Cable vs. Internet- which costs more?

[Forevryoung]

So I figured all you buget people would have some great ideas or options-

I am moving into my first apartment in the middle of August and they are giving me an option to include either basic cable OR internet in my rent (not both). So I have to price them out and choose. The other one I will pay out of pocket for (I don't care that it's only basic cable, that is all I would get anyway).

Which costs more in your family?? Which would you suggest I have them pay for and why?

I was thinking having them pay for the basic cable and I pay for internet and maybe get Vonage for phone (that way if something happens to the internet connection I can deal directly with the internet company instead of having to get the management company to deal with it).

Any good cable or internet services in middle of nowhere Pennsylvania (I mean State College )?

Thanks!

 

[budbeerlady]

My lowly dial up is costing me $9.99 a month. The directv I just dumped was $55 a month! I am voting cable is going to be more expensive. And I think you can shop around for internet easier than cable?

 

[swilphil]

Basic cable is 2 to 3 times more expensive than Internet around here. I also suspect that your free Internet might not be to your liking--either not very good service or much faster than what you actually need. I'm another one who pays $9.95/month for dial-up, but they now offer DSL for something like $13.00/month.

 

[Laila_Adam]

we have Dtv the dbest package with roadrunner and vonage. I think since you can shop around for dial -up you should go with the cable. You should definitely get vonage it's cheap i pay $27.00 including tax every month for the service.

 

[Tree]

You need high-speed internet for Vonage.

I have cable and high-speed through comcast. They both cost me about $45 a month.

 

[Laila_Adam]

You need high-speed internet for Vonage.

I have cable and high-speed through comcast. They both cost me about $45 a month.

sorry totally forgot, i only pay for vonage my husband works for Time inc.

 

[disneysteve]

The only answer will be for you to find out what the charges are in your area.

It also depends what you call "basic" cable. We have the most basic cable service and pay $9.95/month. Of course, you can pay much more than that depending on which package you take. Then there is DSL which I think is about $20/month. I'm guessing you won't have DSL if you are in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Forevryoung]

Ok a few clarifications:
1) NO dial-up! I do way too much online (surfing the web, downloading library articles, research, IM'ing friends, email...) My time waiting for things to load (or not being able to load them) is worth the extra money for dsl or cable. I know that the apartment is "internet ready" I guess I have to call and ask what that means exactly.

2) The middle of nowhere is actually a large college town (where Penn State is located). It IS the middle of nowhere but there is stuff there because it has to sustain about 50,000 students on top of businesses, faculty and staff.

3) I think basic cable tv would be about $42.75 a month according to a company which services the area. I couldn't get an answer online from another company.

Thanks

 

[Mandabella]

Right now, Basic & Expanded TV service is more expensive than High Speed Internet through Comcast. However, we were able to get our high speed internet rate lowered to match Verizon DSL's rate last year. There is a number you can call Comcast and mention a competitor's good deal, and then they'll match it for a year. We did this last summer.


Forgot to give you the rates:
TV Basic $9.95
Expanded Service $40.45 (the rest of the cable channels except the premium ones)

High Speed Internet $29.95

 

[luv 2 fish]

don't know

 

[LdyFaile]

Here's my two cents, for what it's worth.

For me they cost the same. I just hate dealing with the extra charges from the phone company, not to mention the fact that I have a cell phone so don't Need a land l ine.

Cable internet, basic cable, modem rental costs me $58 (basic cable is about $13/mo by itself)

DSL, phone line is at least $50 (I haven't actually priced them recently though but I know I cna't get a regular phone line for less than $30/mo even stripped down to nothing extra).

I do also have SunRocket because the place we live in now has no cell reception indoors at all. So we have a limited need for a landline. It costs us $9.95/mo for unlimited incoming and only 200 outgoing minutes. We have yet to go over the outgoing minutes but even if we did it's only 3 cents a minute.

It honestly just depends on what the rates are and what you are already planning to have.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Basic cable is pretty useless (at least if you have Comcast). You get hardly any worthwhile channels.

I have digital cable (we have a HD tv and it makes all the difference) with one premium channel (HBO), a DVR (like Tivo) on one tv, rent a regular cable box for our other tv and also have cable internet from Comcast (extremely fast reliable connection). I got the cable modem free when I signed up for the service. We pay about $120 a month and it is completely worth it.

Since we all have our own cell phones, having a cable modem saves us some money, because we have no need for a landline phone and haven't had one for over 2 years. We have very reliable cell service where I live.

 

[Lisa_M]

Are they giving you basic digital where you get like 40 channels or basic basic about 15/month and 10 channels?

If it is between basic basic and dsl, but if it's dial up and any sort of cable, go for cable

 

[simpilotswife]

I know my SIL uses adelphia and they are at Penn State

 

[veraletta]

It really depends in your area. You should call your cable company and find out.
I have Cable with every thing HBO MAX Staz and internet which is $120
we just now added phone which will be another $34. but now no more long distance charges.
I live in a small town in Ohio and Cable here is high only because we have only one cable company which means they can charge us more.

I have an uncle that pay $100 for every thing we have and he saves at least $50. Which I think is a big diffence for the same thing, but he lives in Detroit.

 

[mickeyfan2]

What internet can you get for free?

For us Cable costs more, but we don't have basic cable. We also have DSL for our internet.

In your situation I would take the free cable and get dial up internet for now.

 

[crl]

Let me first tell you State College is not the middle of nowhere PA. Anywhere in the northeast is since only about half the people up on the northeast corner can even get cable.

Having lived in State College for 3 years, it depends on exactly where in that area you're living is to what internet service you can get that would handle Vonage. You may have to have a cable modem to do it (some areas can't get nything but dial-up and cable modem). If that's the case, it may be cheaper for you to pay basic cable (when we left last year basic was $14) and your landlord to pay for the cable modem (when we left it was $45 for expanded basic cable users and roughly $55 for basic customers through Adelphia). Hope that helps a little.

 

[Forevryoung]

Let me first tell you State College is not the middle of nowhere PA. Anywhere in the northeast is since only about half the people up on the northeast corner can even get cable.

Having lived in State College for 3 years, it depends on exactly where in that area you're living is to what internet service you can get that would handle Vonage. You may have to have a cable modem to do it (some areas can't get nything but dial-up and cable modem). If that's the case, it may be cheaper for you to pay basic cable (when we left last year basic was $14) and your landlord to pay for the cable modem (when we left it was $45 for expanded basic cable users and roughly $55 for basic customers through Adelphia). Hope that helps a little.

Thank you!
Yes, you are right, it is not truely the middle of nowhere BUT I have either lived on Long Island (NY) or 10 minutes from Washington DC (in MD) my whole life. State College will be a small shock to my system .

I am going to call on Monday and find out exactly what kind of internet connection I will be getting if they set it up for me and exactly what cable (with which company). That way I can call the cable and internet companies and make my decision.