Alternatives to bending over and taking it from my ISP

[maisymouser]

I don't have a ton of time to post, but here's the short story:

-ISP offers promotional rate of $50/month for 200 GBPS service for the first year
-Thereafter, rate gets jacked up to $65-70/month ($65 if I call and complain)
-So... I have been playing two-player mode and flip-flopping service between myself and DH for a few years now to maintain the $50/month rate. Seems totally reasonable to me- if they can offer this to a new customer they should certainly provide that rate for us, er, "loyal" customers.
-This time around, they called me out and said they can't switch service because we have the same last name (I refused to say that we were both remaining residents at this location)
-Some very wonky stuff happened as I was getting bumped around different departments and the sales department at one point said our address is unserviceable, which got me pretty freaked out since we live in a ISP monopolized area and have no other good options for service if we were to get blacklisted by the ISP for flip flopping account owners to maintain the promo rate.

I am infuriated that I have no decent options as a customer, and am curious if there are any alternatives or options I should explore. For lack of a better term, I felt slightly violated by the ISP during these calls- they knew they held all the power in this interaction. Like, with the final "we are SUPER happy to hear that you will be maintaining service with us [at the rate of $70/month]!", I could see in my mind the individual on the other end of the line pulling a South Park cable salesman.

I'd also like to hear of actions I can take as a basic citizen who is concerned about ISP monopolization and lack of affordable residential internet connectivity for people (I am also hearing that the FCC is no longer funding the affordable connectivity program...).

[dandarc]

Your threat to cancel is only as good as your ability to actually cancel. Get loud with your local government to try and break a monopoly (assuming state government hasn't made the decision to pre-empt local authority on this. Which has happened in some states where local government decided to create a public option for internet.

Without getting too creative, maybe a mobile-hotspot can meet your needs?

Would depend on how much data you use in a month and cell coverage at your house, but that is an option.

[maisymouser]

I thought that by actually cancelling service and having another person (DH) reboot service, it would send some sort of message, however minute. Of course, I was not advertising that the new customer was DH while cancelling... It was only when DH went to start new service that they were concerned the new customer shared my last name.

[dandarc]

Yeah, kind of a shit deal in a lot of places. Maybe the feds can do something? You're 100% right that monopoly power is not a good thing. But then $65 / month is apparently the national average monthly cost of home internet, so hard to make in-roads for yourself specifically and others locally when the cost is more or less reasonable.

[Sibley]

Are there alternative providers? AT&T has been rolling out fiber. Others may have had changes. If you haven't checked on what your options are in the last few months, do so now.

How much internet do you need? Having a clear sense of actual need will help you. Don't be my parents and get the more expensive plan because you'll need it, even though your conviction that you'll need it is based on experience from a different state and different day to day life.

[dandarc]

+1 to that. We're moving and after a decade of hearing in-laws moaning and groaning about how awful the cable company there is, I found out AT&T fiber is available in town now that we're actually moving. Done and done.

[CNM]

Would you be able to use Verizon internet service? It’s an easy to install box and it works great at our house. We previously were in Comcast hell, and this Verizon option is amazing.

[reeshau]

Would you be able to use Verizon internet service? It’s an easy to install box and it works great at our house. We previously were in Comcast hell, and this Verizon option is amazing.

T-Mobile also offers fixed 5G wireless for the home.

[sonofsven]

I had the same issues for years and it was so annoying to me that I did cancel my service-for about two weeks. Then my girlfriend called to set up service again and they offered her a "lifetime" price of $49/mo and, amazingly, it has held for over five years now. That's a few bucks cheaper than the rates they were giving me. It's the only available option, besides the crappy satellite, and Elon Musk, I guess, which, from what I hear, is expensive.

I was concerned they would jack it back up because I've been taking part in the ACP $30 month subsidy, which recently ended, but I just got the new bill and it's $49.00 still, except with an extra $2 "paper statement fee" (since they restarted the service at $49 somehow I was disenrolled from the online statements?)
It's that kind of BS I abhor, but I'll just call tomorrow and ask nicely if they can remove the $2 since I'm declining paper statements and I'm sure they will.
How many billions do they make every year from people not contesting their BS charges? It's a business plan.

[Bartlebooth]

I get that saving $20/month is a good amount of money.  But why get so butt-hurt about it?

Do you believe that an ISP should be allowed to offer an introductory (discounted) rate?

If yes: Then your situation is a natural outcome--the discounted rate has to be cheaper than something, and why would you think that you always qualify for the discounted rate?  Everyone should always qualify for the discounted rate?  Then it would not be a discounted rate.  Seems like you should be mildly accepting of your partial discount to $65 for complaining.

If no: I find it difficult to believe that someone could believe that a business should not be able to offer discounts when they want to.  Please tell me more.

BTW the ISP "monopolies" are often not actually monopolies.  The ones I am familiar with simply require any ISP to service the entire city.  A second ISP could come in if they choose to do this.  This prevents some second ISP from coming in and servicing only the most profitable areas...protects business models and ensures substantially equal service across the city.

[LifeHappens]

Would you be able to use Verizon internet service? It’s an easy to install box and it works great at our house. We previously were in Comcast hell, and this Verizon option is amazing.

T-Mobile also offers fixed 5G wireless for the home.

I was going to recommend this as well. I used T-Mobile for a few months, wasn't thrilled with the service, and was able to switch back to my old ISP for $5 month less than my previous introductory rate.

[roomtempmayo]

If no: I find it difficult to believe that someone could believe that a business should not be able to offer discounts when they want to.  Please tell me more.

Most regulated utilities cannot offer discounted rates to some customers and not others.  That's one of the many deals they made to become monopolies long ago.  There isn't an introductory rate for water or electricity.

The problem is that internet service is not classified as a regulated utility.  That's maybe okay in a competitive market, but it's really bad in rural areas where there's no competition so they can basically do whatever they want.

[Bartlebooth]

If no: I find it difficult to believe that someone could believe that a business should not be able to offer discounts when they want to.  Please tell me more.

Most regulated utilities cannot offer discounted rates to some customers and not others.  That's one of the many deals they made to become monopolies long ago.  There isn't an introductory rate for water or electricity.

The problem is that internet service is not classified as a regulated utility.  That's maybe okay in a competitive market, but it's really bad in rural areas where there's no competition so they can basically do whatever they want.

Great point, I can agree with that.  The Internet infrastructure of the world is relatively young and rapidly evolving.  So the need for utility-ization is changing too.

[reeshau]

As of 2021, 375,000 people were still using dial-up modems to access the internet.

There is sucky, and *sucky*.

[index]

I'd see if T-mobile is available at your address and switch. We get 400/400 speeds with them at our rural vacation home, but you can always switch back to your wired ISP if need be and you should be able to get the promotional rate if you have canceled for a month or more. The frustrating thing with ISPs is they are now essentially an unregulated utility. We have 4 providers in my city and the competition means we had a $30/m locked for three years with the cable co, switched to ATT fiber for 3 months at $50/m, then were offered and now on a plan for $20/m for three years from the cable co. Monopolies suck for the consumer!