I have a small Samsung smart tv in my bedroom--I love it. It's great. I was just watching Ted Lasso (Apple TV) on it! It was easy to set up and I would buy again!

I have never heard of any communication company owning anyone's monitor or laptop.

Not understanding rewiring anything unless you mean disconnecting the boxes. You might want to check other company's in your area for prices. I would also look at the bill to see what you are paying for those two voice recognition remotes. I just looked and they are relatively cheap to purchase. I would be surprised if they were even shown on your bill although some type of remote would need to be returned, again depending on company, if service is discontinued.

You can stream CNN and MSNBC directly from their websites. You need Internet connectivity, but not cable television channel service plan.

Maybe OP meant 'modem', not 'monitor'?

With a good internet connection, there's really not much reason to have cable TV anymore - and the cable co.s know this. I've mentioned this before: we cut our cable a few years ago and get internet service only. We use Roku, along with our other devices, to watch movies, TV, and our monthly cost is about half what we would pay if we'd kept the cable.

Roku devices can be had with voice command remotes.

The companies in this area including the cable ones have internet so just because they have the word "cable" in their name it does not mean that they are not providing internet access the same as the various phone company's.

Any dumb TV with an HDML socket becomes a "smart TV" with the addition of a dongle or other "smartening" device. Take your pick - Roku, Amazon Firestick, Apple TV, etc. Five years ago we bought two Roku dongles - $40 or $50, depending on the model you like.

"TV" coverage can be had from several sources. We use Youtube TV for $75 a month. Hulu and others offer the same thing. You only need one Youtube or other TV subscriptions for two TVs, and you can use each at the same time. The signal travels over your internet connection and to the dongles via Wifi.

There's a lot of misunderstanding and misrepresentation about internet signal services. All internet signals are digital and travel at the speed of light. When they talk about 50 or 100 or 150 Mbs of "speed", that's capacity or bandwidth. Think of a highway on which all vehicles travel at the same speed and must stay 100 feet apart in the same lane. A 25 meg connection has one lane, 50 has two lanes, 100 has four lanes, etc., You need more bandwidth for more simultaneous high density traffic. A 50 meg connection is perfectly adequate for 2 different HD TVs on at the same time. No need to pay for more than you'd ever use.

I've found Comcast (xfinity) very easy to deal with to get lower rates. If you call and tell them you want to cancel because it's too expensive, you can ultimately be transferred to something like the "Customer Retention" department. I seem to need to do this every year or two. One year, I got a $10 monthly decrease (instead of a $10 monthly increase) by agreeing to bundle TV service. They shipped me a set-top box, I never connected it, and enjoyed 24 months of reduced cost. This last year, I told them I wanted to cancel, and I got whopping decrease. I'm now at $35/month for internet service at 75 Mbs. I'm very satisfied with them.

Good luck.

Cable internet service has historically been different from telco internet service in that it uses different technology and different wires for the connections.

Cable internet service has historically been different from telco internet service in that it uses different techology and different wires (coax cable) for the connections. And offering greater bandwidth than telcos because there's more capacity in the cable systems. Telco internet service has historically been passed over the last mile or two of copper telephone wire to homes using bandwidth limited ADSL technology.

In more recent years, both telcos and cable companies have upgraded their distribution networks in various communities to fiber-optic lines. A fiber line is a fiber line, no matter what kind of company operates it, but in that they're in competition with one another, I do not believe telcos and cable companies share actual stretches of "wire" networks anywhere.

I have a 32" (non-smart) LG and a (smart) 43" LG - both LG's lesser cost models. I already had a Roku stick so I continued using that on the smart one; then got another for the non-smart TV. The small one recently took up residence in my bedroom. I like them both quite a lot.

The Roku devices offer options to subscribe to CNN, or watch Bloomberg, Euronews, Sky, Reuters, others for free. I can't remember if CNBC is a subscription or free. IIRC, MSNBC isn't available via Roku alone. I haven't noticed whether it is among the smart LG's offerings.

There are streaming packages available through the TV as well, I believe at less cost than the typical cable company. For example, Sling TV Blue has 41 channels, includes both CNN and MSNBC, for $40/month.

I’ve been looking for a small tv of any kind that has decent sound. It’s just for the kitchen, like you, so it doesn’t need stereophonic surround sound or whatever the current buzzword is, I just don’t want it to sound like a transistor radio.

"You can stream CNN and MSNBC directly from their websites. You need Internet connectivity, but not cable television channel service plan."

I believe you do.......you get a few minutes free, but then have to sign up via your cable provider. At least that was the last time I tried (from the US).

bpath, you can get an external speaker and just connect it with a 3.5mm audio jack so you avoid the TV's lousy speakers. That speaker can be as fancy (or not) as you want.........That's what I do with the monitor I use with a DVD player and Chromecast. I bought a small external speaker (Anker - they make great tech products) and it produces much better sound without taking up a lot of space.

But I don’t want an external speaker. There isn’t much room in the kitchen, and I don’t want an addition cord (i know it would be a short cord, but just how short?) Why shouldn’t the tv have good sound to begin with? It’s like buying a tv and having to get a monitor because the picture is poor.

@ bpath: have you checked the sound settings on your TV?

And we have Roku Express devices on 2 TVs - both cost around $30 and work very well. Places like Walmart & Target sell them at that price point.

I like the headline news and Reuters channels on Pluto TV and Roku. Hubby likes to watch the CBS news channels from around the country. YouTube also has channels for major news sources. You can watch YouTube on Roku and other streaming devices.

It did seem a bit daunting at first, but after having this for awhile, there's so much available for free that paying for subscriptions isn't really necessary for most things.

I'm not sure how you're dissatisfied with something you don't yet have. I have a $100 24 inch TV in the bedroom. It isn't used a lot but I think the sound is perfectly satisfactory. Not tinny or overly treble at all.

For an external speakers, it's simple to have a wireless connection. Plug a Bluetooth transmitter (inexpensive and easy to find) into the audio out socket at the back of the TV. Connect a wireless Bluetooth speaker to the signal. Put the speaker anywhere in the room you want.

Or, another approach to give you completely flexible and mobile TV to use anywhere in your house - use a large tablet. Or a PC. Most TV services include internet streaming and have apps or browser access. I'm not a TV hound like my wife is but when we switched from a satellite service to streaming TV, she had to adjust because the TV in the kitchen was disconnected. She loves the convenience and portability of using her iPad, including, watching TV outside.

" Why shouldn’t the tv have good sound to begin with? "

I dunno......for the same reason there aren't any decent quality "dumb" TVs. It's not what other people want or care about, so we have to build our own or adjust.

" there aren't any decent quality "dumb" TVs "

I'm not sure what your issue is. TVs are no different that cars, phones, PCs, or anything else. What's considered "standard equipment" these days is much more robust and feature-filled than in the past. Users are welcome to ignore included capabilities and features they don't want to use, they really haven't paid extra for them. TVs are better and cheaper these days than in the past and that progression has been the case for a long time.

bpath -- We returned a small Vizio and bought the Samsung to get decent sound.

Thanks to all for excellent suggestions, but in the interest of not having to rewire our Senior brains, replacing the kitchen monitor with a small smart TV would be simplest. Our $148/mo would become $128/mo once we return the boxes. I'll ask DS to do the setup.

Back to my original question: Can anyone suggest a small smart TV with decent sound? The current monitor is 22". I can see 27", but think anything larger would be too big for the small buffet in our kitchen.

If your existing small TV has an HDML socket, add a dongle and you don't need a new TV.

ELMER! Yes, it does have an outlet for HDML. Thank you. I'll ask DS to order a dongle and come switch us off the cable boxes in both rooms. Looks like dongles cost about $30.

Back to looking at the Xfinity costing...$39.85 is fees and taxes. Does $62 seem high for basic internet service? Nothing adds up due to various 'discounts', but the bottom line is $146.27/mo including $10/mo for each box.

$62 seems like a good deal to me. Ours is $75. We have Spectrum here.

I wish I did have a rec for a small TV with good sound, but I use a small bluetooth speaker plugged into the jack on ours, which is not smart, it's one of those with a built in DVD player.

FWIW, you might be surprised at the quality of sound that's available in small inexpensive speakers these days. I like to shop monoprice.com for good quality electronics at very low prices.

The price for basic internet depends on what speed you are paying for.

I am currently paying $30/month for "up to" 500 mps (in reality usually runs 250-300, which is more than enough for my streaming and computer use). In fact, before I took advantage of a change in ISP offer, I was paying $35 for only 50 mps - and that also was sufficient. I own my own modem/router so no rental fees.

We have 3 ISPs in town so that does hold the prices down somewhat. Right now Spectrum in our area is offering 500 mps for $50/month.

Forgot to mention we do have Spectrum's modem, and we have our own wifi router.

Carolb, my current tv is fine. It is flat screen but analog! So we have a digital converter under it. A new tv will rid us of the digital converter but we will need a sound bar or speaker. I want LESS, not the same or more. We have already bought, fiddled sound with, and returned, three small tvs. I guess I could spring for a speaker or sound bar and just velcro it to the tv to look and act like less.

" just velcro it to the tv to look and act like less. "

When the speaker on an old TV died, I velcro'd a small speaker to the back of the TV for the remaining months until I got rid of it (before my move).

" Does $62 seem high for basic internet service? "

If you have the lowest bandwidth tier, then yes. I pay Comcast $35 (after saying I wanted to end my service), for 75Mbs. Excellent service. That's more than adequate and an amount a two person household would never need.

My Spectrum service is $80 per month and, as I mentioned before, sub-par service. I told them I was going to switch to ATT fiber for around $50 and it was "so long, it's been good to know you". I didn't go through with the change because I didn't want to relocate my network equipment but I probably will at the next price uptick.

" Thank you. I'll ask DS to order a dongle and come switch us off the cable boxes in both rooms. Looks like dongles cost about $30. "

I used a retailer that offers no questions asked returns without a restocking fee and bought two different ones, an Amazon Firestick and a Roku dongle. Figuring, I would try out both, return the one I didn't like and buy a second of the one I preferred.

They all work ultimately but I found I preferred the Roku. Part of my decision was based on finding that my wife found the Roku's user interface easier to use than the Firestick's.

I'm thisclose to getting rid of cable because we downloaded IPTV streaming service for $20 a month. It shows way more than cable does, including shows that are not on Netflix, Crave or Amazon. I'll keep my internet service but it'll save us a lot of money. It's cheaper to get a one year subscription, which I'll more than likely do once the cable gets cut.