Comcast

The Old Song and Dance

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I’ve been periodically checking Comcast’s website for internet service deals and today I found out that they were running one of their better offers.

For those of you just tuning in, I’ve played this game many times (here and here).  The last time I wasn’t able to get a very good deal and we were paying $55 a month for 25 Mpbs internet and digital phone.  We never used the phone but it was cheaper to have it than to pay for just internet.  Yay bundles </sarcasm>.

Anyway, after a frustrating phone call of repeatedly saying “no, I don’t want phone service.  no I don’t want cable tv.” I got the new deal for $30/mo for 25 Mbps internet only.  This will be good for 12 months, so I am pretty happy that I won’t have to bother with this again for another year.

Putting up with sales agents working on commission is worth saving $300!

Searching for Savings

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Over six months have gone by since I last negotiated our internet rates with Comcast (see here).  Our 25 Mbps (mega bit per second) connection went from the promo price of $35/month to $67.  I tried calling in late December to get rolled over to a new promotion.  Like always, I call in and navigate the voice menu to canceling all services.  That lands you into their customer retention department and the best possible deals.

The rep offered $50/mo for internet and phone service.  I really didn’t want to add a service that we are not going to use and the price is still about $10 more than what I want to pay so I declined.

Comcast runs new promos every 30 or so days, so I gave them a call back at the start of January to see if they had anything new.  This rep offered $55 for internet and basic cable.  An even worse deal in my opinion.  She also offered a $40/mo for internet only, but it was a meager 6mbps.  The only competitor in town has that same level of service for $30.

Again I declined, and figured I would call back in a day or two (the second rep was not very friendly).

This afternoon, I called for a third time, persistence is key!  I got the first offer again, phone + internet for $50.  I agreed, and have set a reminder on my calendar to try again in February.

The new deal is good for 12 months and will save us $204 over what we have now for the same level of service.  It is not a particularly great deal, but it beats the standard rate and matches the competitors price without the hassle of moving accounts. Sometimes we just have to take the small wins.  :-\

Negotiating a Lower Cable/Internet Bill Revisited

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It’s been 6 months since the last time I negotiated a lower internet bill.  As you may recall from that earlier post, I went from a $30 bill for 25 Mbps to a $35 for 50 Mbps and access to Streampix.  This month, my bill was set to increase to $84.  Time to pick up the phone and renegotiate.

As always, it is a good idea to have some goals and expectations beforehand.  I looked up the only competitors advertised rates and they had increased $5 across the board.  We wanted to keep our internet bill under $50 a month, and if we had to switch companies that would have put us at $45 for a 12 Mbps connection.

After working my way through the menu prompts, I got in touch with a human being.  Our new deal for the next 6 months is $20 for a 25 Mpbs internet connection.  We dropped Streampix and there were no tears shed.  We tried it out once in the past six months and not only was the movie selection skimpy, but the user interface was a pain.  I’ll happily continue shelling out $8 a month for a far superior Netflix experience.

The drop in internet speed isn’t even all that bad.  When we upgraded six months ago there was no noticeable difference in browsing and streaming.  It appears that there is a bottleneck somewhere beyond the last mile.

In conclusion, 10 minutes on the phone yielded a 76% decrease in cost while only reducing our service 50%.  I call that a win.