I am in the New York / New Jersey area and imagine cable prices would be somewhat similar around the country. Comcast & Verizon charge about $75-85$ / month for cable alone, but normally offer cable + internet (depending on speed) + phone for $100 - $150 (again depending on internet speed).
When you actually break down what level of internet is being offered; usually +/- 75 or 125 mbps (megabits per second - a download speed for bandwith) and ask about the different levels, after a while the sales people will admit that they offer a basic internet; 25 or 54 mbps. This seems low, but I have been getting 54 mbps for over 2 years and am able to stream over 2 different computers without noticeable delays. Also, I got away with paying $25 / month (though this rose to $35 / month after a year or so + about $2 / month to rent the modem).
Couple this $25 - $35 / month with Netflix / HuluPlus / Redbook, etc and you get all the internet and movies you could want for about $40 - $50 / month. Much less than the initial internet they tried to sell me. These higher speeds are only really necessary if you plan on playing bandwith hogging online games or other things which necessitate insane speeds. For casual browsing and internet usage, it's really not necessary.
I have not missed cable and home phone once in the past 2 years I have stuck with internet only.
You're absolutely right about this, but you can even go lower still if you cut HD video streaming out of the mix and settle for NTSC grade standard definition video. Real world, you can get away with as low as 3Mbps so long as you don't stream more than one feed at a time (though you can get away with two depending on the quality). Technically speaking, even the "low end" speeds you're talking about isn't actually needed by anyone/anything but the impatient and true 720p-1080p streaming video, as gaming is impacted more by latency than throughput. I went over some of these finer (but still broader) points
in my posted guide with ISP shopping.
I know the thing is huge, and long and intimidating... but I did break the information up by service topic and is well worth a thorough review as you have the time as the end product could potentially provide you with full spectrum communications for less than what many people just pay for internet
or a single wireless phone plan. For example, my wife and I are running 3Mbps cable internet, two Blackberries, a home phone, a business phone, and Amazon Prime VOD for under
$65 a month, and we could still get it a bit cheaper by "cutting some fat" and changing our home phone provider.