This is my first original post on MMM. What a great and friendly environment! I'm excited to get to know you better and to share ideas on how to be both more frugal and more awesome.
My fiance and I are already living pretty frugally, although of course, there are more things we can do. One of those things that I am working on is reducing our internet bill. We currently pay $56 per month to Cox, for a 18 mbps plan, but the cost of that plan is going up to $62 in October.
We are decently heavy internet users- we watch Netflix frequently to lower our entertainment costs, and my fiance also likes internet-based video games. I also have a pretty intense job, which often requires VPN access to work remotely during the wee hours of the morning.
I've looked at some of the threads on the topic in this forum, and have seen some comments that 3 mbps is sufficient for most people's needs. Thus, I'm looking at Uverse and Cox 3 mbps options, and will try to use the competition to get them to lower their prices.
I already called Cox once, and they offered me a contract-free 18 mbps plan with bundled phone and internet for $50.37 (or $49.12 if I agree to have a fully-listed phone number). This plan is not set for a rate increase in October, so it would remain at these prices for the foreseeable future. The phone price is at a discount for 30% off, so I'd probably have to cancel that after 12 months.
As a second alternative, we are considering asking my nextdoor neighbor, who is a coworker, to share our plan. The other neighbors are probably not interested- I don't think my upstairs neighbor would go for a shared plan, and the condo on the other side of us has a lot of turnover (students), which would make payments a headache.
As a third alternative, we are considering shutting off the internet for a weekend that we are traveling, and then re-signing up my fiance as a new customer (the bill is only in my name right now). Then, we would do a price lock, to lock in prices for 24 months. This comes with a $48 termination fee, that reduces by $2 every month. We just signed up for another year lease at the condo, so expect to be there for at least 11 months.
These are the current published plans on Cox's and Uverse's websites:
Cox 3 mbps = $44/mo., no fees (we have our own router + modem) (probably will go up a few dollars in October as well) ($35/mo. for 3 mos. for new customers)
Cox 18 mbps = $56/mo. $62 (in October), no fees (we have our own router + modem) ($45/mo. for 3 mos. for new customers)
Uverse 3mpbs = $30 (for 12 mos.) + $100 equipment fee
Uverse 6 mbps = $35 (for 12 mos.) + $100 equipment fee
Uverse 12 mbps = $40 (for 12 mos.) + $100 equipment fee
Uverse 18 mbps = $45 (for 12 mos.) + $200 equipment fee
If you were me and my fiance, what would you do?
