Yeah... Get one G4 provider.
I can’t recommend Clear because they’re a bunch of crooks with lousy customer service who sold me service they couldn’t provide.
But you should be able to get a wireless account that merges your iPhones into one account, and can also provide you with high-speed interent access. Then simply watch all your favorite TV shows over the internet. The only drawback is that you have to wait one week to watch many of them. You should be able to find some such deal for around $50 per month, plus $40 for the first ecll phone, plus $20 for each additional phone... for you that’d be $130.
(Oh, and if you absolutely have to catch something first-run... don’t forget there’s still broadcast TV! Get a signal booster if you need one.)
Don’t know if it’s available in your area, but I got a pretty good bundle from AT&T U-Verse...phone w/unlimited LD, premium package internet DSL & Wireless, and a second-group tv package with those things including Fox, for $108/mo. Don’t know about the cell phones...mine is provided by the business and we have ten of them in our package...no clue what we pay for it, but it’s with AT&T also and the staffer who negotiated the deal said it was the cheapest package going.
Comcast has an “economy” internet plan for $25 a month. They don’t advertise it, so you have to specifically ask for it from their customer service reps. Tell them you can’t pay the high price and want the economy internet or you’ll have to leave Comcast. They will be glad to switch you to it then.
It’s not the 12-16 MBs download, but it’s plenty fast for everyone except maybe gamers.
Otherwise, cut the cable altogether and follow advice from other FReeper suggestions here.
Agreed.
TWC sucks. Hundreds of channels. None interesting.
Leftwing slant, after leftwing slant, after leftwing slant.
Even their own commercials are insufferably PC.
If you live in a Verizon FIOS area - you can get get triple-play [cable, Internet, and phone] for about $100/month in a 2-year contract [REALLY about $130/month when you factor in DVR, taxes, etc.].
MASSIVE number of cable channels, 15 Mb/s Internet, and local phone [unlimited long-distance in the 48 continental US at no extra charge] ...
Netflix.
And PS - you don’t need smartphones. Dump them.
I dropped cable tv 3 years ago and it is the best thing I ever did. I use internet for news and politics....and some talk radio (free) and I am now more informed than ever—because I read. I avoid all left wing slanted stuff, except to see what they are up to on occasion.
I can go to a bar for games or my brother’s house, if it is really an important one, otherwise, I don’t waste my time anymore....and i used to have season tickets to the Giants baseball games. Don’t miss it at all.
Even the History channel slants left in its historical content...A lot is revisionist history.....It is Allan Bloom who said that all history now is written by Postmodernists (read that atheist/marxist/progressives). There are very few elite intellectuals who haven’t been brainwashed into Postmodernism and all their stuff wreaks of this atheist, marxist mindset.
Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas....and Hillsdale College understand the philosophy....those at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute also get it. Once you understand Postmodernism, it is really easy to spot the bias....and it is really overt now. Read Closing of the American Mind and everything will become very clear.
We dropped direct TV over 3 years ago. Our beautiful flat screen has its own media computer and we stream shows from Hulu, PBS, Classic Cinema Online and we get Redbox movies on the weekend for 3 to 4 bucks. For big sports games we make a night of it and go out. I can't believe its been 3 years, I haven't missed the channel flipping and commercials one bit!
Last month we dropped ATT and got a Verizon DroidX2 with unlimited internet/text and it came out to $22 less than ATT with better phone and service.
Look around and see if someone can make you a better deal!
As a side note, when we called to get our old info to switch over our cell phone number, ATT offered us a discount to stay. And even after 3 years we still get mail from Direct TV every week offering us a “come back” lowered price.
They know they overcharge for their product and services!
We dropped direct TV over 3 years ago. Our beautiful flat screen has its own media computer and we stream shows from Hulu, PBS, Classic Cinema Online and we get Redbox movies on the weekend for 3 to 4 bucks. For big sports games we make a night of it and go out. I can't believe its been 3 years, I haven't missed the channel flipping and commercials one bit!
Last month we dropped ATT and got a Verizon DroidX2 with unlimited internet/text and it came out to $22 less than ATT with better phone and service.
Look around and see if someone can make you a better deal!
As a side note, when we called to get our old info to switch over our cell phone number, ATT offered us a discount to stay. And even after 3 years we still get mail from Direct TV every week offering us a “come back” lowered price.
They know they overcharge for their product and services!
I recently switched from Cable TV to a Roku box (Netflix, Amazon, etc.) and an outside TV antenna (local programming). I'm saving over $100/month, which is great, but if money wasn't tight right now, I'd go back to Cable/Satellite.
As far as I know, none of the programming you have specifically mentioned is available via streaming.
Regarding the phones, the only cheaper option I know about (whether you want smart phones or not) is something like Virgin Mobile. They have "pay as you go" plans that seem somewhat less expensive than the major providers. Whether you can live with their service (Sprint, I think) and whether you will be happy with their limited selection of phones is a separate question.
utorrent + eztv.it + ( wdtv || the popcorn hour ) == cable free
for local news, consider a digital antenna
if you wish to build a digital video vault, similar to the vhs tape collections of the 80s... consider getting a NAS for network available, mirrored storage.
There’s always “Free To Air” TV (look it up).
You spend about $200 to $300 for a dish and a receiver that you then own. Then you find where to aim your dish (locations available online), then you can receive several hundred channels free off of each of the dozens of satelites up in the sky.
No, you don’t get HBO or Showtime, just free stuff. If you get tired of one satelite, you just re-aim your dish and you have a whole new set of channels. (Of course you can always buy the motorized version of the dish for an extra $30 or $40 and then you don’t need to climb up the ladder with a wrench to change satelites.)
sfl
I am going to ping LVD to the thread. His ping list would have interested parties and perhaps additional ideas.
...
Whatever you do, don’t get AT&T Internet. Unless you like your internet to be down half the time.
Netflix streaming on the Wii and Xbox for 8 bucks a month.
Antenna for regular HD channels.
If you’re looking for a good alternative to a landline I use the Obi110 in conjunction with Google Voice to make free calls...at least until the end of the year.
Step #1: Rent a backhoe.
Step #2: Dig a big hole.
Step #3: Dump your television in the bottom of it.
Step #4: Backfill hole.
Or, more simply, just give it to somebody you don’t like.