The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I have some life changes coming.

The wife needs a new car.
I need to start saving for my baby's college.

So, I'm reviewing my finances and making a family budget, which we really haven't done yet.

I see a lot of little things that I pay for that might not be a big deal on their own, but they add up.

Here are some things I've already done:
- cancelled Netflix - My parents live across the street, so I can use their account.  (Savings - $10/month)
- changed phone plan - I did this a while ago.  I looked at what I was spending on minutes and I wasn't coming anywhere close. 
- changed cable/internet plan - I had to reduce my Internet speed, but since I don't work out of the house very much, I think that this is acceptable. (Will save me $40/month for 12 months.  I have set a reminder to review in a year.)

I'm planning on:
- buying a modem (it will be an upfront fee, but I've been paying $7/month forever, which comes out to $84 a year.)  I can get a really good modem for that same amount that will be mine and work for many years, theoretically.

I'm still thinking about:
- buying a TiVo branded DVR.  Like the modem, I'm paying $17 (x 2 boxes) to record TV.  On top of that, I have the shit out of Comcast's software.  I'd love to change and be able to have multiple boxes that share data, for example.  $34 a month to rent boxes is pretty steep.  I'm not very saavy in this area of tech, though, so I have to do my research.  I don't even know if this is possible or if Comcast has some kind of proprietary thing going on.

I'm also going to do things like:
- pack my lunch more, instead of ordering out for lunch.
- put a bottle in the back of my toilets to reduce water use with each flush

Any other suggestions to cut down spending?

Doing this is exactly the same thing as if you walked into Best Buy, shoved a DVD in your pants, and walked out.

True story.

Why the reminder?  I'm curious.

Best Buy carries quite a few integrated router+cable/DSL modems.  You should be able to pick one up for $50-75.  (Or, since you are already clearly on board with stealing, you can shove one in your pants and walk out.)

I'd also suggest checking the eBay and List of Craig.

Do the TiVo-branded boxes work with digital cable?  I would have figured that Comcast and AT&T would have devised some excuse to cut them out of the loop by now.

I haven't had cable television service since 2008, but I have a fairly extensive media playback and storage system; I have a 7TB file server and 4 media players (2 HD, 2 SD).  (I'm also not married, so I don't have a wife's viewing habits to deal with.)  I have saved a great deal on cable TV costs, as I download all the stuff I watch for $25 per 180GB.  However, your eyepatch-wearing mileage may vary.

I will say that if you have HDTVs in your home, you may want to pick up an HD antenna and see which stations you receive.  I receive about 30 HD channels (in NorCal) and can watch all the major networks in perfect HD.

I tried the water bottle thing, but it didn't work too well for me.  Instead, I purchased an adjustable toilet flapper (http://www.amazon.com/Korky-2004BP-Plus-Adjustable-Flapper/dp/B0000DAZM8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1330119925&sr=8-5) (which I needed because my flapper was leaking anyway).

I'd really like to cut back on my spending as well, but I have a tough time thinking of places to cut back... and that's just for me.  I can't imagine trying to make those kind of changes for two people.

Everything my cable company offers is a limited offer, then it bumps to an outrageous rate.  They probably make a ton of money from people who just let their deals expire and pay whatever it is.  So, my deal is valid for 12 months and then it increases.  I have to remember to re-contact them to get whatever new deal they have going.


Tivo boxes do have digital versions.  As for Comcast, I've read that though they might tell you that it won't work, people claim it will.  I don't know if it makes sense, though, since Tivo is the price of the box + a subscription fee.  And I don't know how to make that work over 2 TVs.  It might be more trouble than it's worth.

In regards to your suggestions about cutting cable out all together, it's just not in the cards for me.  Firstly, I enjoy watching TV, including Redzone, cable news, etc.  More importantly, my wife's viewing habits just don't work with the downloadable space.  It's not worth the change.  We both use it.


How so?  I did it in a previous place.  I didn't check the bill, but I noticed no difference in toilet quality.


I think the biggest thing is just being aware of what you're spending your money on.  Budgeting has really helped me see where it goes.  And food.  A ton of money is used on food and eating out due only to convenience and not because I really want it.

I put at least $70 of each of my proctoring pay stubs into my savings account.

Also, save your change in a jar.  Wrap up it when you get enough and take it to the bank.

Don't buy bottled water.

Don't buy lunch at work.

Suggestion 1: if you rent, move to a cheaper place. If the moved-to place is farther away from where you (but you work at home mostly, yes?) or your wife work, then, the savings would = [amt of rent saved - amount of extra gas].

Suggestion 2: if you own, refinance. There are a number of programs in place, like HARP (http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/programs/lower-rates/Pages/harp.aspx), which could aid you through.

Suggestion 3: if you own and can't/don't want to refinance, talk to an experienced attorney in your area about "strategic default," which means allowing a bank to foreclose on you, while taking every precaution imaginable so that your liquid assets (and other assets) are not negatively affected. You'll take a huge hit on your credit, but, you'd be able to move out of your home w/o paying off your mortgage.

Suggestion 4: your wife should, if she can, carpool.

Suggestion 5: Wells Fargo way-to-save account, puts a dollar in your account every time you use your debit card, and gets good interest on the first 500$.

Suggestion 6: pay off a lump sum of debt unsecured debt. If you do this, you may hurt in the short-term, but, certain payments you have will disappear, and thus you won't be throwing money down the black hole of "interest payments."

Dave, I've been doing some of this as well.  I already did the buy-your-own-modem thing, got the exact same one we were leasing from Comcast for $7 a month for $50 off Amazon, and never looked back.  

Tivo with digital cable sucks monkey balls.  My mom has 2 Tivos and they are sketchy but working.  You can't record on both tuners or record on one and watch another, if both channels are above channel 26.  Thanks, Comcast.  Plus hooking them up is a puzzle of wires and you need to have chintzy IR emitters to actually change the cable box channel for you.  Besides, you'll need a digital cable converter box ($9 from Comcast) and the Tivo charges $13 a month, so keeping the Comcast DVR is the practical and cheaper solution, IMO.  Now, if Tivo has come out with a digital dual-tuner box I don't know about, this all goes away, but you still have an up-front $200-$300 and a $13 a month payment.  You'd probably be better off cancelling the HD package than swapping the DVR's.  Or perhaps cutting the premium pay channels and all the PPV porn you order.

In line with what D4L said - if you bring lunch to work every day instead of buying lunch (especially so for leftovers) you save a crapload of money.  Paying damn near $10 a day for lunch every day is a great way to go broke fast.

I'm the budgeting queen. It's one of my favorite pastimes. I'd suggest getting something like Quicken. When you start seeing exactly where every penny is going it's easy to see where the leaks are.

Also, be sure to automate your savings before your regular spending. If you want to put say, 15% in savings each paycheck have that set up and ready to distribute to each account before you even get to touch it.

I eat lunch at home everyday since my office is a mile from my house. I don't pay for cable (my landlord does). I sometimes run/bike to work.

A big one for me that I still struggle with - Only getting groceries and stuff once a week. I always forget something and need to run to the store for that specific item. Say, toothpaste. Well, when I'm getting the toothpaste I come out with a whole bunch of other stuff I "need". Now, I try to do all my shopping on Saturday or Sunday.

Along that same line, I try to have at least 3 "No Spend" days a week. Days where I buy nothing. It makes me plan better and make do with what I've got. Do I really need to run to the store to buy conditioner? Can't I use one of the 10 other conditioners I have until it's shopping day?

A fun place to track your NetWorth: www.networthiq.com I LOVE seeing my numbers get higher. It's like a game.

One more thing - Be sure to give yourself an allowance. Money that you can spend on whatever you want. It keeps you from just going crazy. Even if it's just $20 for movies.

^^^^

I look at it as a game too.  I like watching the money in my savings account grow.     

Sorry more of a comment here....than any suggestion..I've wanted to do this for awhile now.Unfortunately for me,my choices are a little more limited.I have At&t,or Mediacom cable company.(I guess hughes net is an option,but just not a good one).We have smaller companies in the area,but they don't come in town.

With At&t I have no modem charge,but slow speed for the price (3 MB down for about $35),They have an introductory rate of $19.95 for 6MB down for a year.Unfortunately for me already being a customer, I have to add another service like U-verse T.V. or cell service to take advantage of this rate...Right now I have like a 150GB a month cap (U-verse I think has 200gb or 250Gb cap)

Mediacom,I can get an introductory rate of $19.95 a month + I think there is a modem fee,plus all the franchise fees and taxes.for 12gb down.The kicker is it's a two year agreement,so I have to have their regular (outrageous) rate for atleast a year...

I feel so fucked.... >:(

Sometimes it seems like I get lucky,and don't change my packages too often,so I get grandfathered in...My cell phone,and directTv are both that way..


Modified to add something to the discussion...
Coupons...

Also I shop alot of Wal-mart,Aldi,Dollar General,and Big lots for my regular stuff I buy on a regular basis...
I also use www.sundaysaver.com to price check who's got what on sale...

Like Buddha I usually shop on the weekends,and find a little planning,1 trip out saves me more money.(over running to the store 2-3 times a week) I COOK a ton,rarely eat out anymore...

I took a freezer cooking class yesterday, and I anticipate that will save us quite a bit of money.  We go grocery shopping usually on Sunday mornings and have found that if we don't have a list, we buy way more than we can eat before it goes bad and we have to throw a lot out.  We have also found that if we come home late from work tired and without a game plan for supper that we eat out.
 
This class showed us how to prepare foods and put them in the freezer in various stages of preparation so that they can be pulled out and made quickly by either tossing them in a crock pot or the oven.  We made breakfast burritos, southwest chicken wraps, energy bites, marinated chicken breasts, steak pizziola, lasagna and the people who had kids made baby food.  The lasagna was a full meal, but the wraps and burritos were individually wrapped before freezing which is perfect in our house.  I am really looking forward to seeing what we can do with this.

I usually skip lunch when I work.  My dad for years would bring homemade sandwiches to work for lunch.  That's how he saved enough to put both me and my two brothers through college.  He taught me a lot about saving money.

I don't have a credit card.  A lady I was talking to at the bank a few weeks ago suggested I get one.  I told her I didn't need one.  "My father told me, if you can't afford to buy something, don't buy it", I told her.       

When I had to cut back a couple years ago, do to some life changes, I cut out buying coffee "outside" and made coffee at home.  Much cheaper to make a whole pot at home, and throw away the leftover, versus buying a $2 cup at the convenience store.  The other thing is that I became more aware of my grocery purchases.  Started using a few coupons, stocked up on things when they were on sale, etc.  I have a second fridge/freezer, so I would freeze alot of things like meats and bread that I would buy on sale, or in bulk at lower unit prices.  Currently I'm thinking of just discontinuing my landline phone as I'm rarely home to use it, or switch to a stripped down plan.

Credit cards are not necessarily for people who "can't afford to buy something."  You can make all your monthly purchases on a credit card, pay off your monthly balance in full each month (thereby paying no interest), and earn free reward points which you can redeem in the form of merchandise, or just money; my current card gives me $1-5 cash back for every $100 I spend.

Additionally, from a credit rating perspective, there are two factors which are influenced by credit cards:

1) the length of your oldest currently open revolving (credit card) account
2) your debt-to-credit ratio (i.e. the amount of credit that you are using vs. the amount you have available)

If you have no credit card, both of these factors will be negatively impacted.  You are better off having a credit card and not using it (thereby proving that you can restrain yourself from using up available credit) than not getting one.

Of course, if you are one of the hardcore "no credit" people who is willing to buy cars and houses with straight cash, credit rating may not be a concern.  But for the majority of Americans, your credit rating is an important factor.

Cash back?  Now that might be something to look into. 

I have already decided I will never buy a house.  I don't want any kids, so it would not be worth having a house.

I don't see anything that I will need to buy in the future that will require me to have a credit card, but if I get cash back it might be worth getting one.     

True story? No, it's a LIE.

Sharing your Netflix password with someone is NOT theft.

Is it against Netflix ToS? Maybe. Their FAQ used to expressly allow sharing, but without a valid login, I can't verify that this is still the case. The ToS does address it indirectly, however:

"If you disclose your password to anyone or share your account and/or devices with other people, you take full responsibility for their actions."

Other language speaks to the confidentiality of the account etc, but interpreting those to mean "no sharing with your neighbor" would imply that using the same account for a single household would also be against the terms of use.

If it were against the ToS, is it illegal? Maybe (particularly if you live in Tennessee), but it doesn't generally seem to be the case. In fact, Blizzard at one point confirmed that sharing WoW accounts wasn't illegal (in that no federal or state laws made it so), but that it WAS against the ToS and would result in termination (but, of course, no law suit or visit from your local authorities).

Even if it WERE universally illegal (which is isn't), it would NOT be theft. There are many different illegal activities in this world with theft being just one.

Sneaking into a movie theater, while illegal, is not theft (even though I get to see the movie without paying for it). Stealing a ticket IS theft. Making my own ticket at home is also illegal, but still not theft. All of these actions have the same end result -- getting to see a movie in a theater without paying for it -- but they are very different crimes.

My big expense right now is gas.  Especially with the emotional pain I'm in right now. The only thing I can do to soothe it is to drive.  Gas prices keep going up.       

Good catch, detective.

edit:  OK, I realize that sometimes sarcasm doesn't come across in text (although you probably should have read my entire post).  Let's see if this makes my actual position clear...

(http://viperbeam.com/forum/piracyisnottheft.png)

I don't understand what those two things have to do with one another.

I don't have any kids, but I hate moving and I wanted to have more freedom in how I customize my home, so I bought a house.

Do you drive?
If so, do you pay cash for your cars?

Most Americans are affected in some way or another by their credit rating.

With regards to your fancy illustration, you could make a similar one with the three examples I provided. Still doesn't make them the same crime.

I get that you have a problem with people who argue that piracy shouldn't be illegal, that the losses aren't "real", that it is victimless etc. That's not what I'm arguing against here.

Your claim that sharing Netflix accounts is theft. Well, that's MORONIC. Not only is sharing of accounts not actually ILLEGAL (generally, anyway), it doesn't even appear to violate Netflix' terms of service. In fact, Netflix EXPLICITLY allowed this behavior (as stated in their FAQ) at one point (although, as pointed out earlier, I cannot confirm that this is still the case).

In other words, the "piracy is theft" argument has absolutely NO bearing on the issue here.

I agree wholeheartedly: it is MORONIC to refer to particular actions as "theft" when they are, in fact, not theft, and not even close to theft.

But perhaps we should move this to a different thread, if you would like to discuss this tangent in more detail.

edit:
Do you actually understand my position?  Because I don't think you do.

Again, you might want to read the entirety of my first post to this thread before we create a new one.

I'm lucky in that I come from a wealthy family so I have two cars at my disposal right now.  When they wear out, I should have enough to buy the next one straight cash.

Dude, don't resist a credit card.  Its not a bad thing. 

Are you going to live with your parents forever?  Or throw your money away on rent?  Eventually you'll want to move I assume, house, condo, townhome, you need credit. 

And, as stated above, I'm not sure what the want or lack of want for children has anything to do with buying a home.

What if you have to buy an airline ticket for an emergency and don't have disposable cash lying around?  Or you have to do a $700 repair on your car?  Or need new tires?  Whatever a rainy day might bring. 

A credit card is a necessity these days, and if you keep your limits small (under $1000) you can benefit greatly from not carrying a balance and using them to pay for your oodles of gas, and just paying off the bill.  Spend cash one time per month, not five times per day.

My 2 cents...

Actually, as I explained before, your best bet (from a credit rating perspective) is to have a few high-limit credit cards that you pay off in full month-to-month.  This is the best way to maximize your debt-to-credit ratio.

not to mention car rentals, hotel stays etc.

Even trips like cruises put a huge hold on debit cards vs. credit cards for onboard accounts.

Yes, you're right, but if he's worried about getting himself into debt, and spending money he doesn't have, a $500 limit is easier to control than a $18,000 limit. 

No matter what I seem to do I always live paycheck to paycheck.  I can never ever save money.   Good luck to you though

Don't forget about the public libary.  I borrow movies from them for free.  Granted it is hard to get ones released last month, but I would have no problem getting every one of the 2010 Oscar winners/nominees if I wanted to watch them.  And in most cases it doesn't matter if the libary is real small, as most are now on a network in which you can request books/movies from every libary in the county and they will deliver it to your local one.  My annual book budget is almost nil as well. 

So, I bought a modem.  I haven't made time to put it together.  A friend of mine said something about calling Comcast and giving them a MAC address or something so that they can communicate.  I figured it was just plug and go.

Can anyone who's made this switch confirm what they did?

Brian had to call Comcast to get it up and running and then we returned the rented one. It was easy to do as far as I know

yes, true story.  you have to call them to "activate" your new modem.  Its pretty painless, a 5-10 minute pohone call saves you $7 a month forever.

I cancelled my MLB.tv subscription, which will save me about $20 a month

I'm going to take a look at my house to improve electricity usage.  ...nothing crazy, but things like trying to unplug things not regularly in use, manage airflow better to regulate temperature, check seals around exterior doors, etc. 

This will be an up hill battle, because my wife leaves doors open, every light in the house on, and things plugged in.  But I'll do what I can...see if it makes a difference.

^^ A possible solution for some things,it wont help with lights,but might for some "plugged" in things..

A surge protector with a "master" plug,I just moved my extra APC uninterrupted power supply to my entertainment center for that exact reason.My universal remote wont shut off my T.V.,and my surround sound,without hitting different buttons.Then the only way to turn off the powered sub woofer is to reach back there and turn it off,or unplug it...

I plugged in the T.V. as the master,when I turn it off,the surge protector thing turns off the power to the subwoofer,surround sound,and Blu-ray player...When I hooked up the cable to my computer,it said with the T.V. (surround,sub,and blu-ray also) it used just over 100 watts,when I turned off the T.V,it dropped to 19 watts...

While the surge protectors with "master" plug are more expensive, for me it helps...I have my computer set up the same way...

I am assuming you've already looked at this, but...

Change all the bulbs in your house to compact fluorescent.  Including the floods and hi-hats.  It makes a $10 per month difference.  And also, don't leave your computer on all the time.  I do this, I am guilty, because I am impatient and don't want to wait when I just need to pay a bill quickly or something.  But I've noticed if you dilligently turn the power off when you get up from the desk (including the monitor) you will see $7-9 per month lower electric bills.

What's a hi-hat?

the lights that are recessed into the ceiling, usually with flood bulbs in them.

Today, I passed $11,000 in my savings account.

How much will I need to be able to buy a used car in decent condition straight cash?     

Depending on the car, you have enough now. But honestly, that question is like asking how long is a piece of string (that is a friend of mine's favorite line). There are just too many variables.

Stolen.  Thank you.

Ditto

The problem is that with interest rates bottomed out and going to be that way for a couple more years minimum, savings accounts and even CD's are not making the money they used too.

That is true, but I put money from my paychecks into my savings account, so it grows that way.       

I replaced the modem tonight.  Very easy.  It was about a 5 minute phone call with Comcast to give them the MAC address, but I think I probably could've even done that myself.  When I plugged it in, my network still worked, but going to webpages took me to a Comcast portal where I had to input my info.

I recommend this to anyone.

I don't understand what you did? Were you renting a modem from them and now bought your own?

When you get your first bill after the switch let us know how much it saved you per month and how much was the cost of the modem. I'm thinking this isn't going to save you a whole lot especially if you consider that you'll want to get a new modem from time to time.

Modem's aren't something you need to replace often. Comcast charges like $7 a month to rent one - I want to say Brian and I paid $59 or so for ours

^^That's pretty low end though. You're gonna spend more like around $90 to get one comparable to the one I got from ATT&T. I'm not sure what they charge me a month but it's something like around $7 I think. That would basically take me a year to recover the cost of the router and if anything goes wrong with it, they replace it for free.  I'm not saying you won't save money, but maybe you'll save what $90 over a 2 year period? That's 3.75 a month you're saving.  No, you don't have to change modems every 2 years, but technology changes pretty quick. Waiting more like 3 or more years and you have an old piece of equipment.  I don't really feel like I'm being screwed by them.

Anything that helps reduce monthly cost is worth it.  Not to mention that if you move, you get to keep the equipment and potentially re-sell it, as opposed to just dropping it off at their office.

When it can be owned for under $50, why pay $7 a month (plus taxes) to rent it?

I have cable internet. You ain't getting a new decent cable wireless modem/router for $50. You'd be hard pressed to find one as nice as the one they gave me for close to $100. I can save $3.50 a month by switching from Doritos to some off brand too, but I ain't doing it because I like Doritos better. Some things I'll pay a little more for. That's just me though.

I also have cable internet and the modem i bought was the EXACT same one that I was renting.  EXACT SAME.  For $50.  I don't know what you have, but you have to evaluate what makes sense for you.  For me, and for Dave, it makes perfect sense.

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Surfboard-SB5101-Cable-Modem/dp/B000JV9LUK/ref=pd_sim_e_1

What value-added features are you getting from your modem/router?

Keep in mind that the $7 per month rental fee that Brian is talking about is for a MODEM ONLY.  No router.  So to the $47 that Brian paid for his replacement cable modem, you can add:

$28 for a single-band wireless N router (http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-N150-Wireless-N-Router/dp/B004N6259G/ref=sr_1_14?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1331007830&sr=1-14)
$60 for a dual-band wireless N router (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CUVPMK)
$100 for a dual-band wireless N gigabit router (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004N625AK)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the AT&T-provided modem/router combos are neither gigabit nor dual-band N (if they are even N at all).

I had to use a router no matter if I rented or purchased.  I already owned the router.

Hmmm....I have a router/modem combined from ATT. I thought I bought it, but I need to check.

I bought a comparable (probably better, since I got a Motorola) modem for $74.19, after tax.  I have to pay $7 + Tax, per month.

I didn't even look for a modem online or a sale, because I just wanted to get it done, while I had the initiative.  But, I see them online from Amazon for $46.95.  After having done this process, and seeing how easy the switch is, I don't see any reason for anyone not to attempt it.  Even if the modem dies once a year (which they don't), I'll still be able to save.  Anything after that is free money.

Well in that case I understand. That sounds like he is/was getting ripped off. I got a cable modem with a built in wireless router with my internet service almost 2 years ago and now that I look at my bill, I don't even see where they are charging me for it. I see where they are charging me for my DVR and for each of my cable TV boxes, but no seperate charge for my wireless router/modem. Maybe I have paid it off or perhaps the charge is all rolled up into my Internet monthly charge which is $40 for 10 gig download and 2 gig upload, but if that's the case then me going out and buying a cable modem/router wouldn't save me anything. I guess it just depends on what your package provides.

And no, it's g not n, but since n has only been around since late 2009 and I think I've had this router since early 2010, that's not really that surprising.

If you're on AT&T DSL,not u-verse...More than likely you bought yours upfront,or they gave you one...

I've got my speedstream 5100,they gave me when I signed up in 2005 (Charged me $99,then credited me back the $99 on my bill). If it breaks,(more than likely) I have to buy a newer one...

Pappy, you've got At&T u-verse? It's just come available here,which is one of the reason they're screwing me quite a bit with my DSL...

I'm on DSL and I think you're right. This is my second one and there was a fee up front.

I think they're trying to force people into U-Verse. My DSL connection sucks all of a sudden. Trying to fix it, but their solution is U-Verse. I'd go for U-Verse except that my landlord pays for cable. Why add the extra bill?

Brian and I have comcast so a router is separate. We just replaced that earlier this year but the old one was lime 10 years old.

What extra bill? Wouldn't you just be switching your DSL bill for a U-Verse bill?

I thought for U-Verse you had to get both internet and cable.

They probably advertise the bundles, but I am pretty sure you can just get Internet.

Oh. I'll have to look then because I need a faster connection as well. My DSL is not cutting it.

^^Please share your experience with doing it (if you do decide to upgrade) At&t sort of has me by the short and curlies,I can't upgrade my DSL (because of U-verse,DSL is not available in my area) I can't upgrade,It's U-verse,or Mediacom...

Actually no, I'm using Verizon FIOS. I had talked with my wife about going with AT&T u-verse, but it was not available in my area so we went with FIOS instead. Not sure why I said AT&T earlier, just getting old I guess.

I'm happy with FIOS. I think in the 2 years I've had it, I can't remember a single time I've had a Cable or Internet service outage. They did have to replace the outside box when they installed it though because it was bad so I pretty much have all new equipment. I mentioned I pay for 10 gig down and 2 up and I have verified that's what I get using DSLREPORTS. I use the FIOS wireless router they gave me and have good coverage throughout the house although the house is small so I would expect that. My daughter has no trouble streaming movies and TV to her laptop through the wireless. I'd recommend FIOS if someone asked my opinion.