Here's an update on my Comcast saga. After years of paying +$200/mo for cable, internet & phone I've successfully lowered my bill from an average of $210/mo to $79/mo.
I'm fairly certain that to successfully negotiate with Comcast you must be prepared to "cut the cord". This was accomplished in 2 steps:
- Purchase my own cable modem and save $8/mo for the modem rental. This "Comcast" supported modem actually increased my download speeds by 10MB.
- Port my home phone number from Comcast to Ooma. Comcast bundled voice into my previous plan for $10/mo.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I4XMEYA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1x Cost:
Monthly savings:
In 2 months I will have re-coup'd my expense and be saving $130 each month.
Now here's the interesting part. I had assumed I'd have to give up everything but basic standard definition TV. Not so, the rep kept trying to "up-sell" me. Shockingly yes... I was offered 4 different deals.
So in the end I've got a dvr, HBO and 50 channels (including the HD version if the base channel has one). This is a 12 month deal but who cares, next January I'll renegotiate my plan again. The way the market is moving with Dish Networks "Sling" TV there will be even more choices and I won't need any Comcast channels.
The downside is the more people that "Cut the Cord" the more revenue Comcast looses. At some point they will undoubtedly raise the cost of internet access but I'll worry about that another day.
- With Ooma I kept my home phone number and my new cost is: $3.81/mo. You purchase the hardware and they only charge you the cost of taxes (federal, state & e911).
- There is a 1 time cost for porting my Comcast number which will be offset by the monthly savings of the new plan.
1x Cost:
| $89.99 | Arris Motorola cable modem |
| $45.36 | Number port from Comcast to Ooma |
| $138.11 | Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service VoIP Phone and Device |
| $273.46 | Total 1x cost |
Monthly savings:
| $210.00 | Comcast - previous |
| $79.93 | Comcast - current |
| $130.07 | Savings/mo |
In 2 months I will have re-coup'd my expense and be saving $130 each month.
Now here's the interesting part. I had assumed I'd have to give up everything but basic standard definition TV. Not so, the rep kept trying to "up-sell" me. Shockingly yes... I was offered 4 different deals.
- First deal was for $260 which was maddening considering I had clearly told her that my bill was too much and I'm cutting the cord. Just to keep the channels I had (which was pretty much everything). For people like me that initially got drawn in with the "Triple Play" bundle the cost kept creeping up each year just to maintain the HD channels.
- Second deal was for $179 which cut all the premium channels.
- Third deal was for $129, again offering me even less. But I didn't care I kept telling the rep all I want is internet because I'll use Netflix & Hulu.
- Fourth deal was the keeper at initially $99/mo. This would contain:
- Internet at 105MB
- HD dvr
- HBO Go (yup, they threw in HBO)
- Fifth (and final) deal - $79/mo
So in the end I've got a dvr, HBO and 50 channels (including the HD version if the base channel has one). This is a 12 month deal but who cares, next January I'll renegotiate my plan again. The way the market is moving with Dish Networks "Sling" TV there will be even more choices and I won't need any Comcast channels.
The downside is the more people that "Cut the Cord" the more revenue Comcast looses. At some point they will undoubtedly raise the cost of internet access but I'll worry about that another day.
