Had a nice chat with Xfinity support

my two year plan is up this summer. i usually have to fight with them. it will be interesting to see what we wind up with.
one thing i can say is that the service has been excellent. especially considering all the new users on the net these days.

 

I played the "promotion" rate game for many years with our cable company. Almost always they would come up with a different "promotion" to keep the rate at steady, sometimes by upgrading the service then downgrading it later. But that game ended when our TV/Telephone/Internet bundle service rate went up 250% in very short span of time. Unfortunately, in our area we have no alternative service providers. In the end, I stopped playing their game and dropped TV and telephone service and kept just Internet service at standard rate of $65/mo. Ever since I dropped TV and telephone service, I get almost daily promotional mail and e-mail from them for $44/mo TV/Telephone/Internet bundle service. Yeah, that's $21/mo saving and more services, but is it worth? Maybe not...

 

i would kill tv in a second, but then i'd have to cook my own dinner, do the laundry, clean the house and etc.
i wonder how much housekeeping i could get for a hundred bucks a month

 

Cheaper to keep cable....

 

yep, that's been my mantra so far...

 

otoh, i provide no benefits, and suck up a lot of the assets

 

So you are at some risk of being traded in for an upgraded model?

 

all the time

 

I eventually cancelled my "Cable TV" package with Xfinity because I found it too expensive and also had the exact same experience of palatable or good rates to start, but a always a slow increase in price with the passage of time, or when the deal expired.

I happened to live near their brick and mortar Service Center, and I also found that if I went in and politely complained, they often "found" a way to offer me the same package or better, for much cheaper. But I got tired of the routine, because the price always slowly increased.
So eventually, I felt I'd be OK with a broadcast antennae, and a choice of few good streaming services. Still need internet access, but at least I'm not being held hostage to a tiered "Cable Package".
Hate climbing the ladder of for $30.00 more per month you can get the next level that gives me the 1 channel I really want, and 28 channels I never watch.

 

I'm sure Mrs. Bisco finds some redeeming quality I bet .

Maybe it's your wit and charm.

 

The only proven aphrodisiac:

A 401(k) with more than one comma.

 

I felt exactly the same way about cable TV service. Out of 250 channels they provided, I watched maybe 4-5 channels regularly. Most of which can be watched on stream for free. I no longer watch regular TV programs. Only occasional stream videos and movies.

BTW, I dropped the cable TV service sometime early in 2017. After Nov 2016, I was getting really tired of TV news. I am so glad that I don't have FOX and CNN news channels anymore.

 

I'm somewhat glad to have never had cable "news" at home. Though I told a local cable service where to shove it in 1985, when they imposed an ex-post-facto rate increase while further delaying a promised expansion beyond the half dozen channels I was getting, all local.

 

I’ve never paid for cable and probably never will.

my “internet “ is now free to me instead of the $5 a month I used to pay.

also don’t pay for any phone service.

life is good, now if every other American would follow suite.

 

I also just got tired of the routine.
Like I said, I happened to live close to the service center so going in and talking face to face was pretty easy to do.
I'm not blaming the service center employees, but the cycle was always the same. My monthly charge would always slowly increase.
Then I'd go in and politely talk to the service center rep, who usually would spend about 13 seconds clicking on their computer and magically they could reduce my bill, sometimes to the same original price or lower, but then the cycle would just happen again.
After a while, it just kind of bothered me that they COULD reduce my bill. I felt like, if can be cheaper? Why isn't it just ALWAYS the lowest possible price?
The operational policy of either slowly or suddenly raising your bill and just seeing if you react or care?
If I didn't go in and complain, I would of just continued to pay the higher price.
Eventually, I just said, enough.

A broadcast antennae costs me nothing after initial investment into the antennae itself. ABC, CBS, NBC, Public Broadcasting and more..free.
A few streaming services give me good access to movies and other cable programming.
I think in about 4 years, Netflix has gone up just a few dollars. Hulu is a good value at less than 7 dollars a month, if I accept commercials.
All in all, enough entertainment/media access for me, and a LOT cheaper than any cable TV package.
I have an Amazon Fire Stick, and access to a lot of "free" streaming services that are pretty good.
I have no desire to return to Cable.

 

I had a nasty surprise in January 2020. My internet which was apparently on a 3 year contract for $400/mo had the contract end. Then I got billed $1200/mo for November, December, and January. By the time I checked the autobill, I was like whaaaa? Called them and they're like, yup the contract expired. So I got a new contract for $200/mo for 3 years with faster download that I don't care about. In a year it will have repaid me for my 3 months of ignoring the bill, and over the next couple years save some money. I have set a calendar update for Feb 2023... Going to try and get ahead of next time.

 

What kind of crazy expensive internet costs 1200 a month? Is it 10gbps both ways unmetered lol.

 

You should be able to take a month or 2 of that a nd setup a good antenna system for off-air TV. The monthly const then drops to near zero. As a bonus, you get to keep your housekeeping.