Time to make new arrangements. Various company "plans".
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We generally switch back and forth between a Comcast package and some sort of pairing with DirecTV.

We have Comcast for all 3 now, and I've been pretty happy with it this time.  Their deal is better than we had with CenturyLink/DirecTV, and I'll never use CenturyLink again for anything after the shortcake they pulled when we cancelled our account.

My biggest problem with either is that they don't seem to give a rat's patootie about the customers they already have -- just whoever is 'new'.

We been getting a scam lately. Their opening line - "This is your Local TV / Internet supplier" - the calls come from out of area and often out of state. Red flag on SCAM for me. (Listened to one all the way through and they Never mentioned the name of the company they were representing either. Hung up before being switched to a 'live representive'.)

If you're lucky, you have two service providers in your area that provide comparable service and you can, if not switch between them, at least play them off of eachother so you're always under the "new introductory" rate rather than the "after 1 year, rate triples" pricing plan that the monopolistic companies reward their loyal customers with.

Just be sure to read the fine print, and know what it takes to back out/cancel and get as much in writing as you can.

Had a coworker who tried to switch providers a few months ago and was told one thing about the service available in her area by a rep on the phone, but then come post "self installation" it turned out she was limited to 1/3 the internet speed she was told about due to the wiring in her neighborhood, but because the paperwork promised a particular minimum (which she was getting, barely) and "up to" the speed she was promised she had to fight for a few weeks to cancel the service without paying a termination fee.

Not that lucky here. We got a monopoly the Internet provider also owns all the cable and phone lines in the county, as such they keep all the non satalite companies out. So we Have to go with them for everything from dial up to cable.
I pay $55 a month (including tax) just for my internet connection. Don't have cable tv as that is way to expensive (besides I stream everything I watch online these days).

We do the flip-flop here as well.  Just dropped satellite (as its been long enough) and switched back to cable at the 'introductory' price.  Unfortunately, we always have to use the cable company for internet so even with Dish we had to pay separate.

Sounds similar to what I experienced a couple years ago when looking at doing a service provider switch. The night before the self-installation was to occur I got a call to confirm it and was told that I could only get their worst available internet speeds instead of the top speed I'd been promised but they'd be glad to knock $10 off the monthly bill.

I proceeded to calmly ask the representative if they knew what "Bait and Switch" meant. They very quickly let me out of my contract. I'd bet good money it was the same company too, based on what you said.

The downside is that I'm stuck with Comcast for the foreseeable future since the best available service here otherwise appears to rival dial-up for speed.
This message was last edited by the user at 21:11, Mon 02 Oct 2017.

So you got a bait-and-switch from someone other than Comcast? I thought they had a monopoly on that.

Seems like it. For me, Comcast likes to "forget" that I own my own modem and toss their "modem rental" charge onto my bill every few months.