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Tips for lowering internet bill

H

Herr Kutz

Platinum Member
The 1 year introductory rate ended on 15/2 internet, and the price has gone up from $40/month to the "normal" rate of $63/month. I'm going to give Cox a call later today to see if I can get it back down to the intro rate. Thankfully, AT&T internet is available at my address so there is some competition. Their rate is $40/month with a $50 visa card for 10/unknown. Does anyone know any key words to say in the hopes Cox will lower their price?
 
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Who did you talk to? I've found that talking to Sales and asking them to lower your rate is a waste of time, but calling to "cancel" your service because of high monthly fees and getting connected to the customer retention department usually works. The retention guys seem to be allowed to give you discounts that the sales people cannot.
 
I just chatted with an online service rep. I had RCN 50/10 service for 3 odd years and was paying 60 or 65/month I think. They had a newer 150 package for 50/month so I just asked for that and they gave it to me. 3x bandwidth for 15 less a month lol.
 
And I thought my 50/5 for $40/month was expensive. OP is paying the same discount price but only has 15/2.

OP, you just have to call CSR of your broadband provider and say something like "I am happy with the service and I want to stay but I can't afford the full price. Can you get me the discount price so I can stay with ACME company? Thanks".

It worked for me the last few years with my local broadband provider.
 
ultimatebob said:
Who did you talk to? I've found that talking to Sales and asking them to lower your rate is a waste of time, but calling to "cancel" your service because of high monthly fees and getting connected to the customer retention department usually works. The retention guys seem to be allowed to give you discounts that the sales people cannot.
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this. call to cancel. if they cancel on you for real, then you got nothing to loose but hook up with AT&T
 
Svnla said:
And I thought my 50/5 for $40/month was expensive. OP is paying the same discount price but only has 15/2.

OP, you just have to call CSR of your broadband provider and say something like "I am happy with the service and I want to stay but I can't afford the full price. Can you get me the discount price so I can stay with ACME company? Thanks".

It worked for me the last few years with my local broadband provider.
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The lower tiers are the worst deals.

5/1: $30/month for 12 months, $40/month after
15/2: $40/month for 12 months, $63/month after
100/10: $60/month for 12 months, $83/month after
300/30: $80/month for 12 months, $100/month after

Obviously none are an amazing deal.
 
I have found the only reliable way to lower rates is by switching service. Not asking. Not threatening.
Switching.

Anything less and they don't take me seriously.
 
I was using internet + TV service with sprectrum. My promo expired about 2 months ago so I called to see what other promos they had going on. I was paying $115 after taxes/fees for pretty much basic TV and middle internet. No DVR, 1 set top box, so very bare bones in my opinion.

Told the rep that I was thinking of cutting the TV service but wanted to see what they had to offer. She did her spiel asking what i watched, used internet for, etc. She came back and basically gave me their top packages for like $150/mo. I told her, uh I'm trying to save money, not add to it. She immediately goes, "oh the computer allowed me to knock $10 off that price instantly". I still said, too much. She then lowered the options and came back with $130 something. Still too high I said. She suddenly found another $10 off and applied it to make it go down to like $120s. I said, nope, unless you can get me a SUBSTANTIAL discount from what I was paying, I am going to cut the TV portion out. She finally pulled her last stop and offered me a package (mid-tier, not super fancy) for I believe $108, which after taxes/fees would put me at like $115-120, right where I was initially.

In the end, I said that was still too high and to cut the TV service. It's been two months and I have not regretted it one bit. My bill is now only $47.50 after taxes/fees for 200/20 internet.
 
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I had a promo internet only FIOS 30/30 for $55/mo that was expiring and shooting up to $75. Was about to switch to cable for 60/5 for $45 12-mo promo and Spectrum said they'd match it by bumping up to 50/50 at my current $55/mo permanently. As added incentive also gave me $10 off for 12-months to match the $45/mo deal and then it'll go up to $55/mo for good. If they don't hold up their end, I've got no loyalty.

These ISP prices are all over the map - wheel and deal for the best deal you can get. Last time I switched from cable to FIOS the cable company called back 3 days later to offer a better deal to stay but too late - was already up running on FIOS -- you snooze, you lose.
 
I've never had any trouble just calling up Cox and asking if they have any deals going. I've done this three times now, they always happily sign me up for their 12 month "deal". Think I paid like $49/month for a couple years at whatever the best speed was, something like 50MB, and then they upped their speeds and my current deal is 24months at $59 for 150MB. I think the normal price for that is $90. Never had to threaten to leave them or anything like that, though maybe I just talked to the right person.
 
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That said, I have dealt with this with Comcast for some time. I have found the best ways to get better rates:

1) Call to Cancel. They will take you directly to the retention line and give you a list of offers to try to retain you. If the offers suck, or they aren't anywhere near as good as your initial plan, then proceed to 2.

2) Look around on the Internet for sign-up plans for your cable company as if you are a new customer - if it asks you to login to see the offers, don't login and act like you're a new customer. The plans for being a "new" customer are often better, this is what I recently realized with ComCrap. The trick here is I cancelled my first plan with ComCast that had the contract up and then right after I immediately signed up again as a new customer using my wife's name (otherwise if you use the same name they won't approve it).

They confirmed this for me because before cancelling I said "I want the plan I see online for $30/month" and they responded "That's only for new customers".
 
This thread reminded me to check how much money I could save if I got rid of TV service, but it's not worth it, but I did lower my TV package to save $20. I only lose a few channels like HBO which I rarely watched. I don't watch much TV in general. If I got rid of TV I would save about the same amount because it would lower my internet to a lower tier, and then I'd have to pay extra to bring me back to the same tier I'm on now. It's weird how they setup these packages.

If I got rid of the landline and TV I could actually bring my bill down to like $70/mo, but I kinda like having the land line, it's basically my "main" number and also serves as a backup/emergency number. Though it's something to consider, I could live without it. I also prefer actually talking on a land line phone if I'm going to be talking for any amount of time, but could probably rig something to work with my cell if I really wanted to.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Lol that's actually a nice loophole. Cancel your service, then call back the next day, you're now a new customer. 😛 They probably have some kind of fine print though, like you can't be a previous customer either.
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Thebobo said:
And I will be after I cancel.
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The problem is you can't renew with a promotion for 6 months or something - saw it in Comcast's policies. Dunno if they ACTUALLY check - but since you have to register under a name the system likely will automatically deny.

Much easier to just sign up again under a different name (Wife, roommate, etc...)
 
I've always wanted to try Fios. Every apartment complex I have been in only offered Comcast.

I pay $116/mo. For comcrap digital preferred cable and performance internet which got upgraded to blast or whatever. My speeds are like 120mb down and like 5 up.

Everytime the promotion expires I call in to the retention department. Don't call customer service just say you want to cancel. Usually they match your price you had before or they look for a better deal.

I currently have a friend who moved to the state that's staying with me and we are getting a bigger place soon. I'm going to make sure i ask if both Comcast and Fios are available so that way I can switch between the two.

Usually cutting out the TV here makes the internet drop to like 20-25 down and 4 up for the same price as I'm paying for 120mb down right now with the TV bundle.
 
sze5003 said:
I've always wanted to try Fios. Every apartment complex I have been in only offered Comcast.

I pay $116/mo. For comcrap digital preferred cable and performance internet which got upgraded to blast or whatever. My speeds are like 120mb down and like 5 up.

Everytime the promotion expires I call in to the retention department. Don't call customer service just say you want to cancel. Usually they match your price you had before or they look for a better deal.

I currently have a friend who moved to the state that's staying with me and we are getting a bigger place soon. I'm going to make sure i ask if both Comcast and Fios are available so that way I can switch between the two.

Usually cutting out the TV here makes the internet drop to like 20-25 down and 4 up for the same price as I'm paying for 120mb down right now with the TV bundle.
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Seems like verizon wants to get out of the cable TV business and just be an ISP. They Dropped their personal webpages along with storage and of course FTP. Just lately they dropped Email at verizon.net, you had to sign up with Aol email, which they own.

Besides that I have been happy with fios besides the price being a little high. But you get equal upload & download speeds. I had dsl for like 10 years and I dreamed of fiber. Had to move to get and the area I moved to had to have it. 🙂
 
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