Phone $45, internet, $23.5, TV, NOTHING. I use a digital antenna.

Internet is $75, we only have cell phones and that bill is $140 for 2 phones and we don't have TV at all. We stream anything we want to watch.

Gosh I'm wondering how everyone has such cheap internet though!!

Ours is about 180. Per month, includes premium TV, phone, and high speed internet. I've complained a couple times and they have lowered it a bit, but will go up again later. Way too high

Comcast: High speed internet with basic cable is locked in for 1 year @ $55 a mo. Land line is $3.83 for the tax of using an Ooma. My DH's employer pays for his cell phone and it's usage.

I have Comcast at one house and the cost is 260.00 a month. I just purchased two Appletv units and I plan to get rid of all but basic cable which is still 140.00 here. My lake house I was paying 160.00 and dropped it down to basic and use the apple tv streamer. I love it. I would love to be "off the grid". I pay internet, phones and premium cable for years but I'm fed up as I only watch about four channels, mostly PBS and tennis. I'm weaning now lol.

I have my telephone, cable and internet bundled. We have almost all the cable channels. I pay on average $250 a month. Canadian.....

$230 monthly, but I have business grade internet and a top tier cable.

Too much! But I have multiples of all.

Time Warner Cable here - Starter TV/Standard TV, Variety Pass (whatever that is??) Standard internet and National phone, Voicemail (which I don't use) Grand total is $192.96, which also goes up every couple of years. If it weren't for Smithsonian and the Military channel that DH loves, I'd at least go to basic TV. What a waste otherwise. I do love the fact that phone is unlimited. I'm old enough to remember the egg timer on long distance calls HA HA. That said, TWC service, by phone and tech in person, is the best, and has been for the 12 years we have been with them.

--Basic cable - $36.49/month (we also have ROKU and pay $7.99/month for Netflix and $4.99/month for Acorn (British viewing) The only reason we have cable TV is for storm coverage during tornado season. We live too far from "civilization" to use a digital antenna.

--ATT (landline and ISP): around $70/month (waiting for the first billing).

We just upgraded to AT&T U-verse recently, which includes 200 free long-distance minutes on our phone. Before that we didn't have a long-distance carrier and made long-distance calls on our TracPhones.

--(2) TracPhones - $200 a YEAR (and we never use all our minutes, which roll-over)

My internet price is about to go up. I will again have to call, tell I need to cancel or switch... cause "I can't pay that higher price". So far, it usually works for 6 month then it goes up again.

I pay $184/mo. for cable TV ( no premium channels), phone and Internet. Huge ripoff. I loathe Comcast, et al. I think those companies (verizon, Comcast...collude. One of the bigger ripoffs...and there is a lot of ripoff going on right now by corporate America.

I pay $85 for high-speed Internet and a landline with more minutes than I ever use. No charge for TV, which I get through an antenna. My cell phone, which I posted recently, is a pay-as-you-go Windows smartphone (5¢ a minute and 5¢ per text). Since I use it very little, I'm paying peanuts.

I pay almost $250 a month for Dish Network, internet, and phone. It's a lot of money, but I have every channel available. I wish I had more flexibility to pick and choose individual channels, rather than having to get mega-packages to get the channels I really want. My cell phone is Tracfone--$100 a year.

DH and I have hand-me-down cell phones and are on DS's T-Mobil family plan. We rarely use the cells for anything not family.

We're 'bundled' with AT&T. $140/mo.

-- Land Line is $20 (Local -- 30 calls/mo.)

-- DirecTV is $86 (Lowest level plan that provides HD programming; two HD boxes; one HD-DVR.) No complaints other than the price.

-- Internet is $34 (Not the fastest. We don't stream stuff.)

Texas Gem - Like us, you probably have an upgraded service for internet which is what is needed for heavy streaming. Bandwidth for basic internet is pretty slow and mainly just good for surfing the net.

Landline: Ooma - 3.85/mo

Cell phones 2 @ 127/mo

Cable Internet $67.00

Basic Dish Network 27.00/mo

Streaming Netflix and Hulu plus 16/mo

I'm about to get the bill for cell phones lowered though to less than 100, because DH doesn't want a smartphone. :c)

$245 per month for Internet, landlines and cable with no premium channels, but with a DVR. I feel like I'm being ripped off every month, but I cannot complain about my Internet speed.

Just like most other costs, internet, cable and phone charges are generally what the market will bear in your area. We get good reception for the tv with an aerial antenna, but have to pay $100 for internet and a landline phone through att.

"sjerin

Just like most other costs, internet, cable and phone charges are generally what the market will bear in your area"

I don't think so. I spoke to my state rep. about a related issue, and that very thing came up and he told me there is a case going on right now having to do with these telecommunications companies colluding...which is illegal.n But then, so are monopolies supposed to be illegal in the US. What has gone on since 1980 is a relentless whittling away at the protections put in place after the Great Depression. The very wealthy, individuals and corporations, "buy" Congress, who then do their bidding. It's disgraceful and is doing a lot of damage. Competition shmompetition!

Our Verizon Fios is $176 a month..High speed internet, premium cable with a gazillion channels I

don't need and landline for five phones for calling all over the country.

$122.00 for cable, internet and house phone. No extras on the tv. Every year in August I have to call for a better "deal" as that is when my current rate expires. When it goes up it is about 150 to 160 per month. BTW it is Comcast. We have Tracfone and have to add minutes occasionally. Right now I have 1,000 minutes and 1,000 days to go on my phone.

My son lives in a big city and has one of those antennae that looks like a piece of 8x11" piece of paper hanging on the wall for the tv. Works pretty good, plus they pay for Netflix, but the antennae was only $35! They use cell phones and have internet.

Does an over-the-air antenna let you view HD programming?

How much speed do you need to stream programming without it stalling out while it 'loads'?

Over the air broadcasts have been digital since 2009 and should provide an HD signal for those in or not too far from the local metro broadcast areas.

Depending on the nature of the programming, HD streaming requires a minimum of 4-5 Mb of bandwidth. Sometimes more. The use of "slower" connections will automatically cause caching and downgrading of signal quality. Meaning, a slow connection may work for an HD program, but the transmission will be downgraded to SD (or worse) when the server senses the backup.

Yes, you can get HD over the air, but you need the right equipment, and to have someone broadcasting it in your range.

Streaming
is hard to say because most people's systems aren't optimized, and
often the slowdowns are on the user's end. You'll have the best
connection/experience if you have a dedicated wired gateway (single slot
modem/router/ethernet cable to device) which isn't serving any other
devices.I have a lot of luck with 5GHz wi-fi on the cable modem.
Supposedly there's less interference (though more limited range). It's
(the modem?) not 100% reliable, however, and automatically kicks down
to 2.4 when it flicks.

I have DSL as well, which has improved vastly in
the last few years, but it's slower and I do sometimes notice it and go
looking for the 5. This is at 300/20 Mbps. The DSL is much
slower by numbers (maximum about 7/1 Mbps, I think), but not that bad
except for streaming. It's still watchable for streaming, but does get
interrupted, briefly. Compared to the early days, it's still not bad.

Streaming isn't "hard to say". Streaming video is a light load for the equipment most people have, unless there is signal congestion or a weak signal because of distance from the wifi router or WAP.

Netflix speed recommendations

I based my comment also on my own experience. I have an in-home application (Slingbox) where streaming TV originates from my house and can be watched from elsewhere over the internet. Formerly, I had the max speed available from my provider but their equipment settings limited my own uplink speed to a range of 3-5Mb, averaging about 4. At these speeds, at times it was marginal to get HD quality. Happily my cable company upped the max uplink speed to 10 and my system is performing much better for this app. My download speed is over 50Mb so no issue for incoming signals.

The effective throughput speed for Wifi is about 15 Mb, more than plenty to carry a TV signal and other users. If the connection is wired (many people have cable internet and their modems/routers may be next to the TV), the speed is 100Mb or more ,

By "hard to say", I meant that there are a lot of other confounding factors besides through rates. The number of devices sharing, the speeds of the devices themselves, how many background programs or other applications are running, etc., also affect the streaming experience.

Maybe I misunderstood. Are you saying that a dedicated internet connection (with no other users or traffic) is necessary for streaming video? Unless you're talking about 4-5 or more users trying to share one internet connection wirelessly all trying to stream video at the same time, I don't agree. Other than the least expensive units, most modems and routers in home use, whether as separate units or a combo, have more than enough throughput capacity than do most people have available in their internet connection or home demand use.

Unless wifi reception in a house is poor (for any of several reasons, some correctable, some not) , an ethernet connection is rarely necessary.

We pay $50/month for Comcast Internet and use a digital antenna for TV + pay $20/month for SlingTV. We recently cancelled AT&T internet & cable (no landline) because the cost increased to $170/ month. For 2 smartphones we pay ~$160/month which I think is too high so we are evaluating our options.

plllog how did you get to be so darn smart!!! I swear you're our own personal Google! LOL

Yes, SW, we agree. When you have multiple users on any kind of data sharing system, it slows down. It's often not perceptible in real time, but it shows up as everything from ticks to pauses during HD streaming. I mentioned the ethernet connection as the most robust and stable, not as a necessity. It's the thing to compare the wi-fi to, given the same device/configuration. But that's assuming a short wire. I used to have to run a 100' ethernet cable up the stairs and through the maze every so often, before the double services, and it was noticeably slower than the 5' ones. :)

LOL! Lukkiirish, I don't know about being a personal Google, but I often look things up. Like I looked up what my connection speeds were for this discussion. And why I didn't say what I actually pay for telecom because I'd have to parse too many bills to come up with a number. I can say that it seems to be in line with what others are paying for the bits I could compare off the top of my head. I do know a little about a lot of things and a lot about a few things, and I'm pretty good at researching the rest. :)

Yeah, I like to research too...love the internet for that reason.

My nickname is Google maps. I drive so much for work, everyone always comes to me for directions!

p-log, 100 feet is well within specs for an ethernet cord - I think it's 100 meters. If you had issues, it must have been a bad cord or bad plug connections. Speed differences should have been imperceptible compared to a short cord, so I'm thinking that may have been your problem.

Another solution when there are impenetrable places in a house for a signal to travel, either because of size, building materials, or other obstructions to a Wifi signal, is to use powerline devices either for a wired connection at the far end or to connect a WAP.

PS - feel free to call me S-lash.

LOL!! I love it Lukkiirish! I have a friend like that. He recently shocked me when he didn't know a couple of streets near where he's always lived. :)

S-lash, sure it was within specs. It worked fine. I just noticed the real time speed loss. It's the device itself that was the obstruction to wi-fi. It requires a cable.

Amazon's Deal of the Day today is this Mohu Leaf 50 HDTV Indoor Antenna.

I don't have one (my antenna is mounted on a ham radio tower), but for those who might like to explore the possibility of switching from cable to an antenna, it looks interesting.

cable and internet have been in my rental payment monthly. I got a huge eye opener when I tried to compare prices. UGH! I'm coming up with $85 a month for the first twelve months and it'll up to $130 or $140 next year for cable and internet. I need to figure out how to stream with a Roku or Amazon fire stick.

Our two cell phones with unlimited everything is $76 a month. Non-contract phones. And no landline.

TWC Turbo is $39.99 month. I have referral credits (-$10 month) through 2016. Netflix and HuluPlus are $7.99 each per month. Network TV is free via HD Frequency antenna.

Smartphone bill is $65 month for 2 lines, 2 GIG plan. If you're a senior (65 or older or retired) call your provider and tell them you want a lower rate or you're switching. They'll give you a lower rate to keep you.

Folks who pay huge cable and satellite bills are enabling the companies to remain in business. You'll need to cancel to kill them.

With the bundle with Comcast, our bill was $209. and raising...We do have 2 TVs, both having the box for HD but still, this is getting out of hand...Trying to get through to their so called "service department" is worse than pulling teeth, so now, I just send an Email to one of the offices and then sure enough, I get a call the next day...But, the last time I complained, they gave me a new "plan", lowered the rate to $145, said we'd be getting the same exact TV stations but didn't until I had to send another message...Last month the rate was $152., this month, it's $162, with no exclamation....I so want to drop Comcast but we're kind of stuck, there is nothing else in the area.....

But, you know, it's funny, how, when you do complain, they can give you any price they want......

The cell phone I use is a no contract, pay as I use......

Landline and DSL line just went from $52 to $71 a couple months ago
ISP - $100/yr
Cell - $40/yr including tax, shipping, new phone, etc. (Prepaid Tracfone w/800 min over a year. Even with what's for me "heavier" usage the last couple months my minutes will last the year most likely. If it doesn't I'll buy another $40/year w/minutes)
TV - $0 (Antenna. No desire for cable or satellite, especially after seeing it when I travel. Most any show that I want to watch can be watched over the internet)
Texting - mostly over the internet but some via phone so it costs .3 units per

I have been pondering options for internet so I can drop the landline since I really don't need a landline. I don't spend my life on the phone so I don't need all that many minutes. Been using prepaid from the start and never more than $10/mo, now it's substantially less with a bit of research