Snowbird costs. etc? (Vero Beach, Estero: real estate, apartments, rent)

[kroeran]

Originally Posted by tmozer

But what I really hate is paying for cable, internet and phone services at three locations (Verizon, Time Warner and Comcast) when we are only able to use one at a time (wherever we happen to be). I know that apparently you can suspend service, but there are all kinds of gotya's that might make it not worth doing.

give up the land lines and go with a cell phone with a good contract like the younger crowd is doing, or a pay as you go cell maybe with an ooma one-fee box or magic jack or skype to landline with dialin number if you can leave a computer on all the time

comcast internet/cable can be switched off May to December, or look into slingbox/slingcatcher which can send your cable signal to your northern location through the internet

[tmozer]

Originally Posted by kroeran

give up the land lines and go with a cell phone with a good contract like the younger crowd is doing, or a pay as you go cell maybe with an ooma one-fee box or magic jack or skype to landline with dialin number if you can leave a computer on all the time

comcast internet/cable can be switched off May to December, or look into slingbox/slingcatcher which can send your cable signal to your northern location through the internet

I hate a cell phone, but hate cell phones.

I have a Slingbox and love it! I am able to watch Yankee games where ever I am. That would be a downside of cutting off my NJ Internet and Cable (not getting the Slingbox feed).

[jvelte]

Originally Posted by kroeran

give up the land lines and go with a cell phone with a good contract like the younger crowd is doing, or a pay as you go cell maybe with an ooma one-fee box or magic jack or skype to landline with dialin number if you can leave a computer on all the time

comcast internet/cable can be switched off May to December, or look into slingbox/slingcatcher which can send your cable signal to your northern location through the internet

I agree. I simply can't understand why people pay to have both a landline and cell phones. My neighbors in fact have both and were griping about having too many bills. When I mentioned giving up the landline they about stroked out! "We have a good long distance plan" they said. HELLO, almost every cell phone plans include long distance! You don't need both! It's a waste of money! They may only tip a quarter at the restaurant, but have no problem wasting $40/mo on a landline. I haven't had a landline in 14 years. Haven't missed it one bit.

[rikoshaprl]

Tmozer,
I like the idea of the slingbox. But I was wondering if you could get the Yankees on satellite if you lose your NJ hookup?

[tmozer]

I'm sure you can (get the Yankees games via satellite) at a price. The great thing about the SlingBox is the service is free and you can watch from any computer that has an internet connection, wired or wireless.

I am the king of gadgets. I have drawers full of goodies that I had to have and ended up using a couple times and put them away. The Slingbox (the unit I have is the original that I had used for at least 3 or 4 years) is at the top of the list of worthwhile gadgets that I would not want to be without!

[rikoshaprl]

Thanks T.

[tmozer]

Originally Posted by rikoshaprl

Tmozer,
I like the idea of the slingbox. But I was wondering if you could get the Yankees on satellite if you lose your NJ hookup?

And, if I ever leave NJ for good, I'll just ask my son to put the Slingbox onto his system.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by jvelte

I agree. I simply can't understand why people pay to have both a landline and cell phones. My neighbors in fact have both and were griping about having too many bills. When I mentioned giving up the landline they about stroked out! "We have a good long distance plan" they said. HELLO, almost every cell phone plans include long distance! You don't need both! It's a waste of money! They may only tip a quarter at the restaurant, but have no problem wasting $40/mo on a landline. I haven't had a landline in 14 years. Haven't missed it one bit.

I am one of those crazy people. I like it as backup. I have three cellphones in this house, but still have the landline. On the other hand, the cells were not working the other day, and I was able to pick up my landline and call Sprint.

But I am really weird when it comes to back up. I have cable internet, plus a Sprint wireless connection for the laptop, plus dial up that I haven't used in four years, but pay for it every month. In fact, I have no idea how to cancel the darn thing, short of stopping payment on those people.

And I am stunned that I have somehow missed Slingbox.

[tmozer]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

And I am stunned that I have somehow missed Slingbox.

Check the Slingbox out. There are other competing products that might be better or cheaper. When I bought my Slingbox, it was the first and only system like that.

The original reason I got it was that I worked nights at a community college as the computer lab supervisor. It was mainly a baby sitting job, so I had plenty of time to read and surf the internet. My office was in the center of the academic building, so there was no radio or TV reception possible. I was missing most of the baseball season (unless the game was on the West Coast, but those games were too late for me anyway since I had to get up at 5am for my day job). Once I had the Slingbox up and running I could watch every evening game on my office computer.

The Slingbox feed can be blocked. My day job was at the State Police Lab and IT blocked all video and audio feeds. But I did have a cable connection in my office, so no big deal.

[hiknapster]

And I thought I was the gadget queen! Very cool, tmozer. I will check it out. I buy a huge cable service. It's nice to know I can take it wherever, or just have the convenience of watching it on my laptop. Thanks!