NOT Hot - ATTBI raising rate on cable modem owners

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nekote

Senior member
May 22, 2001
693
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This is gonna' knock the hell outta' cable modem sales / deals here at Hot Deals

Via: DSLReports
Article: Yahoo news article

Says monthly rates go up $7 for cable modem owners (from $35.95 to $42.95).
And cable renters remain flat at $45.95 (cable modem rental fee reduced from $10 to $3).

Hope you're past the break even point if you bought!
 
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icecube

Senior member
Aug 23, 2000
205
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Glad I didn't jump on one of the Cable Modem hot deals...would have been $60-80 down the drain now...
 
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gof

Member
Feb 18, 2001
105
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For those who are going to be hit by this, you do have an option. Pay in advance!!

You can pay for a year in advance for the cost of 11 months (i.e., one month free). Plus it locks in your rate at TODAY'S rate. I just did this last month. The downside is that you have for fork over 11*$35.95= $395.45 at once, but at this point, you'll save 11*$7.00+$42.95=$119.95 (a 23% savings for the prepayment by avoiding the price increase for now). :D

 
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DaveH

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,090
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great idea, gof. Do you know a simple way to do that (pay in advance?) I'm on autopay to CC...

note that for 6 months, you'll get rebate coupons for $7 included with your bill if you own a modem. But who wants to bother with those?
 
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LordThing

Golden Member
Jun 8, 2001
1,970
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"People who own their modems are pretty much locked in to staying with AT&T," Kersey said. "It's a way to extract a little more money out of a small percentage of people. That's a fairly politically smart thing to do because it doesn't affect the vast majority of customers."
Click to expand...

Sigh....that is total friggin bullsh*t. But, they are right....we are stuck. There is no way to change cable modem companies unless you move....which hopefully I will be soon anyway.:disgust:
 
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Hork

Senior member
Mar 8, 2000
531
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gof,

I just read the article, and you're not factoring in the six $7 off coupons that AT&T is throwing in so the price change won't affect modem users until January 2003.

That's still going to suck, since I pay my bills through a bill-paying service and including coupons is kinda hard to do.

;-(

Hork
 
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GoSharks

Diamond Member
Nov 29, 1999
3,053
0
76
its not that bad... i remember when i first got cable (oct 00) that the prices were 50bux for renters and 40bux for owners.
 
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icecube

Senior member
Aug 23, 2000
205
0
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I am sure that this is exactly what AT&T is thinking. Why else offer 6 $7 "rebate coupons" instead of waiting 6 months to hike up the price?? A pretty lousy way to treat your customers in my opinion...

Originally posted by: DaveH

note that for 6 months, you'll get rebate coupons for $7 included with your bill if you own a modem. But who wants to bother with those?
Click to expand...
 
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gof

Member
Feb 18, 2001
105
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Originally posted by: DaveH
great idea, gof. Do you know a simple way to do that (pay in advance?) I'm on autopay to CC...

note that for 6 months, you'll get rebate coupons for $7 included with your bill if you own a modem. But who wants to bother with those?
Click to expand...

Just call customer service. Tell them you want to go to the yearly plan (and make it clear this is the pay 11, get 12 plan). I had no problems and did this right when I purchased my modem (BestData deal a few months back). The $400+ bill is a killer but the savings is undeniable.

It will be interesting to see if I get those six $7.00 coupons :D



 
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couzy

Member
Oct 22, 1999
73
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Darrel Hegar, vice president of Internet services for Englewood, Colo.-based AT&T Broadband, said the changes reflected price reductions for cable modems. When home broadband access became popular in the late 1990s and in 2000, cable modems cost $300 or more. But in the past two years, the price has dropped to $100 or less, thanks in part to aggressive marketing promotions at computer hardware stores.
Click to expand...

Hmm... The cost to provide modems to the lease customers goes down, so instead of reducing the lease rate of $10 a month, they increase the rate of those who already bought their modems. Typical AT&T monoplistic crap.

I was just about to sign up with automatic bill pay.... I think I'll wait, so I can use those coupons. Come January, it'll be time to switch to the other local cable provider.
 
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DaveH

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,090
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Again thanks gof. I will call customer service and do this.

Only thing stopping me from picking up the phone this instant: any hot signup deals now? I'd be tempted to cancel, then rejoin with a 6 month teaser or something...

Almost did this last year, but I didn't want to loose my email address. Then, it was lost anyway when @home and ATT divorced...now I know better and use another email! :)
 
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yodayoda

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
2,958
0
86
you guys do have an option: cancel your cable modem service and go with DSL. download speed are about the same, prices would be the same, and they usually give you the modem and installation for free. would have the freedom to pick your DSL provider and the frontend company that delivers it (i have mindspring/earthlink with covad DSL). fcuk the cable monopolies!
 
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XFreebie

Banned
Dec 12, 2000
1,414
0
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what, a regional monopoly raising rates?! no way!!!

well for those prices it's still a steal right? otherwise u'd cancel...
 
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popeye44

Golden Member
Aug 11, 2000
1,868
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76
Well those of you who thought that att shouldn't have to share their cable lines with anyone else were wrong ehh?

anyone care to reason out why i pay 4.5 cents long distance and not 25 cents a minute.. do i hear baby bells? Competition RULES
without it we the consumer get stuck with paying for that which we do not need. Much as I HATE goverment intervention I wish they'd quit letting monopolies happen. absolute power corrupts absolutely"i don't know who said that but it is true to a point"
Fortunately I haven't bought a cable modem. I spend money on other hardware heheehe. thanks to this place i'm broke anyway :D
 
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cstring

Senior member
Dec 27, 2001
224
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For the one year advance thing should I do it right now? I just have to call them up and ask for it right? I hope another cable company doesn't pop up after that I did that and offer lower rates.
 
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CplHicks

Senior member
Nov 29, 2000
309
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I've had AT&T (used to be mediaone) for about 3 years now so I think I've already paid off for my modem. On a more positive note, I noticed over at dslreports.com that a lot of ATTBI users now have 256k upload speeds (up from 128). So at least for some people there's some reward for sticking w/ cable.

BTW, for me (Boston, MA) I still think cable is the best way to go.
 
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Stallion

Diamond Member
May 4, 2000
3,657
0
76
Wife just went to a new group at work and they are going to start paying our cable bill, Looks like it's just in time too. :D
 
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studrew

Junior Member
Aug 23, 2000
21
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Called up AT&T. The CSR said rates will only increase in certain areas and the Sacramento area would 'most likely' be excluded since we already pay 39.95/month w/o modem. Asked about the prepay 1 year plan and she said you have to pay 12 months up front (not 11) and get 1 month free. In any case, THIS SUCKS!

Studrew
 
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DaveH

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,090
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that ATT idiot website says it's not available at my home--even tho I'm using it right now! That's after wasting 15 minutes trying to find the signup site so I could see what their current promos were. That site should be http://www.attbroadband.com/services/products/InternetLearnMoreGeneric.html.

Of course US West can't even let me login...and after a 20 minute hold, no DSL availability here as far as the eye can see.

Anyone know of good offers? Looks like we have until 5/31 to do this, with rates changing 6/1.
 
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