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Xoebe
Premium
join:2007-06-04
Ojai, CA
| Cable Monthly Costs
I just wanted to post a note here, maybe you can learn from my experience.
In my semi-rural location in Southern California, DSL was a long time coming, so when cable broadband internet became available, I jumped at it. Never mind it was $54.95 a month for 3Mbit/sec, there was no way I was going to continue using dialup. Besides, the line noise in my neck of the woods dropped my 56k dialup to an even more mind numbing 31k. So I became an Adelphia customer.
No real complaints about Adelphia, the uptime was decent, latency was low, bandwidth pretty good. But, hey, 55 bucks a month. Harumph. The transition to TimeWarner/Roadrunner has been pretty transparent to me, though their communications on the matter has been vague, contradictory, and confusing. Fortunately I didn't have any real issues with that, though.
After a couple of years, DSL appeared in my neighborhood, and I could get the same 3Mbit/sec for $24.95 or so, again, I jumped at it. It's AT&T, and it's pretty buggy, with frequent (once every two weeks to four or five times a day) drops, but I live with it. I arranged for the DSL, changed all my web site email contacts and all that. Waited a couple of months to make sure everything was all well, then I called TimeWarner to cancel my cable internet.
The guy on the phone was very helpful. It was going to be pretty easy, and I didn't have to wait on hold for long either. When he asked why I was moving, I told him. $24.95 vs. $54.95, it's a pretty easy decision.
"I can offer you 6Mbit/sec for $24.95" he said.
Well now, how about that. I told him I already had the DSL up and running though, and a contract.
"If it's under 30 days, you can back out of it."
Well, it's been well over thirty days. I am stuck with AT&T, I guess.
So, long story short: Treat your ISP like a credit card company. Call and ask for lower rates before walking. I didn't, and now I have a poorer broadband for it.
On the other hand, those crooks at TimeWarner had every opportunity to offer lower rates to begin with, so I don't feel so bad by walking away. | |
MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
 ·Comcast
| said by Xoebe  : Call and ask for lower rates before walking. I didn't, and now I have a poorer broadband for it. On the other hand, those crooks at TimeWarner had every opportunity to offer lower rates to begin with, so I don't feel so bad by walking away. That statement tells me you want higher speeds but are not willing to pay for it. You would have gotten the $24.95 as a promo, then when it was up, would have called to complain to TW because your bill went to advertised regular price. "What!?? How DARE you raise my bill? I DEMAND you lower my price, regardless if it is less than the value of my product!" 
Prices are determined by value for all industries. You already admit you got a slower connection, but are happy with the price. TW, on the hand, offers a higher price with the speed you want. In case you didn't notice, that is the way business works. You are not going to get a 5 bedroom 3,000 sq foot home for the price of a 500 sq ft efficiency, so why expect 10meg service for the price of 768k?
Bottom line is, you have "poorer broadband" because you wanted to pay "poorer" price. | |
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