Is that $50 before or after equipment rental, taxes, and fees? My $50 plan cost me $68.

He could have saved $170 by getting an antenna but that isn’t what he wanted. He chose the no-ad version of Netflix intentionally so there really is no $12 savings there.


EDIT: Okay, you have your own modem. That would take about $15 off the price I paid and made it close to $50. Yeah, I could have saved money that way but I wanted to never be in the position to say, “ my modem won't handle much more anyway.”

I bought my modem for $49 from Best Buy. Three years ago I walked in with my list of compatible modems from Xfinity and they found me one within a couple of minutes. Seeing is it's saved me $10/month plus tax, was totally worth the extra 15 minutes to go to the store for that as I've already saved over $350 dollars on not paying a modem rental.

These modems can handle speeds that won't even be needed for 10+ years from now, and only if all my TV's are streaming 8k.

I own my modem, yeah. It'd be $40/month, but I refuse to do autopay, so I don't get that discount.

I've had the modem for almost 6 years, the router too. It does everything we need it to do, no need to upgrade because as I said - I can do all I need to do with 100mbps, and they give us (at least) 350mbps for the same price.

Exactly. You also save time, because you hook it all up yourself instead of having some stranger in your house messing with cables and with your computer and such. If I need something with my computer that I can't figure out myself or get help with troubleshooting over the phone, I'll pick up my computer and bring it to the repair shop. This isn't rocket science, you don't even need a high school diploma to figure it out.

No they don't...And they are not illegal.

$10 / month is a bargain.

Apollo Group TV

Xfinity NOW Internet 100mb - $30...Apollo TV - $10...Google Freeplay on Google TV / Google TV stream device - Free. 40 buck a month for all these junk TV channels is a good deal. Add additional subscription services if needed.

I would use MagicJack for a phone landline if needed.

I have lifetime 80mb internet for $25 which is plenty for a least 3 simultaneous 4K streams. I have my own cable modem DOCSIS 3.1/wifi 6 router. I have consistent 85mb down with less than 20ms latency. For those with Quantum or Centric fiber would you please go to Speakeasy Internet Speed Test - Check Your Broadband Speed | Fusion Connect and click "start" and post your latency score?

Almost all buffering problems occur downstream and usually at the server farm site...both server utilization and/or data bandwidth bottleneck...The problem is not your home internet speed.

Apollo group TV is an IPTV service meaning they are a streaming service like YouTubeTV. In the past, many of these services were illegal streaming services that got shut down. Apollo is legal. So why not get it?

1) You get what you pay for. Subscribers report occasional buffering, freezing and other streaming issues.
2) These streaming services need to maintain adequate servers and connections to the internet in order to work well. Because they charge less, they do this at a bare mininum.
3) Any service that works over the internet is never going to be the same quality as a service that has direct connections to the major networks, Netflix, etc.. This is why when there is a "special" sports event you will see buffering. It's not your internet connection but it's the IPTVs connection to the source material.
4) There is no DVR function which doesn't surprise me because they have to maintain storage for this function and it's costly.

All this said, if you like to experiment, try Apollo or any other legal IPTV provider. If you don't want to experiment, get YouTube TV. Remember, it doesn't make a difference how you connect to the internet, Quantum, Centric, Xfinity, Spectrum just get a plan that works for your. Also, I see all these prices for service, do your research and you will find that the prices for an equivalent speed is not that much different across these companies. For very basic internet usage plans for 100-200 Mbs will work. For most Villagers, plans at 500Mbs are the "norm" these days, and for work at home or power users, 1Gbs is what some get. As you are seeing the fiber companies are offerint 1Gbs speeds at a cheap price to lure in customers whether you need that speed or not. Also, some Villagers consider negotiating yearly with the cable companies a "sport" so they feel good that they got a "deal". Nothing wrong with that if that's how you like to spend some of your time.

Fact or assertion with no sourcing?

Doesn't pass the smell test. If cable companies are often forced to drop local channels over price negotiations with the networks and if both HuluLive and YouTubeTV need to charge over $75 to provide locals and if no legitimate provider can give you out-of-market local channels and if the NFL alone charges nearly $200 per season for their games and if Netflix, HBO, and Showtime each charge a monthly fee approaching $15 then HOW can an IPTV service legally provide all that and more for just $13/month? Does ApolloTV really know more than YouTube, Hulu, NFL, Netflix, HBO, Showtime, and Comcast combined or is it just that they have not yet been shut down?

One point of reference:

Apollo Group TV Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of apollogrouptv.info

You make good points. I
Know many of these IPTV services have been shut down. Their web site looks legit. It would be interesting to know how they are getting and providing service.

Smell test? does it smell like facts or assertions? What does that smell like? They have a 3day free trial (or buy one month) and if they are found to be illegal then the service goes away...if it proves unreliable then look elsewhere. This ain't that difficult! It is always best to pay for any of these internet services with a virtual card off your credit card so you can turn off the billing. Virtual Card is your friend :)

Google Freeplay is free...So is Roku Channel...Youtube is free (Not Youtube TV...what marketing genius thought naming the subscription channel "Youtube TV" was a good idea?) and there are billions of videos on Youtube. There are 100s of free channel apps to spelunk. It is shocking to me that anyone would pay $300 a month for garbage TV! ...And at that money, they still throw retarded commercials at you as well!

Apollo itself isn't illegal, but it provides illegal content. Sometimes links to content that is dangerous and can result in identity theft and financial scams.

Is Apollo TV Legal? A Complete Legal Overview 2024 - iptvApolloGrouptv

I'm paying Xfinity more than the OP ($360.99)
 

My Xfinity plan $196.00
My Xfinity services $236.00
TV: Ultimate TV $90.00
Includes Limited Basic, Sports & News, Kids & Family,
Entertainment, 50+ Additional Channels, Streampix, HD
Programming, and 20 Hours of DVR Service.
Internet: Gigabit $116.00
Voice: Xfinity Voice $30.00
Unlimited Local and Long Distance Calls. International Calling Included To Several Countries With Others Available At An Additional Charge.
3 Product Discount: -$40.00
-----------------------------------------
Add ons
DVR Service $10.00
Starz $10.99
3 Premiums $32.00
Max, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, TMC
Peacock Premium Included $0.00 At No Extra Cost ($7.99/mo. Value) For 24 Months Then Regular Rates Apply If You Choose To Continue Service. The end date of your promotion is Jun 25, 2025.
More Sports & Ent Pkg $9.95
-------------------------------------------------------
Equipment & services
TV Box + Remote $20.00 Qty 2 @ $10.00 each
Internet/Voice Equipment Rental $15.00
----------------------------------------------------------
Service fees
Broadcast TV Fee $29.60
Regional Sports Fee $12.15
---------------------------------------------
Taxes, fees and other charges
Other charges $3.35
Regulatory Cost Recovery $1.59
Federal Universal Service Fund $1.76
-------------------------------------------------
Taxes & government fees
Sales Tax $2.45
State Communications Services Tax $14.39
Local Communications Services Tax $4.71
911 Fees $0.40
---------------------
Total Xfinity Bill: $360.99


In addition I also have $64.67 of non-xfinity TV monthly charges including:
Netflix $24.51
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra $16.15
YouTube Premium $13.99 (no commercials)
The Great Courses Plus $10.00 (via ROKU)
-----------------------------------
My Monthly Total is $360.99 + $64.67 = $425.65

The way I figure it, I could drop Xfinity (except for internet), and get all of these services somewhere else, but if I succeeded to get everything that I get with Xfinity, the cost savings wouldn't be that much. (as long as it’s legal)

Right?

Of course I could cut out services like Cinemax and Showtime, but I don’t want to do that.

QuantumFiber: $40 per month for internet
YouTubeTV: $41 per month (sharing the plan)
Netflix: $15 per month
Amazon Prime: $10 per month, IIRC

Your cost savings would be pretty significant. First, change your internet from 1G to the $50 plan. It might start you out at 100mbps and they'll bump you up in a month to 200mbps "no charge" (they do it for everyone). That's more than you'll need unless you're doing professional digital stuff, or own a shared game server.

So just by reducing your internet service speed, you'll be saving $66. Keeping everything else exactly the same.

NEXT...
Do you really need 4K Netflix with no ads? You're paying $20-something for that. For only $7 you can get HD, with some ads (they're really not a big deal, a minute or less, once every 15 minutes for some stuff, once every half hour for others).

NEXT...

Buy your router and modem. You'll save maybe $50 your first year, and $180+ each subsequent year, by not having to ever pay rent on it again.

You're paying all that, and only getting "Basic Limited" TV (50 channels) for $90? Dood. My condolences. Seriously, that's pretty horrible. Get YouTubeTV, or the Sling Blue with their sports-plus option, or Hulu+ LiveTV, and you'll get over 100 channels each. With Hulu, you get the added bonus of Hulu itself, plus Disney+ in the package. Each of these options are under $100 after taxes.

Thanks to the last two posters for their suggestions. I'm not sure when I'll make the change, but I'll continue to mull it over.

As far as sharing the YouTubeTV plan, I currently don't have anyone to share it with, but it might be tricky seeing how already I have a YouTube channel that I post nonsense on, along with YouTube Premium. They know who I am and where I live.

I don't want to lower my internet speed. I do a lot of Zoom and Zoom-like stuff with the company that I work for part time. I need it fast and reliable. Quantum fiber is available (940bps) at $75 /month, but then I'd have to change my comcast emails. I'm sure they'd let me keep them, but I'm sure there would be a charge. There's also the home phone number that works better than my cell phone numbers.

I have no interest in watching commercials on Netflix.

Comcast will let you keep your email accounts at no charge.

For Zoom 200mbps is plenty, unless you're /hosting/ the server that everyone else is connecting to.

You don't have to change your comcast e-mails. Your e-mail is yours. It can't ever be recycled and used by anyone else, so they won't remove it. The only time I've ever "lost" access to an e-mail address was when I had a snet.net e-mail. SNET ceased to exist and eventually all snet.net e-mail addresses were retired and eliminated completely. I still have a comcast.net e-mail from when we had comcast up north. That account was closed when we moved down here and I opened a new account with a different account name and e-mail. I don't even use the one that comes with my Florida xfinity account, and the xfinity bill gets e-mailed to my gmail address.

Edited to add: I lied. I had over 10 AOL e-mail addresses (loved those free trial CDs that came in the mail every week, heh) and a Prodigy e-mail address. They might possibly still exist, but I've long forgotten their passwords and stopped caring about them by around 1997.

Just be aware, Comcast is under no obligation to keep your e-mail active after you leave them. I haven't seen anyone's Comcast e-mail deactivated but up north, other cable companies disable your e-mail the second they disconnect you. There could be a day where Comcast decides to remove all e-mail accounts of non-subscribers to save money. Your e-mail storage is not free for them.

But, isn't that true for any free email service?

But Comcast is not a free email service. Comcast is provides email capability to its paying customers and, so far, allows ex-customers who no longer pay for the service to keep the capability.

Gmail/yahoo/hotmail/etc provide free email service to anyone who signs up. While they could discontinue service to any or all whenever they like, the only way to become an ex-customer is to delete your account.

Thank you! LOL

Correct, we cancel every fall at our family lake cottage up north in October and then become new customers again in early May. They always try to get us to put the service on seasonal hold for a small monthly fee, but then we would loose the new customer rate so we decline.

Tello is good, Mint is better - Right now $180 per YEAR for unlimited on T-Mobile, if you pay with your amex (sign up for the deal with Amex) they give you $45 cash back so effectively $135 for a year of unlimited. When we are overseas, you get a minternational pass that is $20 for 10 days of data(10GB), talk, and text. Can't beat it.

Full disclosure - I actually keep a second line on US Mobile with 2 GBdata for $10 a month so I can access verizon and ATT if I need to (mostly out west travel where T-mobile not as good).

Frankly, if you are paying more than $30 a month for unlimited phone plans, you are a bit off.

What the OP is paying for internet and cable is insane, it is good he is asking. It actually made me question the $61 I was paying a month for internet and am switching to quantum fiber for $35.

To be honest, I am not sure I understand why anyone has a "home phone". My home phone travels in my pocket.