Money Matters
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Cell, Cable, Internet Bills

This post is inspired by another post. I'm just curious.... how much is your cell, tv (cable, satellite hulu, etc), and internet bills? What service provider do you have? Is it worth it to you, and are you happy with it? I'll start. Cell is Verizon and it is $140 for H and I. Since we live in a major city and have work phones, I'm thinking about moving to another provider that is cheaper. Internet is $30 a month with AT&T; I'm really happy with this. For TV, we use DirectTV, and it is $75 a month. I really want to cancel DirectTV and just get Netflix and rabbit ears, but H is not having that. I don't quite understand his hesitation, since the only thing we ever watch is local channels, the news, and old episodes of Family Guy. Does anyone know if there is a way to watch CNN without cable? That is the number one issue.

Re: Cell, Cable, Internet Bills

  • Cell:  $163 for 2 iPhones with USCellular.  This is the only provider that works in our rural area, so we don't have much choice.  Our internet is also very very slow since we're so rural, and we use our phones for almost everything.

    Satellite: $64 with Directv.  We'll likely not renew our contract in September.

    Internet: $50 with Frontier.  It's the 5M package, and lately we've only been getting .6M.  So it's been so slow that we can't even stream Netflix. This has been ongoing for the past year, and is how it is with all the local providers.  So we can't necessarily get rid of paying for TV to stream anything, because we can't even load a Youtube video with the slow internet speed.  It sucks.

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  • Cable: cancelled it 3 years ago and still don't miss it!
    Instead we have Netflix for $7.99 instant streaming. Every once and awhile there is an Amazon prime or Hulu one month for free trial that I take advantage of. We also have an antenna we bought for about ~$20-30. It only gets 1 channel in flawlessly and the rest either never come in or rarely. So keep that in mind if you're thinking about an antenna. We live in a brick building though so I'm not sure if that affects reception or if our antenna just sucks!

    Cells: I split a $150/month bill with my mom and H. We have unlimited texting which we definitely don't really need but since we get charged when people text us anyways and we use it a LOT, it's worth it split 3 ways. All 3 of us have smart phones. Carrier is AT&T. No major issues with them.

    Internet: RCN. We get the cheapest internet for $45/month. Since it's the cheapest around and works, I've had no complaints.
    Anniversary
  • Cell: $50 for 2 smart phones. We are on a family plan with my mom and brother, and we get a huge discount through DH's work. I need a smartphone for work and with all of us being on one plan it only costs us about $25 per phone (plus my brother's crazy extra features and his ipad that he uses for school, but my mom/brother pays for that)

    Internet and Cable are combined, $75/month for super fast internet and basic cable (I was very upset that it doesn't include HGTV--not enough to pay another $20 a month for the next tier of service for that one channel though. And at least I get food network, lol)  through Comcast. I work from home and I need a fast internet speed if I want to get anything done. For years we didn't have cable, just Netflix and Hulu, but we were also paying about $55 for just internet at that point. We used to have the fastest internet available through AT&T but our internet was constantly going down and it was impossible to get my work done if DH was trying to play a game online or watch Netflix.
  • hoffsehoffse member
    Sixth Anniversary 2500 Comments 500 Love Its Name Dropper
    Internet - $34.95/month with AT&T - we really like it.

    Cell phones - $106/month - and my employer reimburses me for $85/month.  This is with Verizon, and we also really like it.  Depending on the cell phone policy at H's future job, we might end up making money on this one when he begins working...

    Hulu - free right now (we got a year subscription as a wedding gift), but soon to be $7.99/month.  We are keeping it.  It's very cheap entertainment and has most of the shows we watch.

    Netflix - $7.99/month.  I want to get rid of it, but H really likes it, and we do watch movies on it.  So we're keeping it.

    Ooma internet phone - varies but never more than $4/month.  All you pay are the taxes after buying the device.  We actually really like having a traditional cordless phone.  I'm bad about turning my cell phone on loud when I'm home (I keep it on silent all day at work), so H usually calls the house phone when he needs to get in touch with me in the evenings.  It's also much lower radiation than cell phones - I'm convinced we're all going to get brain cancer from talking on cell phones all day.  The ooma works super well.  I've had it for two years, and we've never had a call dropped.

    **Not sure if this counts, but we also stream Amazon Prime.  We keep a Prime account for the shipping deal, and you get streaming movies, etc. as part of that.  That now costs $100/year.

    I would really like to get rid of either Hulu or Netflix since we're going to keep Prime regardless for the shipping perks.  The problem is, H and I can't agree on which one should go.  So we'll probably continue subscribing to both.
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  • Cell Phone- $140 a month. We both love our iPhones a pathetic amount and Verizon is the ONLY carrier who we can use if we want service inside our house. 

    Internet- Free with the job. Thank god. Internet is CRAZY expensive up here. 

    Cable- We chose to not have cable. 

    Netflix-$7.99/month. Works great for us and has all our favorite shows.

    Hulu- FREE! We have a friend who pays for hulu and we use their account and they use our netflix as a fair trade. It has worked great so far. 

    Anniversary
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  • maple2maple2 member
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Comments 25 Love Its Name Dropper
    Internet + home phone with Cox: $90 - 100.  I'm not a huge fan of Cox, but we don't have a lot of service providers to choose from and their plan is the cheapest since we don't want to add cable to our bundle.

    Cell with Verizon: $70 - 80 for 2 flip phones.  We are actually planning to switch to one of the no contract plans once we get our act together and figure out what phone/plan combination makes the most sense for each of us.

    No cable, but, like others, we currently have an Amazon Prime membership that provides us with access to some programming.
  • Cell phones: 103 - DH and I are both still on our parents family plans. We feel sort of rediculous to be married and still on our parents plan but its either that or an extra 50 a month... so we're okay with being "pathetic" for a little while longer...and our parents have no problem with us being on the plan.

    TV: 87 a month for direct TV - I tried to go to a lower package but then i lose my 10 off a month discount so it comes out the same. I'd be happy with it if our reciever werent failing and we need a new one. I hate to pay an extra 6 dollars a month for the genie but if we don't get it now we can't for another 2 years. We're stuck in the contract and DH is insistent on keeping it since its all we got for entertainment. We mostly DVR so we might just do the genie upgrade afterall.

    Internet: 41 for TWC 15mbps internet. We hate time warner cable but thats all we can get here and after going for the last 2 years with no high speed internet because nothing but dialup was available at our house - we LOVE it.

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  • ta78ta78 member
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Comments Name Dropper 5 Love Its
    Cell - 60 through a shared family plan with my parents.

    Internet - 55 with Comcast. A little higher than I'd like to pay, but ok for high speed internet.

    We don't have cable, but got an antenna for Christmas so we get basic channels. We also pay 8 for Hulu and use a friends Netflix account and HBOGo account. (They got tired of not being able to talk about certain shows with us) And then we have Amazon Prime which is 79 a year, but was worth getting for what we save in free shipping and using the lending library for books.
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  • Cell phone for 2 smart phones on tmobile with taxes is $90

    Cable - we don't have any.  Pay $7.99/month for hulu plus

    Internet - $62/month for faster speed with time warner :( they just had a rate increase and we will be going to google fiber in a couple months when the installation is complete.  that will be $70/month.
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  • bnunn03bnunn03 member
    Third Anniversary 10 Comments Name Dropper

    Cell phone 2 Smart Phones and one regular phone for MIL -$170

    Direct TV $82-I would be happy without it, but H would DIE without it

    Netflix $7.99(worth every single penny & will never give up) HULU-7.99(forgot to cancel after week trial, cancelling tomorrow-I need to watch SVU and didnt have it DVR'd

    Cable-Mediacom 38.90

    Way too much money

  • maple2 said:
    Internet + home phone with Cox: $90 - 100.  I'm not a huge fan of Cox, but we don't have a lot of service providers to choose from and their plan is the cheapest since we don't want to add cable to our bundle.

    Cell with Verizon: $70 - 80 for 2 flip phones.  We are actually planning to switch to one of the no contract plans once we get our act together and figure out what phone/plan combination makes the most sense for each of us.

    No cable, but, like others, we currently have an Amazon Prime membership that provides us with access to some programming.

    We have Cox also, but only pay $49/month for their middle hi-speed internet.  With Cox, their expanded basic cable package comes on the same line as the hi-speed internet, so there is no need to pay extra for it.  Of course, Cox won't tell you that, but it's a little secret they wish people didn't know about.  Try it ;).

    Our cell phones are about $70/month.  Mine is Walmart Family mobile, which is $40/month for unlimited talk, text, and web.  My DH has Tracfone at $30/month for unlimited text/web and (I think) 400 minutes.

    We don't have Hulu or Netflix at the moment, but have had each of those at various times in the past.  I liked Hulu the best, because it has more tv shows.  If I ever get through all the shows I have on the DVR, I'll probably sign up for Hulu again, lol.


     

  • cbee817cbee817 member
    Ancient Membership 250 Love Its 500 Comments Name Dropper
    Cell - $146 for DH and me (2 iPhones). Sprint Unlimited everything and that includes a 20% discount on my piece of the bill (from employer).

    Cable & Internet - $91. Cable is only 23 channels ($15 of the bill). Our internet (Time Warner Cable) is outrageous but we use it constantly and I work from home on Fridays.

    Netflix - $7.99 and we stream it through our Wii.

    Almost $250/month- that's depressing!
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  • Cell-$130. We have smartphones with medium data plans. It's worth it for us.

    Internet-$65 :(. There is only one provider to our town, we've used up all promotional offers, and they won't negotiate. It's not even for the highest speed!

    TV-We have Netflix, Hulu Plus, and recently acquired Amazon Prime when DH forgot to cancel a free trial. We have an antenna for the major networks and my MIL's password for streaming ESPN (with local stuff blocked out unfortunately) and HBO Go.

    OP, we stream CNN through our iPad and airplay it to our Apple TV. I'm not sure if this is free for anyone or if we need MIL's Fios password.
  • WulfgarWulfgar member
    500 Comments 100 Love Its Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Cell phone: $80 currently through IL's plan.  Bad thing is that there is no texting, out of State is roaming, etc.  When I get my promotion, we are going on our own plan and MW is upgrading to a smart phone also.  Looking into costs, it should add roughly $50 to our current bill.

    Internet and "Cable" through AT&T U-verse with comes to $105 per month.

    We also have Netflix that our son watches his kids shows on.
  • Internet: $40 for DSL
    Home Phone: $3 for VOIP with my Ooma (excellent quality, much better than Skype, especially during business hours, when we sometimes have to use it for work)
    Cable: n/a, never had it
    DH's cell phone: $15 on Ting
    My cell phone: $40 on Verizon (my share on my parents' family plan). When my phone dies, I'll probably switch to Ting. With my usage, that'll be around another $35/month, so not really worth switching until I'm ready for a new phone.
  • Cell is too much through Verizon- but DH is grandfathered into unlimited data and refuses to change. So that is $157 a month for 2 smart phones (I have the smallest plan they will do data wise)

    Cable and internet are billed together- we have ATT and it's $134 a month for those two.
    image
  • Phone and Internet bundle is $65/month.
    Hulu & Netflix are $7.99/month each
    Cell phones through Verizon is $150/month

    We dropped cable TV a few months ago.  We tried two different antennas that were in the $25 to $35 range before we bought one that worked (where we live) for $75.
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  • $150 cell, two smart phones with the works
    $130 cable, internet, home phone

    I've tried to shop, can't find anything cheaper for the same thing. We have any and all channels, and we like it that way!
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