I'm coming full circle. When we moved to Portland 8 years ago, I got Comcast triple play (voice, TV, internet) for $115, it was such a good deal! Well, over time it went up and up and last year, when it was $230 or so, I dropped voice and replaced it with a $12 extra line with our cellular carrier. That took the Comcast bill from $230/mo to $130/mo This weekend I dropped TV, something my kids have been telling me to do, since we hardly ever watch cable TV. That takes my Comcast bill to $95/mo for just 50 MB/s internet. I will also drop my TiVo service at $15/mo. I can reduce it to $85/mo by downgrading to 25 MB/s internet, or I can drop Comcast entirely and get internet from our local telco. They charge $80/mo for 40 MB/s, but there is a 1 year introductory $30/mo price, and I'm told they extend that for another year if you call and state your intention to drop. We are paying for $16/mo for Netflix and Hulu Plus. I might subscribe to an online sports streaming service for another $10/mo. In the summer, I might pay $30 to watch the Tour de France online. TL:DR version - "I was paying $245/mo for Comcast + TiVo, I am now $123/mo for Comcast + Netflix + Hulu + a cellular home phone, and I can get it to $58/mo for telco internet 1-or-2-year deal + Netflix + Hulu + cellular home phone." I will spend about $200 one-time for a used modem, Roku, cables to connect Mac to TV, maybe an OTA antenna. We are still figuring out the limitations of Netflix and Hulu. For example, my son asked how he could watch the current season of Doctor Who. Turns out that BBC UK streams it but only to the UK, and by going through a free proxy server in the UK, you can watch it in the US.

I've purchased items from a number of the flash sales sites and here are a few comments to add to those already posted. Shipping costs vary wildly with the best being RueLaLa at $9.95 for your first purchase in a 30-day period and free thereafter during that 30 days. OKL is the worst with shipping charges that rival standard catalog sites like Pottery Barn. Customer service has been great at all of the sites. While items are generally final sale, a damaged or incorrect item is usually refunded or replaced quickly. Shipping does take a long time, though. Figure on at least 10 business days and probably longer. I've had terrible luck with breakable items from OKL. Fragile glass items will be thrown in a box with a few air pillows. You couldn't hand carry those boxes without breakage much less ship them cross-country. OKL has premium members that have access to the site before the general members. I have no idea how one becomes a premium member; maybe you have to be an associate of the owners or buy a certain amount. On all the sites, you must do your research. If an item is new, check Amazon or a Google search before you buy. The item may be available at a cheaper price or with free shipping elsewhere. If an item is vintage, know what similar items sell for in the marketplace in your area and check eBay. I've seen vintage items priced at 10X what the same item is selling for on eBay. As far as giving them your Email address, I have a special Yahoo! address just for these types of sites. They will bombard you with daily Emails, but you can opt out of those easily. I've yet to receive any spam Emails that would suggest that one of the sites has sold my Email address. I also haven't received any snail mail generated from having my address sold from one of the sites. I don't store my credit card information on the sites, though, because I'm not sure how secure their servers are. At a minimum, browsing the sites might spark an idea with their products. At the best, you will find terrific bargains.

Always glad to help! BTW, your small setup there looks pretty nice. I've got this huge L-shaped Glass Desk and a Huge Box sitting down on the Floor (oh, that's the computer)! There just isn't enough room in my computer room for the things I have in there. I did have another small Glass Desk that was on rollers (use to have 3 complete computer systems set up in that room). I should have kept the smaller desk and got rid of the L-Shaped Desk. Still would have had that Huge Box.

Generally yes it will use accessible, accepted wifi first then when not available out and about it accesses the mobile network for all transmission phone calls and data transmission. It will show you if there are wifi networks available around you, most will be locked and not available. If you are located near a free hot spot it will notify you of the network and if you want to use it you can click on it and connect. Some free hot spots require that you get a password from them to use their free network. Keep in mind that any open free hot spots is just that open to anyone and not secure so don't be doing banking or using credit cards. I personally don't even access my email on an open hot spot.