What the ad didn't say, however, was that recording in HAD with an HAD DVD would cost an additional $18 a month, and a wireless router (if you didn't already have one) would cost an extra $5 per month. Tack on a few more dollars a month in fees and that $75 deal could balloon to $100 a month. The more providers that serve your area, the more likely they'll offer inducements for you to plus, many providers save their best deals for the Web. For example, Verizon was recently offering a $20-a- month discount to customers who ordered Its BIOS Triple Play bundle online.
AT;T was handing out prepaid Visa cards worth up to $350 to residential customers who purchased Its u-verse TV or Internet services on Its Web site. And Compact, Oval Its Swiftly brand, was offering $200 Visa cards to new users of Its Triple Play bundle. When your contract ends and it comes time to renew, tell your provider you want the special that's advertised for new customers only and threaten to quit if you don't get it. In January, one Springer's editor lowered his cable bill by almost $23 a month by calling the company and announcing he was quitting because his monthly bill was too high.
Maybe you don't want a land-line phone.Then a triple- lay package doesn't make sense for you. Or perhaps you'd rather not pay for 200 cable channels you don't watch. Choose a wireless-phone service and a broadband Internet provider, and then sign up with an online video service to watch movies and TV programs. For $9 a month, Nettling will stream an unlimited number of movies and TV shows directly to your TV or via your wireless home network.
Or consider services from Amazon, Best Buy, Vaduz and others that let you rent Individual movies for $1 to $6 per title. Sprint is the first wireless provider to launch fourth-generation, or G, ATA service in the U.S. And Verizon Wireless will follow in 2011). With download speeds of up to 6 Mbps, Sprint G Woman rivals home broadband Internet.
Sprint customers who own an ETC Eve G smart phone ($200; service costs $80 a month with a two-year contract) may use the device as a hot spot to connect up to eight wireless devices, such as a and an pod Touch, provided they're willing to pay an extra $30 a month. Such G service may provide an affordable alternative to slower DSL.
