How to find cheaper internet?

[gbbi_977]

Hi everyone,

I'm sure there are many threads on this already but please excuse me for taking the shortcut of creating my own!

We have switched cell phone providers and husband and I now pay a total of $30 a month, so feeling good in that corner.

BUT we're still paying $49.95 a month for Internet. Now I'm sure lots of people will say that's pretty cheap, and maybe there's no better option, but I'm frustrated by it.

We live in Chicago, IL, and are currently with Comcast. When we started out, we were paying $30/month but it went up to the current price after a year.

The up-front costs of switching to AT&T make it seem like we just have to pay whatever Comcast say, and they're not budging on the $49.95/month.

Are there any other options I might be missing?

Also, and this really bugs me - Comcast keep sending us emails, phone calls and letters in the mail telling us that we "need" to upgrade our modem to get the most out of our service. I looked at the fine print and it turns out that the modem we have is fine for the speed we have...i.e. this is just a scam to get us to pay to upgrade to a modem that will deliver faster speeds than we're getting/paying for. It makes me so mad they phrase it to make it look (at first glance) like your current modem will actually stop working if you don't upgrade. Not true. Maybe I'll complain to BBB about it but I'm not sure if I can be bothered.

[Brilliantine]

I don't know about the offerings in your area but I share your sentiments on the "your modem is too old now" b.s. I think they do that so that you lease a modem from them.

The lack of competition in the communications arena in the US continues to baffle me.

[boarder42]

Move to a city with google fiber.  then its 3,50 a month for 7 years ... paid in 25 dollar installments in year 1

[MoonShadow]

The lack of competition in the communications arena in the US continues to baffle me.

It really shouldn't.  FCC rules dominate the industry, and they are all geared towards huge media monopolies.  So there really isn't much competition even between the phone companies and cable companies within a service area.

The best way to find cheaper internet is to set up a wifi beam antenna on your roof, and rotate it looking for open wifi hotspots.  I still find it amazing how often I can find an open wifi network in just about any urban or suburban area.

[Greg]

Can you get DSL in your area?  That may be cheaper.

[Lis]

Bumping to follow... I too pay $50 a month for internet. I'm hoping there's a sneaky workaround, but I doubt there is. Besides, my building is wired for Optimum (I don't know if that means that it's impossible to not use Optimum, but in any case that's what I have). I think I'm just stuck for the time being.

[Sailor Sam]

Are the houses/apt units surrounding you close enough to share with the people next door? You may have to bump to the next level of speed to keep both families happy, but it should still reduce the bill.

[bobechs]

Move to a city with google fiber.  then its 3,50 a month for 7 years ... paid in 25 dollar installments in year 1

And put the moving costs, lost income while in transition and other miscellaneous expenses on a high-interest credit card. Pay only the minimum monthly charge.

Just to really round out the benefits, y'know.

[mlejw6]

The big COM providers don't advertise their cheapest (i.e. slowest) plans to the public. You have to ask about cheaper plans. If speed is not important to you, you can call them up and get a cheaper plan.

We went down from 7 Mbps to 3 Mbps with Comcast so we could save ~$15/mo. We didn't even notice a difference. We stream videos from Netflix/HuluPlus, and do the typical web browsing on the PC. If you do any online gaming, this probably isn't feasible. The best part is, these plans don't have "special" pricing, so they won't go up by 5000% in 6 months.

[boarder42]

Move to a city with google fiber.  then its 3,50 a month for 7 years ... paid in 25 dollar installments in year 1

And put the moving costs, lost income while in transition and other miscellaneous expenses on a high-interest credit card. Pay only the minimum monthly charge.

Just to really round out the benefits, y'know.

or just find a job in a much lower cost of living city than chicago like many of the GoogleFiber cities are and get them to pay your relocation expenses.  i think this is probably the most fiscally responsible way to lower your internet burden.

[norabird]

Have you threatened to cancel? I just did that and went back to my intro promo rate (which is still almost what you pay however).