19&41 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:43 am
My bill shows the date that the annual rate for my service expires. I call customer support a month prior and ask about what newannual rate offers they have. they then tell me what they have on offer right then. If it is unacceptable, I wait a week and try again. If it happens a couple of times I let them know I will try another provider. That usually shakes something loose.
Great plan, except that around here, "another provider" means buying a ball of string and two tin cans. Not much of a threat to Charter, which may be why they get away with $74/mo. for internet-only.
Well, keep checking all of your possible options. It was the same way here just a few years ago. Nature abhors a vacuum.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
-Upton Sinclair
Rex, I do what you do every year with XM radio. I get an email 30 days before my new statement with the amount they expect to get for the next year. I call and say cancel I won't pay that amount. Guess what, they have all kinds of specials available. I tell them I will pay what I paid last year, which is 72 bucks instead of the $260.00 the new statement shows. They accept my offer and I'm good for another year. The cable company, which is the same one Chris has just laughs at you. At this point in time we have no other option for internet. There is a hot spot but they are kind of iffy around here.
The county I live in wants internet service to every house which really boils down to providing it to all rural homes. The electric company that supplies power to rural homes has partnered with a cable company that is not Charter. They are running fiber-optic lines all over the county. I called that power company to see if they would consider providing that service to city folks as well. Unfortunately they said not at this time but maybe down the road. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Charter cable/internet decided a few years ago to go into the cell phone business. Ever since they did that, their service has gone down the toilet. Lot's of problems with things running slow, no signal, stuff like that. You call, they put you on hold and you wait. Once you finally get someone they try their magic over the phone, which never works, and then they tell you they will send someone out, which is usually two weeks later. Before the cell phone, you had someone at your door within 24 hours. I accused them of pouring all their money into cell phone business and ignoring the cable business. They told me not true, they are totally two separate business. I think they are speaking with forked tongue.
Bill, believe me, I remember living in Michigan with consumers power, general telephone and how we were supposed to appreciate just getting tolerable service from the "utilities". I just got a folder here from AT&T advising me they have completed fiber optic service in my neighborhood. I'll probably not go with them, but it makes a nice deal to beat comcast over the head with next September.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
-Upton Sinclair
Rex, there are some days I would give anything to have GTE back for my phone service. Back then, I could pick up the phone and dial and get someone without picking the perfect spot in the house to get the bars I need to talk. Cell phones work best around a city. Us rural folk, we pick and choose where we need to stand. It is what it is, but, there are certain things I miss from the past.
