So... in a few months, we'll be moving and downsizing a bit. We also want to lower our bills for the aforementioned services.
 
I've called the phone and cable companies. The cable company has the lowest price of the 2.  
 
I need internet. So I'm thinking.... and discussing with my wife..... Solitary internet.
 
With a fast cable speed, I can place my 2 phone lines on Magic Jacks.... one for residential ($3/mo) and the other for business ($15/mo)  I'm considering going this route because much of my business is conducted by email and not fax.... even though faxes  are still  supposed to work with MJ.....and customers are using my cell number about half the time.
 
However, the main reason is cost. The phone and cable company want a premium on top of their already high prices to port my old numbers to the new service.  It's amazing that I can port my numbers to cell phones and between cell companies but not on a land line phone.  (I call bull on that)  And I know that the days of copper lines are gone, it's all VOIP anyway. Just a simple matter of setting the IP address and the phone number can ring anywhere in the world.
 
Another phone option is porting my wife's residential number to a cell phone.  Cost would be about the same as paying for a land line but she could keep the number. Currently, she has a cell phone that is an old, old phone. I think it does phone calls and maybe text messages.  She pays only for the minutes used and no monthly minimum. As long as that phone is still compatible with the network hardware, Alltel has agreed to keep the account open.

Next issue is cable TV.  I've had people telling me to get ROKU.  Almost every channel is available streaming on the internet and it's no or very low cost. We currently have a NEO/TV box for netflix. As long as my wife has the channels she watches, she's happy. HGTV, local news/weather, oldies movies, etc. All I need is AMC for the Walking Dead on Sunday nights. But... I could wait 12 months and watch it on Netflix.... ( wouldn't bother me to not have TV )  I understand... ROKU is a one time buy like the Neo was.
 
 
One last thing: The cable co has offered a 12mo package with internet, cable TV and a residential phone bundled for under $100/mo. My thought was.... take the promo 12 mo deal. That way, I have cable, and a residential phone line. The number would not be ported but.... I can still get the ROKU and the 2 magic jacks...... port my numbers to the MJ's, run the ROKU on a second TV and see how well the streaming things work on the cable internet. If they do good....when the promo ends, cancel the phone and TV, and go with the streaming. If they don't work well, keep the cable package.

I have used MJ in the past on my existing internet service which is really slow by today's IP speeds. It was to call long distance for "free" since the biz phone I had at that time charged for all long distance outgoing calls and at the time, I was working on a project all over the state.  Calls were mostly good and I had the occasional one that I needed to hangup and call back for a better connection.
 
 
Essentially, I'm considering:  Relatively fast residential internet with a ROKU and 2 magic Jacks and calling it done.

Has anyone considered doing this as well, or have you already done this and if so, how well is it working for you?
 

Hi Herb,
We just got rid of our cable TV altogether and just kept a high speed internet (with the cable company) and from that alone, we'll be saving at least a $120 a month. The main reason being, we only watch about 5-7 channels regularly and the rest is very sporadic (if at all).
 
We've had the Roku in the past and wasn't all that impressed with it (possibly, it's better now?....IDK).....however, Amazon's Fire Stick is what we're getting and having a Amazon Prime account, you can practically get any movie/TV show etc...
My brother in law brings his Fire Stick over to our house every time he visits and there's just a boatload of excellent movies/shows to choose from. For $39, it brings much, much more to the table than cable does. The $99 annual subscription will be worth it for us as it's easy to find good decent movies for our children to watch....which was hard to find on Cable TV.  

Sorry, if I'm not addressing your main concerns but, as someone who was part of the "Number Portability" project at Verizon Wireless, I can tell you that all cell phones actually have two numbers.  The "real" number (handed out in pools by lottery between cellular companies) and the "display" number.  This makes it easy to keep your old number with cell phones.  Unfortunately, land lines do not have this ability so there's some manual work involved and you can only do it within the same area code.
 

ROKU works great here with one exception. I'm currently using it over WI-FI. About three times in the past the ROKU lost connectivity. One day I'll hard wire it. 

When my wife and I moved 18 months ago, we cancelled our land phone and cable package completely.
We just use our cellphones now, and have no issues after cutting that cord.
We've got a decent internet package, and have both a Roku and Apple TV.  The Roku is an older version and I've heard that the newer ones have much better options, but we really prefer the Apple TV.  Neither have given us any connectivity issues.  The AppleTV gives us lots of $5-$10 options like Netlix to keep us entertained, while the older Roku is restricted to Netflix and a couple of "nobody would really be interested in this stuff" channels.
As for basic television, we bought a $40 digital antenna.  This provides a dozen local stations, and we only really use it for the morning news.

I thought about getting rid of my PO Box, Sat TV, Cell phones, DSL and POTS.  I realized just in time that there would be no way for people I don't to hear from to contact me, so I'm keeping all of it!

BobF
I thought about getting rid of my PO Box, Sat TV, Cell phones, DSL and POTS.  I realized just in time that there would be no way for people I don't to hear from to contact me, so I'm keeping all of it!

That has way too much truth for my comfort level!

When we moved we dropped our old phone lines and just stayed with cell phones. Don't miss the old land line at all. Before we moved, we were able to get a number of TV channels through an outside antenna. Of course we were near a major metro area and the reception was great. When we moved to a more rural area, the outside antenna just didn't pick up well at all, even with an amplifier, so we went with cable TV and Internet only. We also have Amazon Prime and enjoy it, but you still need to have local channels.
 
Also, watch out for those bundled 'deals' as you typically have to agree to a multiyear contract. If you quit too soon they will hit you with all kinds of fees and penalties.
 
Good luck!

I quit TV 5 years ago and installed a digital antennae. I get 10 to 20 channels depending on the time of year. My internet and phone are a package. It saves me a lot of money.
 
My only concern is that after a while all the eggs are in one basket. In this case, 1 wire. Whomever controls that cable controls ALL of my communication. I'm sure that one day I'll pay a price for that.

Thanks for the input. 

Good points to consider. 
 
I will look into the firestick.
 
The land lines would still be in the same area code... but if I go to the Magic Jack the business phone is only $15 a month vs around $80 with the cable voip and $3 vs $40 for the residential number.