Thursday, January 8, 2009

Methods Madness Marathon!! TV/Cable/Satelite!!

Well, it's official...I am now having fun with the Methods Madness Marathon. Putting together my goals, creating my budget and setting up my files is well, OK, but it is when I actually start seeing financial results that I get truly excited!

And, today, I saved my family $200!!!! That is right, and it took me all of 10 minutes to do it! That is about a $1,200 an hour rate ( wouldn't that be nice if I could make or save my family $200 every 10 minutes ). Much better than my hourly rate I made when I worked. :-)

So, what is the Method today, and what do you need to do TODAY!! You need to make some phone calls to your TV Cable or Satellite providers

Cable/Satelite

To start, there are MANY different ways to get this part of your budget lowered, so you are saving money. I will try to touch on all of the options here, but please feel free to leave comments below if you have even more suggestions.

For some families, like my own, we subscribe to Cable or Satelite. There are MANY different options...from Basic to Deluxe HD packages. There is a wide range. I am not here to tell you what option to choose. That is totally up to your family......depending on your wants, needs and your budget ( if you can afford it, bascially ) will drive your final decision.

My household is not picky. We don't need the movie channels ( unless they are giving them to us free ), and we don't need the top package. We started out with the Basic package back when we were first married and were on a tight budget and have been at the middle of the road package for about 7 years now.

We are happy there. I enjoy the news channels, the channels for the kids, etc, and I love the caller ID showing on my TV, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my DVR!! Love it! No more rushing to get the kids in bed so I can get downstairs on Thursdays to watch my favorite TV shows. I can liesurely take my time, come down when I am done and watch them...minus commercials ( since I can fast forward thru them ).

The problem, though, is I always want the rock bottom price! And, I am not afraid to switch providers to save that money! I will switch to DirectTV or Time Warner ( my local provider options ) if Dish Network is not matching their Intro Offers.

That is right....most of these companies have Intro Offers that are only valid for about 3 months to a year, depending on the actual promotion. They want to get you in the door with these great rates, then knowing that most people never think about going thru the hassle to switch again once the intro rate expires and their price goes up.

Well, I am here to tell you that MOST of the time, you won't have to switch. I have been with Dish Network for years, and everytime I call to switch, they lower my price to match the deal I see thru a current provider.

In fact, I have even called before when I didn't even have another offer lower than what I was paying and they STILL offered to lower my bill to keep me as a customer!!

So, what happened to me today? I called Dish Network in regards to my bill. For the middle package...with 5 TVs hooked up, DVR on 3 of the TVs and over 200+ channels, the going rate was $54.99. This is what I had in my budget, since I knew this was the full price. Of course, all last year, I had it lowered, but when they do this...it is usually only good from 6 months to 12 months. So, mine was for a year...meaning my bill was just going back up to full price.

Well, I couldn't have that, right? So, I picked up the phone and called them.

The first tip is to ask for the Cancellation department. If you talk to a regular customer service rep, they usually will not give you the best deal.

Once you are in the cancellation department, here is your 2nd tip. Ask them how you go about cancelling AND have the best rate of a competitor handy...but don't mention it yet. They usually will ask you why you want to leave, and THEN I simply state I found a better price somewhere else. Today I told them I found a deal with DirectTV for $34.99 for the 200+ package. I failed to tell them the promo was only for a couple months, since they didn't ask.

Before we even got into the details of how to cancel, she asked if I would stay on as a customer if they took $20 off my bill each month for 10 months!! That is $200!! Of course, I said yes!!

I was now getting the same price as the other deal, but for 10 months and I didn't have to change providers. If you can't find a deal worth mentioning, don't mention one at all. Simply say the price for your service is too high. This is definitely what you would probably want to say if you are on a Basic Plan, which is probably the lowest advertised price with most companies. And, by the way, you can get Basic Plans lowered, too. I got my in-laws and my parents both lowered!

Tip 3, be prepared to tell them that you do not want to schedule the cancellation today! If, for whatever reason, you get a rep who does not want to lower your bill, then you want to make sure they don't shut your service off before you decide if you want to switch providers for real and when. I usually tell them I have not called the other provider to schedule my set up yet, and I was just calling to see what I needed to do on their end to cancel.

Tip 4, if they don't lower your bill the first time...call, call again! I called last week, and my rep only gave me $10 off. I told him no thank you. Why? Because I knew I had gotten $20 off last year, and I wanted to see if I would get a better deal if I called and got another rep. Sure enough, this rep didn't blink an eye when she offered me $20 ( of course, it was probably because I mentioned the DiretTV deal and their price for a similar package ). I figured if they offered me $10 again, I would take it and then shop around to see if it would be worth it to switch.

Tip 5, if there is a lower deal for similar service somewhere else.....switch providers. In this day and age, with the economy suffering and finances tight for many families....customer loyalty is NOT worth paying an extra $200 a year to stay with your current provider.

Tip 6, if times are very tight...consider going to a lower plan and then calling in a month to cancel and get the price lowered even more!! If you aren't able to pay your credit cards off in full, or being held down by loans...then paying more for TV probably isn't worth it! You could get by with Basic for very little.

Tip 7, consider getting by with the good old Antenna for free! Just as mentioned above, is TV worth it if you are strapped everywhere else? I have friends who only use Antenna and their kids and them get by just fine. They have their PBS cartoon channels, news, the standard channels and they know no different. On top of that, your kids can still grow up with Dora, Blue and all the others by just going to your local library. You can borrow DVDs with the same shows they often play on the Nick and Disney Channels.
What service are you using in 2009?

Cable or Satellite? Here are some decent deals currently out there with different providers. You can either use these to negotiate with when you call your current provider or click on the advertisement to go sign up yourself.
Here is the Dish Network deal I utilized when I called Dish Network. It is a very good deal!


Get over 200 channels plus FREE HD. Get DIRECTV.


This deal from Charter is really good. If they were in my area, I would probably consider this. $69 for TV, Telephone and Internet.



3 Different Companies offering Dish Network deals...not sure if they have different prices or not!

DISH Network by AllSat, Inc



Packages as Low as $19.99


DISH Network by DishPronto

As I find more promotions, I will update this post. Also, I will be working on a new button on my site, called TV/Phone/Internet. I will post how to get these bills lowered and also have updated sidebars with current promotions from providers. So, I will place all of them there for future reference.
Free Converter Box

In addition, if you are one that currently uses antenna or plan to downgrade to this, don't forget in February you will need a converter box, or you won't be able to get a signal.


First, click here to get your $40 off coupon from the government. They are currently out, BUT they put you on a waiting list...and as others coupons expire ( you only have 90 days to use them ) they will reissue a coupon to you.

Also, if you have your coupon in hand and want a free converter box, click here. This is $0 out of pocket...no shipping, etc.

SOOOO...how much did you save today ( tomorrow, I guess...I am getting this posted pretty late )? Leave a comment below. Did you call and get your bill lowered? Did you switch to a lower plan? Did you go for the converter box? Whatever you picked...how much is it lowering the amount you budgeted for TV? And, if you are saving...strongly consider taking that extra money and putting it towards one of your goals!! Savings....paying down CCs, etc, etc!

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

I switched to DirecTV last month, finally waving bye-bye to my uber-cheap, uber-sucky basic cable package. I wrote about TV shows and if they aren't on the 4 major networks, I had to track them down online to watch and review. Annoying. Also, I upgraded from my VCR to DVR for easier recording and, I hoped, making it easier for me to haul out the NordicTrack and get some cardio in while watching TV. It's working! So while my bill went up about $25/mo, I'm getting loads more channels, I'm more efficient with my TV-viewing time, and I'm able to cover more shows which leads to more traffic on my site which leads to more revenue. :)

Anonymous said...

How would I go about finding what other companies are offering to lower mine?

Anonymous said...

Thank you Carrie! I read your post and decided to call Directv whom I've been with for 8 years. I checked out Dish Network's offering first which would land me a monthly rate of $50.99, a difference of $20.98 from what I was currently paying. Anyhow, the kind gentleman in the cancellation department gave me $9.99/mo credit for the next 12mos for my HD programming, $10/mo for the next 12mos for my regular programming, and $2/mo for the next 6mos for our regional sports programming. That is $251.88 for the year! Wooo hooo! I can't wait to put this on my spreadsheet!

Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Carrie! I read your post and decided to call Directv whom I've been with for 8 years. I checked out Dish Network's offering first which would land me a monthly rate of $50.99, a difference of $20.98 from what I was currently paying. Anyhow, the kind gentleman in the cancellation department gave me $9.99/mo credit for the next 12mos for my HD programming, $10/mo for the next 12mos for my regular programming, and $2/mo for the next 6mos for our regional sports programming. That is $251.88 for the year! Wooo hooo! I can't wait to put this on my spreadsheet!

Thanks again!

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Do you know which providers are in our area?

In my area, it is either Time Warner or I have to go with Satelite. So, that means, for me, it is TW, Dish Network or DirectTV.

Just check all 3 sites to see which has the lowest rate. In all actuality, I would just do a general search on Swagbucks for each provider in your area, and see what comes back.

If you noticed, in my post...there are 3 seperate companies offering Dish Network that I could go thru...and sometimes each company offers better rates for the provider.

So, if for example Comcast is in your area...I would search Comcast cable.

Then, when the results pull back...click thru a few of the links to see what their Intro offers are. Find a low one, and have that ready.

IF you don't find one lower...no big deal. Just call anyway, and say that you are switching due to price. They almost always will lower to keep their customers.

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Trisha,

That is AWESOME!!

That is now $251 you can put towards a goal!!! Doesn't it feel GREAT!! Isn't this MUCH more fun than the actual creating of the budget, goals and the preparation.

I LOVE, LOVE when we start actually seeing impact by using very simple methods of saving for our families!

Just remember to come back next year and we will do the Method Madness again and get it relowered for next year, too.

I think I am using my $200 to go towards that extra we need to send to the kids College 529s!!

Money Savin' Momma said...

We tried this when our Cable internet promotion expired, and they did NOTHING. And there are no other choices here, so we are out of luck that way.

BUT, here's how we saved money on our phone bill... woot!

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Will Dish Network or Direct TV not come out to where you are?

We only have one cable provider by us, too, which is why we finally moved to Satelite for a lot less.

Jenny said...

Great post! I am going to give it a try tomorrow. It looks like we have the same Dish Network programming.

I will say that I DO NOT recommend Charter at all. We use them for our internet, since it is the only provider available here. Their customer service is awful! I have been able to call at the end of each promotion and get a new promotion rate. However, the last time I was told several times that I could only do that twice. So now our internet bill is $44.99 a month! Yikes!

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

That is terrible about Charter...ugh!

Be on the look out.

When I was on the phone with Vonage last month, they told me they are getting ready to come out with High Speed Internet sometime this year ( they weren't sure of the release date ).

My understanding is it would be open to everyone ( we will see ), so that would be a great alternative to you when it comes out.

Nicole said...

That's great that they lowered your bill.
We dropped our service last April to very basic cable that's only $16.50 every month and now they call us with insane deals to get digital cable again. Even though it's cheap for the digital cable (like 1/3 of what we were paying), we decided not to do it, because it is still an extra cost even if it's a good deal.
To be honest, I haven't really missed much since most my favorite shows can be viewed for free online now.

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Nicole,

Don't forget to call and try and get that lowered.

Both my parents and the in laws had Basic Cable and were paying next to nothing,like you.

Time Warner still lowered it when they said they were going to cancel altogether.

They may not, but you never know...you may get another $5 or so knocked off.

Jenny said...

Ok. I just called Dish Network and it didn't go so well for me! LOL!

I forgot that we pay a year at a time, so that kind of screwed things up, since we just paid it a few months ago.

They did offer to give me the local channels for free (a $5.99/mo. savings) for the next 6 months.

The lady was very knowledgeable about Direct TV's offer and told me it was only for 12 months and after that I'd be paying more than the everyday rate at Dish Network! URGH!

I have the 250 channel plan, but in July I could downgrade to the 200 channel plan for only $39.99 a month. I don't want to lose channels, so I'll stick with the $5.99 savings for now!

Thanks for saving me $5.99 a month :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I also called Dish, got my bill lowered $13.99/month, they also will waive the $5 fee for not having a phone line connected! Thats $228/year saved! My husbands jaw dropped,thanks you are awesome!

Lori

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Hey, $5.99 is something. :-)

Don't forget, you can try again. I called last week...and they only gave me $10. They guy said there was no way they could go lower.

This week, I call and this girl says $20.

It all depends who you get. I usually wait a week between calls.

And, don't forget to tell that lady, that the savings for a year is $240.....which still more than makes up the extra money would be paying DirectTV in the 2nd year.

OH..and do you get a discount to pay for a year in advance? I didn't know I could do that...how much is it saving you?

That is something I will definitely look into if the savings is greater than what I would earn on that money in the bank ( 3% or so )

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Lori,

Yeah, yeah, yeah!!


And,

Yeah!!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the good read! I'm currently paying $65 (that's including taxes and fees) for my Comcast basic cable and internet. Good in my eyes and suits our needs!

Although we don't have Vonage anymore (we use just our cells), if you call to cancel, they'll offer you 1 month free. Then if you insist on canceling, they'll go up to 2 months and even 3 months free.

Just an FYI if you wanted to save $24.99 a month for 3 months!

Becky said...

Carrie,
We're one of those homes that installed an antenna a few years ago and cancelled our basic cable. We don't have a DVR but I REALLY want one. We've considered buying a refurbished Tivo box and lifetime Tivo service. I've called Direct TV several times when I get an offer in the mail about a $24.99service .... BUT before I say No Thanks to the offer it has gone from $24.99 to over $60 with all the extra charges. My question is will your bill actually be $34.99 or is that before the extra taxes, surcharges and everything else??

I've used your suggestions about talking to the cancellation department to save money on our phone/internet several times. That of course won't work though if I'm a new customer trying to set up cable/satelite.

Thanks!!
Becky

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Becky,

That price does include all the fees, just not tax. Whenever I quote numbers on my blog, I always leave out tax, because that company isn't getting the money, the govn't is....and there is just no way around paying tax!

So, tax comes to $2+. My out of pocket total is $39.72.

And, this is with the middle plan...if you had the cheapest plan...100+ channels...it would potentially be alot lower.

If you ever decide to go back to cable/satelite, here is my suggestion and how we did it.

When I was doing one of the high dollared offers for Nuitech ( where you need to remain a member for 60 days ), we signed up. It was a 2 year committment to do Satelite, but at the time...our Time Warner bill for BASIC cable was more than the 1 year Intro offer with Dish. After the 1st year, it went up....but when I averaged it out over 2 years ( it came out to about $3 cheaper than Basic cable still ). After the 2 years, I then called to cancel and got it lowered to less than my original Intro was.

On top of that, it qualified me for a $1,500 gift card, at the time. So, I felt like I made money/got my Satelite for free...since the offers on that last page. I had to pick 2..that was one of them. I said, what the heck...I am getting free TV service out of it, right?

Definitely look at an Online Offers with Nuitech or Netblue you would not have done otherwise and use it to qualify your last page, if you can.

Jenny said...

Carrie,
I'm not sure if there is a savings for paying a year at a time. My husband had it set up that way when we met and it's stayed that way. He prefers fewer monthly payments.

I tried to log into my account, but I can't find a bill for my account number!

When I told her I wanted to save money, she said that I already paid it, so it's not going to save me any money! LOL! Um, I'll take a refund or a credit.

Anyway, she said I couldn't get out of the plan until July. Apparently, there is a "grace period" when you pay yearly. That is why she only gave me free local channels for 6 months.

So, in July I'll reevaluate the situation and switch to Direct TV if I need too.

Anonymous said...

Carrie,

Wow, this is so fun! I just called Comcast and followed your dialogue. They said exactly what you said they would "Why would you want to switch?" I told him it was purely about the dollar at this point. Should have told him I am doing this great challenge and I am highly motivated to save $$ everywhere!:) It's amazing how much they can actually do for you. I guess I had a really old and crazy package that of course they would never look at for me to save me. I am bundling my same cable (minus a couple of channels that we won't miss), DVR (i love it too), HDTV, Internet, and Phone (I have Vonage right now but this is saving me there too) So, in about 15 minutes I am saving $50.22 a month!!! I am thrilled beyond belief!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!
I also made some calls this morning about my Auto/Home Insurance that you have talked about before. I think I will end up saving at least $40 a month there. I'll let you know when I get the call back.

Cathy said...

Wow-this was so easy! They only gave me $10 off for the next 12 months but they told me to hook my receiver up to a phone line and that would take off another $5 and they removed a protection plan ($5.99) that I don't think we need. So, $20.99 off my bill b/c I read this-you're a genius! Thanks!
Cathy

Anonymous said...

I called, followed your EXACT instructions, and will be saving $10 a month. I am in a contract for another year, so I was really pleased with that!

Popcorn House said...

We have recently cancelled our whole cable package which included DVR. My husband looked online and saw that every one of our shows airs online. We do have high speed internet, and we watch all of them from our laptop which connects to our big tv. It has saved us a ton of money, and we still get to watch our shows when we want.

Our kids check out movies from the library and it has worked out great for us.

When I called to cancel I was hoping they would say WAIT we will deduct X amount, but they didn't. We live in a small town and I think that is why they didn't.

That is incredible the savings you have managed to get!!! And still get to keep your DVR!!!

Anonymous said...

I am an independant representative for ACN. We are the largest direct-selling telecom company worldwide. I offer satellite TV with Dish and Directv, local/ld, internet, and digital phone service (VIDEO PHONES). Check these out...for $29.99 you get unlimited calling in US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. PLus you can see who you are talking to!! Anyone have any long distance family that would love to see your family in real-time? Check out my website at www.hugoandrena.acnrep.com Thank you and God Bless.

The Hansen Family said...

We live in Washington state and have Charter as our cable provider. They have been great to us, sometime it takes a little while to get through to customer service, but they are always helpful.
We always call and try to reduce our monthly cost when our promotions are up. They have done this for us everytime and we have been with them for at least five years, maybe more. Our recent bill went up $30, so we called and were able to add more channels, including HD and got it for $10 less what we were originally paying!
So in theory, we saved $120 for the year, but we could be paying far more if we didn't pay attention..

Jennifer said...

I called DISH- got them to lower my bill, and they increased our channel package to 200 + (makes hubby happy to now have the History Channel), and got rid of the leased receiver fee and DVR service fee. For a year, this saves us $204! Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

I am still looking into lowering mine. Or at least get more for the same amount of money. Right now I have AT&T for phone and Charter Cable. But I use dial up internet. (It is free through school).

I am looking at the Charter Bundles. It was around $100 for phone, cable, and internet - (based on picking the package on their website) But that would be about the same price WITH internet than I am paying now without it.

Not sure if Charter will consider me a new customer - as we already have cable through them. But when my husband died and I tried to add my name to the account - they wouldn't do it until I drive there with proof of who I am - proof of his death, etc.
They have been accepting my money just fine though.
So I might use that to my advantage - I am not on the account. I must be a new customer.

Janet

Abby said...

Hey Carrie,

We use Charter for internet only (only thing available in our area without getting a phone line - we use cell phones only). I used to call whenever my promotion ended, but after having a baby a few months ago, I had totally forgotten. Thanks for the reminder.

I just called charter and we'll be saving $25 a month for the next 6 months. I was hoping for more, but we'll take that $150 and put it to good use!

Abby

Anonymous said...

I live in Columbus Ohio. We have the Time warner bundle. Cable, phone, internet. We pay $90 per month. Is there a better dealin Ohio?

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Kerri,

Give them a call and see if they lower it. They probably will.

I pay $34.99 for my Satelite, and then for my phone, unlimited and High Speed internet, I pay $45 ( after calling and getting that lowered, too ).

So, my total comes to $79.99.

Let me know what happens when you call.

Just use the general excuse that you are switching providers for a better price.

You can use Vonage at $24.99 ( they will actually lower your bill to lower if you call to canel, too, by the way ) and Direct TV at $24.99, with their package. Then, I cant imagine High Speed thru your phone company would be higher than $40. Mine...if I don't bundle...is $30. So, even that would save you $10 a month.

You PROBABLY won't even need to share that info above...just say your trying to figure out what you need to do to cancel and if they ask...say you are looking at DirectTV and Vonage. You probably don't even need to say anymore than that.

Don't forget to write back and let us know if Time Warner works with you or not.

Anonymous said...

We have Direct TV and my husband will not even consider getting rid of it. We did call and ask if they will lower our price and they gave us 5.99 off a month for our service for a year and 5.00 off a month for six months on our HD. Every bit helps! Thanks for giving the great tip!

Erin said...

We were so frustrated with paying for satellite that we were willing to fork over $120 to save six months of satellite bills at 70/mo...we figured the net savings would be worth it. When we called DirecTV they offered us $20/mo for six months to keep our subscription and stopped charging us for our DVR. So, now we're waiting til April 5 to cancel our service...what a deal...it saved us the penalty and lowered our monthly bill by $30...

Queen said...

I have called Comcast twice now (to get different reps) and neither of them even asked why i wanted to cancel service! What's that about? DH's name is on the account, but not mine, could this be why they're not interested? Because they know I don't actually have the power to cancel the account?

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Interesting.

Could be various reasons, I suppose. That could be one...if you are not on the account.

Could be that your area doesn't offer discounts, if there is no competition.

You may try flat out asking if you call back soon if they could lower your bill at all, so you don't have to cancel...all they could say is no.

Let us know what happens.

Katie said...

Well after calling twice the second one offered to try and keep us as customers so they are saving us $12 a month plus giving us more channels so a savings of $144 for the year. Thanks I will have to see what I can get my phone down to. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Jenny said...

If anyone uses MyPoints, sign up for Direct TV through MyPoints and get 5,000 points!

Becca said...

Thanks for the inspiration, Carrie! I just called my 2 local providers and got my current company to give me a 25% discount over the next 6 months for a total savings of $189! Thanks for the great idea!
Becca

Momofthree said...

I am trying to lower some of my bills as well. I have DirecTV and went to less channels which saved about half off my bill. Then I called my phone company and lowered the cost on internet (20 a month) and $8 a month on land line. Also went to a pay as you go plan on our cell phones since my husband and I don't use that many minutes. I probably am now saving about $30.00 a month there. And I didn't have to change any of my providers and we are using the same phones.

Jenny said...

Carrie,
We paid $610.99 in October for a year subscription. That is about $50.92 per month, without local channels.

I'm not sure if this is a deal for paying upfront or if it is because we've had this plan for so long.

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Jenny,

That stinks they wouldn't work with you much since you paid upfront.

Next year, before you prepay for the year, try and get it worked down.

Not sure if there would be much you could do now.

Bridgett said...

Sorry, I'm late but catching up. I really wanna do this! We have not had cable as long as we've been married. We do not feel like we're missing anything. But we do go 2 my dad's 4 play-offs & superbowl. LoL.

Anonymous said...

Hi Carrie:

I just thought I’d let you know that I saved $385.20 a year today by calling to “cancel” my cable.

They knocked $30-plus dollars off my bill every month to retain me as a customer.

Just a few months ago, my husband called asking to get our bill lowered, but they said they couldn’t. But when I indicated that I would be canceling, it worked like a charm.

One thing we’re considering in the future is switching from DVR to Tivo. I know you have to pay for a box, but over the long run, it is less expensive than DVR equipment and subscribing to DVR service through the cable company, especially if you sign up for the lifetime Tivo subscription plan.

I figured out that we were paying $17 a month for rental of our DVR box, remote and DVR service. I’m hoping to score a great deal on a Tivo box when Circuit City liquidates in my town.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I’ve definitely “made” money reading your blog.

Anonymous said...

I called Dish Network, who we've used for about 9 years, to "cancel" because I called one day last week to get a DVR and was told it was $100. Well, today I called and lo and behold, "we can give it you FREE"!!! And my bill will only go up 98 cents per month because we won't need the 2nd receiver we were paying $5 extra/month for. They asked if we want free HBO/Starz for 3 months. I said yes, and it's already on the calendar to call in 3 months to cancel! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
Caron

Jessica6903 said...

Thanks for the motivation to call back Comcast! I had a GREAT promotion last year -- paid $69.93 a month for high speed internet, cable, free HBO and 2 DVRs boxes! That promotion ended the beginning on January and my bill shot up to $169! I called and the guy I spoke to was only able to remove the HBO and give me another discount on the internet, but NOTHING for cable or the DVR boxes. I was so sad but at least my bill wasn't going to be $169. After reading your post, I decided to give it another try today. I pressed the option to downgrade or cancel service. I explained to the lady that AT&T U-verse has a great deal (which they do, just not in my area!). She was able to get my bill down to $118! Although not as great as last year, it's a $306 savings over the next 6 months!
Thanks again.
Jessica

Marcie said...

I switched from Comcast to Knology this past week saving $32 per month. Comcast was getting worse and worse anyway. Seems a couple of times a week at midnight we'd totally lose connectivity.

Also refinanced our house last week saving $256 per month.

Not bad for squeezing a dime!

Ginger

Anonymous said...

i watch tv online for free

tag's team said...

I finally stopped being chicken and called our cable/home phone/internet provider and was able to lower our bill $24 a month! This will bring our bill to lower than it was before we added home phone. In 6 mo. I'll have to call back to keep part of the discount.

I've been reading your blog for a few months now and really enjoy it! I am hoping to do one of the online offers as well, but need to stop being chicken on that too!

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Congrats! That is wonderful. It does take some initiative sometimes to pick up the phone or take that first step, but the cost savings and earnings can be so worth it!

Anna said...

Like Popcorn house, we are looking at getting rid of cable and landline. We can find most shows we want to watch online and we can use our computer as a DVR. I'm also researching on buying shows since we don't have a ton that we follow.

Most shows are $1.99 each if you buy via Amazon. If I buy 10 shows a month (and I really don't think we watch that many new episodes) that is about $20 a month versus what we currently pay (it's a bundle package - I guesstimate $80 is TV).

In addition to that, we're thinking of switching to skype for the phone and just keeping our internet.

Anonymous said...

I was a bit late on the draw on this one...but I have been looking and checking things out... and it often is a process of comparing some apples to some oranges.

BUT>>> I finally made my move. I, personally, would have jumped on the $69 cable, internet, phone from Charter - but my son loves many channels that are not included in the Basic package.

I did:
1. Lower my cable bill from $56 to $44 a month - AND upgraded to digital.
2. Signed up for cable internet for $24.99 per month.
This is an extra expense - since my internet WAS free before ...but dial up just doesn't cut it anymore.
BUT - I signed up on a program where I get a $100 rebate (no contract required) and a free modem (after rebate).
(I am expecting to have to put up a fight to get these.... but am willing to do so).
3. Signed up for the Starz package. Will pay $5 a month - and get a $50 rebate ( and called and confirmed with Starz about eligibilty before signing up).
4. Removed long distance from my phone service (since I never use it) and will save $10 per month.

So all in all - I will pay the SAME amount each month BUT will now have:

1. High speed internet instead of dial up.
2. Digital cable instead of expanded basic
3. Starz movie channels.
4. A $50 rebate from Starz.
5. $100 rebate from the cable promotion.

A MUCH better deal!

Janet

Unknown said...

As human wants are unlimited, therefore the satellite TV shoppers always look for something different in their TV providers. This is the reason why has massive number of channels that can appeal to each and every member of your family.

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