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Straight and to the point but read on for details if you have the time.
1. Buy a streaming device for tv (I use ROKU) and get Netflix and hulu plus to maximize entertainment.
Roku is no monthly charge just one time purchase for each tv, netflix and hulu are monthly costs but awesome sites.
Details on their site and live chat also--->
2. Buy a device such as NetTalkDuo (free local and long distance) under $3/month for home phone. Nettalk gets rave reviews over Vonage.
3. Internet: You tell me? I just use verizon at $55/month unless you want to hack into someones network.
As a long time customer I heard about an offer in November 2011 for Free DVR for life for new customers.
I called and got the cancellation department who wanted to keep me and said it was pointless to cancel my account to officially be a new customer so they gave me the deal and clearly stated I had a DVR for life.
I called verizon the other day about a billing issue and found out I had the multiroom dvr free for 12 months, not for life.
I spoke to billing about it and they assured me it was a mistake and would change it. Skeptical of customer service at verizon I called to confirm the next day and sure enough-yeah you guessed correctly, no dvr for life.
To top it off, verizon sent all customers a letter the other day stating the DVR is increasing in price from 15.99 to 16.99
Some advice:
1. Never believe the first person you get on the phone with verizon, CONFIRM AGAIN
2. Check your bill for changes
3. Most importantly: Forget monthly payments of around $110-200 with these cable companies: see below
Before you read all this, if your a major sports fan or you must watch stuff as it happens live then read at below in red.
Forget high monthly bills buy a "ROKU" (among other options of streaming boxes):Please note I am not selling a particular device, I am just a customer of verizon giving advice to other customer looking to save money, there are tons of streaming boxes on the internet.
That said: ROKU is a 1 time payment of $75-$100 and just buy an indoor antenna for $10 for local channels + dtv converter if needed. ROKU is more geared towards movie lovers and sitcoms/tv episodes including news but delayed news. You have to pay for a sports package and only sports you can watch is from local channels with purchase of your own antenna separately bought.
Verizon offers almost 2000 channels and most are either repeat channels (HD vs non HD), spanish channels, music channels and other channels I never tune into. I probably watch 30 good channels from it all. Movie selections SUCK unless you want to pay for on demand movie.
KEEP IN MIND: FOR EACH TV YOU NEED ANOTHER STREAMING BOX, ANTENNA AND (DTV CONVERTER IF NEEDED)
Still cheaper than 2 months of verizon. If you have 3 tvs that is $350 max for everything you need. That's not even 3 months worth of payments with verizon considering I pay $150/month right now for 3 tvs to go along with internet and phone.
$16/month for HULU PLUS and NETFLIX combined: Pay $8 for streaming netflix and another $8 for hulu plus for all the sitcoms you can imagine AND movies from netflix. Pay another $8 to get newer movies with netflix as streaming movies tend to be older and the newer movies are sent in the mail in addition to streaming older movies.
One time payment of: $75-100 for ROKU depending on type of box (apple tv is another example) and another $10 for indoor antenna I got on ebay for cheap. You don't need a DVR, you can rewind with Streaming players and everything is ON DEMAND.
How about phone service? FORGET PHONE SERVICE WITH CABLE COMPANIES!!! Verizon charges what, like $35-40 month?
I use "net talk duo" and it's $50 for first year and $30/year thereafter. Under $3/month!!!
And Internet? Well so far I'm stuck paying $55/month for internet by itself (no bundle service) with verizon. I'd recommend getting brighthouse or verizon to give you the best price or best connection by competing with eachother.
So lets do the math here for one month of service.
$55+TAX ($60) (internet with verizon or brighthouse) + $8 - $24 (Hulu Plus & Netflix) + Under $3 for home phone=$87/month max out the door price
You can pay less than $87 if you dont care for netflix and just use Hulu Plus to watch tv sitcoms/news etc.
I would range it from $71-87 month depending on your preferences but a ROKU box is almost pointless if you don't get atleast Hulu Plus or Netflix.
No taxes on cable or home phone and No rental fees for boxes that stream. Saves me a ton
ROKU basically serves as a very small computer that enables you to stream, your laptop can do the same but with the ROKU you get HD (pending HD cable is connected). What's nice is Hulu and netflix doesn't need to be ordered for each box, a suscription to either or both will be available for 2 boxes in the house, this way your not stuck in one room to watch a movie but customer service with ROKU can answer all these misc questions on their website!
Great customer service by the way.
IMPORTANT:
If your into watching LIVE TV such as live news, watching live shows like American Idol or sports you will need to find a way to watch those programs that air on any non- local channels. Roku offers NBA packages but their website goes in way more detail. This is why I recommend getting a cheap antenna to get local channels on a different input. Without antenna you only really get movies/sitcoms and delayed news reports from ROKU.
Remember: One time payments for a streaming box, Indoor antenna and if needed a dtv converter if your tv is old. All of which is cheap and found on ebay or elsewhere online. ROKU can be bought on ebay but recommended to buy it directly from company for returns if possible (30 day money back) worth a try.
But hey...Tell verizon about these deals and they might offer you a free dvr for life to stay with them.
Finally-It's just advice people, do whatever your heart desires 🙂
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