For those of you that have cable and are not getting promo rates, you are losing out! Since competition for cable/internet service is off the hook in metropolitan areas, lets hear what you did to lower your rates!
Provider:Comcast Location:Arlington, Virginia Services: (before and after) ----------------------------------- Standard Cable Digital Classic Starz Shotime HBO 2 HD Boxes each with DVR 2nd outlet Internet Blast ----------------------------------- Cost Before: $190 (old promo was paying $120) Cost After: $99.95 (good for 1 year) Contract agreement:No
Summary: All of my "promos" expired so I called and punched the numbers for the cancellation department and told them I was switching to FIOS. The CSR asked why and I said the cost I was paying was rediculous. She punched a few buttons and offered me the same exact service for almost half the price. In real terms I lowered my bill about $20/month because I was on a previous promotion, so this promo was even better than last time and the length is 1 year, not 6 months. An annual savings of $1080 vs the "full" price and $240 lower than what I paid the previous year. Not too shabby.
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I don't subscribe to TV. How does anyone have time to watch TV, anyway? However, I negotiated my cable internet with Cox in Vegas. I was paying $40 for the 1.5Mb connection, and they upgraded me to 10Mb connection for $5 more/month. They'd regularly charge $65. I ended up paying more money each month, but the value of the service was significantly increased.
Clear WiMax has just come into the Vegas market and is shaking things up big time. The monopoly telephone company just started offering naked DSL, and Cox changed their pricing structure. That $65 service i mentioned earlier? Now $54.
Don't have Cable. Verizon Internet contract up in August - current contract: 6mo. free $19.99 thereafter for 768 DSL. Negotiated new contract with their retention dept. - upgrade speed to 1MB, one month free and $14.99/mo. for the remaining 11 months. Can change contract if they come up w smth. better.
Cerdo said:I'd be happy to pay A-LA-CARTE programming, but they won't offer it until enough people are fed up. You can reasonably approximate à la carte programming with a combination of Hulu/Netflix (for "renting" shows) and Amazon VOD/iTunes (for "buying" them).
gargamel51 said:Cerdo said:I'd be happy to pay A-LA-CARTE programming, but they won't offer it until enough people are fed up. You can reasonably approximate à la carte programming with a combination of Hulu/Netflix (for "renting" shows) and Amazon VOD/iTunes (for "buying" them).
I pay ~70 bucks a month for Comcast HSI, HD DVR, digital basic and extended digital (or whatever its called that that gives most of the regular HD channels like discovery, etc). This is the Atlanta area, for a one year contract.
I am categorically opposed to ever paying full list prices for tv/internet, but my only viable option for those services is Comcast since there is no fiber network in my area yet, the maximum DSL speed available is 1.5mbps and satellite, even with promotional prices and the famous AAA discount, still ends up being way more expensive than Comcast's promotional price.
As most of us know, Comcast's retention deals are always YMMV, since they depend on the area, the rep and your telephone skills. I've always been able to get these deals but it's generally a hassle. Well, our latest promo was set to expire in a few days and I got Comcast's retention to give us the new customer promo again without any hassle whatsoever -- $29.99 for 12 months for Digital Starter with free HBO and High Definition, $9.95 for 12 months for HD DVR and 2 free digital converter boxes plus $19.99 for 6 months for their Performance internet (up to 15mpbs with power boost -- we've been getting about 10mpbs-12mbps). Of course, there's no contract.
Frankly, I don't know how much of this is attributable to the economy and how much is to dumb luck, but it seems to make sense that in a tough economy people would be cutting out "luxuries," such as cable, which would cause companies like Comcast to relax their retention rules even in the absence of any real competition from other providers.
Too bad AT&T doesn't offer retention deals on landline service and I refuse to cut out the landline since our burglar and fire alarm can't operate on VoIP (our homeowner's insurance discounts for having monitored burglar and fire alarm more than pay for landline cost), a landline is convenient and landline voice quality is soooooooo much higher than cell phone quality.
Message edited by: geo123 on 2009-07-30 12:23:43 CDT
Worked for me! Was paying trough the roof for Optimum triple play (Cablevision - NJ area) after 1 yr promotional period expired. Called them, said that want to switch to FIOS and got $10 off the phone bill (currently pay $35), $15 off the cable internet (currently $49.95) and also $20 off cable including free HBO and Showtime for next 3 month.
Thanks fasttimes for an idea!!!
Message edited by: dimka448 on 2009-07-30 13:08:43 CDT
ppatin said:I steal wireless internet from my neighbors and pay nothing. I know I shouldn't, but am I really hurting anyone? Yes, you are hurting this thread by posting useless info on it.
I recently locked in with Comcast (SF) for the triple play deal - $99/month for 24 months for Phone, Internet and HD Cable. Further, I get the DVR box free for the first 6 months ($9/month thereafter) and free HBO. I lost 3 channels (Science, Nat Geo and Encore), but rarely watch those channels anyways. Supposedly, when Comcast "expands" its HD offering to like 100 channels, I'm suppose to get those too. Oh yeah, I got two free converter boxes for my other non-HD TVs.
Alot cheaper than what I was paying (about $130 before be taxes and fees).
Message edited by: bfd853 on 2009-07-30 12:58:37 CDT
This has been mentioned in other threads, but one approach that works well with Comcast HSI (after the initial 1 yr. promo) is to reduce service to qualify for a new promo. The steps are something like this:
1. Get HSI with basic cable for $19.99/mo. for 12 months + ~$8 for cable and get $100-$150 rebate 2. Drop basic cable (those channels are still available anyway) 3. $19.99/mo promo expires and go back to paying full price for a short time 4. Call and reduce service to slower HSI (1Mbs instead of 12 or 15Mbs) for $24.99/mo 5. Call back in a few days and cancel or ask for promo and get the full-speed internet back with $19.99/mo. promo again for 6-12 months
The point is that once the first promo expires, they are unlikely to give another one until the service is reduced to the slower speed first. Of course, YMMV.
aleck said:ppatin said:I steal wireless internet from my neighbors and pay nothing. I know I shouldn't, but am I really hurting anyone? Yes, you are hurting this thread by posting useless info on it.
How is it useless? If you live in an urban area and a lot of your neighbors have wireless it's pretty easy to get away with paying nothing for internet, especially if you know how to crack WEP.
It's been a few years, but I recall the hispanics getting offered much better deals by Comcast. One such plan was CableLatino which offered all the basic digital Channels, Digital Tuner, On Demand and a few other add ons for about $20 per month.
I also found that local sales reps are more in tune with what deals can be had for Comcast. The local rep found pricing plans that the 800# customer service denied existing.
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