Got Comcast or Spectrum internet? Now’s a great time to threaten you’ll cancel
Last week, I won my lowest price for Spectrum Internet for years.
Everything you needed was a call to the spectrum retention service, where you find yourself after saying to the automated system you want to cancel your service. After a slightly tedious conversation with an extremely friendly representative, my monthly bill went from $ 68 to $ 45 per month for the next full year. Not only did I save money, but my speeds went from 400 Mbps to 500 Mbps.
Although I cannot guarantee the same results everywhere, in general, this is the ideal time to threaten to cancel the Internet service by cable.
For years, Comcast and Charter (which operates the Spectrum brand) have boasted with shareholders that internet growth at home compensates more than the collapse of cable television, but now they lose Internet customers with suppliers offering faster fibers and cheaper wireless 5G alternatives. They are very motivated to keep potential defectors on board, so you must fully benefit from their collective insecurity.
What does competition look like
Last year, Spectrum and Comcast lost 508,000 and 411,000 internet customers at home respectively. The previous year, Comcast lost 66,000, while Specrum lost 61,000. The equity prices for the two companies are already lower than what they were two years ago.
On the other hand, wireless fibers and internet are developing. T-Mobile and Verizon added 1.7 million and 1.5 million wireless Internet customers in 2024 respectively, while AT&T added 1 million customers to its fiber service. Their two actions are up Two years ago.
It is not the science of rockets: wireless Internet is cheaper than cable, with plans from $ 35 per month for T-Mobile and Verizon when they are packed with a mobile phone service. Fiber, meanwhile, offers symmetrical download and download speeds, which are not always available with the cable, and this can also be cheaper. (The 500 Mbps plan of AT&T, for example, costs $ 75 per month on a non -promotional basis, $ 10 per month less than Comcast.)
The cable owners should have reached this new reality years ago. Instead, they used frightening tactics and disinformation. Comcast and Charter both deployed advertising campaigns to convince people that they did not really want a cheaper internet service, which they had to change later to be misleading. Comcast then tried to announce its internet plans as “10g” in a desperate attempt to better appear than 5G (although it is not technologically linked). Advertising dogs have also been pressure on Comcast to abandon this line of attack.
Cable response
It is only now that the cable giants do what they should have done throughout, that is to say in competition.
Comcast, for example, announced a somewhat simplified set of internet plans at home last week, from $ 40 per month for 300 Mbps with a one -year price guarantee. (Customers can also pay a higher price of $ 55 per month to lock this rate for five years.) These new plans are also inversing a long -standing policy of the application of data ceilings on most markets.
Comcast
Last year, Comcast also launched a separate pair of internet plans under its brand “Now”, at a price of $ 30 per month for 100 Mbps and $ 45 per month for 200 Mbps. These plans do not include data ceilings either.
Spectrum’s response was not so splashing. It has been more focused on increasing internet speeds and grouping more services, including free streaming services on the side of cable television, and a domestic internet offer of $ 30 per month (500 Mbps) when grouped with two mobile lines. He also deleted hidden costs and tried to improve his customer service.
But here is the problem: cable -owners do not want to distribute large discounts to existing customers if they can avoid it. While Comcast says that its new packages are available for everyone, existing customers must call to make the change, and I heard some readers who have encountered problems to get the plans they want.
As my experience with Spectrum has shown, it is a question of reaching the right representative.
What you should do about it
Negotiating an internet price at home is easy. You just need to get around the standard customer service service and go directly to the one in order to prevent you from canceling your service. You can often achieve it via the automated response system by selecting the options that lead to the cancellation of your service.
I understand that it can be scary. If you have no intention of changing supplier, you certainly would not want the company of Cablistribute to call your bluff and cut you without warning.
Believe me, it’s not will arrive. Cablistributors use retention services in order to go breaks on cancellations and talk about things first. They also have access to promotions that standard customer service representatives do not do so. (Each specialist in the spectrum retention to whom I have ever spoken subjected to the pointing.)
If that makes you more comfortable, simply approach the subject in a circumstant manner. Once the representative of retention online, tell them that you thought on cancellation, or you want Discuss logistics to cancel on a practical future date. According to my experience, this is enough to put promotional gears in motion.
And if that doesn’t work, it may be time to examine other options. There are more available now in more places, at the Grand Prix of Cablistributors.
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