How to trim budget when choices are limited???

[pat fan]

Hey all, just looking for some budget trimming advice.
I'm pretty frugal anyway, but would LOVE to trim my internet/phone/tv bill. My problem, I live in a rural area and have no options other than Verizon for phone & internet (if I want high speed). We had cheaper internet before, but it was dial-up. You can hardly visit any websites now with dial-up, so I can't really see switching back to that.

As for tv, going to the smaller package only saves $5 a month, not really worth it for the # of channels you lose. If it was a real savings, I probably would do it.

I do bundle the three of them for a small savings, but I would love to trim that $130-ish a month.

Any ideas? Am I missing something obvious????

 

[Purseval]

Do they force you to bundle? If you can just have Internet you can go to an Internet-based phone that will get your bill down considerably. If you don't watch a lot of tv you can also use the Internet to get the same programs you watch now for less than $10/month.

 

[pat fan]

If you can just have Internet you can go to an Internet-based phone that will get your bill down considerably. If you don't watch a lot of tv you can also use the Internet to get the same programs you watch now for less than $10/month.

Okay, as I said rural-girl here...internet-based phone? What? And as far as I know, Verizon is all that is available here.

As for tv, we watch mostly a few channels, just no way to get those few that I know of. How do you get new tv off the internet for $10 a month? Or is it just re-runs? and what about like TCM? Or BBC?

 

[ancestry]

Okay, as I said rural-girl here...internet-based phone? What? And as far as I know, Verizon is all that is available here.

As for tv, we watch mostly a few channels, just no way to get those few that I know of. How do you get new tv off the internet for $10 a month? Or is it just re-runs? and what about like TCM? Or BBC?

If you have high speed Internet (which you said you do) you can get an Internet based phone (VOIP) such as Vonage. Rural doesn't make any difference. We are very rural as well. We had Vonage for years and finally did away with Vonage and now use Google voice (completely FREE!) which forwards to our cell phones.

 

[DawnM]

Hulu Plus is $7.99/mo. Most of what was on yesterday will be on today on Hulu.

Netflix is more older shows and movie based, but you can add that for $9.99/mo as well.

If you want it directly to your TV screen you will need a streaming device, like a Roku box. However, if you want it on your computer, you can stream it without a device.

Internet based phone service? We have Ooma.com. It cost $199 for the box up front but then only $3/mo for service for as long as you want to have it. You can go to Ooma.com to find out more. Long distance, call waiting, caller id, and local calls all included.

Dawn

 

[pat fan]

such as Vonage.

So I would still have the Verizon internet, but Vonage for phone. Were you happy with it? A friend of mine had it and hated it. Always cutting out etc...Our high speed isn't without it's faults as well. So when my Verizon internet drops out, would my phone drop out as well?

 

[DawnM]

yes, if you have no power or no internet, your internet based phone won't work.

We had Vonage for a couple of years and switched to Ooma for the price. I have to say that they are very comparable in service for us. The only real difference is that Vonage was $33/mo with tax ($396/year) and Ooma was $199 up front and I pay only $11 per YEAR.....I have heard new customers have to pay some sort of tax that comes to $3 and change per month, so about $40/year.

Dawn

So I would still have the Verizon internet, but Vonage for phone. Were you happy with it? A friend of mine had it and hated it. Always cutting out etc...Our high speed isn't without it's faults as well. So when my Verizon internet drops out, would my phone drop out as well?

 

[abolanwoski]

get rid of your land line entirely and just use your cell and google dialer.

get rid of cable tv and use internet streaming and netflix for your viewing.

You'll save about 100 per month!

 

[pat fan]

get rid of your land line entirely and just use your cell and google dialer.

No real cell service where we live, so that's not really an option.

What is google dialer?

 

[Danibelle]

Hulu Plus is $7.99/mo. Most of what was on yesterday will be on today on Hulu.

Netflix is more older shows and movie based, but you can add that for $9.99/mo as well.

If you want it directly to your TV screen you will need a streaming device, like a Roku box. However, if you want it on your computer, you can stream it without a device.

Internet based phone service? We have Ooma.com. It cost $199 for the box up front but then only $3/mo for service for as long as you want to have it. You can go to Ooma.com to find out more. Long distance, call waiting, caller id, and local calls all included.

Dawn

These are great ideas but I was wondering how to get all the sports/news programming on live broadcast/cable? I thought Hulu/Netflix were showing the prerecorded stuff only.

 

[brymolmom]

We just got rid of cable completely and I LOVE saving the $$ (likely about $60 per month we save). We have an antenna on the roof and buy the $9.99 netflix plus we have gotten a few Redbox movies and a bunch of movies/TV series from the library.

If an antenna near you won't pick up any channels (ours gets us the local channels in HD and some other analog), you should be able to get BASIC cable channels for cheap (ours is $12 a month if we wanted that) - this will get you ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX I believe, plus a few others likely thrown in there.

Not much wiggle room if you have specific shows.

I do miss my DVR, but have been watching many of our weekly 'shows' off the internet (Survivor, Amazing Race and Big Bang Theory). Other than that - the kids have been watching Netflix (iCarly and Wizards of Waverly) when they want to watch.

It is GREAT and I highly recommend it. Of course, you REALLY need to want to save that $$ cuz it isn't quite as 'easy' as it was when all we had to do was flip on the power button.

 

[DawnM]

News can be gotten through other means. The Roku box itself has its own news channel built in for free, although it is national and international only, not your local channels.

However, you should be able to get local news online as well.

But you are right, you will not get the sports or local news. Do you get any channels through an antenna? We are moving towards an antenna for local channels, and then a Roku box with Netflix and Hulu.

Dawn

These are great ideas but I was wondering how to get all the sports/news programming on live broadcast/cable? I thought Hulu/Netflix were showing the prerecorded stuff only.

 

[stm61]

We're in a rural area also and we can't even get DSL! We're stuck with WildBlue satelite for internet and Directv. Does anyone know of a way to drop Directv that will work with Wildblue? It's not fast internet, but it is better then dial-up. Youtube won't play smoothly like it does for DSL or cable, to give an idea of the speed.

 

[usnuzuloose]

We have a roku box which I have Hulu plus and netflix. Alot of gaming systems and dvd player have them connected as well. I dont miss a cable bill.
If your tv has an hdmi plug and the computer you can stream in that way. There is a veetle.com that has alot of chanels to watch as well on computer or stream it through tv