Once you have taken stock of your in-home entertainment memberships, spend some time thinking about your in-home communication services and whether or not you are using them daily. The upkeep will not only help you maintain your resolve to live below your means, but it will allow you to measure whether the service is worth the cost. Check the following before the end of the month in an effort to get organized.
- Internet: Most of us get our money's worth with Internet service, but do call your provider and the competition to make sure you are getting the best rate. If you never use your Internet at home, but have easy access to a coffee shop or public library (where the Internet is almost always free!) consider turning off your service.
- Home Phone: Does anyone call you on this anymore? Keep it if you have to, or if it gets you a better bundle rate, otherwise consider scrapping it.
To see a couple other services you should reassess, read more.
- Digital Message Center: Do you pay $3-20 a month for a digital message service from your home phone provider? If you mostly use your cell think about getting a digital message device for the one time cost of $17 from a store like Best Buy. They have about 40 minutes of message space.
- Bundle: Has your provider convinced you that you need a "triple play" package that includes digital TV, digital phone, and broadband Internet access? Most bundles cost about $100, usually for a one-year promotional period, and then the fee goes up. Consumer Reports notes it can be hard to compare pricing plans from different providers because of the variations in channel lineups, surcharges for premium channels, and add-on fees. Just make sure you are getting a deal and aren't roped into services you don't need (like the home phone) because that monthly premium will add up over the year.
Photo courtesy of Showtime
Jean Marie
American Vintage
Derek Lam
my household learned a while back that it doesn't pay to have a landline since we NEVER use it - so that's one thing that i know that we're not paying extra for. the challenge though is that when you see the 'bundle' packages for tv/internet and phone, you sometimes get the better value there - but is it worth the trade off to pay for something that you know you don't need? i don't think so for us.
1i never use my land line except for making appointments and restaurant orders !
2I have to have my landline for my security system. We use it to make calls every once in awhile, but wouldn't miss it if we could get rid of it.
3I only have internet out of the four listed above. Can't get rid of that!!
4I wish I could get rid of my landline - cell service is too spotty where I live. Internet has a choice of dial-up (in the sticks with OLD OLD phone lines) or 1 company that does wireless broadband. Guess who I went with? They charge a LOT ... but they know you have no choice. I don't have the other 2. I really wish Verizon would get on the ball and provide more services to us folks out in the boondocks - I have over 200 year round homes in my subdivision - it's not like we're in a under-populated area.
5I work from home so I have internet & 2 landlines (one for a fax). I just switched one of the landlines from verizon to time warner and will be saving $30 a month!
6we have the triple play from Optimum and it's $100/mo forever (not promotional). Compared to what i've seen around, this is a ridiculously good deal. If we just wanted cable or just internet, it would be $50/mo. If we remove the landline, we only save $1/mo (i asked!) so we just keep that, which has come in use if someone has shoddy cell reception.
7I have $hitty a$$ at&t for my cell phone so i need my landline. There is one thing i could get rid of though.
8I do not have a landline at all...we don't need one because we pretty much just use our cell phones. We also found out that we had high speed cable internet for $59.00 a month, but a few months ago, we were able to switch to a slightly lower speed and pay only $19.99 a month. We switched and we barely notice the speed difference. I think you'd maybe notice it if you played a lot of online games or something, but otherwise the slightly slower speed is fine.
9I hardly ever use my landline either but unfortunately, I love less than a mile from a county airport and cell phone reception gets iffy so I'm forced to keep it.
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