CELL PHONE:
I've been painstakingly trying to decrease my cell phone bill, but I cannot find the right solution. I am off contract with AT&T and I use their microcell (that I got for free) to have reception in my apt. I tried tmobile but I had no reception - due to different frequencies. If I leave AT&T I won't have reception in my house, so I'll also have to get a landline or VoIP**. If I were to do that, I would get a dumb emergency phone for ~10 p/m and a data plan $20 for my tablet (I am looking for another job).
This is actually pretty easy to fix without resorting to femtocells. The solution is
GSM call forwarding to your home phone.
*62*[destination number]# should get you fixed up on only forwarding calls when your cellphone falls off the network. One thing to be cautious of with MVNOs is that not all allow call forwarding, and those that do will count against your minutes used for the forwarded calls. Airvoice actually
does allow call forwarding on their per minute plans ($10 and pay as you go), but not on their Unlimited talk and text plans. As Airvoice is an AT&T MVNO, you shouldn't even need to buy a new handset, though it'd be wise to carrier unlock it with AT&T before ordering an Airvoice SIM and porting your number over.
Don't bother with a land line for home phone service, definitely go VoIP instead and don't bundle it with your home internet. Here's a crash course on
frugal VoIP shopping and setup. You should be able to get a really sweet deal on VoIP service for well under $10/month if you follow the guide. VOIPo will probably be your go-to choice.
INTERNET**:
My home internet price will triple in several months - I am considering canceling the internet all together and just using my phone or tablet as internet, but this would mean I wouldn't be able to have VoIP, cancel Netflix.
The other thing too that I was thinking about, is getting DSL with a landline (~65), having a dumb emergency phone (~10), data plan for tablet (~20) = $95
If I keep my internet then it would cost ~60, dumb phone ~10, data plan ~20 + VoIP ?? = at least $90.
The key to internet shopping is to understand you don't need much more than 3Mbps down service, and they'll soak you on the modem rental if they can... and given you mentioned you're not using DSL currently means you're using cable. I'm guessing that since you're in NYC, depending on the borough, it's either Comcast or TWC IIRC. Check the
superguide post on internet service, as well as
this blog post. That should get you started, help you understand what you need, and hopefully hack that pending $60/month internet bill down to around $40 either going through Earthlink or knowing which unadvertised data package to ask for directly. If you're in a Verizon landline area and your copper hasn't been pulled up for FIOS, you might be able to get even cheaper than $40/month dryloop service through DSLExtreme at $25/month with a one year contract. The great thing about dryloop is you don't need phone service, but you can only do that with third party DSL providers and Verizon. AT&T has dryloop service, but you can only get it from them directly, and guess what their undiscounted 3Mbps service runs at? If you said around $40, good guess! You're better off with cable.
Also, you deserve a facepunch for considering a data plan for your tablet, especially if you've gone without up until this point. You're in one of the densest populated cities in North America, and there's like a McDonald's or a Starbucks or some other business with free WiFi service on every blessed corner. I'm not a big fan of FreedomPop and have doubts about their long-term viability, but maybe consider it or a NetZero hotspot if you insist on having dedicated private portable internet access for your tablet. There are plans available under that $20 price point.
So... Internet (~$40) + Netflix ($8) + Airvoice $10 Plan + VOIPo ($7.71) = roughly $66/month (or less!)
It's doable, you've just gotta be smarter than the average bear.