Author Topic: Can I lower my internet bill?  (Read 16706 times)

netskyblue

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Can I lower my internet bill?
« on: October 30, 2013, 03:14:24 PM »
I really don't even know if it's possible to pay less than I am for internet, with comparable service.  But I'd like to find out.

I'm currently paying $70.25/month for Mediacom.  They are the ONLY provider that services my street.  I know, I tried to switch because their customer service is awful.  (Truly - I think they "bought" my street, which is lined with apartment buildings.  The local DSL provider said they do service a couple blocks away, but not my street.)

When I started with Mediacom, I was paying 49.95.  Then in a few years it went to 65.something.  Now it's 70.25.

We like to stream shows & movies on netflix, and I like to play online games.  I have Ting as a phone provider, and their biggest data plan is $60 a month for 3000 megabytes.  I'm not sure that would be a cost effective alternative, using my phone as a mobile hotspot.  Not to mention data hardly ever works on it anyway...

I'm doubtful that I have any negotiating power with Mediacom.  They have no competitors on my street and they know it.

I tried to find out how much data I use per month with Mediacom, and they made me sign up for an email address with them and say I have to wait 12 hours after creating it to be able to find out how much I use.  Huh?

I want to be able to continue to watch netflix and play online games and not worry how much data I'm using.  Are there any options that will provide this level of internet service at a lower price range?

Trirod

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2013, 03:18:58 PM »
What bandwidth are you currently getting?  I recently reduced mine from 20MB/s to 7, and don't notice any difference at all, except my bill went down by $20/month.  I stream Netflix fairly regularly with no problems.

So is reducing your speed but keeping your current provider an option?

Paul der Krake

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2013, 03:27:33 PM »
You can try playing dumb and act like you already have unlimited internet through your cell phone and are thinking of cancelling. Tell them you're sick of paying double what your BFF down the block pays, and you could totally go to his house if you needed the access.

netskyblue

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2013, 03:38:45 PM »
What bandwidth are you currently getting?  I recently reduced mine from 20MB/s to 7, and don't notice any difference at all, except my bill went down by $20/month.

I'm not sure, how would I be able to tell?

Siamond

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2013, 04:22:58 PM »
Few options here, I'm afraid.

Maybe collude with a direct neighbor, have a single broadband access via Mediacom between the 2 of you, and have solid WiFi between your homes (or apartments). Borderline legal though...

Mobile data is usually very expensive, and Netflix isn't going to work well (or if it does, this will not stay true for long as your neighbors start ramping up on mobile consumption, sharing the same cell site nearby).

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2013, 04:29:29 PM »
If you want an immediate price reduction, I would call and say "I want to cancel my internet service because the charges are too high."  I am fairly certain your rate will go down to prior levels.  All you have to do is ask.  It worked for me.

Otherwise, I would definitely try reducing the level of service.  If you google "check my bandwidth" you'll find a bunch of online tests that can determine what your actual capabilities are.  Once you have that info, then, you'll know what level of service to buy. 

FYI, I stream netflix, hulu, all the time and my level of service is 8 mbps.

 

StarryC

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2013, 04:57:03 PM »
We stream Netflix and Hulu at 1.5 mbps.  If we are streaming on 2 devices, sometimes it gets choppy.  I also think it can get choppy based on other usage in our building (we have DSL).  But, don't fear reducing as low as 1.5! 

Mediacom looks like a cable internet provider. Are there DLS providers in your area?  (CenturyLink & Frontier Communications are two providers I know of.)  DSL comes through the phone lines, rather than the cable lines, so if you have a phone hook up, someone is probably providing DSL to the area.  Even if they won't actually provide service, perhaps you could use their prices to negotiate? 


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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2013, 05:24:47 PM »
I have internet with AT&T. They are always raising rates, and every time they do, I call and tell them I'd like to cancel the service. They ask why, and I say that it's because the rates increased. They immediately offer to lock in the lower rate for 6 months, and I always agree. After six months, the rates go back up, and I start all over again.

Here's the thing: your bargaining power is not "Mediacom vs. another company". It "internet vs. no internet". They want you to have internet. If you threaten to cancel, they will probably drop the rate. I am still paying $25/mo for my internet, which is the "introductory" price that AT&T offered me when I signed up over 3 years ago.

gimp

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2013, 05:32:50 PM »
I cancel my internet every six months and move to the other side of the country.

Every time I call to cancel, they fall over themselves to offer me my current "introductory" rate (half price of the normal rate) for another six months, etc etc.

The first part isn't terribly relevant, but the second part is. As the other folks have said, just threaten to cancel.

daverobev

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #9 on: October 30, 2013, 07:03:47 PM »
speedtest.net is a good bandwidth checker.

Daley

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #10 on: October 30, 2013, 09:07:35 PM »
Whatever package you have, given the price you're paying? I can almost assuredly say with confidence that you are probably not on their 3Mbps Launch package, which is likely priced somewhere below the $50/moth price point. 3Mbps is plenty. Just scale back, and if you're paying a modem rental fee on top of everything else, buy a modem.

The reason why you're being exploited is because you're ignorant about what you're paying for. Learn what speed tier you're on, find out what you're paying for, don't rent equipment, and understand that you don't need a lot of bandwidth to stream video. 3Mbps is plenty.

You also don't need them to tell you what kind of bandwidth you're using. Get a good router that keeps track of that stuff... but honestly, the Launch package has a 150GB cap. That's plenty. More than plenty, even. You won't touch those numbers unless you're torrenting crap on a regular basis. Even streaming video can't touch those numbers unless you're glued to the screen. If you are? Get out of the house, get some fresh air, and take comfort in knowing that cutting your bandwidth to 3Mbps will actually reduce your used bandwidth for streaming video as you can't properly support an HD stream anymore. You don't need HD, 480p is plenty just like the 3Mbps speed tier.

Give the Superguide a read, especially posts five and six. This too.

Good luck.

netskyblue

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #11 on: October 31, 2013, 07:36:25 AM »
Ok I found out my usage and package.

I have 15Mbps Download / 1Mbps Upload 250 GB monthly usage allowance

This month (with 2 days remaining in the billing period) we have used 124.4 GB.  September was 97.8 GB, August 105.9 GB.

Will going to a lower speed (next lower option is 1/3 what it is currently) impact my online gaming?  I already suffer a fair amount of lag.

As for switching to DSL, yes we have a DSL provider in town, CenturyLink, but when I called about switching, they checked my address and said they can't service my street.

If I call and ask to cancel, my big fear is that they will!  What do I do if they actually try to schedule a day to cancel, just say um..nevermind?  I'd do it if I felt confident it would work, but I'm so afraid they'd end up disconnecting me!

I also worry about buying our own modem.  If it quits working, aren't we kind of SOL?  I think we've had to have our rented one replaced at least 4 times in 5 years.  Sometimes our internet just goes down for days, and when they send a tech out, he can't determine what, if anything, is wrong, so they just replace the modem.  Personally - I'm pretty sure the modem didn't just break THAT many times, but if it's not their modem, they're just going to tell me the problem is MY modem.  (This is a big part of the reason I would like to switch away from them!)

Daley

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #12 on: October 31, 2013, 08:14:13 AM »
Will going to a lower speed (next lower option is 1/3 what it is currently) impact my online gaming?  I already suffer a fair amount of lag.
....
I also worry about buying our own modem.  If it quits working, aren't we kind of SOL?

Give the Superguide a read, especially posts five and six. This too.

Take especially close note of the UPS part, and make sure you have a good warranty on the device. You square your end on hardware with good, protected equipment, they'll have no choice but to fix their end.
« Last Edit: October 31, 2013, 08:20:19 AM by I.P. Daley »

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #13 on: October 31, 2013, 08:16:47 AM »
It looks like you mentioned "we", you can sometimes switch the name on the account.   Mediacom is in my area, and what a lot of people do around here is officially cancel, wait a couple of days, and have the other person in house call and ask what can you offer a new customer.  This is assuming that you are not currently in a contract with them.

At the very least, you can leave this card in your back pocket when you play the, "i'm gonna cancel" game.

You could also call and just lay it out, "I'm a current customer, what can you offer me."  Then they'll list out all of your options.  If one is appealing, you can commit to it since it seems like your only option.  If none of them are appealing, then you can say, "these are all too expensive and ridiculous, i'm going to cancel and switch providers"  They will then either say "hold on, we can offer you this", or "go ahead and cancel".  If that's the case, literally cancel, and have the other person living with you call in as a new customer, and get a good introductory price.  you might have to live without internet for a few days, but it could save you $20-$40 a month for 2 years.

netskyblue

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #14 on: October 31, 2013, 08:17:34 AM »
Thank you for the posts - I read them, but I can't really understand what they are saying :(

daverobev

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #15 on: October 31, 2013, 08:48:36 AM »
Thank you for the posts - I read them, but I can't really understand what they are saying :(

Lag - like, how much? Are you gaming over wifi or wired (wired is much better! - ie physical cable running from your computer to the modem/router).

What results did you get on speedtest.net?

When "the internet goes off" - you do reset your modem, right? Or leave it off for a few?

netskyblue

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #16 on: October 31, 2013, 09:03:20 AM »
Wi-fi.  I haven't got a desk - the modem & router are sitting on a shelf on the entertainment center.  I usually play from my laptop in the living room.

Not horrible lag, not like I did 9 years ago (it's an older game).  Ping usually 100-200, rubberbanding when just running around.  I just don't want it to GET as slow as it used to be "back in the day."

I got 17.something on download and 1.something upload.  I wrote those numbers down at home, and don't have them with me right now.

Yes, I power cycle both the modem and router.  Sometimes this fixes it, sometimes I do this several times and it's down several hours, sometimes several days.  Sometimes the dumb thing resets ITSELF every minute for hours or days.  Phone tech support can do nothing for me, they always say they need to send a tech out, which if I'm lucky they can schedule the same week.  Did I mention disliking this company?

Spork

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #17 on: October 31, 2013, 09:45:10 AM »
Thank you for the posts - I read them, but I can't really understand what they are saying :(

Lag - like, how much? Are you gaming over wifi or wired (wired is much better! - ie physical cable running from your computer to the modem/router).

What results did you get on speedtest.net?

When "the internet goes off" - you do reset your modem, right? Or leave it off for a few?

Also important to note:  latency (lag) is not the same as bandwidth.   Latency is determined by speed of light and class of traffic (i.e, voice or video traffic might have a higher class and get first priority through the network over your games).

Think of it this way:  If it takes 2 hours to drive 100 miles on a 2 lane road that isn't congested... making it a 4 lane road doesn't make it faster.   Most likely reducing the bandwidth won't change your latency unless there is some sort of marketed "gamer class" from the ISP that gives your traffic priority over others.  (Like an HOV lane might give you priority over other automobiles.)

netskyblue

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #18 on: October 31, 2013, 10:00:04 AM »
Thank you for the posts - I read them, but I can't really understand what they are saying :(

Lag - like, how much? Are you gaming over wifi or wired (wired is much better! - ie physical cable running from your computer to the modem/router).

What results did you get on speedtest.net?

When "the internet goes off" - you do reset your modem, right? Or leave it off for a few?

Also important to note:  latency (lag) is not the same as bandwidth.   Latency is determined by speed of light and class of traffic (i.e, voice or video traffic might have a higher class and get first priority through the network over your games).

Think of it this way:  If it takes 2 hours to drive 100 miles on a 2 lane road that isn't congested... making it a 4 lane road doesn't make it faster.   Most likely reducing the bandwidth won't change your latency unless there is some sort of marketed "gamer class" from the ISP that gives your traffic priority over others.  (Like an HOV lane might give you priority over other automobiles.)

I understand what you're saying.  My package options go down in speed as well as bandwidth, though, will that make a difference?  15Mbps download / 1Mbps upload would reduce to 3Mbps download / 250Kbps upload on the next-lower package.

Spork

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #19 on: October 31, 2013, 10:02:24 AM »
Thank you for the posts - I read them, but I can't really understand what they are saying :(

Lag - like, how much? Are you gaming over wifi or wired (wired is much better! - ie physical cable running from your computer to the modem/router).

What results did you get on speedtest.net?

When "the internet goes off" - you do reset your modem, right? Or leave it off for a few?

Also important to note:  latency (lag) is not the same as bandwidth.   Latency is determined by speed of light and class of traffic (i.e, voice or video traffic might have a higher class and get first priority through the network over your games).

Think of it this way:  If it takes 2 hours to drive 100 miles on a 2 lane road that isn't congested... making it a 4 lane road doesn't make it faster.   Most likely reducing the bandwidth won't change your latency unless there is some sort of marketed "gamer class" from the ISP that gives your traffic priority over others.  (Like an HOV lane might give you priority over other automobiles.)

I understand what you're saying.  My package options go down in speed as well as bandwidth, though, will that make a difference?  15Mbps download / 1Mbps upload would reduce to 3Mbps download / 250Kbps upload on the next-lower package.

The "speed" they are selling is "bandwidth".  Latency for non-commercial internet is not usually marketed or guaranteed.   The exception is that some DO offer a "gamer package" that has prioritized traffic.

netskyblue

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #20 on: October 31, 2013, 10:15:44 AM »
Oh, I see.  I thought bandwidth was my 250GB/month limit.

Spork

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #21 on: October 31, 2013, 10:53:01 AM »
Oh, I see.  I thought bandwidth was my 250GB/month limit.

ah... I get the confusion.  That is typically called  a bandwidth cap.

Your bandwidth would be the 3Mbps download / 250Kbps up.   I'm not a gamer and it will vary by actual game.... but... as long as you're not exceeding that rate, your latency should remain fairly constant.*  Now, if you're playing and someone else is streaming and ...   If you exceed either 3M down or 250K up, your packets may be buffered (or dropped) and that may increase the latency.


*fairly constant is a wide generalization.  During busy hours latency may change due to network overload.... or paths may change during the day based on traffic loads.  Latency is (vaguely) related to distance, so if the path from A -> B gets more hops, the latency goes up.  If it has more traffic and gets buffered (or discarded and retransmitted), the latency goes up.




daverobev

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #22 on: October 31, 2013, 10:58:02 AM »
250GB is your data cap - how big your reservoir is (how MUCH water you use)
15Mb down/1Mb up or whatever is the flow rate - how fast water can come in to your modem
ping, latency, or lag is how long it takes for your requests to get out - if you call someone in Australia and there is a 3 second delay on the line, for example.

100GB is actually quite a lot. Our monthly cap is that much, but we usually only hit 20 or so. I guess if you're playing a lot of different games and there are lots of updates - plus a lot of TV?

Low latency is not linked to the speed - you can have a nice 7Mb connection like we have with low latency, or a 25Mb connection with much worse. Connecting with an ethernet cable will help a lot, possibly. Try it - speedtest.net gives you your speed and your ping.
« Last Edit: October 31, 2013, 01:11:25 PM by daverobev »

Spork

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #23 on: October 31, 2013, 11:07:43 AM »
250Gb is your data cap - how big your reservoir is (how MUCH water you use)
15mb down/1mb up or whatever is the flow rate - how fast water can come in to your modem
ping, latency, or lag is how long it takes for your requests to get out - if you call someone in Australia and there is a 3 second delay on the line, for example.

If we're using the water example:
15mb isn't the flow rate: it's the size of the pipe. 
latency is time it takes to get from the water tower to your faucet.  In reality, it's sort of flow rate x distance.  In the data world this is roughly just "distance" since the rate is the speed of light (plus any buffering delays).

...but I am being sort of pedantic.  Sorry.

gimp

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #24 on: October 31, 2013, 11:09:32 AM »
Dave, I think you mean 250GB and 100GB, right?

daverobev

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #25 on: October 31, 2013, 01:07:25 PM »
250Gb is your data cap - how big your reservoir is (how MUCH water you use)
15mb down/1mb up or whatever is the flow rate - how fast water can come in to your modem
ping, latency, or lag is how long it takes for your requests to get out - if you call someone in Australia and there is a 3 second delay on the line, for example.

If we're using the water example:
15mb isn't the flow rate: it's the size of the pipe. 
latency is time it takes to get from the water tower to your faucet.  In reality, it's sort of flow rate x distance.  In the data world this is roughly just "distance" since the rate is the speed of light (plus any buffering delays).

...but I am being sort of pedantic.  Sorry.

Fellow pedant here :) 15Mb is the flow rate. I can get upto 15Mb per second, 15 litres of water - it doesn't matter if my "pipe's" diameter is 5cm or 50cm as long as the speed the water comes through the pipe changes accordingly - I care about the volume of water (number of bits and bytes), not the tube it comes in. Rite?

Latency is... kinda. If I say "hello" how long does it take you to hear it... it has nothing to do with the flow rate, per se. As in, latency on a 1meg and 15 meg line don't have to be different, or the 15Mb better than the 1Mb... Not quite that simple.

And... sigh, bits and bytes. I really dislike the new MiB, GiB shit. So I guess... I think of Mb as megabits, MB as megabytes, but I am not good about writing it correctly ;)

For those that don't know but care: 1 byte is 8 bits; so 1 megabyte is 8 megabits - internet speed is denoted in megabits. So an 8Mb connection means one megabyte per second.

*Edit* actually I'm lying. Apparently I write Mb for megabytes, mb for megabits. Hmm. Ok tidied that up so it's correct!

Oh hey here we go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

Yeah as a chemist.. I know "m" is mili, as in 1/1000. So 1MB = 8Mb. A 1mb connection would be "shit" to put it mildly!

« Last Edit: October 31, 2013, 01:12:51 PM by daverobev »

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #26 on: October 31, 2013, 01:58:03 PM »
250Gb is your data cap - how big your reservoir is (how MUCH water you use)
15mb down/1mb up or whatever is the flow rate - how fast water can come in to your modem
ping, latency, or lag is how long it takes for your requests to get out - if you call someone in Australia and there is a 3 second delay on the line, for example.

If we're using the water example:
15mb isn't the flow rate: it's the size of the pipe. 
latency is time it takes to get from the water tower to your faucet.  In reality, it's sort of flow rate x distance.  In the data world this is roughly just "distance" since the rate is the speed of light (plus any buffering delays).

...but I am being sort of pedantic.  Sorry.

Fellow pedant here :) 15Mb is the flow rate. I can get upto 15Mb per second, 15 litres of water - it doesn't matter if my "pipe's" diameter is 5cm or 50cm as long as the speed the water comes through the pipe changes accordingly - I care about the volume of water (number of bits and bytes), not the tube it comes in. Rite?


oh, you're absolutely right.  It is bits per second.  But... it's not like they change the speed of the electricity on a line or the speed of light on a fiber.   The speed of the bits is constant (I'm lying to make it easier) at 186k mph.  Therefore, to increase the flow in gallons per min with a constant speed of water though a pipe (in a water analogy) you have to have a bigger pipe.   See: totally pedantic.  I wasn't trying to say you were wrong, but that the analogy didn't fit.  ;)


rocksinmyhead

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #27 on: October 31, 2013, 02:27:12 PM »
WOW! This is all more complicated than I realized... but this thread is incredibly helpful as I would also really like to lower my internet bill. I currently pay $55/month for the service plus $8/month for a modem (dumb, I know). My service is 25 Mbps/250 MB. You guys inspired me to dig into my current plan a little deeper and I found this handy part of the Cox website:



That gray line on the top is my 250 GB... soooo apparently that's overkill :)

Basically, my options are to downgrade my Cox service to their lowest plan (I'm currently on the second-lowest), which is a big "flow rate" drop to 5 Mbps (I couldn't find what the data cap was on their website), or switch to AT&T 3 Mbps DSL (they don't have U-Verse for my address... which sucks 'cause I could get 18 Mbps for a little over half what I'm paying now!). Pretty much the only remotely data-heavy internet thing we do is streaming video on Hulu (and we just bought a Roku). If I'm understanding you guys correctly, 3 Mbps would be sufficiently non-annoying for that use? I guess I'm still not getting the difference between "latency" and "flow rate" or Mbps...

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #28 on: October 31, 2013, 02:39:49 PM »
I guess I'm still not getting the difference between "latency" and "flow rate" or Mbps...

I probably made that harder being overly nerdy.

Bottom line:
latency: how long the data takes to get to you
bandwidth: how much data you can get in a period of time

Most folks don't give a toot out of a rat's bottom about latency (assuming it isn't off-the-scale-awful).  If you're streaming a movie, do you really care that the data takes a second to get to you from Netflix?  (It's quicker than that, but go with me.)

Gamers care about latency because if a game adversary jumps out and you shoot it and he shoots at you... your "bullets" have to get to the server before his do.   Timing matters.

It can be important in interactive voice/video (VOIP or skype or ...)  If you get too much latency, you end up talking on top of each other.  (Think of an interview on TV where the host is in New York talking to someone in London and there is a definite "lag".)

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #29 on: October 31, 2013, 03:01:46 PM »
Most folks don't give a toot out of a rat's bottom about latency (assuming it isn't off-the-scale-awful).  If you're streaming a movie, do you really care that the data takes a second to get to you from Netflix?  (It's quicker than that, but go with me.)

Gamers care about latency because if a game adversary jumps out and you shoot it and he shoots at you... your "bullets" have to get to the server before his do.   Timing matters.

It can be important in interactive voice/video (VOIP or skype or ...)  If you get too much latency, you end up talking on top of each other.  (Think of an interview on TV where the host is in New York talking to someone in London and there is a definite "lag".)

Aha! Totally makes sense. The examples really helped. Thanks!

alizawill

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #30 on: August 20, 2014, 01:45:00 AM »
What works for me is to just give them a call after my contract expired.
The best time to do it on the way home from office, Keeps me occupied and I save :)

The main problem is that all of us just forget to do so, and until we found out we lost great deal of money!

I may suggest free web tool I am using Remindme2save(Google it )
The tool helps me keep track of my monthly payments to my service providers (Cox internet and DirectTV), when my promotion expires it will remind me to call them with the best promotion out there.

I hope it helps!
I really don't even know if it's possible to pay less than I am for internet, with comparable service.  But I'd like to find out.

I'm currently paying $70.25/month for Mediacom.  They are the ONLY provider that services my street.  I know, I tried to switch because their customer service is awful.  (Truly - I think they "bought" my street, which is lined with apartment buildings.  The local DSL provider said they do service a couple blocks away, but not my street.)

When I started with Mediacom, I was paying 49.95.  Then in a few years it went to 65.something.  Now it's 70.25.

We like to stream shows & movies on netflix, and I like to play online games.  I have Ting as a phone provider, and their biggest data plan is $60 a month for 3000 megabytes.  I'm not sure that would be a cost effective alternative, using my phone as a mobile hotspot.  Not to mention data hardly ever works on it anyway...

I'm doubtful that I have any negotiating power with Mediacom.  They have no competitors on my street and they know it.

I tried to find out how much data I use per month with Mediacom, and they made me sign up for an email address with them and say I have to wait 12 hours after creating it to be able to find out how much I use.  Huh?

I want to be able to continue to watch netflix and play online games and not worry how much data I'm using.  Are there any options that will provide this level of internet service at a lower price range?

LibrarIan

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Re: Can I lower my internet bill?
« Reply #31 on: August 20, 2014, 09:13:44 AM »
I have the advantage of having 2 options where I live. But even still, I once called, cancelled my service (the rate they were offering to keep me still wasn't as good as the promo rate), then called back a couple days later and signed up for the promo rate. It saved me like 10 bucks/month.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!