OT. Internet provider question

[MontereyLion]

We have Comcast for our internet and home phone line. Wife wants to keep the home phone line because
we live in a spot that has weak cell phone coverage. I need recommendations for a competitor that I could
switch to. Reliable and fairly priced. I just received a call from a Comcast rep about a past due bill that
pissed me off. We've been good customers of Comcast for 19 years. Have paid what...thousands of dollars
in service in that time frame and would surely pay thousands of more dollars over the next 19 years(if we live
that long). This is the first notice of past due and he was talking about cutter off our service in 7 days. That
really, really, really, really pissed me off. 19 years of paying our bill on time means nothing to them? Wifey
pays that bill and she's out of town this weekend. Anyways...any recommendations would be appreciated.


This post was edited on 3/21 6:49 PM by MontereyLion

 

[Obliviax]

Love AT&T Uverse

enjoy using my iPad to watch. Was at a science fair and watched tv in the down time.

 

[MontereyLion]

Re: Love AT&T Uverse

We have DirecTv, which I want to keep. I think I will look into AT&Ts price for internet and home phone.

 

[m.knox]

Re: Love AT&T Uverse

We have direct TV and I love it. Expensive, but love the NFL package.

Have ATT for our phone and broad band. Just switched to Uverse and it saved me $50 a month (for a year, anyway). Our internet performance is much better due to the speed of the connection, and of course, not paying as much is great.

The person from ATT I got on the phone was like, "dear Lord, you are paying waaaaay too much."....

I also get a $5 credit on my direct TV bill for being an ATT customer.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

Good Idea - My $.02!


AT&T recently had an introductory price (maybe $19?) for new internet customers.

Also if you "bundle" DirecTV and At&T landline - internet they give you another break.

After seven years of going back-and-forth with DirecTV re: pricing, I recently (last month) found the right guy ("Larry in West Virginia") in retention services. It was like talking to Monty Deal with his "Have I got a deal for you!" and then "And That's Not All!". I picked up the new Genie (records 4-5 programs instead of 2, plus many many more hours of capacity), gave them a 2-year guarantee and good a great deal, about $55 a month. Includes 6 months of Showtime thrown in for free. (The only problem, they were replacing my unit within the next 24 hours and I had close to 40 hours recorded on the unit they would be taking away.....so didn't re-watch 4-5 PSU football games from the fall! Of course, maybe that was a blessing in disguise!!!!!)

 

[MontereyLion]

Re: Love AT&T Uverse

I was just chatting with an AT&T rep online. Their prices are much better then Comcast's.
Comcast screwed with the wrong guy. There is a one time charge of $99 to connect up to
AT&T's fiber optic line. However the monthly savings, even after the first 12 month introductory
offer, is well worth it. Thanks everyone. You helped me solve my problem.

 

[wplion]

Re: Love AT&T Uverse

I have AT&T Uverse and have had it for about 5 years. I have almost zero complaints. However, their worst aspect is customer service, so you may have a similar experience. We could not get a problem resolved for over a month as AT&T (our prior phone carrier) and AT&T Uverse would not work together in any way. AT&T Uverse kept telling us our prior carrier is our responsibility.
But again, I got through that and really am happy with phone and Internet service.

 

[MontereyLion]

Re: Good Idea - My $.02!

As far as the 4-5 PSU football games from the fall.....it all depends on which 4-5 they were.
Northwestern and Michigan State were automatic deletes. Temple is well.......Temple. Not
worth rewatching. I am pretty sure the Bowl game will be on BTN again, when the season
gets close. I wonder if BTN will start showing our games from 1998 to 2011 again? They better.

 

[bmusser24]

My only option is Verizon DSL. It works, but is kinda unreliable and too expensive for all the faster it is.
I have Directv too, up until a month or so ago, I knew NOTHING about the retention department. I called about "subsidizing" all the new customers. They gave me a couple discounts and Showtime for 4 months, and told me that I should have been calling from time to time for the specials that they have going on for long time customers. I've only had Dirctv for 17 years before finding out about the retention department.

 

[MontereyLion]

How do I get a hold of the retention department? I am wondering if I move from Comcast
to AT&T will they give me a bundling reduction with DirecTv?

 

[ILLINOISLION]

Here ya' Go!


When you call in, ask specifically for the retention department. Tell them you've been a good loyal customer with a good payment record, you're tired of seeing all the specials in the mail and in the Sunday paper for NEW customers. You deserve credit for being an EXISTING customer.

Yes, tell AT&T you're an existing DirecTV customer and want the bundling credit. Somewhere you'll get an extra $5 a month off the combined billing.

I just went all through this a month ago, not sure how the actual billing's gonna look. I don't care if I get one combined bill or two separate bills as long as all the credits show up....should happen this week!

 

[Tom McAndrew]

a different take ...


I'm sure the call was annoying, but it seems to me you're overreacting a bit. The person that made the call went a little overboard with the canceling, but they were simply calling to say you hadn't paid your bill.

if you could save a good bit by switching, perhaps it's worth it.

if the savings are only minimal, or only for a short interval, then I don't think it would be worth it to lose your existing e-mail address, and have to switch everything over to new e-mails, notify all your contacts, all your bills, etc.

you could call Comcast, express your displeasure, and they might throw you some sort of discount, or other sweetener. No guarantees, but it's worth try.

Just my 2 cents.

Tom

 

[MontereyLion]

Re: a different take ...

I hear what you're saying Tom and I mostly agree with you. I agree that it was a reminder
call. Then he offered to take my payment by credit card. I told him that my wife pays that bill and is
out of town. That I would have to wait until she came back to make sure that she haven't already sent the
payment in. He should have then said thank you for being a good 19 year customer, We appreciate
your business. Have a good day. Instead he said that they would give me 7 days to make the payment
and if it wasn't made by then they could turn off my service. That was uncalled for. I asked him..how long
have I been a Comcast customer? He looked it up and said 19 years. Well in fact what he didn't know
it's been 36 years. 19 years at this house and 17 at my previous house. I reminded him that everyone
of those 19 years of bills had been paid. I am a good customer who pays his bills. He then restated
that if the bill wasn't paid in 7 days I could lose my service. What would you do Tom? If I/we had a history
of paying late, I could understand his concern. We don't have that history. After talking to AT&T the savings would be about
$50 per month. I should be also be pissed because Comcast has been over billing me for all of this time. My
brother just switched to AT&T too. I had forgotten that he told about that. I called him. His bill is also about
$50 per month less, too. He dropped, Dish +net which he had for a zillion years and added AT&Ts TV service + internet.
Anyways, before I make the switch I plan on calling Comcast to discuss the situation. I don't see how they will
agree to drop my payment to match AT&T, indefinitely. I have to admit the whole conversation has left a bitter taste
in my mouth for Comcast. BTW our Email accounts are not thru Comcast. They do provide us will free virus protect
which is probably one of the reasons our bill thru them is higher. Thanks for your advice I will consider all angles before
I cut the cord.

This post was edited on 3/21 10:57 PM by MontereyLion

 

[MontereyLion]

Thanks ***

****

 

[91Joe95]

Whatever is cheapest for the internet and then buy an ooma for the phone and port your number to it.