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Hello!
Here is the situation. This afternoon is pretty much the last straw with our local cable company. After trying to deal with getting a bill adjusted, their attitude has been well just scale down your internet service and TV package. We cannot offer you an unauthorized promo rate for your products. Same local cable Co is offering 200 mbit service for 45 a month for life where I am paying at least 70 for the same thing. It was 80 but I purchased a modem saving 10 a month. The cost of TV went thru the roof at nearly $120 for 2 TVs on essentially a lower mid end TV package plus STBs that are about 25 bucks of that price. Phone service is given to us at the promo price of a generous 20 a month. This makes our current bill at just over 200 a month.
While speaking with the phone rep, her response was to go to basic TV for 59 a month, and basic internet in which she admitted she didn't know what speed it was rated at. That was all she could do to keep me as a customer. After this exchange, my wife acknowledged it is time to move on as she now watches more streaming content. I asked the billing agent how much it would be for my current internet package if I had stand alone internet. She said a whopping 85 a month. If I wanted to keep the phone service it would be another 35 a month since I would lose a triple play promo price on that. It made the bill around 120 a month for internet and phone. My wife instantly said no way we are going to pay more than 25 a month for service.
Now here is the deal. My wife works from home anywhere from 2-4 days a week depending on working conditions. She generally works 2 days most of the time. She likes having the home phone line for conference calls, personal calls between co workers, and of course most of our family members will call us at the house. Her employer implements several teleconference devices and lately it has been web based video and audio. So I need to make sure our connection is strong enough to handle this load. I believe they are going away from dial in TCs on the major meetings. Smaller local meetings are still held over telephone. Our cell service coverage is good for the area. We get LTE and good cell quality. Few drop outs if any. Most would say just ditch the home line and use Cell coverage as the line. However it is not that simple with some of our family members. So I want to keep the number active for them and for my wife's employment.
As for the TV part, between streaming and some OTA programming I can cover most needs around the house. We have a few network programs we watch form time to time. so I am not worried about this. I got the work around.
After all this , I have been put in charge to find a working solution for the home phone line. If I can figure out the best and cost effective direction to go, my wife will give the go ahead to cancel the service. She even said she would personally call them to make the changes as needed. I know I will need a VoIP solution. Vonage has been around for awhile but it seems to have had some issues. Looking around, I feel a bit lost about the whole thing since it seems to be a bit outside what I would know about these things. Recommendations of a good service that will work with the home network would be awesome.
TIA
Here is the situation. This afternoon is pretty much the last straw with our local cable company. After trying to deal with getting a bill adjusted, their attitude has been well just scale down your internet service and TV package. We cannot offer you an unauthorized promo rate for your products. Same local cable Co is offering 200 mbit service for 45 a month for life where I am paying at least 70 for the same thing. It was 80 but I purchased a modem saving 10 a month. The cost of TV went thru the roof at nearly $120 for 2 TVs on essentially a lower mid end TV package plus STBs that are about 25 bucks of that price. Phone service is given to us at the promo price of a generous 20 a month. This makes our current bill at just over 200 a month.
While speaking with the phone rep, her response was to go to basic TV for 59 a month, and basic internet in which she admitted she didn't know what speed it was rated at. That was all she could do to keep me as a customer. After this exchange, my wife acknowledged it is time to move on as she now watches more streaming content. I asked the billing agent how much it would be for my current internet package if I had stand alone internet. She said a whopping 85 a month. If I wanted to keep the phone service it would be another 35 a month since I would lose a triple play promo price on that. It made the bill around 120 a month for internet and phone. My wife instantly said no way we are going to pay more than 25 a month for service.
Now here is the deal. My wife works from home anywhere from 2-4 days a week depending on working conditions. She generally works 2 days most of the time. She likes having the home phone line for conference calls, personal calls between co workers, and of course most of our family members will call us at the house. Her employer implements several teleconference devices and lately it has been web based video and audio. So I need to make sure our connection is strong enough to handle this load. I believe they are going away from dial in TCs on the major meetings. Smaller local meetings are still held over telephone. Our cell service coverage is good for the area. We get LTE and good cell quality. Few drop outs if any. Most would say just ditch the home line and use Cell coverage as the line. However it is not that simple with some of our family members. So I want to keep the number active for them and for my wife's employment.
As for the TV part, between streaming and some OTA programming I can cover most needs around the house. We have a few network programs we watch form time to time. so I am not worried about this. I got the work around.
After all this , I have been put in charge to find a working solution for the home phone line. If I can figure out the best and cost effective direction to go, my wife will give the go ahead to cancel the service. She even said she would personally call them to make the changes as needed. I know I will need a VoIP solution. Vonage has been around for awhile but it seems to have had some issues. Looking around, I feel a bit lost about the whole thing since it seems to be a bit outside what I would know about these things. Recommendations of a good service that will work with the home network would be awesome.
TIA
