Author Topic: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month  (Read 5988 times)

Ed Mills

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Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« on: December 22, 2015, 11:57:38 AM »
I just call up my Internet provider and switched over to their 3 Mpbs plan at $20 a month.  Previously, I was paying $50 a month for 25 Mpbs, but after reading I.P. Daley's guide, I decided to test the waters.  So far, so good.  My son is streaming a video, and I'm posting on the forum.  I'll let you know how it works out for us. 

Ed       

eostache

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2015, 12:26:20 PM »
We've had 3mbps DSL for a few years now. It's the fastest that Century Link has in our neighborhood. (We could get faster from another provider.) It has been fine for us, even streaming videos. I pay around $21/mo. When the price goes up I do have to call and ask for a better price again.
« Last Edit: December 24, 2015, 09:50:25 PM by eostache »

ADV_CJ

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2015, 01:09:38 PM »
Nice! This is a battle that I've been facing for awhile now.  We have sooooooo many connected devices at home that it's not funny.  Two cell phones, two laptops, desktop, Smart TV, and we are all digital with our content (games, tv, movies, music, etc).  I'm just not sure how capable a slower connection would be for us.  Might have to bite the bullet like you and just try it out.

Daley

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2015, 01:33:08 PM »
So far, so good.       

Rockin'.



I'm just not sure how capable a slower connection would be for us.  Might have to bite the bullet like you and just try it out.

Depending on the router you own, you might be able to force QoS (Quality of Service) settings to cap throughput at 3Mbps. This is an easy way to test the waters without downgrading. Check your user manual.

Just remember: Gaming doesn't care about bandwidth (unless you're downloading a patch), ping time is what matters. Web browsing doesn't take much bandwidth. If you're using VoIP, though you should prioritize the packets on the network, it still doesn't need much better than dial-up bandwidth. A 480p SD video stream (DVD-ish) averages under 2Mbps, and the lower the quality stream, the less the bandwidth used. 360p uses under 1Mbps. 240p, or roughly the equivalent of SP VHS - which you don't need much better than on a small mobile screen, comes in under 700kbps. You can even manually set the quality lower in most players just to see what it looks like. Here's a rough cheat sheet on Youtube bandwidth requirements for reference. If you can gather the family to rot their brains in front of the tube together, 3Mbps is plenty. If they insist on rotting their brains separately, just multiply the peak simultaneous streams at the quality you're willing to support and add maybe 25% headroom from that number.

Tom Bri

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2015, 06:26:03 PM »
Good. I got a story. I got an internet teaser rate $14.95 for the first year when we moved here. After one year I called and asked if I could keep the same rate, and they said 'sure'. But their computer didn't like that, and every month the rate would get jacked up to the normal rate. I'd call, ask them to check the records, they would agree to refund the excess. This went on the entire year. Finally, I got a supervisor on the line who said "we'll give you that rate for life." I said, "Do you mean my entire life?' He said yes. We have been on that rate for about 8 years now. It is really slow, I suppose the slowest speed that can still sorta be called DSL, and sometimes videos don't stream smoothly, but it works.

With This Herring

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #5 on: December 23, 2015, 06:29:37 PM »
Good. I got a story. I got an internet teaser rate $14.95 for the first year when we moved here. After one year I called and asked if I could keep the same rate, and they said 'sure'. But their computer didn't like that, and every month the rate would get jacked up to the normal rate. I'd call, ask them to check the records, they would agree to refund the excess. This went on the entire year. Finally, I got a supervisor on the line who said "we'll give you that rate for life." I said, "Do you mean my entire life?' He said yes. We have been on that rate for about 8 years now. It is really slow, I suppose the slowest speed that can still sorta be called DSL, and sometimes videos don't stream smoothly, but it works.

Hold on!  You can't just tell a nice tale like that and leave out the ISP name!  :)

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2015, 04:25:14 AM »
Good. I got a story. I got an internet teaser rate $14.95 for the first year when we moved here. After one year I called and asked if I could keep the same rate, and they said 'sure'. But their computer didn't like that, and every month the rate would get jacked up to the normal rate. I'd call, ask them to check the records, they would agree to refund the excess. This went on the entire year. Finally, I got a supervisor on the line who said "we'll give you that rate for life." I said, "Do you mean my entire life?' He said yes. We have been on that rate for about 8 years now. It is really slow, I suppose the slowest speed that can still sorta be called DSL, and sometimes videos don't stream smoothly, but it works.
Wow, that's dirt cheap. Does that include phone line rental?

I've had a look around at reducing my $60 a month Internet cost. I'll struggle to get much better unless I ditch my ADSL and start using mobile broadband instead. High line rental costs (even though I use naked DSL).

I have considered cancelling my ADSL, bumping up the data on my mobile plan and tethering. I'd need to cut my usage to under 10GB a month before it's worthwhile.

How does everything work with 3mbps internet? My DSL line was stuck on 4mbps for a while earlier this year due to a line fault, and it was glacial (although the upload was awful).

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« Last Edit: December 24, 2015, 04:32:04 AM by alsoknownasDean »

Tom Bri

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2015, 08:09:14 PM »
Good. I got a story. I got an internet teaser rate $14.95 for the first year when we moved here. After one year I called and asked if I could keep the same rate, and they said 'sure'....clip..
Wow, that's dirt cheap. Does that include phone line rental?
Includes the phone. No idea what the speed is, and don't know how to get that number without calling the company, which I hate to do since it takes time and isn't going to change anything even if I know a number, since I'm going to keep this anyway. Can anyone give me a simple, easy-for-the-internet-ignorant explanation on how to find your speed?

Daley

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2015, 08:45:30 PM »
Can anyone give me a simple, easy-for-the-internet-ignorant explanation on how to find your speed?

Yup.

http://www.speedtest.net/

Ed Mills

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #9 on: December 26, 2015, 09:11:08 AM »
After a few days of $20 a month, 3Mpbs Internet, all is well.  I.P., thanks for saving me $30 a month!




Tom Bri

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #10 on: December 26, 2015, 01:32:33 PM »



Mine is only slower than 61% of US, so you got me beat there.

Daley

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #11 on: December 26, 2015, 05:36:50 PM »
After a few days of $20 a month, 3Mpbs Internet, all is well.  I.P., thanks for saving me $30 a month!

Sadly, Vyve appears to be providing you with less than 2Mbps for the money if the Speedtest report can be trusted, not that it obviously matters given your actual real world usage report and lack of discomfort.

Appreciate the thanks, but you're ultimately the one who actually used and applied the knowledge. I'm just a guy who rubbed together the neurons the good L-rd gave him to distill down some common sense information for others to utilize.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Just Reduced My Internet Bill from $50 to $20 a Month
« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2015, 05:39:48 AM »
222ms is a pretty high ping to a server so close by. Something faulty on the ISP end?

Although hey, if it works well, more power to you :)

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Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!