I want to cut the cable.

[Tracer]

I've already got my two TVs set up to start streaming.

I presently have a TV, internet and phone bundle from Verizon. And I'm being charged $217.51 per month for the privilege. (taxes and fees included). The actual bundle charge for all three is $129.99.

So I called Verizon today to see what the charge would be for internet and phone only.

After a good long wait, the representative told me that the price for internet and phone only would be --- wait for it --- $129.99.

My only other choice in this area is Comcast (Xfinity).

[Desert grandma]

1. Just Be Aware

That internet only service might be data capped. If you are streaming multiple TVs that will be a shock. It happened to me daughter. Therefore make certain the internet provider you are with after "cutting the cable" has no data caps. Good luck!

[Rorey]

2. I'm also looking for pointers

I'm planning on getting internet only from Comcast, and the last time I checked it was about $60 per month. I really don't watch much television, so I think I can get by with just an antenna.

Right now my son and family are temporarily living with me while their new house is being built, and they brought their Comcast package with them so I cancelled mine. Maybe I'll get a "new customer" rate when they move out, in which case I'll weigh my options.

[avebury]

3. Think about switching to just

a cell phone and internet.

I pay $35 a month with Cricket with no taxes.

I pay $60.00 a month to AT&T for just internet and that is with no taxes.

A lot of people are ditching landlines these days. You can probably shop around for a decent no contract cell phone.

[llmart]

12. I have AT&T also.

But I didn't ditch my landline because they only charge me $12 a month for the landline. It's been like that for several years now. My Internet is $45 a month.

[wcmagumba]

4. The cable/internet providers...

are continuing to rip off customers by inflating the prices to internet only subscribers...I get the double whammy by living in a small town with one provider (they installed fiber direct to homes last year). I pay $80 a month for 25/3 speed (which luckily is fast enough for me as a single person). Total rip off compared to rates in other parts of the country. They have their own live streaming service of about 70 channels for another $80 monthly...I don't take that but use free streaming channels, OTA and a couple of other streaming services. Still comes to about $100 or so monthly....

[CountAllVotes]

5. I cut the cord in November of last year

I have a local ISP for my DSL connection which costs me $34.95 a month.

And that is the end of it!

You can find a detailed account of HOW I did it here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11584919

This set-up with a MOHU LEAF (30-40 mile range) antenna on the digital TV and the large rabbit ears/converter box for my late mother's old analog is working just fine! This antenna costs abt. $20. You can find a used converter box (if you need one) on ebay and the rabbit ears you can find in lots of places I am certain.

I receive 18 channels on the analog TV and 17 on the newer digital TV and I pay NOTHING for this. I get everything from PBS to a 24 hr. a day movie channel. Good stuff for FREE.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this method.

I live in a rural area and wow, I am so happy I figured out a way to be rid of Suddenlink, the cable TV place I had no choice but to have (no competition is the problem so they have a monopoly obviously -- very poor service at best!). Everyone in the area where I live hates it and that is because it is very costly and the poor service plain sucks!

If you are just dying for cable TV news, you can always stream it, that is what I do. However, I find myself rarely in this frame of mind so it is not one I often use being I am on a rather slow DSL connection.

I agree however, $200 a month and for what?

Warning: You may get a bit sick and tired of finding notes and some GREAT offers from the cable TV place you fired and every other place that offers other such services. They just love taping notes on YOUR FRONT DOOR!

Any questions further, let me know because, it works!

[hunter]

10. Some of us are lucky. My wife and I have inexpensive unlimited DSL...

... that's plenty fast enough for one streaming video channel. It's also fast enough for wifi phone calls. We watch Netflix and DVDs.

When our children were in high school they would sometimes push our internet bandwidth to the limits, but once our youngest went off to college my wife and I had it to ourselves.

I built an antenna years ago that got all the major networks but we haven't watched any broadcast television for more than a decade.

Our children live in big cities and have fast fiber. They don't have cable or any other traditional television. Our oldest kid and spouse don't even have a remote control in their home, they control their television with their phones.

Comcast is really aggressive in their marketing and maybe the biggest source of our junk mail. I quit them a long time ago, before they even offered internet service. When we first got cable television it was $24.95 a month. Then it was $29.95. Then it was $39.95 but they cut some things my wife watched and added a whole lot of garbage we'd never watch.

When we quit Comcast the guy we talked to was so worried about his retention numbers he marked us as "moved." Sure enough the Comcast sales people were on our doorstep within a week.

[flamin lib]

6. I have Consumer Cellular for cell phone service. unlimited talk and text plus

a small data package @ $35/month.

Spectrum (formerly Time Warner) internet with 400 mbps (200 wifi) for $50/month. No data caps. You need at least 5 mbps for most streaming services and 10-20 mbps to avoid buffering.

After that choose your streaming services. I have Amazon Prime, Netflix, CBS All Access and a news streaming service. About $30/month. They all offer a week to a month free trials.

I do not own a TV. Everything is streamed through my computer onto a 27 inch monitor and a wireless keyboard is my remote.

If you have a TV with an HDMI port you can get a stick computer for about $100 and a mini keybaard for $15.

https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Fanless-Computer-Support-Ethernet/dp/B07QXV8T53/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=stick+computer&qid=1569609147&s=gateway&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Rii-Wireless-Keyboard-Lightweight-Controller/dp/B00I5SW8MC/ref=sr_1_2?crid=BKB7TFS7GM7T&keywords=mini+keyboard+under+%2420&qid=1569609410&s=gateway&sprefix=mini+ke&sr=8-2

With this you can stream a multitude of ad supported services like TUBI for free.

I don't have time to watch all the stuff I want to. Hate live TV. Everything is out there if you know where to look and it plays on YOUR schedule.

[KT2000]

7. I have Ooma for phone

VOIP and after the $75 -- 100 spent for equipment I pay $5 and some cents each month. Unlimited. My internet is $80. Now I have to figure out the TV - satellite for $85 seems too high but antennas don't work where I live and the cable cost is outrageous.

[Tracer]

8. Now Verizon has given me a new $ figure.

For just the internet -- no phone --- is $87.74/mo. That's higher than "deals" I see with Xfinity.

I don't care about the phones -- 90% of the calls I get on both landlines are spam calls.

We have cellphones, so why not go all cell.

I think at this point I'll stay with Verizon. Switching to Xfinity would be more of a hassle than I'm prepared to handle.

[Lulu KC]

9. We pay $50/month for Google fiber

and have had up to two adults and two teenagers on wifi doing various things at the same time comfortably.

Cell phones--we have a prepaid plan through Verizon that is $30/month per person. I cannot figure out why prepaid is so much cheaper--you just get the bill deducted from your bank account before you use the phone instead of after, but it is a significant savings. (We also own our telephones, which removes a bulk of the charges that we used to pay before we figured out that was better for us.)

[bif]

11. I got a great deal through Costco

It's either $40 or $50 a month for internet with ATT. Phone and internet bundled is $59 per month.