# Internet Without Cable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2013, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947 "2013-03-03T23:20:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/21 "2013-03-05T19:41:38Z")
I get 18 mbps internet via AT&T Uverse, with my TV coming via Dish Network, and no home phone. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/22 "2013-03-07T05:31:38Z")
We get our internet and home phone through Charter. We have not had cable for about 2 years now. We still haven’t run out of things to watch on Netflix. We actually had a very good bundle with our internet, home phone, and cable so dropping just the cable only saved us about $10 per month. So, we used that extra $10 to get the next level of Netflix. We just didn’t see the point in having something we never used and now we can get two disks at a time from Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/23 "2013-03-08T08:37:27Z")
It’s not even like you need much bandwidth to watch TV. You can watch two 1080p videos simultaneously (on different computers) on a 6Mbps connection, and, if you’re willing to make one of those not HD, you can even watch them on a 3Mbps connection. Our 6Mbps connection is bundled with our phone, with the Internet being $25 a month. The phone is what’s expensive, being more like $50 when you throw in all the taxes and the now requisite “free” long distance. ---
**Author:** ![Atomberlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Atomberlin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomberlin)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/24 "2013-03-08T08:49:30Z")
> [@Glazer](#): > > And not just Netflix or Hulu. You can go to many networks websites and watch their shows a day or week after they’ve aired. But both are branded. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/25 "2013-03-08T09:43:33Z")
This will only be an option for people in a few cities but now that their legal issues are behind them (I think), they should be expanding. [Check out Aereo.](https://www.aereo.com/) It’s designed mainly for mobile devices. You get all of the over the air channels plus other in HD and record to the cloud. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/26 "2013-03-08T11:25:01Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Quite. You can check out their prices here to get an idea: > [http://www.electronicbox.net/en/montreal/residential/internet/cable.html](http://www.electronicbox.net/en/montreal/residential/internet/cable.html) > > I got tired of getting shafted by the two big ISPs in my province and decided to shop around. If you do enough research, you may very well find up and comer ISPs who know they have to provide good value for money and don’t take their customers for granted\*. > > For someone who _really_ wants speed, they got a 60 Mbps and 250GB bandwidth for 62$. With my plan, the actual speed is quite close to the theoretical speed so perhaps it really can give you 60 Mbps. In which case, the only appropriate comment is this: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygE01sOhzz0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygE01sOhzz0) > > \*Lookin’ at you, Bell and Videotron. I’m in the States. I cannot get this, can I ? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/27 "2013-03-08T17:02:39Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > I’m in the States. I cannot get this, can I ? I don’t think you can get this particular ISP. The conclusion I should have made clearer is that relying on major telecommunications companies can leave you with a raw deal because they know they’re major telecommunications companies, they know that most people only know about them and leverage that to give you little value for a high price. They also don’t seem to care much about customer service; Bell’s billing division seems to have hired Chinese firemen as consultants. Researching smaller ISPs in your area involves some risk (which is why I made sure not to sign a long term contract) but can give you great value for money. Smaller ISPs know they can’t be lazy and that they cannot afford to provide a shitty overpriced product. You have to seek and research them though; before deciding that I would try smaller ISPs, I didn’t even know that Electronic Box existed. I relied on info on its website, forums and ISP rating websites to determine if I should give it a try. Perhaps there are great small ISPs you don’t know about in your area. ---
**Author:** ![jessyorkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@jessyorkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jessyorkeee)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/28 "2013-12-19T15:27:17Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > That’s not quite accurate. I stopped my cable TV service with Comcast, but I still have their internet service, so not only have I stopped watching cable, I have dropped it, as in I no longer have it, nor am I paying for it. I pay approximately $60/month for Internet and $8/month for Netflix, which combined is still less than I was paying when I had cable TV. I think Onomatopeia is right. What you’re talking about is people “cutting the cord” (pretty big thing now) because they don’t want to pay the high prices for tv service and can watch all their favorite shows on Netflix and online anyway. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947/29 "2013-12-19T15:30:20Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > You’re misunderstanding. When people say they’re dropping cable for Netflix, they mean they’cw stopped watching cable television channels for content and instead watching Netflix content. They aren’t changing their internet service provider. They’ve not only stopped watching it, they’ve stopped getting (and paying for) cable TV service. Just to further clarify. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-without-cable/651947.md?page=1)