Hi fellow moms. We want to dump Comcast Triple Play. Our monthly bill is like $180 for cable, internet and phone. We don't watch even 10 channels between us. So we're looking for cheaper alternatives.
Here's what we're thinking: Stay with Comcast for internet, get Vonage for phone and maybe Netflix for TV and movies.
Is this a good idea? Would it significantly lower our total bill or would it be the same? Would be nice to free up $50 each month!
Thanks!
Hi! Thanks to everyone for your advice! We opted for Netflix while retaining Comcast phone and internet. Here's what we get:
Netflix streaming + DVD rental = about $17 / mo.
Comcast phone & internet bundle = $110.
That's still $50 to $60 saved each month! You save more if you opt for just streaming or just DVD. By the way, for small kids, Netflix is great! Lots of choices!
We pay about $180 for a triple plan and I know we pay at least $40 extra a month for the 2 HD receivers, DVR, DVR service, etc. We expect those charges because we use those services.
Why don't you just all Comcast and ask where you can cut costs?
Netflix is GREAT, I never had a problem with it when I had it.
We have the Verizon Fios bundle (cable, internet, phone) and it's about $120 a month, no hidden fees, no strings attached. I love Fios!
BTW, I've had AWFUL experiences with Comcast, they're just terrible.
Ok, we are moving to Clear for internet, using Netflix and Hulu Plus on our playstation 3 and stick to our cell phones - no land lines.
35 for Clear internet
7.99 netflix basic
8.99 for Hulu Plus
A year ao We cut land line and cable, We kept internet, after 6 month low rate with Comcast it went up to $65 per month, we also have Netflix (now $16) and hulu, and use our cell phones.. maybe thinking to ditch Hulu.. thru Netlix we have watched a lot better quality tv, (movies, documentaries etc) than through cable,
Netflix has lots of cartoons from pbs and first seasons of Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, I like I can control access to commercials and advertising. Best decision we ever made
We bought an antenna- RCA indoor 1500 I think- for 30 bucks off Amazon and can get 36 stations....yes 36 but not all are in English. We get all the basic channels we need though but it is very flat in IL so antenna works well. We are looking into changing phone/Internet to Dsl through AT&T...pretty much cheapest I found, but we only do a phone access line- for emergencies and also so telemarketers can bother us - apparently- despite being on the Do Not Call Registry. Should free up 65 a month for us as we were with WOW cable, which is cheaper than comcast already! If you have an xbox or PS3 w internet subscription, you can stream Hulu free for tv- you just have to wait a couple of days for shows to pop up, netflix if you are a member or even full episodes from manu network websites- like ABC has full episodes of Greys online. Good luck!
Ooma.com get the hub, for phone. I love it because it has so many more options than regular phone service. I have my home phone forward to my cell phone when I leave the house (which is when I turn on my cell phone) & I don't have to give anyone my cell number any more. I have a prepaid cell phone through T-mobile that is good for a year & the minutes roll over every year. I buy the 1000 minutes for a year off of Calling Mart.com, they have sales all the time. Less than $9 monthly for cell & I only have to pay the bill once a year.
This is an acticle on how to cut the cable tv.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/113459/cable...
Here is an article on how to get fast internet.
http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_fast-internet-cheap....
One more article how to ditch Netflix
http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/691/...
No suggestions unfortunately (i don't have a landline) but I do have these three words for you: I HAAAATE COMCAST!
Worst corporation ever....
i have Clear for Internet ($42.44 per month, though I am thinking of switching to Centurylink), Vonage which I love is $36.49 including taxes per month and Netflix costs me $8.75 per month--but I only get 1 disc at a time. You can go for a little higher and still save.
We don't pay for TV at all. We bought a $40 rooftop antenna which my husband and a friend put up and we get about 30 channels. I found that when we did have TV I wasted more time watching it. How did that improve my life??! So now I have the network shows I want, and it's free.
Our internet service is DSL with our phone line, but we have a business package since our house is actually a church parsonage and included with the church bill, so I can't give you advice for that.
If you have a newish TV and it has the right kind of tuner inside it, you can just plug the cable into the TV and get "local" channels. The channels are numbered weird, like 114-5 and 176-4 etc... so you have to have the TV do a channel scan to find them. We watch these free channels and subscribe to Netflix (which is only about $8 per month). Also, we only use our cell phones and do not have a home phone. OR.... look into VOIPs, like Skype, Vonage etc. as long as you keep your internet service. Good luck!
I'm with Tatianna! I LOATHE and DESPISE Comcast. They are the worst. We have Hulu Plus and Netflix (streaming only) for TV, AT&T U-verse for internet, and we both have cell phones (mine is T Mobile and his is Cricket). We pay $115 for everything but we have unlimited talk & text on our phones.
For what you said:
Comcast internet (performance speed) is $30
Vonage $15 for 1st 3 months and then $26
Netflix (streaming only) $10
$66 a month which is $114 less a month then you are paying now. That's nothing to sneeze at!
Hello,
We have Wave Broadband (phone, cable, internet) and pay $140/month. That includes DVR and a couple extra channels. The service is OK. It seems like we have lost internet connection too many times in the last 6 months but otherwise it's not been too bad.
Also reduce the number of channels that you subscribe to. Decide which ones that you really watch the most and watch only those. I really prefer to have cable news rather than just the local and 1/2 network news.....but then I am a news junkie.....
We have Comcast basic, basic cable for $22.00, ATT internet for 30.00 (I think that's the medium speed) and Hulu for 8.00. We don't have a landline anymore.
It works well for us.
Wow...I signed up for the triple play 2 year contract and pay $120/month.
We did this when we moved. We had Comcast (although our bill for all 3 services was only $107) at our old house. When we moved, we decided we wanted to try not to have cable. Comcast didn't service our new area, so we were able to get out of our contract (although they did try to charge us the early termination fee....I got a manager on the phone and got it credited back). We now have Netflix (just the streaming.....we were mad that they changed their pricing, so dropped the DVDs and just use Redbox if we want a newer movie), over the air antennae for our local TV stations (we get all of the network stations, plus PBS, ION and a few other stations, but that's pretty much all we watch anyway!), an internet phone system called Ooma for phone (it has some great features...my hubby chose this, so I'm not sure how it is different from Vonage or Magic Jack). So, the only thing we pay for is internet (about $45/mo), Netflix ($8/mo) and the Ooma is $4/mo I think. It's great! We haven't had any trouble with it so far and I really don't miss cable. We bought a standalone DVR so that I can still tape my shows that I do watch. It was kind of expensive up front, but will pay for itself in a couple of months just on the savings from not having cable. I also use Hulu for shows that I might have missed and you can always watch things on the internet (hubby just plugs a laptop into the TV). The only thing we have missed a little is ESPN because our college football games are not always on network stations or on ESPN3 (online), in which case, we can't watch it or have to go somewhere to watch it (which really isn't all that feasible with 2 young kids). But, it's a small price to pay and we've been perfectly happy with our new arrangement. Hope that helps! I say go for it!
We have Verizon Fios, which I think, is a bit cheaper than Comcast. We really looked for a way to get phone and internet as a bundle *without* cable, but it still less expensive to get all 3 bundled. Our plan was to use Netflix and Hulu for our TV watching needs, but I think the cable companies are on to us. There was no real option to get JUST phone and internet as a la carte items without it being MORE expensive than the bundle. I wish we could get rid of our landline, but we need it for the security system. I dunno, I guess we're happy with Verizon Fios...we used to have Comcast and quite frankly, I don't see the difference, except for a slight difference in monthly cost.
I called Comcast about 6 months ago and told them that I simply needed to lower my cable bill - not in a threatening way, but nicely. I said that we would have to either discontinue using them if they couldn't offer a cheaper rate...they did - by 60 dollars!
We have DirecTV and they are good about giving us discounts and all. We got rid of our house phone last summer and LOVE it. I hated that thing. And we have the only option we have for internet. so we still pay $130 just for TV and internet, but we don't need the phone with cell phones. I'd go with Verizon Fios if they offered it where we live.
if you go on the comcast website they often have special offers for current customers. We have the unlimited phone plan (everyone we call is long distance so we needed something with free long distance) its normally around $45 a month but normally we pay $20 because we call them every six months and get on a special discount plan. Personally though I have had ALOT of problems with comcast (last month they turned off my phone because the bill was 2 days late!) and I would not use them if I had a choice (unfortunatly not even big names like AT&T service our area)
We are dumping Comcast tomorrow, actually. Everybody has their issues, but we will save and Comcast has been increasingly horrible for everything. My DH is laid up and couldn't even watch a full tv show without the picture going wonky. And we HAVE had them out before. I say whatever works for you. Crunch the numbers. We are going Netflix for movies.
I cancelled my Comcast cable this week. They increased my bill by 50% and between my daughter and I we watch 5 shows. And we can watch them all on line. $76 for cable is unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. I replaced it with Netflix for streaming at $7.99 a month and mail order DVD's at one at a time for $7.99 a month, but I'm not entirely sure I'm going to keep that yet. I did get the first month free so we'll see. I have my phone and internet with Fairpoint. I was paying $40 a month for that with no long distance or any bells and whistles, but after cancelling cable I upgrade the internet to the fastest speed and the phone to unlimited long distance with all of the bells and whistles and the new bill should be $60.00. So after all is said and done I'm saving almost $20.00 a month and getting better and faster internet, more on my phone and the options for Netflix streaming lets me pick what I want to watch and when. LOTS of choices too. I will still need to watch my current shows on line, but that's OK with me.
You didn't have to get that bundle. If hubby didn't work for them we would have the bare minimum. Keep in mind that the reason your cost goes up is because the tv channels up their cost for comcast so they have to increase your cost. They actually make very little revenue from cable their money comes from internet and phone. If you want to blame someone or your high cable bill bale the actual stations that keep increasing their cost.
