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My Experience  The Hidden Impact of Mutual Fund Fees  Participate in Research Studies to Earn Extra Cash  Tips on Credit Card Settlements  Can You Really Get Your Credit Score for Free?  How Much Life Insurance Do I need?      Q & A Home > Q & A > Topics:  Cable & Phone Any Tips for Lowering Cable, Internet or Phone Bills? Submitted by: Tip Hero  02/26/2009 12:04 PM   Recently, one of our TipHero readers asked us how she could find lower rates for internet and cell phone plans. We thought it was a great question and one that could help a lot of our readers. If you have any suggestions on how to save on cable, internet, or phone bills please share your tips below so that we can all benefit from your ideas. And thanks for being a TipHero! Related Searches cheap cable  cell phone deals  cheap Internet   --- sponsored: Find Free Restaurant Coupons. --- Tip Hero serves up new money-saving tips daily. Get free updates via Email , RSS or Twitter. Share Tweet   More Money-Saving Tips: Magic Jack Phone Service Less Than $40 a year. Save Money - Beware of Bundled Services Smart Cell-Phone Use to Save Money Time Warner Basic Cable $17/Month   Sponsored Searches: Cable Packages Bundled Services Discount Phone Carriers Affordable Internet Suppliers           Comments:   .................................   We gave up our landline. None of use were willign to give up our cell phones, but we now save $14.99 a month by not having a landline.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 9:22 AM .................................   has anyone switched to direct tv? am thinking about changing over b/c our town only has one cable provider and i pay $130/month for cable right now. looks like direct tv is only $39.99/month plus lease fee of $4.99/month, but am apprehensive about makign the switch.   Posted by frank on February 27, 2009 11:30 AM .................................   To Frank: Direct Tv would be a good switch for you keeping in mind that the 39.99 is for the basic channels, it is a good service and has dvr capabilities but make sure they set the dish right to insure a good reception, their customer service lacks at times unless you are the type like me to rant and rave till they pay attention (they gave my elderly mom and my sister the run around after setting their dish in an unfavorable location to receive the best reception). My sister lives in a small town where only 1 local cable provider is available and they do the same thing, charge triple price for their service because they THINK they're the only option for the small towners... HAAA. Her internet is 45.00 a month thru the ONLY internet provider available in their area and she can only have 1 email account thru "them" but of course can sign up for a hotmail account for others in her family. I've tried to talk her into our version but she thinks her family would die if they didn't have 600 channels of pure crap to choose from. Time Warner Cable and Att Sbc offer packages where you can get cable, internet and home phone all in one package for as little as $99.00 a month if available in your area. Me personally- I have Netflix for $9.99 a month and can pick unlimited movies to watch on-line and have them mailed to me, (they have a box that you can hook up to your tv or if you have certain HD tv boxes or a Xbox gaming system, those work instead of buying the Netflix box) then I also go on-line to abc.com, nbc.com, cbs.com and hulu to watch all the sitcoms I like and even movies. The new HD TV is working well for us. We have an antenea and no cable and we get about 30 channels thru the all FREE digital television We have the slowest DSL wireless connection offered thru ATT for internet at 19.99 a month and a basic phone line for 14.00 a month so total we pay 44.00 total a month for our phone, internet and tv watching programs and are quite happy. Tmobile has a 3G device you can use for internet at 50.00 a month unlimited, Cricket is 40.00 with some possible restrictions and ATT is 50 or 60 with restrictions. This would allow you to not have a home phone and internet connection thru your phone company and have your cell phone and an internet connection that can be used at home or on the go with laptops.   Posted by FreeFreak on February 27, 2009 12:49 PM .................................   The first thing I do is call the customer service department of my existing provider to inquire about current promotions. I called Dish Network the first of February. They knocked off $20 from my existing Dish Network package for the remainder of the year giving me a $9.99 promotional package and I didn't have to make a single change to my existing plan. Do the same for your phone and internet providers. Also do the math and see if a bundled service would be cheaper but don't forget to include fees, taxes, and other hidden fees so your not dumbstruck by the bill.   Posted by Jennifer Clark on February 27, 2009 1:41 PM .................................   If you call your cable and internet provider and quote them other providers specials, they will lower your rate for a limited time, say maybe 6 months. This can only be done a few times, but it can get you through a money crunch.   Posted by Debra Brungart on February 27, 2009 1:43 PM .................................   magic.com Has an apparatus that connects to USB port of PC. The device costs about $46 - first year of use is FREE! Afterwards, $20 per YEAR! (You plug in any corded or cordless phone). I'm not quite "pleased" with service - it crackles sometimes & makes it difficult to hear ENTIRE conversation - hoping that service will improve with more users?   Posted by Karen on February 27, 2009 1:51 PM .................................   Try Magicjack.com for $20 a year phone service through your computer usb port. The device is $20 and there is a 30 day trial so you can see if you like it. I have had it for a week with a few glitches that were fixed by unplugging and plugging back in. The major catch is that it doesn't work with fax machines if that is an issue with you.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 2:04 PM .................................   I have heard good and bad things about magic jack.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 2:07 PM .................................   late last year we ordered Ooma, and have been extremely pleased with it so far. We paid about $120 for the system, but we'll never have a land line bill again (and we were paying $39/mo). It works with our existing home phones, has vm, call waiting/id.. I highly recommend.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 2:19 PM .................................   Every time my promotions are up I try to switch to DSL etc. When I call the cable company to disconnect they match or beat the price. Next year I think I will just call to disconnect so I don't go through the hassle with the other company! I had no idea you could get 30 channels through an Antenna??   Posted by sarah_bosma on February 27, 2009 2:42 PM .................................   Please remember that 911 can only find you if you call from a land line. If you have small children and a babysitter, this is a safety issue in case they are too scared to remember or say your address, and also in the case that they are unable to speak. Be careful before giving up your landline.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 3:33 PM .................................   Has anyone had any luck trying to get a lower rate on texting for families through ATT? I just cancelled due to an extra $30/month. My daughter was really the only one that used it and it is $20 just for her phone.   Posted by asb27 on February 27, 2009 3:49 PM .................................   Please disregard the above message. Emergency services can find your home even if you are using VOIP technology. Drop cable tv all together and get Netflix with the Roko or other streaming video player. For the total package, use Netflix and Amazon.com's on demand streaming movies. You wont miss cable tv for a moment.   Posted by Josh on February 27, 2009 4:11 PM .................................   Cheap phone about $19/month,unlimited local and long distance in USA.Very low international rates.There is a company called vipernetwork.com.I have them from 3 years now.You need to have intenet connection.They are excellent.If you prepay for one year is $18/month,if you pay monthly is abouth $24.It's required a conversion box,about $90,they will send it to you.At the end it's well worth it.I f you count that comcast or at&t charge $35 for local service.Good customer service.I paid $224 /year and I'm done with them for a year.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 4:49 PM .................................   We ditched our TV cable because we weren't watching enough channels to make it worth while but we did up to fast speed cable because we do use the internet. Then we joined Netflix and hulu.com is also a good source of free shows. Then Netflix came out with Watch instantly their movies through your TV or computer so we're happy with what we have now to watch without cable or dish. We also dropped our landline and kept the cell phones.   Posted by Russell on February 27, 2009 5:17 PM .................................   I gave up my landline and do not regret it. MagicJack did not work for me so I tried Vonage. However they messed up my order and customer service was terrible. I purchased an OOMA VOIP system which allows you to make free calls via internet router and I am very pleased indeed.   Posted by Yvette on February 27, 2009 5:35 PM .................................   If you decide to bundle with AT&T, you get phone, internet and Direct. T.V. I called several times and was given a different price for internet and phone. Direct gives you 3 days to see if you want to keep them, after that if you decide you no longer want them (day 4) it will cost you $400.00 to break the contract. Direct will more than likely forget to tell you after a year they will go up x amount of dollars. Reason I know …. My neighbor went with the AT&T bundle plan and she was told that her bill for internet and phone would be $105. 00 a month, it has never been that low. Anywhere from $110.00 -$125.00 per month. Just know all the rules before you go with them and if you need help, you will be talking to someone in India. Good luck. My neighbor is waiting to May 31 and she will change back to Cableone, for much less. ($45.00 per month less)   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 5:47 PM .................................   I agree with Josh's point. 911 can find you now even if you don't have a landline. 911 has had to adjust to the fact that lots of people don't have landlines any more. You can call your local police station and program the direct local 911 number into your cell phone, so I've programmed "9" to go directly to my local 911 dispatcher. I have also heard that you can get a landline solely for 911 calls and I think they only charge you $5 a month or something.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 6:34 PM .................................   I have a bundle package with verizon and i called customer service and asked to downgrade and they were eager to offer me the current promotion. They also took off $30.00 a month for six months, threw in a free cable box rental fee for a year and gave me free movie channels. Sometimes it pays to just ask.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 8:47 PM .................................   I just cancelled my Verizon phone service and bundled phone service with my cable provider (Brighthouse). I now have cable, internet and phone through the cable company and this is saving me $30.00 per month.   Posted by Diana on February 27, 2009 9:15 PM .................................   I'm on Charter Cable 5mb Internet and all I did was to hookup a splitter and I get all the lower channels (2-105) free. This also includes all my local channels in HD plus both ESPNs in HD. All this for only $49 a month. Now I got all my TV's in my house hooked up to it. Great deal! If you have high speed cable internet, do the same thing and save yourself a bundle.   Posted by Terry In Alabama on February 27, 2009 11:33 PM .................................   I have been looking into getting rid of cable for awhile. I found most answers to my wife's concerns. I like the Netflix idea but have found it hard connecting my laptop to the television. This should be figured out soon. I think I have found an answer to my wife's last concern which is how about the local stations. I found a USB antenna for the laptop at Best Buy for about $100. Sounds steep, but I pay about $80 a month for cable. My payback will be short. We both enjoy watching our favorite shows with our 'On Demand' feature since we don't really have time to watch during the week. If you google CSI,NCIS, etc you will find most of the shows are on the web in full episodes. If this sounds too complicated, I found Hulu.com to give great explanations. I am about to pull the trigger on this whole deal. I don't think it will be too hard to get used to.   Posted by anonymous on February 27, 2009 11:58 PM .................................   What channels do you get with just an antena? My son watches sports and the old sitcoms. I watch CNN and such.   Posted by Betty on February 28, 2009 2:38 PM .................................   Phone calls - try skype its free you add money to your account when you need it. all you need to do is buy a headset to hook up to your computer than you call anyone else who has skpe account (free) or a landline (.01 cent a minute) magicjack costs money every year. Now you make call anywhere in the world for free!- you just need internet access! Also hulu lets you watch any tv show for free and their service is free all you need is the internet!   Posted by anonymous on February 28, 2009 4:04 PM .................................   With the antenna, you get just the local channels like NBC, CBS, and WGN around here. But with the internet, you get the rest of what you want. Movies to down load(Netflix) and the weekly TV shows such as anything on NBC, CBS, etc. Just Google NCIS or the old sitcom and watch it on your computer now. It's that easy. The hardest part is getting the laptop to play on your TV. I should have that soon.   Posted by anonymous on February 28, 2009 7:58 PM .................................   right now we have cable and the cost is crazy. we have to have cable internet because my hubby needs it as he works at home. but we did send back the dvr and since we have a picture in picture televistion we hooked 2 vcr's to it. Now we can tape two shows on our vcrs. While we watch one live on our non cable connection. Works very very well. Then just like a dvr we can fast forward,rewind, and pause. We also watch some of our shows on television when we miss them. So at least I can elliminate the DVR Box.   Posted by poorprincess28 on March 02, 2009 5:24 PM .................................   You can rent DVDs from WalMart for $1 a day. Also, if you have cable through Time Warner, at least in our Myrtle Beach area, there is a less expensive package below the BASIC package. They never advertise it, so you have to ask for it.   Posted by Kim on March 03, 2009 10:26 AM .................................   This isn't necessarily a money saver, although it can be. I recommend switching cable/satellite providers every few years. You have the contract, let that run out. See if they'll give you any good offers, if not, switch to a different provider. Two big reasons. Number one, free premium channels for a period of time. Usually cheaper because of sign on rebates and bonuses. And my favorite point, instead of getting billed the same rental fee by the previous company for the same equipment, you get an automatic upgrade. Why should you have to pay the same rental fee on equipment when it's a couple years old and new technology is available and costs the same?   Posted by Danielle Miller on March 04, 2009 2:01 AM .................................   The library is a good option too. They have DVDs of movies and TV shows - for free.   Posted by anonymous on March 05, 2009 1:04 PM .................................   My husband and I gave up on cable TV and Dish companies. To high of prices with the cable and dish companies and the dish companies make you sign up for 24 months at a time. In the case of the dish company they also had poor service as well as the reception would go out in storms or bad weather or lots of cloud coverage. They also had dishonest business practices we come to find out. We now have a very good cable internet provider and have Netflix as our movie choice. We can stream many of the shows we used to watch on television or have sent by disc. We also have found many of the cable tv websites have older episodes of programs available, so we can catch up pretty quickly. Also we get news headlines and local channel websites with news info, so we not only save money but have been just as happy. It also saves just surfing the channels,which is a waste of time. We also found our local newspaper puts yesterdays stories on the web and we can read the top local news that way. However a person must make sure to have enough memory to support this new streaming technology which most newer computers do. We used to pay close to 100.00 a month just for cable not including the internet. Now we save by just having a good fast cable internet and Netflix.   Posted by dawn on March 10, 2009 9:02 PM .................................   IF you don't want grief in your life , Don't have Dishnetwork , in your home. From the time I recieved it till months later , I had problems with it . The tech guys who put the dish up on roof, correctly , 2 guys left that night , they was in a rush , so they left it for the next guy , the next day, It was never done right the first time. Make a long story short I end up paying $$$$$$ to get rid of it . Years before that I had Direct tv and never had one problem with it, and now I have cable and I don't have a problem either. I know other people who has DISH, and they had problems too plus customer would complain more than once. Please be aware and research. The only way you can save money if you don't have none of these "cable, internet, phone". Sooner or Later, the company will start charging you more money. YOu can save thousands each year, if you had done of this. With this economy we're going through, saving will be a huge part of your life.   Posted by justme on March 19, 2009 4:44 AM .................................   We found out that some cell phone companies give better rates to people 65 years and older. We took out a phone for my husband's mother for $10.00 less a month. He uses the phone and we pay the bill. We save $120.00 a year.   Posted by anonymous on March 19, 2009 1:10 PM .................................   I also moved to MagicJack and not had any major issues. Biggest issue is you have to unplug it and plug it back up at times..nothing major though, especially if you are single or living off a budget.   Posted by anonymous on April 01, 2009 8:06 PM .................................   Check out Oooma. I HIGHLY recommend it and found out that your 911 service with VOIP depends on your 911 services in your area (even with landline) and whether or not your VOIP service registers your phone number to your address (which Ooma does). http://saneathomemom.blogspot.com/2009/03/keep-long-distance-not-long-bill.html< /a>   Posted by Loren on April 02, 2009 12:32 AM .................................   I recently hooked my computer to my 32 inch TV with a VGA cord and an audio cord. Check Windows Help and Support icon-the "?", your TV manual, Radio Shack salesperson. Newer TV models have PC outlets. Older models can be modified. I now have a 40 inch TV screem to watch and listen to anything I can get on my computer. Start with www.OVGuide.com for their listing of 100 free movie, TV, etc. sites. Browse and see what the various sites offer. Than sear You Tube, Google, etc. I put shortcut icons on my desktop for the sites that I like best. I've gone from $60 too $17 monthely for basic cable service. Eventually I'll come up with a good multi-directional indoor antenna for about $35.   Posted by Mel J. P. on April 03, 2009 8:52 AM .................................   I would suggest reading reviews on these phone CO's before connecting with them. Magic jack. Vonage, power phone and many more. There were very few good reports on any of them. All were said to be ripoffs. Bad service, foreign service people you cannot understand and a rip off trying to get your money refunded. You have to spend hours trying to get to customer service. Ask for a supervisor and you will be disconnected. On many of the reviews, people were so mad, they actually cursed the Co. out in their review. I would suggest reading reviews on anything before signing with them. Reviews were so bad I will not use any of them.   Posted by Shortman on April 11, 2009 1:00 AM .................................   Charter Cable Sucks !!!!!!   Posted by anonymous on April 13, 2009 12:16 PM .................................   If you really want to save money check this out. I had AT&T high Speed Internet and regular analog phone service 3 phones and was paying about 130.00 per month. I bought Majic Jack a small device that fits on your computer for 39.95. This includes the device that connects to your digital phone and covers one years long distance and local calls. Than you pay 19.95 per year for long distance and local service. NO MONTHLY FEES You have to have cable or high speed internet and your computer must be on all the time to keep the phone working. I cancelled AT&T changed my 35 year home number to Trackphone and got high seed Internet from Comcast for 19.95 a month for one year. I bought 4 new digital 6.0 Uniden phones with battery chargers and answering machine from Sma's Club for 79.00. I get clear reception and have saved about 75.00 a month. You will not be listed in the phone book and only people who you give your number to can call you. I do not get sales calls anymore. You get call forwarding, caller ID by phone number, call waiting all free. There are no taxes or 911 call service charges. Magic Jack is now being sold by Radio Shack or you can go on line to Magicjack.com and get more information. Before I disconnected ATT I had some static on the Magic Jack line but I have added a filter on my lines and now get excellent service. My wife and I have Track Phones for travel and emergenices. We pay as we go. You can get one years service with double minutes for life for 139.95 which gives you 800 minutes. We use a credit card to call Internationally. Magic Jack now has International calling for additional fee. It costs 2 cents a minute to call China and 5 cents to call India. All contries available. OdDad72   Posted by anonymous on April 18, 2009 5:52 PM .................................   I have joined Redbox and if you put in your cell number they will send you a text every monday for a free one night rental and there is no monthly fee at all....so every monday is free movie night...all you need is the popcorn. And if you want more they are just 1.00 a night plus tax.....I cancelled netflix for this option....I also do the hulu thing too.   Posted by dlewis711 on April 18, 2009 8:53 PM .................................   a simple way to save money is to call your provider's customer service....be very humble, and polite, and ask them to give you some kind of deal. Tell them you really don't want to switch providers because it's a hassle and you've enjoyed their excellent service for quite a while, but that all these competitor offers are very tempting, and you're trying to think of some kind of practical reason to stay with them. I've done this at least once a year for the past ten years, and every single time, they have given me a deal. sometimes it's a free premium channel for a few months....or a discount on something else for a limited time...but I've always gotten some "free" extra stuff from them. This works with Comcast. Their customer service people are instructed that they are to make every attempt to keep a customer from quitting. And if your provider won't give you some freebies, then, switch to someone who is offering a better deal. However, be careful about signing any long term contracts to get the deal. Anything longer than one year, just won't be worth it. I'm currently enjoying a years worth of free Starz channel, and a 6 month $20.00 reduction on my cable dsl. and all I did was ask them to give me a little something extra to keep from trying another service. important; be very docile, calm, polite and pleading. you'll be amazed at what they will do for you.   Posted by ron kay on April 27, 2009 2:43 PM .................................   I switched internet from Cable to ATT. The service does require local phone service but I subscribe to Vonage for all long distance use. Local phone service AND internet now costs me $50.10/month (with taxes). Vonage is $30.23/month (with taxes).   Posted by Bob N. on April 30, 2009 4:05 PM .................................   I use two Magic Jacks, one with a Calif area code for family and friends who live in Calif and one with a Texas area code for local friends. I also use Skype for face to face communication. I use NetFlix and the instant online movies are great. I like all of these services   Posted by Jack C on May 06, 2009 3:39 PM .................................   We have Dish Network and pay $19.99 per month for the family pack. We also pay $5 a month for locals and $5 a month for Encore, which gives us 5 movie channels. So all told, we pay 29.99 a month plus tax. We love it. We didn't have to sign a contract. We go month to month, but you have to go directly to Dish for that one, not one of their resellers.   Posted by Caleb on May 22, 2009 1:50 PM .................................   We are in a package deal and don't know how to get out of it. We moved here last year and found a good local service with special package deals. However, the special promo ended 2 mos ago and our bill went up $35! Now $140/mo gets us cable (basic), alarm system service, basic land line and DSL. We were hooked into a 3 yr contract on our alarm system, so if we cancel, we have to pay $260 to them. We can't cancel the land line due to the alarm, and if we drop any one of the 3--cable, DSL or phone--we go out from under the package and pay basic fees. Once totaled up, we'd only save $7 if we did it that way. Feeling stupid and stuck for the next 3 yrs.   Posted by looking to save a dime on June 02, 2009 2:31 PM .................................   We live on a fixed income, so every penny counts. I get my internet through Peoplepc.com, by prepaying for a year, I save us $25. My long distance company is Pioneer telephone. I pay less than 3 cents a minute and most of my monthly bills are $9 or less. I just cut a 99 cent a month charge with them by having my bill sent online and not via snail mail, another savings of $12 a year. Our income is less than $900 a month and my husband is disabled. Our phone company is Embarq and they cut our basic bill down to $10.87 a month because of his disability and our income. Call your phone company every so often and ask if they have any discounts. Even when you are a regular customer, they will often find a discount for you if they think you might be considering switching companies and finally: You miss a many a good thing by not asking. smile   Posted by Linda Louise on June 04, 2009 3:31 PM .................................   I forgot to mention, with the changes from analog to digital in a few days now, you might consider this. We use an outside antenna on top of our house (no cable bills etc.) We get very good reception on our new HD tv's with this outside antenna and a rotar. We get maybe 10 channels and once the switch is complete, we might get more. There is even a free movie channel in our area that plays old movie for about 8 hours a day (free of course) as well as 5 PBS channels. How many channels can you watch at one time?   Posted by Linda Louise on June 04, 2009 3:43 PM .................................   To Bob N. above. I have ATT for phone and DSL. I pay just under $50. My cell phone is pay as you go for $100 for 400 minutes and I can roll them over on the anniversary with another $100. DVD from the library (free) and redbox (free on Mon.) and a dollar other days. I buy used TV services on eBay and sell them back as used and the cost is postage ($3 media rate) and $2 listing fee and 3% paypal fee. So, 24 one hour TV shows like "24 hours" cost to me is less than $6 pt 25 cents a show and no late fees possible.   Posted by james77777 on June 08, 2009 11:35 PM .................................   I have to say that Majicjack is probably the best invention since sliced bread! Incredible savings! Try it out this way: Buy one and install it and forward your calls from your traditional landline and try it out. You may have to make some changes in settings to improve performance but fast and efficient customer service via live chat will guide you through.It never takes more than 45 seconds to a minute to get an agent. Early majicjack had some probs but they have done a good job and keep improving this marvel. I just renewed my MJ service for 5 yrs for $59.95. Thats like a dollar a month! And NO I don't work for them!!!   Posted by John G. on June 11, 2009 10:04 PM .................................   We use the Vonage 500 min./month plan for $19.95 a month with the RoadRunner Lite service from Time Warner Cable for $24.95 a month. For around $50 a month we get phone service and internet. We were given a tracfone and buy mins. for it to use for emergencies. We spend about $6 a month on mins. for the tracfone. There is only two of us and we don't talk on the phone a lot like some. It works for us and so far we have mins. left at the end of the month.   Posted by anonymous on June 11, 2009 11:49 PM .................................   as for the 911 thing and them not being able to find the house if its not a land line,.... here in texas if you have a phone plugged into a phone jack, then you can dial 911 and it will connect you, even if you dont have any service. its the same with cells, even if you have no service you can dial 911 and still get through....   Posted by anonymous on July 08, 2009 4:26 AM .................................   We are saving $140 per month on phone, TV, and broadband service as follows: 1. Give up your land line and go all-cellular. 911 can find you from any modern cell phone. Long distance has become free. Watch your usage and get a plan with the right number of "unlimited daytime minutes" that matches your calling patterns. Savings: $32 per month by dropping the Verizon landline. 2. If your broadband Internet service is from a cable TV provider and Verizon is offering FIOS in your area, call the cable company's corporate office and threaten to switch to Verizon unless they give you a discount. I've been doing this with Charter Communications for years and am paying half what they normally charge for their 5 Mbps broadband-only service. Charter's Cable TV service stunk, but their broadband Internet has been very reliable. Savings: $30 per month. I have to call them every six months to a year as the discounts they offer are for those periods, but just the threat of moving to FIOS does wonders to wring another discount period out of them. 3. Drop cable and satellite TV. Face it: most TV programming today is junk. The channels now annoy you with banner ads to buy their DVD or treat you like an idiot telling you want you're watching now and what's on next. They display persistent advertising for upcoming shows over their logos. There are too many commercials (20 minutes or more per hour of programming) and they are LOUD. We finally got so annoyed with all this that we dropped our DISH network service (saving $78 per month) and bought a RCA HDTV converter box from Walmart and an Apex indoor HD antenna from Best Buy for a total of $80. We watch far less TV now and don't miss it. We watch DVDs, sometimes the local news, and spend more time talking as a couple. DISH never worked in heavy rain; living in Tornado Alley and with the conversion to broadcast HDTV, we needed an HDTV converter to receive the local over-the-air weather broadcasts during heavy weather. Total savings from the above: $32 + $30 + $78 = $140 per month! That's $1,680 per year! PS: I'm not keen on bundling. First, if you buy services from different providers, you can then pit those firms against their competitors to wrangle unadvertised discounts . Threatening to move your service to a competitor has a way of getting these companies to cough up discounts. Second, if you bundle and there's an outage, all of your services — phone, Internet, and TV — are out! Some of my neighbors who have Charter's complete bundle have been cut off from their phone, broadband, and TV for hours or days when there's a weather-related cable outage. I lose my Internet service, but my cell phone and TV still work. Editor's Note: We moved this comment to its' own tip page: http://www.tiphero.com/tips_1731_3-ways-to-save-on-phone-cable-internet.html   Posted by anonymous on July 13, 2009 11:25 AM .................................   Anyone looking to reduce their internet costs should look into NetZero (www.netzero.com). The high-speed dial-up starts at $14.99 a month. They're also working on DSL in their service areas, which is something like $19-$20 a month. It's only 1 screen-name/email address per account, but at that price you can afford to give everyone their own account. And when the kids move out, just change the billing address on their accounts.   Posted by anonymous on August 14, 2009 1:42 AM .................................   i think high speed dial up is an oxymoron .........   Posted by anonymous on September 02, 2009 10:34 AM .................................   I have always been an avid sports fan, big into politics, and love my primetime shows like House, Grey's Anatomy, the Office, etc., so giving up cable seemed like a "no way" to me. But then money got REALLY tight so I had to make sacrifices, so it went. Not going to except defeat, I have now found a way to watch ALL of my shows, including sports, just using the internet. If you have a nice enough monitor, most of the websites broadcast as if it were watching TV. Sports too. I found a wonderful website for sports at channelsurfing.net. Try it, you'll be amazed at the set up. I have just started using it, but in tough times when you just can't afford cable, it's like finding the Holy Grail of internet tv. Also, I live in a duplex so I have an arrangement with my neighbor who has internet installed in her home to give me her password so I could hook up wirelessly to hers and split the bill. So I enjoy all my shows, sports, news, etc. for 20 solid bucks a month! (And not to mention the convenient use of internet in the home). **Also a lot of the networks have links to watch recent episodes of their shows on their website. I go to abc.com to watch my grey's anatomy, nbc.com for the office, and fox.com for house.   Posted by Stephanie on September 09, 2009 9:25 PM .................................   lol I had to laugh at the ppl who said about renting from walmart the library etc. I personally live in the boonies and the local redbox is like 5 miles away. 1 a day is already 28-31 a month...then the cost of gas + how many ppl literally just forget to take the things back everyday...and all that money to watch ONE movie? And we've been having loads of trouble with good old redbox movies never playing right since other ppl dont take care of them properly. Im not laughing at you...im laughing with you because I am a sufferer of saving money schemes that end up gone wrong....that being one of the bad ideas. Not too mention you will run out of options to watch renting places. If you really wanna get down with the cheapness pay for cable (I mean some all out every channel around.) hook it up in every room with dvr's buy a huge amount of blank tapes and just old school vcr it continously for a month. You wont have time to watch any of the stuff youll be too busy obsessing over the recording...it should be enough to keep you good what the next ten years face it we all just watch american idol house reruns steelers games and oh god my fav the Pens. all basic cable. Im a victim of a million dollar cable bill husband personally we all survived back in the day on what like 12 channels if that...i even remember my parents getting a cable BOX for there tv I think in the 80's or something. We lived the first five of our relationship w just a radio cause we couldnt afford tv...id go back in a second. have a great day to all that read this.   Posted by anonymous on September 11, 2009 6:16 AM .................................   I did have some static on magic jack but I was using an old phone. Bought a new one and do not have any static. I agree this is a great economical phone. I have no complaints. I had my land phone discontinued and have what might be called a dedicated line just for the computer. I love netflix. I have done away with cable and plan to figure out how my laptop can be connected to my tv. I am all for saving money   Posted by anonymous on December 31, 2009 5:49 PM .................................   INTERNET We live in a smallish rural community with no access to DSL or cable. The only access we had to the internet was the phone line, which was so slow we couldn't use it. My daughter is a college student and MUST have internet in order to receive/submit her classwork, so that was not an option for us. The only other thing left to us was the satellite services. HughesNet was one that we had previously used in our other home before DSL was available there. We hated it. Horrendous customer service, constant problems, each time you would have to call about anything would take a whole night of trying to take complicated instructions from someone with an accent so thick you couldn't understand them at all, etc. So, very reluctantly, we subscribed to HughesNet for this location. We had it for about 2 years--once again, constant problems, horrendous customer service to the point of being insulting, etc. Long story short, I heard about the new Mifi service from Verizon. It is a tiny little item that looks like a black credit card which you plug in and that's it...this powers up to 5 different computers! $60 per month, which for us was an immediate savings of over $20 a month over Hughesnet. Even better, if we go somewhere, I unplug it and toss it into my computer case, plug it in again when we get to the hotel and we have our connection...no more paying $10 a day for the hotel connections, we brought our own. It has about a 2 hour charge capacity, so it can even be used in remote locations with no plug in like a cellphone, or even going down the road (if you aren't driving of course. lol). The only thing we have to watch a little bit is downloading things, like watching youtube or if you would be downloading movies, etc. since you get 5 gb per month and that's the only plan they offer for the Mifi at this time. We haven't run over since we've had it, though, and this will be 3 or 4 months. It was so nice to be able to bid Hughesnet goodbye for GOOD!   Posted by RParnell on January 19, 2010 9:53 AM .................................   Keep a phone plugged in and you can dial 911, even if you don't pay for service   Posted by anonymous on January 21, 2010 3:27 PM .................................   We are a rural area also, cable companies come within 1 mile or us,but can't get any service. We had WildBlue satellite from Dish Network, but had lots of problems. Then we got Verizon's MIfi which was ok for the first 3 months. Then we got a $270 bill (it's 69.99/mo)! Turns out they SAID we exceeded the 5MB limit per month. The only thing we did differently was my daughter downloaded 1 (ONE) movie and watched 2 UTube videos!Mainly we use it for email only. Needless to say,We were p---ed and paid $149 to get out of our 2 yr contract. It's back to dialup for us,unless we can find something else. I get a laugh out of people saying they can download movies and watch TV shows on their internet connection-I wish!! Signed In the Internet Ghetto   Posted by anonymous on January 21, 2010 5:23 PM .................................   To RParnell about his satellite service provider; I've had almost the same experience with WildBlue. No cable in the rural area where I live, either. I will be so happy to be out from under the thumb of WB when the 2 year contract ends. I'm even toying with the idea of paying the penalty to get out of it early, then switching to the concept that you have - geez, at the moment I can't remember what it's called! I'm sad that satellite technology has brought me the technical advantages but without knowledgeable or congenial people behind it. What ever happened to Sputnik, anyway? LOL!   Posted by questink on January 21, 2010 7:59 PM .................................   Why don't one of you rural folks look into providing internet service to others in your area? Research how and the cost-you will probably end up with everybody paying you a monthly fee. Just a thought.   Posted by anonymous on January 22, 2010 3:35 PM .................................   Forget cable or pirate movies! That's soon to be a thing of the past. I use Hulu.com, Thatepisode.com, & tvduck.com to watch my news, favorite episodes and my daughters cartoons. I also use megavideo.com & movie-links.tv to watch my movies. Keep in mind movielinks changes their address every 6 months or so because this website has tons of movies from the classics to what's currently in the theaters. I haven't gone to the movies in years. Why spend so much on popcorn when everything is free in my living room? FYI, if you get a message that you have to become a member, you clicked on the wrong button. You have to freestream live not "download" and you'll never hear yourself say "there's nothing good on tv!" again. Plus, I have Roadrunner light which is almost the same as the regular one but cheaper.   Posted by anonymous on April 15, 2010 3:30 PM .................................   Drop cable entirely, or just for Internet access. Use Netflix instead. They have arrangements with the post office and they receive my returns the next day and I receive the next one in my cue the next day (3-day turnaround). This way, I can watch what I want when I want, in full HD (Blue-Ray) quality in widescreen with no commercials at much less cost; TV shows and movies both.   Posted by George Wilkinson on July 02, 2010 4:13 PM .................................   ----------------------------------------- Share Your Comments:   Comments may need to be approved before they are displayed.   Comments: User Name (required): Email Address (required - but your email address will not be displayed): Website URL (not required; please do not include "http://"):

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