Just keep the high speed internet. Most of the TV programming can be found on the internet. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, are a few of the "pay" providers. Couchtuner.eu will give you most network programming the same day it airs. Sports can be found at Bosscast.net

Dial up was very slow for us. We pay $54.00 a month for internet and I thought that was alot of money! Geez! Where do you live? We live in rural Georgia.

Yes, keep your Charter internet without the TV part. They put a filter on the cable to block the TV signal. That's what I have ... well, not Charter but the local cable service which is a Comcast reseller. It runs me $37.81 monthly for the lowest-tier service, which is 3mbps download / 512kbps upload. Good enough to stream Netflix at very good quality on my 720p plasma TV.

Thanks for helping. I feel I need to offer some clarification. I should have said I get all three services (telephone; high speed internet; and television) from Charter for a combined cost of $165 a month. That's supposed to be a special deal. I could select service(s) individually but that rate would be higher than with the package. Regards, Gene

But if you drop parts of the package, you will save money. Drop the TV part, for example.

Dial-up Internet is simply no longer an option. Ordinary uses like surfing the Web, doing Windows Updates/any other updates (antivirus...for example) will simply take too long and you won't want to tie up your phone line for hour after hour. It would be worth asking your cableco if you can negotiate for a lower speed at a lower price. Nothing to be lost by trying...all they can do is say no.

Hi Gene,
I am on dialup and have been since 1999.
I have seen how fast High speed Internet is and it brings tears to my eyes that I, on a fixed very low income, can not subscribe to it because of the $$$$!
The money I save, allows me to buy things I would not be able to, had I opt for high speed.
Believe me, it can really tax your patience.
If you have a wireless laptop to where you can occasionally use a friend's high speed to download updates or programs etc., that would take a VERY long time on dialup, you may get by. But-----you are giving up the ability to watch you tube video in a split second and receiving large email files/photos sent to you on dialup.
As an example, Yesterday, I was expecting a large file sent to me by email (6.27MB) from a company to be opened using a pdf reader.
When I opened Windows 7 Live Mail, after 20 minutes of waiting for it to finish DL, a notice popped up that my server erred and stopped. It froze to my not being able to receive any mail then from that account. I could open my other accounts and receive mail using WLM but not receive in my server default one.
Me, expecting that to happen, I used my friend's highspeed to DL and save that file to my desktop from the server's website. Then I deleted it off the server, stopping it from going to Windows Live Mail. Then the other mail to be received, was able to download. "Whew"!
I didn't even bother to go to the servers website via dialup cause it takes too long to open and probably wouldn't open there either because of the slow connection. I had to use HTML for slow connections in gmail and lose the options you have in Standard, like one being able to save stuff to what they call "labels". That is why I have my gmail accounts open in WLM, faster!
Also, if you read your daily newspaper on the net, some pages may not even open to where you just give up and get too frustrated to go on.

Please give Urlee's information extra attention. I have known her for many years, and she is not exaggerating her frustration with DUN. Living in rural America I was in the same position as her until four years ago when 3G wireless, and now 4G wireless (roars) became available.

The idea of dropping cable is getting strong consideration here. My Directv is approaching $100 a month with no premium channels, and I think I could get by OK with Internet access for programming.

As previously reported downloads now-a-days are regularly sizable with only limited creative alternatives.

DA

This post was edited by damccoy on Sun, Sep 28, 14 at 20:04

Everyone has personal spending decisions to make, it's just good that more alternatives continue to become available. We've been Netflix users since close to Day 1 of their DVD service. With their streaming service overtaking the disk business I think their membership (and exclusive productions) have grown to a point that Netflix can be said to serve as a primary source of content for many, many homes (content that excludes news and sports). Of course, using it requires a fast enough internet connection.

It's a shame that high speed internet access isn't cheaper and also more available for those living in remote or less populated locations.

I don't see going back to dial-up as a practical solution for most people because today the Internet is simply designed for high speed connections. I do share your frustration with sky high bills and I've given a lot of thought to how to reduce them. Unfortunately what works for me, might not work for you.

Do you have "regular" cell phone service? Not the pay per minute type like TracFone? If so and you're willing to give up a land line, most if not all carriers offer unlimited calls.

Does Charter have any competitors? Even if not, you can tell them you're quitting. They all have "retention" specialists that can reduce your bill beyond whatever the first person you talk to can do.

T-Mobile has been very aggressive with data pricing and limits. If you happen to have good T-Mobile coverage in your area and have a compatible smart phone, they'll give you unlimited LTE data for $80 per month including 5 gigs of tethered data. Tether your computer to your smartphone.

Do you have any nearby neighbors that might be willing to share their Internet connection? You'd help pay some percentage of their bill each month. Heck, if the houses are close enough you can share cable too. Probably some terms of service violations in there...

As others have suggested doing away with the television portion why not give it a test run by refusing to turn the TV on for 7 days? That way you'll understand life without the idiot box and can decide if it is for you.

I have not had a television for 4 years - but I was never hooked on the thing anyway so it was no loss.

Contact your service provider and ask them for hardship pricing, The mega giant Time Warner does it, I know that as a fact,my cable was getting up to almost $165.00 and I contacted them and they now charge me $129.00 for the triple play. Its sad they charge such ridiculous prices, and then you read about their salaries and it makes me want to scream!!! Good Luck.....

Hi DA,
I just seen your post and got tears in my eyes just reading what you wrote. Yes, one would think I am all teared out from dialup but no, I managed to find more when I seen what DA had posted.
Thank you my friend.

Howdy everyone. I really do appreciate your responses. I've studied them rather thoroughly. I've also studied my use of the computer.

Before retirement, and before computers, I worked with a fellow. I recall one of his many comments. He said if he wishes to write he wants a pencil right then and not have to go looking for one. Having high speed is like having a pencil already in hand. Having to look for one is like using dial-up.

Yesterday I talked to Charter. I almost rubber stamped Christine150's reply. I kept high speed. I kept their phone. I gave up a number of channels. I gave up a TV box for my bedroom TV. I walked away about $40 less per month. I'll try to live with that at least for a while.

For a bedroom TV I might try one of those antennas similar to TV ads. They profess picking up analog channels. I'm outside Asheville NC. Lots of mountains so reception is doubtful. I hope for a couple of channels.. Anyway, thanks to all for being a sounding board. Regards, Gene

Candler If I had to make the same choice you are trying to make I'd be totally confused and not happy! Right now I have Verizon HotSpot for wireless internet and really like it because no matter where I go I take it with me, but if I couldn't afford it I would go back to DSLextreme. It was a company I used years ago and really liked it. You might look into it and see what they can offer you.

Here is a link that might be useful: DSLextreme

My guess is Netflix, hulu and such would not stream good over dial up but someone correct me if that thinking is wrong. I know I couldn't drop my cable like a few of my friends did. I like to watch shows when they are current and even when I use a few netowrks apps on my tablet to watch a show I miss some want me to log in with a provider so if you don't have one you are out of luck if you miss a show.

I have time warner internet and TV, don't have a house phone so no need for their phone service. We have one box on the living room TV and that's it. We do have a TV in the bedroom but only get expanded basic on it, no box.

I can access time warner live TV and on demand stuff on my laptop at timewarner.com when in bed or I can use the time warner app on my android tablet to watch live TV and on demand stuff up there so you might see if charter has that option of an app but of course you need wireless to do that. This saves me from paying for another box. I do subscribe to hulu and Netflix but don't have a roku for them and just use the apps on my tablet or watch from the computer, works for me as I am a big TV watcher myself and that's what I choose to spend money on. Now to convince the other half I need a 10" tablet for Christmas to watch movies on, he he. Mary

I too had the idea of dropping cable and keeping just the internet. They said because I would lose package discounts my monthly bill would go down by only a dollar and some change.

A dialup connection won't support video streaming, it's not even a close call. Not even audio streaming like Pandora or Slacker, or an audio (not video) call over Skype.

Dialup is around 50,000 bits per sec. An audio stream needs at least 100,000. A lower quality Netflix stream is in the 2-3 million range, 40-60 times faster. HD at 4 million plus, call it 100 times faster.

Just get an unlimited data services on your smartphone and make sure your cellular carrier supports smartphone hotspot and use it for your connection to your PC or other mobile devices. It will cost about $100 but then you can cancel everything that you now use with Charter!

T-Mobile is pretty good but some of the other are too!

But if you use a lot of Wi-Fi then I would just go with Charter and get a 60 m.p.s. line. The cost is about $60 a month and should be very fast for streaming videos with no lag in it!

So you have to extreme choice in my opinion - Cellular or Wi-Fi! You did not say how much you use your smartphone so I cannot recommend one over the other!

Oh! You can get the major OTA channels for free with a digital antenna. The best is a 5"X7" flat sheet shape antenna that cost about $9-$12 or an U.S. made one for $45! It brings in the true 1080p resolution with no compression so it super, super shape! So if like ABC, PBS, CBS, FOX, NBC, Antenna TV, MeTV, CW and some of the new subchannels directed at the older crowd that shows 50s and 50 TV programs then you don't miss cable/satellite channels at all!

There is only one cell provider that has truly unlimited data service that I know of as I had them for 1 1/2yrs and they were great for calling and ok for 4g as you got unlimited 4g with no data cap but if you were not in a 4g area you got 2g and the phone hardly worked on 2g. It also only included 2gigs of mobile hotspot. I didn't see a company that offered unlimited hotspot when searching so you would have to watch your usage very good.

Most companies I looked at that said unlimited 4g it was only up to 2gigs or so and if you went over that you got throttled to 2g until the next month. I had to read the fine print to learn that as they didn't make it big and bold.

I went back to Verizon and where ever I don't get 4g LTE I get 3g which still seems as fast to me. I only have 2gigs a month now but I don't miss the unlimited and haven't gone over. I just can't stream any movies in the car anymore.

I don't have cable in my kitchen and have a flat antenna I paid like $50 for. A few channels no matter how you position it they cut in and out when trying to watch, especially on a windy day so it get's annoying but I don't want the cable hooked up in there just to watch the news while cooking so leave it at that as we have cable on the other 3 TV's in the house. Mary