Anyone give up cable and tradition cell phone providers?

[kyra's mommy]

Between our cable/phone/internet ($180) and our cell phones ($150) we're spending too much! Like everyone else we love our phones and our tv but nonetheless we're finally considering making changes. Our tv has built in access to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. so we were thinking about using an antenna and then just using these providers for the rest of our tv content.

We have Verizon for our cell phone. We've always been really happy with them but we don't want to spend more then we have to. Has anyone tried cheaper providers like Straight Talk?

 

[Judique]

Between our cable/phone/internet ($180) and our cell phones ($150) we're spending too much! Like everyone else we love our phones and our tv but nonetheless we're finally considering making changes. Our tv has built in access to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. so we were thinking about using an antenna and then just using these providers for the rest of our tv content.

We have Verizon for our cell phone. We've always been really happy with them but we don't want to spend more then we have to. Has anyone tried cheaper providers like Straight Talk?

It was easy to give up Verizon. They screwed up my account so bad.

it's been almost a year now and they still haven't finished resolving my account. They just sent me a $2.04 cent credit to my account - that I closed a year or maybe almost 2 years ago. I now have Virgin and no problem.

Cable is basic with upgraded internet. We just weren't using the higher end packages - no sports fans in my house except on holidays.

 

[ssawka]

IMHO, Cable is a luxury, Internet and cell phones are not. I know we all lived with cell phones at one time, but now you are expected to have one. I would get rid of the house phone before I would get rid of the cell phones. You could get by without a smart phone, but a basic phone (whether prepaid or not) is a necessity. If you are out and about and you have to make a phone call (breakdown, accident, etc.) It is nearly impossible to find a pay phone anymore. I would keep a cell phone for piece of mind. If you get good reception where you live, you can easily drop the house phone, or if your Internet connection is decent, you can get a VOIP solution (Vonage, etc.)

Likewise you are expected to have an Internet connection, especially if you have kids. It is just too hard to get information anymore without it. For example, I don't even think the phone companies send out phone books anymore.

As for TV, we used over the air not too long ago and Internet streaming. We still do that a little, but we have Amazon Prime instead of Netflix. We have added FIOS TV, because we can afford it now. But, if we ever have to tighten the budget, that will be the first thing to go.

 

[torinsmom]

I gave up AT&T and now have Virgin Mobile. For me and DS18, the bill went from $120 to $75. I am about to give up cable. My bill is $160 with digital cable and high speed internet. I bought a digital converter(analog tv) and an antenna and can get 20 channels(about 8 decent ones) with just that. I just ordered Rokus, which should give me a lot more channels. We already have Netflix and will subscribe to HuluPlus for $8/month. Initial investment will be about $150, but then our bill will be around $45/month for internet, plus the $8 for Hulu Plus, more than $100/month savings. My son has been streaming from the internet for a year and does that exclusively.

 

[amylevan]

We just dropped verizon for page plus (uses verizon's network). We went from an $85 cell phone bill to app. $20/mo. (My account is prepaid, DH has the $12 plan that has 250 min, 250 text and a tiny bit of data).

As for cable, I'd love to drop it, but DH is against that, and since he supports us, I let him have it.

 

[torinsmom]

The OP wasn't talking about giving up cell phones, just traditional providers. And actually, we still get phone books. I never use them, but we get them.

 

[njcarita]

i am the process or cutting all our bills .......i cut our satelitve tv from 77 a month down to 32........... got more channels and hdtv boxes which we didnt have before.........by just chaning from direct to dish........... my home phone /internet is $ about 74..........so i am looking to slash that next.................our cellphones we are undercontract for another yr is 150/month for 5 of us........looking to change that too as soon as we can................. and than tackle garbage pick up

 

[Judique]

double posted

 

[MaggieBailey]

DH and I each have a smartphone through Verizon (but on an Altell plan) and pay exactly $152 a month for them; its a massive amount of data, 500 shared minutes and unlimited texting. We do not have cable, but we used to have broadcast, which was the "basic" channels, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and a few others - and we paid $18 a month for that including tax. We did shut it off, and have Hulu and Netflix now. When we had traditional cable it was $85 a month, just for that! We do have internet and a landline phone, which we need for our home security system... Its cheaper for us to have the landline versus the alarm being hooked to just our cell phones, because the company we use charges a $300 fee to put in the converter to use the cell phone. I wish we had cable, I do miss the shows on HGTV and Food Network, but not the expense!

 

[brymolmom]

We have been cable-free for about 2 years now and I LOVE it!

I always recommend it to people unless you're huge sports watchers - Being ESPN-less along with other stations that show a lot of the baseball games, etc. would be a hardship for some, but we don't mind it. We watch football on Sundays - but that's on network TV. We have an antenna and also bought a PC to hookup to the TV to run Windows Media on - We got a card to record TV shows - so can use it like a DVR (but only 1 show at a time). We just bought a 2nd card for this so as soon as we install it - we can record 2 shows. SUPER easy to use - we have a remote that you can press 'recorded tv' button and just select it to watch. There is also a GUIDE on the remote. Most people wouldn't even guess we don't have cable unless we tell them.

We spent about $100 on the antenna, about $400 on the PC with all the software and maybe another $50 on wireless keyboard and mouse. So maybe $550 - $600 total for our setup costs. We were paying about $75 per month in cable (only - internet is separate) - and now pay only $9 a month for Netflix...So with $65 'savings' per month we recouped our expendiatures in under 10 months - Now it's all just savings.

I wouldn't like it as much without the ability to record, so I do recommend this setup. Also, what I don't/can't record I can often find full episodes online...So I often use our PC on the TV to watch full episodes of Big Bang Theory, Switch at Birth and The Voice.

 

[Rememberingthe70s]

Yep - haven't had cable (or a TV for that matter) for ten years. We still watch DVDs and a few other things, maybe one show every few nights, but we do it via Netflix and Amazon Prime Streaming. Gave up the land line phone about 7 years ago - We noticed neither one of us was using it.

 

[deakam]

I have been using Straight Talk for about 2 years now. I have the $30 plan because I do not have a smart phone so there really is no need for the Data plan. I have never run out of minutes. I also do not get hit with roaming charges and I have better reception than I had with US Cellular. I am in an area where there is no television without cable and there is no competition for cable subscribers. There is also very little choice when it comes to internet service. I am stuck with that bill...about $120 a month for both...and that does not include any premium channels. I think this summer, when we actually watch less, I will be taking the cable out.

 

[usnuzuloose]

We gave up cable 3 yrs ago. I use a roku box and lov it. Can't drop hou phone, we runs business and don't want cell phones dropping calls. I don't have a cell phone, I use my iPad to email myself and DH checks email when I am out in case I need something. So no extra cell phone cost.

 

[chimilady]

I haven't had a cell phone in about 10 years and I don't see why it's a necessity.

 

[Straycat]

We switched from ATT to Virgin Mobile for both our cell phones a couple years ago and are okay with the switch though the Virgin Mobile Internet access here is not nearly as good as you get with the major carriers.

We also dropped DirectTV at the end of our contract at around $150 a month and went to extended basic with Brighthouse at $30 a month and added Netflix and Hulu Plus at about $15 for the both, plus we got a couple Rokus to stream those services to our tvs. We occasionally miss our DVR but I don't mind that our lives don't revolve around the TV as much.

 

[mrodgers]

I haven't had a cell phone in about 10 years and I don't see why it's a necessity.

Agree. I haven't dropped my cell phone down from traditional because we've never had traditional cell phones. We have AT&T GoPhones which cost us $5-10 each per month. It costs us around $100 each per year, so for far less than 2 months on a traditional phone, we have 3 phones for the entire year. We don't make phone calls, we just text between us when one is at work/school. It's cheaper to pay the $0.30 for the 3 phone calls I might make in a year over paying $25/month for prepaid or $240/month it would cost us for equivalent traditional phone plan for our phones.

TV on the other hand, we don't go out to movies. We don't go out to eat. We don't go out for entertainment. We are homebodies and TV is our only entertainment budget. I just went HD and got new equipment from DirecTV, thus am back in a 2 year contract. We like our DirecTV.

Internet is bundled into the phone. We don't use cell phones for phone calls, so don't plan to get rid of the home phone at any time soon. Can't stand people calling me on their cell phones and being constantly cut off. I don't think I've ever talked to anyone who called me on a cell phone that didn't cut out half of what they are saying. Cell phones are fine for a "come pick me up, the car broke down" phone call, not good for anything else. If you absolutely need to talk to me, you best call me on a regular phone because I'm hanging up if I have to constantly ask, "what?" while talking to you.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

We gave up Directv one year ago and now use Netflix and Hulu plus. I will never pay alot for tv again. It just isn't worth it.

We have dsl internet through our phone company with no house phone for $28 a month.

Cell phones we have Straight Talk in place of Verizon and I will never go back to a contract cell phone again.

I am sure I knocked $200 off of our monthly budget by these changes.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We have not had a land line in over 7 years. We have a blast package from Comcast for 39.99 for two years which is high speed Internet and limited basic. We also have on demand, Netflix and amazon prime. 39.99 a year for amazon prime as I have a student account. 7.99 a month for Netflix. We have a roku on our bedroom tv to access Netflix in there. Our cells are iPhones with data planes so they are 139.00 a month for both phones.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DawnM]

YES!

Cut Directv ($100/mo)
Cut SPrint ($180/mo)

Now have Netflix ($7.99/mo)
Pay as you go Cells ($75/mo)

So, we cut about $200/mo from our bills. It is SO FREEING!

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Verizon is about the only reliable cell phone service we have where I live.

I didn't expect that being so close to Atlanta but have tried several others and we can't even get service at our house for 2 of them.
So we'll be keeping Verizon.

And my husband said he won't give up Directv unless we are in dire straights because he *must* have it.

So I just budget for all of that knowing there isn't much I can do about reducing those costs right now.