OT: Frugal Living (or how to afford the DS when you are poor like me)
No, I don't have the answer to that. But I am always seeking.
Currently I have a cable tv/internet combo from a cable provider. I pay $97.50 a month. No HBO/Showtime, just standard cable with DVR (gotta tape **** right?) and 7mb internet.
I can get just internet from the same company for $50 a month for a 7mb service.
Here's my questions:
Isn't that pricey for just internet?
How do you determine what "level" of internet one needs in order to download movies from netflix, etc.?.The options are 7mb=$50, 20bm=$65, or 40mb=$80. Do I need more mbs to watch movies?
Netflix is $8 a month so I if can have "tv" and internet for $58 a month vs. $97.50 a month I will save $474 a year. That will buy a lot of vitamins.
And you may pat me on the back because I recently traded my $70/month cell phone bill for $12 a month cell phone bill and got texting added which I never had before. THAT savings is $696 a year which also will buy a lot of vitamins. How I did it? Dropped my plan and went on my daughter's plan as an additional line. She likes it because now she doesn't useany minutes when I talk her ears off.
Comments and advice PLEASE!!!!
~Becky
Currently I have a cable tv/internet combo from a cable provider. I pay $97.50 a month. No HBO/Showtime, just standard cable with DVR (gotta tape **** right?) and 7mb internet.
I can get just internet from the same company for $50 a month for a 7mb service.
Here's my questions:
Isn't that pricey for just internet?
How do you determine what "level" of internet one needs in order to download movies from netflix, etc.?.The options are 7mb=$50, 20bm=$65, or 40mb=$80. Do I need more mbs to watch movies?
Netflix is $8 a month so I if can have "tv" and internet for $58 a month vs. $97.50 a month I will save $474 a year. That will buy a lot of vitamins.
And you may pat me on the back because I recently traded my $70/month cell phone bill for $12 a month cell phone bill and got texting added which I never had before. THAT savings is $696 a year which also will buy a lot of vitamins. How I did it? Dropped my plan and went on my daughter's plan as an additional line. She likes it because now she doesn't useany minutes when I talk her ears off.
Comments and advice PLEASE!!!!
~Becky
Becky~
That is what my husband and I do. We pay only for internet and Netflix, and use the middle option as far as bandwidth goes. Up until my surgeries, we used the lowest option, and it was plenty. When I was spending sooooo much time on the couch recovering, though, the middle option was a better choice for us. You need more Mbs to watch more content, so it really depends on how much tv and movies you watch each day. I don't know your cable company's policies, but we have Comcast, and they will call you and let you know in no uncertain terms if you've exceeded your allotted amount of bandwidth for the month, with no penalty fees or anything (the first time you do it. If it happens repeatedly, you may get a surcharge or even have your service discontinued). If you do go over, you could always just bump up to the next highest plan, so I would start with the lowest you think you'll use, and adjust if necessary. As far as the price, I agree, that is too expensive, BUT it's the same amount we pay. Highway robbery, if you ask me. HTH!
*Edited to correct my horrible spelling*
That is what my husband and I do. We pay only for internet and Netflix, and use the middle option as far as bandwidth goes. Up until my surgeries, we used the lowest option, and it was plenty. When I was spending sooooo much time on the couch recovering, though, the middle option was a better choice for us. You need more Mbs to watch more content, so it really depends on how much tv and movies you watch each day. I don't know your cable company's policies, but we have Comcast, and they will call you and let you know in no uncertain terms if you've exceeded your allotted amount of bandwidth for the month, with no penalty fees or anything (the first time you do it. If it happens repeatedly, you may get a surcharge or even have your service discontinued). If you do go over, you could always just bump up to the next highest plan, so I would start with the lowest you think you'll use, and adjust if necessary. As far as the price, I agree, that is too expensive, BUT it's the same amount we pay. Highway robbery, if you ask me. HTH!
*Edited to correct my horrible spelling*
~April~ 5'7"
2 Part DS BMI: S/C/G 59.3/33.5/24.9
Part 1: 3/14/11 HW/SW#1/SW#2/CW/GW
Part 2: 7/14/11 379/366/319/214/159 
It depends upon your ISP...
Comcast does have a limit on total GBs downloaded. If one person is downloading 100s of GBs a day it may affect other customers.
The 7MB is your connection speed, just as you thought. If you don't care if it takes 5 minutes vs. 20 minutes to download a movie, then your speed won't matter. I believe Netflix requires a minimum speed of 2 MB.
If you have a DVR then you are probably a TV watcher, not just a movie watcher.
Something to consider when getting rid of the cable.
I think it is a law that all cable companies offer a minimal package--you could see what that includes in your area and what it costs. Last time I checked on it here it was $20/mo and included 4 network channels and some other stuff that were mostly money-chanels (QVC, HSN etc).
Congrats on those major budget cuts!
Comcast does have a limit on total GBs downloaded. If one person is downloading 100s of GBs a day it may affect other customers.
The 7MB is your connection speed, just as you thought. If you don't care if it takes 5 minutes vs. 20 minutes to download a movie, then your speed won't matter. I believe Netflix requires a minimum speed of 2 MB.
If you have a DVR then you are probably a TV watcher, not just a movie watcher.
Something to consider when getting rid of the cable.
I think it is a law that all cable companies offer a minimal package--you could see what that includes in your area and what it costs. Last time I checked on it here it was $20/mo and included 4 network channels and some other stuff that were mostly money-chanels (QVC, HSN etc).
Congrats on those major budget cuts!
We just struggled with whether we wanted to continue paying around 70-80 dollars a month for cable (in addition to the 50 a month for internet) to the cable company. Hubby and I decided to get rid of cable tv and just use Netflix and Hulu which would drastically lower the bill. When hubby called the cable co to cancel the tv, they asked why are we doing it? Hubby said we are trying to cut down and just can't afford that much....they asked "well how much can you afford?" Hubby said we can't afford cable anymore. They called us back 2 days later and said, since you have been customers for years, we'll give it to you for free for 2 years.
So now we pay 50 a month for internet and they give us cable for free. We looked at our first bill (to make sure they did give it to us for free) and the amount was (-19.00)! LOL! We can afford THAT!
So try calling them and threatening to cancel (but be prepared to cancel in case they call your bluff). If you are going to get rid of it anyway, it can't hurt to try.
So now we pay 50 a month for internet and they give us cable for free. We looked at our first bill (to make sure they did give it to us for free) and the amount was (-19.00)! LOL! We can afford THAT!
So try calling them and threatening to cancel (but be prepared to cancel in case they call your bluff). If you are going to get rid of it anyway, it can't hurt to try.
When push comes to shove....shove hard!
Never regret anything, because at one time it was exactly what you wanted.
Never regret anything, because at one time it was exactly what you wanted.
We have been contemplating putting up (if we can find one) the old style TV antenna and getting just the main stream TV channels. We would still keep our Netflix though. We are trying to figure out if there is a economical substitute for our internet so we can do away with our land line also.
SW 1012/11 265# CW 10/10 142#
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