Frugal

Rationing? In today's day and age? I have unlimited mobile data with Visible for $25/mo. It even has unlimited (slow, 5 Mbps) tethering.

If you use a cheap VPN (I use Mullvad), your video bitrate doesn't get throttled. But the tethered device also needs to be signed in on the VPN because WiFi tethering on the phone doesn't use the phone's VPN, at least on Android.

If you use Android, and you're clever, you can USB tether to a properly-configured Raspberry Pi using EasyTether, and have that give WiFi to all your devices at full speed. I have a 4k Apple TV, and I get 4k video on my $25/mo plan.

For a single device like one PC, all you need is EasyTether on that PC, and then you can USB tether your phone to get unthrottled tethering. EasyTether costs a one-time $10 payment for the phone app. The PC app is free. You need both.

Looks like they have a new $35 plan that doubles the WiFi tethering speed (to a whopping 10 Mbps) and allows 1080p video without needing a VPN. That sorta seems like a sweet spot for price vs. hassle.

Ironically this is my spectrum bill the past few months. They send a letter saying they are upgrading the speed at no charge. Then a few months later the bill goes up.

Nov 2024. $60

Dec  2024. $70

Jan   2025. $70 

Feb    2025. $73

Mar    2025.  $73

Apr     2o25.   $93!!

There was a time some years ago where I didn't have wifi for several months. It was sometimes a hassle, sometimes oddly enjoyable and peaceful. Now it's no longer an option for me, but I do sometimes just turn off the router and put devices into airplane mode on the weekends. But it's not the same if you can so easily undo it.

I switched to a home-oriented 5G system from T-Mobile. The price was decent for my area ($50/month), and most importantly, Spectrum got nothing from me.

Before that, my wife and I would use our phone hotspots for internet (Visible has plans that have unlimited throttled hotspot). The speed was capped at 5Mbit/s, but it was enough for us (and was only $25/month/phone at the time).

I've since moved back to Canada and am using a reseller (Oxio), which has been great so far.

I'm a year+ with no home Internet. I do not ration my mobile data though. I have unlimited phone data, and I use a hacky program to connect my mobile wifi to my computer.

I didn't need to be online 24/7 so it works fine for me.

We purposely didn't add wifi to our home. It would be an expensive way to give up more of our privacy. It used to bug me, but now I'm used to not having it.

I don't do that and that seems pretty extreme to me - since most mobile hotspots are going to throttle you after a certain limit (even if they purportedly offer unlimited data). However, I understand the desire.

TV Shows and Movies

If you pay for streaming services, you might want to consider "sailing the high seas" (torrenting). Cancelling streaming services, pirating content, and then using the savings to pay for Spectrum might provide a better overall experience. If it's not cost effective to do that, you should still consider torrenting at a public coffee shop or something to that effect (with a VPN). You can use Jellyfin to host your torrented content.

Gaming

A cheap Raspberry Pi and some peripheral controllers can be used to host a lot of fun retro games which you can play locally at home. I'm assuming modern games are too slow to download over a hotspot.

Pictures

You can host Immich locally and backup photos and videos on your phone over your local intranet. It was super easy for me to setup.

I’ve tried the threatening to leave phone calls but it does nothing. I’ve considered doing cellular.

I need my IP for my public sites and gaming. Everything else idc.

I'm sorry, what?

Are you confusing wifi with internet? Wifi is free. It costs nothing. Internet is a different story. You can have wifi without internet, and you can have internet without wifi. They are not the same thing.