almost everyone I know is looking for less, not more. They must only be pitching these $300/mo plans to the rich...

Stacy King · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:13 am

LOL ... $120 is about where I started when I combined phone/DSL/Satellite

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:26 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

Stacy King wrote:

I'm seriously considering doing this... my "entertainment" bill is almost $275 a month at this point... and that's not including the netflix I pay for that we rarely use at the moment.

To put this in perspective, here's some more math that I did:

Lived in this house for 9 years. That's $3,456 paid to Bellsouth, and about $11,000 to Time Warner.

At $275/month you're going to give the utilities $33,000 in the next 10 years.

We're down to $120/mo for mobile phones, high speed access, and netflix now.

What cracks me up is that TW and ATT are pitching their "More! More! More!" plans at a time when almost everyone I know is looking for less, not more. They must only be pitching these $300/mo plans to the rich...

I've been doing this math with everything lately. It makes me crazy!! I have found my self on Trulia looking at foreclosures in the mountains and thinking how cheap I could live if I really wanted to make the life style change. If you call my office and there is no answer that's where I am.

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I cancelled cable and my landline this week

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