Quote Originally Posted by glockmail View Post
Here's my situation:

At home I have internet through Time-Warner cable with download speeds of about 16 mbs, cost is $50/ month. For television I have Dish, $55/ month. I watch Velocity, History, USA, FNC, and occasionally my wife watches HGTV. The HD picture quality is excellent. We never watch network TV. Twice a year my Dad visists for a few days and watched professional sports constantly, any Boston team.

At our little cabin we have internet through Charter cable with their cheapest broadband service, about $20/ month. I have a flat screen TV with a dedicated PC and video card. Streaming video quality is good, no hesitation issues, but not HD like Dish at home. Charter must have excess capacity because this service guarantees 1 mbs but we get 30. We have no TV service at all. When I want to watch news I go on the FNC website, and that lets me watch a handful of latest videos, and generally gives me my news fix. It won't let me watch live video. History's website lets us watch several shows as well. DishAnywhere is disappointing. I have Amazon Prime ($80/ year) and that isn't bad.

Can I get by at home without Dish? Has anyone done this, and if so how is your experience?
Glock. We have DISH, limited as it is to stay cheap. But having Dish when the weather is bad, like heavy thunderstorms, or snow clouds usually means NO Connection with the Satellite.
My Internet is with COX Cable, and it has never gone down as long as I have used it. Going on 10 years now. We thought about DISH Internet connections. But the weather would completely shut us off from everything that way.
We watch BASIC with the 5 local channels. All we want, and can afford at around 55 a month.