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

[z1ggy]

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.

Once I call them to add my new modem on the account, I'll be asked to also talk to CS about the bill. Worst case they won't lower it and I have my wife remove my name, and she then cancels the service... and I add service in my name the following day.

Would I have to return the hardware though before starting a new account? Are they this dumb to not know people are trying to "trick" them into getting like 50% off the bill?

 

[z1ggy]

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.

Yeah imagine going to the dentist or something and as a patient of 5 years, you pay 4x as much as the new patient in the next room for the same service. Makes no sense how cable companies are pulling this crap off with almost near impunity.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Once I call them to add my new modem on the account, I'll be asked to also talk to CS about the bill. Worst case they won't lower it and I have my wife remove my name, and she then cancels the service... and I add service in my name the following day.

Would I have to return the hardware though before starting a new account? Are they this dumb to not know people are trying to "trick" them into getting like 50% off the bill?

Key is cancel first, put the date out to the end of the billing cycle because most carriers do whole month billing, then the other person shops online or wherever signs up for install on the same day as the cancel.
Been doing this on and off for around 10 or 12 years.

 

[z1ggy]

Key is cancel first, put the date out to the end of the billing cycle because most carriers do whole month billing, then the other person shops online or wherever signs up for install on the same day as the cancel.
Been doing this on and off for around 10 or 12 years.

It's been a while but... would a tech even need to come out here? I'd be all like, Hey sooooo I know Im new but I just so happen to already have some of your hardware here... can even install myself!!!

Essentially, my wife cancels on say the 15th, and I start a "new" account on the 15th and use that legacy hardware, such that I'm not forced to drive to the distro center to waste 30 mins of my life?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

It's been a while but... would a tech even need to come out here? I'd be all like, Hey sooooo I know Im new but I just so happen to already have some of your hardware here... can even install myself!!!

Essentially, my wife cancels on say the 15th, and I start a "new" account on the 15th and use that legacy hardware, such that I'm not forced to drive to the distro center to waste 30 mins of my life?

Self install baby, return your current crap. Plug in new crap.
You will have to return you stuff. That is the only pain and small change internet goes out in the AM and returns in the PM.
Fios and Comcast both canceled late the night before, new service typically started in the morning.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Pretty sure, that when you cancel and re-signup, you need to return your old equipment, if it is ISP-owned (rented / loaned to you). Then they will send you a new "self-install" kit, most likely, with newer (?) (refurb) equipment. Just part of the song-and-dance, to get cheaper rates, sorry to say.

Edit: I've been pretty fortunate, as a long-term FIOS subscriber (probably over 10 years, probably more including my old address), Verizon hasn't tried jacking up my bill horribly. I'm also savvy, as to how to deal with them. Paying a hair over $90/mo, for Gigabit internet, and Custom TV. Though I don't even have the TV connected. I'm also getting a rental for the newest FIOS Home Router (Wifi 6 / AX), thrown in, that I haven't even hooked up yet.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Self install baby, return your current crap. Plug in new crap.
You will have to return you stuff. That is the only pain and small change internet goes out in the AM and returns in the PM.
Fios and Comcast both canceled late the night before, new service typically started in the morning.

I cancelled Comcast and still had internet for like...2 or 3 days, I actually didn't have any lapse between when I renewed a few days later.

 

[z1ggy]

Self install baby, return your current crap. Plug in new crap.
You will have to return you stuff. That is the only pain and small change internet goes out in the AM and returns in the PM.
Fios and Comcast both canceled late the night before, new service typically started in the morning.

Pretty sure, that when you cancel and re-signup, you need to return your old equipment, if it is ISP-owned (rented / loaned to you). Then they will send you a new "self-install" kit, most likely, with newer (?) (refurb) equipment. Just part of the song-and-dance, to get cheaper rates, sorry to say.

Edit: I've been pretty fortunate, as a long-term FIOS subscriber (probably over 10 years, probably more including my old address), Verizon hasn't tried jacking up my bill horribly. I'm also savvy, as to how to deal with them. Paying a hair over $90/mo, for Gigabit internet, and Custom TV. Though I don't even have the TV connected. I'm also getting a rental for the newest FIOS Home Router (Wifi 6 / AX), thrown in, that I haven't even hooked up yet.

I cancelled Comcast and still had internet for like...2 or 3 days, I actually didn't have any lapse between when I renewed a few days later.

Yeah I can't have a lapse if this is going to happen on a weekday... I work from home now and having no interwebz = bad. I could prrrrrobably just explain to my boss the situation but it simply can't be on a day that I'm running any meetings since I 100% need my laptop for that. I can get away with attending meetings that I don't run via my phone and my mobile network at least.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Another thing to look into might be resellers. They basically resell the same service, but sometimes they have better plans. I don't know exactly how it works, I guess they buy many plans in bulk at a discount, but they use the same cable plant as the main ISP and have their own tech support and customer service but it will be the exact same service otherwise.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I cancelled Comcast and still had internet for like...2 or 3 days, I actually didn't have any lapse between when I renewed a few days later.

I haven’t had Comcast/xfinity for about 12 years. So my info on them is dated.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Another thing to look into might be resellers. They basically resell the same service, but sometimes they have better plans. I don't know exactly how it works, I guess they buy many plans in bulk at a discount, but they use the same cable plant as the main ISP and have their own tech support and customer service but it will be the exact same service otherwise.

We typically don’t have that option for consumer service in the US.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah I can't have a lapse if this is going to happen on a weekday... I work from home now and having no interwebz = bad. I could prrrrrobably just explain to my boss the situation but it simply can't be on a day that I'm running any meetings since I 100% need my laptop for that. I can get away with attending meetings that I don't run via my phone and my mobile network at least.

Just use your phones hotspot if needed for a few hours it will be fine.
Honestly it typically is pretty seamless for us. Service goes off late at night, new service is on in the morning. Look at it like do I want to pay $250-$750 more for the same service over one or two years to avoid maybe 2 hours of inconvenience

 

[esquared]

How much is your internet alone? 40/50/60 per month?
You could have internet and get YouTube TV for 49.99 a month.

It has around 80+ channels and lots of the sports channels.
If your internet is around 50/mo, it puts your bill at around 100/month.

Right now they have a 2 week free trial so you can test it out and look at the channel lineup:

YouTube TV - Watch & DVR Live Sports, Shows & News

Stream live TV from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN & popular cable networks in English and Spanish. Record without DVR storage space limits. Try it free. Cancel anytime.

tv.youtube.com

 

[z1ggy]

How much is your internet alone? 40/50/60 per month?
You could have internet and get YouTube TV for 49.99 a month.

It has around 80+ channels and lots of the sports channels.
If your internet is around 50/mo, it puts your bill at around 100/month.

Right now they have a 2 week free trial so you can test it out and look at the channel lineup:

YouTube TV - Watch & DVR Live Sports, Shows & News

Stream live TV from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN & popular cable networks in English and Spanish. Record without DVR storage space limits. Try it free. Cancel anytime.

tv.youtube.com

I think we are going to try Sling as well. It's only $25 and seems to have a decent amount of channels.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I like the idea, in general, of "YouTube TV", but I have to gag at the price. That's more than I'm paying for TV service from Verizon, making the act of "cutting the cord" basically pointless, from a financial perspective.

Aren't most other streaming services like $8-12/mo? (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, etc.?)

 

[Red Squirrel]

If it's only for a few shows I would definitely cancel the TV and just find an alternate way to get those shows such as streaming services. It might not be the same as it changes up the routine a bit, but the savings are worth it.

For when you just want to sit down and turn on TV and not care so much about what you want to watch, you can stick a piece of wire in the antenna hole in the back of the TV and you should be able to pickup a digital OTA station or more. Of course you can go to town with big fancy antennas too, but really a small piece of wire should pickup something. I get Global TV in HD on mine. I like having the TV on when I eat, or if I'm cooking so I turn that on. It's usually the news or something, sometimes soap opera. Can't be too fussy.

 

[mopardude87]

Best tip for a lower bill is not paying for cable. That is all you get from me, i don't pay for cable i haven't since 2011. Not missing much of anything, everything is online and always available 24/7 if you know where to look.

 

[esquared]

I think we are going to try Sling as well. It's only $25 and seems to have a decent amount of channels.

YouTube TV has unlimited DVR, IIRC.
Does sling have the DVR available? I never tried it.

 

[esquared]

Doesn't sling have two levels? Orange and Blue?

30 for one and 45 to have both blue and orange.

 

[DaaQ]

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.

You could try asking them to rebundle your package. Depends on the provider though. Mine is moving to iptv capable boxes and trying to get rid of the old equipment, so re bundling them results in lower bills.
Do not get the new modem and add it to the old account before trying to get the new account tho, you lose a little bit of leverage. If your plan is 25/5 down and new modem won't get you more than that, although a 4x4 is suffering with the increased utilization of the network the new modem will still only be provisioned for 25/5. If that makes sense.

If they won't re bundle you, then go the cancel, and resign in other spouses name route. Bring your own modem and should save another 10-15 a month.