Lowering my bills...
 

I just talked with Verizon after noticing the newest online promotion for their Triple Play package. The new plan increases my internet speed from 1.5 to the 3.1-7 mpbs range...for $25 per month cheaper. I had all of the work done on my end, just needed to hit the submit button when I decided to call them and make sure that it was going to be cheaper. Sure enough, the online price was cheaper than me calling them and having it done over the phone.

Why they offer online only pricing is beyond me...the only difference was the fact that I hit the submit button instead of the lady I spoke with.

I was also able to lower my cell phone pricing by lowering my minutes, since we don't hit the 2000 minutes, we barely hit 250 minutes. However...I couldn't drop it less than 1400 per month, or I would lose my Friends and Family plan, which is how we've been able to keep our used minutes under 250. If we dropped it, out minutes would be over 1600 per month.

Now I need to deal with the DirecTv portion of the Triple Play Package and see where I can save there.

I do this every year or so, and am usually able to find areas where we can save. It makes me wonder how many people ignore it and wind up paying much more than they really need...I used to be one of them a few years back.

I just doubled my home internet speed, to the fastest available in my area, for a whopping $8 a month more (after six months, right now it's only $3 a month more. I considered it a good deal.

MV

Drop DirecTV and just go over-the-air HDTV, Netflix, and Bittorrent. Double-play is $20-25/mo cheaper than triple-play with TV. Netflix is $7.50/mo or something, and offers a lot better selection than any satellite crap.

If you really want to go El-Cheapo, just get "naked" DSL with no phone service, and use MagicJack or Google Voice for your "landline." They'll tell you this is impossible to do, but just yell at them to escalate to a supervisor till you find someone who knows what's what.

There's also skype for a telephone alternative. For my situation making international calls to conventional landline numbers and mobile phone numbers it worked out pretty cheap...

I use google for my international calls, 2 cents a minute with my android phone.

Google is also nice because it supports SIP without any additional costs. Meaning you can hook up a business-class VoIP phone to a Voice account and have very good sound quality. Or hook up your houses's landline phones via a SIP-to-landline adapter.

My deal was just under 6 euros a month (including tax) to any land line in Northern Europe. I've made my money back!

Interestingly, I could call the US from a US Google Voice number when I was France and Poland last summer. No charges were incurred. If you can get a free GV number in the other country you're calling (use a friend's landline # to do the initial setup), you can call abroad for free.

Ah ha clever...

Let me know how you do with Direct TV. I get that they offer lower rates for new customers. But the rub is they want to charge me more for the better equipment they get. Been with them for years and have the whole package :mad:

I'll let you know. I called them this afternoon and got some red-dot Indian who claimed his name was Jason (Like I believed it)...I asked for someone I could understand and was passed from one Indian to another and finally gave up. I'll have my wife deal with them on Monday.

Currently, I have the digital HD dvr in the living room and HD digital in the master bedroom. I'm supposed to be able to access the DVR in from the bedroom, but it doesn't always work as it should. I've had them out to fix it three times in the last 18 months. When they leave, it works fine, but it flakes out on me after awhile.

They keep trying to get me to add boxes in the kid's rooms, but I refuse to do it...even if it was free, I wouldn't let them have full access to everything there.

I think the main reason is cost. The more people they get to book on line the few people they need to pay to answer the phone.

I'm all ears Jon. We are down sizing and need to save every penny we can.

My wife tackles reducing costs on many services we buy. Usually keeps it at about 1/2 the going prices. As soon as they escallate after about a year she tackles them again.

Saves about a grand a year and anyone can do it. At full price the packages of services in eastern Canada approach what was once about the amount of a morgage payment.

One way that usually works but we do not use is simply calling up providers and mentioning you just cannot comforatably afford it right now. This will usually get a reduction in costs going as they do not want to lose a customer. Another approach is finding a cheaper provider and asking for comparable rates if possibe. Usually there is one out there almost all the time with a promotional rate.

Our youngest daughter works out of her home as a senior customer retention specialist. Their corporate policy is for her to retain customers basically by whatever it takes.

If a customer is leaving and cannot be reasonably retained by normal retention incentives the issue is handed over to her. What suprises me is that they pay her much better than I would have expected.

But, we ALL bundle...Plus, they offered a puppy. Everybody loves puppies.

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