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My ISP (Spectrum) recently raised the price of my monthly internet bill to $70+. There are competitors in my area going for the $50 range with equal or faster speed. Is it possible to "haggle" with spectrum to lower the price by calling them, or just switch provider to get their introductory pricing?

Has anyone done this and can give some insight? Is this too much hassle or any other cons that make it a bad idea? or just stick to my current provider even though their price is roughly $20 per month more than competitors' introductory pricing?

Lightsout
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7 Answers7

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Is it possible to "haggle" with spectrum to lower the price by calling them, or just switch provider to get their introductory pricing?

Yes it is possible. You can find plenty of anecdotal examples of calling their ISP or cable provider and threatening to switch and getting the ISP to agree to a lower rate, or other special feature.

Is this too much hassle or any other cons that make it a bad idea?

If you do switch expect that they will want to do a professional install. That can come with a cost in both time and money. If you bought your own hardware you might need new hardware or you will have to rent it from them, which could reduce the price advantage when switching. You might have to return some hardware to the old provider.

If you do switch and were using one or more email addresses related to that ISP service, then you have to factor in the change in email address. If you had storage thorough your ISP make sure that you have pulled everything from whatever storage you were using related to your contract.

mhoran_psprep
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This may get closed as a "shopping question" or technical question, and off topic... But in brief:

As with cell phones or other mostly standardized subscription services, getting the best price often requires being willing to switch every few years to take advantage of "new customer" discount offers.

Remember to consider all the prices. There may be installation costs. They may want to rent equipment to you,or (especially for optical fiber) you may need to buy equipment and have it installed. Most will offer multiple options for speed/price tradeoffs; decide what you actually need. (I've been paying for 200Mbps and usually measuring closer to 300; I don't feel any need right now to pay more and go up to a nominal-gigabit connection.)

Some ISPs may offer discounts through your employer; that saves me $5/month.

Be aware that if you have been getting email through your ISP, changing services will likely require changing email addresses, with the hassle of updating all your friends and any online accounts to use the new email address. One way around this is to set up a permanent mailbox somewhere (your school may offer this service), make a one-time change to have everything and everyone point to that, and then have it forward to wherever you actually are -- or access it directly, if the mail service permits it. You may also be able to set your old address to forward to the new one, at least for a limited time; contact your current ISP for details.

More advice on how to manage this efficiently is almost certainly available on the technical areas of Stack Exchange; I don't have a specific pointer handy.

keshlam
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Your time is not worthless

Yes, for most people with decent wage, changing ISP provider every year or 2 years to profit for lower price for new customers is too much hassle. The process is not always as smooth as promised, you can end up with a few days without service in the transition period, or you can end up taking day off to be at home when the serviceman is about to come, loosing more money than you save.

Provider hopping is something more popular in low income countries, or for people on the lower end of wage pyramid. If you earn well, spending free time for your hobbies instead of calling service lines and comparing offers might be worth more than about $200 you can save.

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Switching internet providers can be like switching most other utilities: You write a letter and all you notice is that you suddenly pay less money per month.

Just some things you need to be wary about:

  • Make sure the new provider uses the same technology and can reuse the existing hardware. For example, switching from DSL to cable modem or fiber can require some hardware changes in your home which might take a while to perform. That's not necessarily a show-stopper, but it is something that might require some organizing on your behalf to time things correctly. Otherwise you might be spending weeks without Internet while you wait for a technician to come to make the necessary changes.
  • Not all providers are equally fast, and the numbers they promise in their advertisement are usually pure fantasy "theoretical" speeds they rarely achieve in practice. When you want to know the actual speed you can expect, you will have to do some searching for some customer testimonies and independent test results.
Philipp
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YES its a good idea to explore.

Make a list of the technical features your current ISP provides that you use. Static IPv4 addresses, a routed block, static IPv6 prefix and how big it is, avoiding CGNAT, permission to run a mail/web/home VPN server etc. Make sure you're not trading away something you need.

Performance at busy times also comes into it, but getting quantitative numbers for comparison can be difficult.

If you use an email address like user@spectrum.com then that will likely vanish, so you need to update to a new address. The benefit of something like @gmail.com or other web mail providers becomes valuable here.

Other bundled services can add/subtract from the "value" too. Analogue phone lines, TV services, fax options, cellular tie-in can also give you a bulk price with some theoretical discount, where changing one part of the service can have follow on effects.

Try `phoning/calling your current ISP and talk to them. Don't email or use online chat. If you get connected to a good CSR then the whole discussion can be quite rewarding. If you get someone who can only read-the-script then ask to be transferred.

Remember it costs the provider less to keep a paying customer than to loose one to the competition and gain another.

The current provider is banking on you not going through the "hassle" of changing, and just paying more. Banks are chronic at this, because changing one's financial details everywhere is a long process. Changing ISPs is much easier than changing bank.

Criggie
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Is the speed and reliability the same? Do they have installation fees/costs? Are there hidden fees/costs? Do you have to pay rent on equipment? How long is the price good for? Are you stuck in a contract after that?

All good things you should likely investigate before deciding if swapping is best for you.

As others have said, you can try calling up asking for a deal, but with my personal experience recently, that doesn't help. My spectrum had bumped up to $85, so I finally decided to jump to Google Fiber and was just going to be 100% done with Spectrum regardless. But I had tried calling twice asking for a deal. No dice. HOWEVER, when I called to cancel... suddenly there was a $49.99 deal they could cut me! I already had fiber installed and wasn't changing so I declined. But if you wanted to try canceling your service (on the phone) and see if you could get a deal that way, it may be worth it. BUT if they don't offer it to you, you have to be prepared to be without internet until you get a new service hooked up. I believe spectrum will cut your internet off the day you cancel even if your service should still run for the rest of the month. So be aware and your miles may vary.

Flame
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  1. Check competitors (obviously) and prepare a BATNA (aka best alternative to negotiated agreement)
  2. Call/visit your ISP and ask to haggle.
    If they can match the competitors offer - good. If not, take the best competitor offer.
    Remember to compare reliability - wifi/mobile is worst, cable tv internet is ok, fiber is best.

Option for unlucky folks who only have sole one provider available:

  • Don't tell them they are only option.
  • Haggle the price.
  • If salesperson insists "this is the lowest rate we can offer", ask if they can give you more if they are charging more - bump your transfer rate to next tier, external IP or whatever 'premium' things you find valuable from them.
    (This worked for me, twice. Cable TV raising their price brackets - keeping my old price as a loyal customer was no go, but bumping my transfer rating to "acceptable" level? No problem!)
Thomas
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