Give me your best tips on lowering my Internet + cable bill

[z1ggy]

But I live in an area with only 1 provider. Well there's 2 but the 2nd guy is a satellite internet service with a 50gb cap per month lol. I'd also like to increase my internet speeds AND pay less ideally. This covid shiz got me throttled it would seem...

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Churn your account every year or two. What I mean is cancel your account then open up a new account in Wife or roomates name.

 

[z1ggy]

Churn your account every year or two. What I mean is cancel your account then open up a new account in Wife or roomates name.

Wont they see same address though? Plus I think my wife just added my name onto the account, so I could go into it and try to get us said better pricing and speeds.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not much you can do. You can threaten to cancel and sometimes they'll send you to retention to lower your bill, but that's usually temporary.

 

[Sgt. York]

Cancel the cable and keep the internet. Instant savings.

 

[z1ggy]

Not much you can do. You can threaten to cancel and sometimes they'll send you to retention to lower your bill, but that's usually temporary.

It's insane though. The same provider is currently offering new customers 100/25 + 125 channels for something like $90 a month, yet we are paying $157 after fees and tax. I know they get you with the extra fees with the DVRs and crap, but... to be paying almost double the current offers AND 4x less speed? That's some BS.

 

[z1ggy]

Cancel the cable and keep the internet. Instant savings.

Sure just come tell my wife she can't watch "live bachelor" or whatever that shitty hospital show is called that airs on Thurs night. Plus... Once life is normal, I do like to watch live sports and I haven't found any really good sports streaming app/service yet. Have a solution to this?

 

[pete6032]

You can still call them up and tell them you're planning to switch to the satellite service provider. See what they say. Doesn't matter that the satellite guys have 50GB cap. Just tell them you want to cancel your account because the satellite guys have a better deal and then see what the cable company says. If they don't budge then just stay with them, or better yet schedule a service disconnect and wait a few days and see if they offer you anything. If not, then just cancel the disconnect request.

 

[shortylickens]

one thing that consistently works for me is threaten to quit.
So far they have always come back with a solid discount for at least one year. Sometimes two.
Downside is that means once a year, like taxes, you have to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Churn your account every year or two. What I mean is cancel your account then open up a new account in Wife or roomates name.

This. At minimal - most ISPs run on a "contract" basis - wherein you get <insert first 6, 12, or 24 months> at a rate of $29.99 or something similar.

When those 6, 12, or 24 months run out - the majority of the population of Americans are stupid. The contract lapses, and they begin charging the "normal" price of $9999 (highway robbery, basically).

So what you do is call in and say "I want to cancel my service". The first they do is send you to a retention department - because it is FAR cheaper to retain a customer than to lose a customer. They will then give you offers that will be similar to your previous bill.


Sometimes they have renewal offers that are exclusive to "new" customers. In that case, that is when I recommend taking @Fanatical Meat s approach and simply disconnect service - and then re-sign up the next day under your spouse's name.


So how much are you currently paying?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

It's insane though. The same provider is currently offering new customers 100/25 + 125 channels for something like $90 a month, yet we are paying $157 after fees and tax. I know they get you with the extra fees with the DVRs and crap, but... to be paying almost double the current offers AND 4x less speed? That's some BS.

With the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO Streaming, etc... the whole concept of "TUNE IN THURSDAY for the NEW EPISODE!" is starting to (thankfully) go away.

 

[BoomerD]

We have Dish for TV. Around $115/mo.
We have the choice of bad DSL, bad satellite internet with low caps, or, what we have, cable internet, (100MB service unlimited, $125/mo.

I miss the days of getting Comcast's triple play package for under $100.

 

[z1ggy]

This. At minimal - most ISPs run on a "contract" basis - wherein you get <insert first 6, 12, or 24 months> at a rate of $29.99 or something similar.

When those 6, 12, or 24 months run out - the majority of the population of Americans are stupid. The contract lapses, and they begin charging the "normal" price of $9999 (highway robbery, basically).

So what you do is call in and say "I want to cancel my service". The first they do is send you to a retention department - because it is FAR cheaper to retain a customer than to lose a customer. They will then give you offers that will be similar to your previous bill.


Sometimes they have renewal offers that are exclusive to "new" customers. In that case, that is when I recommend taking @Fanatical Meat s approach and simply disconnect service - and then re-sign up the next day under your spouse's name.


So how much are you currently paying?

Yup, I think we had the typical $90 a month for interwebz and TV, it lasted 2 years... my non savvy wife didn't check the bill and just has it auto paid. I recently found out we pay $157 after fee and tax for 25/5 internet and whatever the basic cable package is. We still use HBO Go, Netflix and Youtube, but there's a few cable channels that, mostly my wife, still uses.

Now with Covid going down, I'm 100% being throttled, as sometimes my speed tests show my modem only sees 12-13mbps downloads. Furthermore, my wife now streams a lot more often... so I plan to update my modem and router, and add more bandwidth since I also stream simultaneously and if I am gaming... yeah my FPS and ping go bananas.

Ideally, want to pay no more than $120 TOTAL (so maybe like $99 before all the fees) and go up to at least 50/10, but 100/20 or something would be solid since now I do a ton of Teams calls for work.

 

[ponyo]

Sure just come tell my wife she can't watch "live bachelor" or whatever that shitty hospital show is called that airs on Thurs night. Plus... Once life is normal, I do like to watch live sports and I haven't found any really good sports streaming app/service yet. Have a solution to this?

Either change your habit or bend over and take it. One provider and you want/need their TV service. Sounds like you're stuck unless you're willing to go internet only.

Your only hope is to speak with retention and threaten to cancel. They may or may not call your bluff. Since you don't want to change your TV habit, you're at their mercy. Even if you get concession, you're going to be in the same jam one or two years from now.

 

[z1ggy]

With the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO Streaming, etc... the whole concept of "TUNE IN THURSDAY for the NEW EPISODE!" is starting to (thankfully) go away.

I know but she's alllll about watching these garbage shows live. Like... she doesn't care about watching Westworld or Rick and Morty 1 day late, but GOD FORBID she can't watch Dr Grey the moment it's airing. She's the one who pays it so I've been letting it slide, but now that she's lost 20% of her job b/c of Covid, Im cracking the mf'ing whip.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's insane though. The same provider is currently offering new customers 100/25 + 125 channels for something like $90 a month, yet we are paying $157 after fees and tax. I know they get you with the extra fees with the DVRs and crap, but... to be paying almost double the current offers AND 4x less speed? That's some BS.

Yeah I always found that ridiculous that they have these deals. It's like if once you're a customer they don't care about you.

Are these new customer rates the permanent rates though? It seems to be a trend with ISPs where they advertise a rate, then in very small font they put "for first 6 months" then rates go higher after that.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Now with Covid going down, I'm 100% being throttled, as sometimes my speed tests show my modem only sees 12-13mbps downloads.

I told you in your other thread, that's because you have an obsolete 4x4 channel DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Get something more modern, and you won't feel "throttled".

(Edit: Less channels available to "spread the load around", means that during periods of node congestion, you are going to see worse performance with less available channels on the modem.)

I mean, it COULD be that they are throttling you, but with your low-speed plan, I don't see why. Your node could just be THAT congested, but I know that more channels can ease the effects of that congestion on the various channels.

Think of it like a highway. More lanes, equals more lanes for traffic to maneuver. Your "car" (modem) has to stick to the four right-most lanes, and everybody is zooming around them. You need a 24 or 32-lane "qualified" car. (A VERY imperfect analogy, but it kind of illustrates the concepts at play here.)

 

[Mayne]

I could tell you, but piracy is frowned upon here.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

But yeah to be honest, find a way to drop cable TV.

I pay about $40/month for FIOS internet... and my company even pays for it since I work from home

No amount of OMG EXCLUSIVE TV Shows can justify paying an extra $120/month.

I have YouTube (A lot of shows are uploaded to it) via my Samsung TV
I have PBS app via my Samsung TV
I have Amazon streaming for variety of junk

I'm just saying - whatever the FEW shows that your wife watches - see if you can buy streaming directly from that channel. Fuck cable and fuck their 5000 mega channel packages that no one watches.

 

[z1ggy]

I told you in your other thread, that's because you have an obsolete 4x4 channel DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Get something more modern, and you won't feel "throttled".

(Edit: Less channels available to "spread the load around", means that during periods of node congestion, you are going to see worse performance with less available channels on the modem.)

I mean, it COULD be that they are throttling you, but with your low-speed plan, I don't see why. Your node could just be THAT congested, but I know that more channels can ease the effects of that congestion on the various channels.

Think of it like a highway. More lanes, equals more lanes for traffic to maneuver. Your "car" (modem) has to stick to the four right-most lanes, and everybody is zooming around them. You need a 24 or 32-lane "qualified" car. (A VERY imperfect analogy, but it kind of illustrates the concepts at play here.)

Didn't you see my post above though where I said I'm going out to buy the new modem and router though?

Gotta get dis pipe enlarged!!!

 

[z1ggy]

But yeah to be honest, find a way to drop cable TV.

I pay about $40/month for FIOS internet... and my company even pays for it since I work from home

No amount of OMG EXCLUSIVE TV Shows can justify paying an extra $120/month.

I have YouTube (A lot of shows are uploaded to it) via my Samsung TV
I have PBS app via my Samsung TV
I have Amazon streaming for variety of junk

I'm just saying - whatever the FEW shows that your wife watches - see if you can buy streaming directly from that channel. Fuck cable and fuck their 5000 mega channel packages that no one watches.

Yeah she's.... really odd. She's like her Dad, really paranoid and not trusting of tech (yet is 29 yrs old? ok then). I'm slowlllllyyyy converting her to tech. I got her a smart phone like 5 yrs ago... she was on some BS flip phone still. Got her to finally get paypal this week. Next steps are getting her to sign up for the network apps like I do (NBC Sports Gold for me, etc). She'll get there... once I told her we pay $160 vs FIOS is offering like $40 internet only packages for 10x the speed (although FIOS isn't routed in my neighborhood, ugh), she kind of saw the light. I told her we can get like 5x more content for the same $$$ we pay now. It just means it's basically 100% up to me to set it all up and hold her hand through the whollleee thing.

We have a classic marriage I suppose: z1ggy does alllll the finances and tech stuff, she does all the "wife" crap like dishes, laundry. It works but it can be annoying in times like this.

 

[TheVrolok]

Yeah she's.... really odd. She's like her Dad, really paranoid and not trusting of tech (yet is 29 yrs old? ok then). I'm slowlllllyyyy converting her to tech. I got her a smart phone like 5 yrs ago... she was on some BS flip phone still. Got her to finally get paypal this week. Next steps are getting her to sign up for the network apps like I do (NBC Sports Gold for me, etc). She'll get there... once I told her we pay $160 vs FIOS is offering like $40 internet only packages for 10x the speed (although FIOS isn't routed in my neighborhood, ugh), she kind of saw the light. I told her we can get like 5x more content for the same $$$ we pay now. It just means it's basically 100% up to me to set it all up and hold her hand through the whollleee thing.

We have a classic marriage I suppose: z1ggy does alllll the finances and tech stuff, she does all the "wife" crap like dishes, laundry. It works but it can be annoying in times like this.

Happy wife, happy life. If she wants the same old process of clicking the same old buttons on the remote.. It's worth a few bucks.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Wont they see same address though? Plus I think my wife just added my name onto the account, so I could go into it and try to get us said better pricing and speeds.

We do it all the time, I am a sales guy too. Not the Salespersons job to decide what is going on in your marriage.

 

[z1ggy]

Happy wife, happy life. If she wants the same old process of clicking the same old buttons on the remote.. It's worth a few bucks.

I know, but she's also extremely smart, she's got a doctoral degree... she just grew up to be like her dad. She knows I'm right about this kind of stuff usually, she's just stubborn and doesn't like change. If I can get her to see how it benefits her, she'll be convinced to change.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

But yeah to be honest, find a way to drop cable TV.

I pay about $40/month for FIOS internet... and my company even pays for it since I work from home

No amount of OMG EXCLUSIVE TV Shows can justify paying an extra $120/month.

I have YouTube (A lot of shows are uploaded to it) via my Samsung TV
I have PBS app via my Samsung TV
I have Amazon streaming for variety of junk

I'm just saying - whatever the FEW shows that your wife watches - see if you can buy streaming directly from that channel. Fuck cable and fuck their 5000 mega channel packages that no one watches.

This is a great example, three years ago when I wanted the $40 intenet only offer I was told for new customers only. Best offer for me was $80 50/50 up/down. Twice the price half the speed.
Cable companies haven't learned yet, customers don't care about account tenure, customers will never accept paying more for the same service as a new customer.