OT: Hate to do it...

but I searched but didn't see anything recent. Time for another TV/internet provider thread. Specifically, that my two year contract is up with DirecTV and U-Verse internet. This is the first time I've been with a sat provider and come to the end of my contract. I would prefer to stay with what I have, but I'd like to lower my bill if possible. Currently paying $148/mo with Direct and $62/mo with U-Verse. So what gives? Do I have any leverage in lowering my current price? What's the best way to go about this? Any suggestions are appreciated.

I will add my 2 cents worth. the monopolization of this industry coupled with congress's ignoring anti trust law is sickening. the big boys are paying the govt and we are taking it doggy style. collusion run amok.

gotta renew your "discounts" annually... also, never sign a damn thing...

This is what you do if you want to keep your same service but pay less. Look up some prices from the other guys, Dish Network, Time Warner, Comcast, whatever and try to find something lower price than what you are paying currently with the same service. Call DirecTV and U-Verse and say you would like to cancel your service because you can get a better deal with "the other guy" and tell them what they are offering. They will 9 times out of 10 offer you the same or better to stay. DirecTV usually tries pretty well to keep customers that call in trying to cancel to switch providers. U-Verse will depend on the other ISPs in your area. I have never seen huge differences in prices for ISPs in the places I have been so I wouldn't have too much hope for that especially considering you appear to be getting the upgraded ~$57ish internet.

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Originally Posted by TUSK

gotta renew your "discounts" annually... also, never sign a damn thing...

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This is it. When you call and the automated voice asks what you want say disconnect service. You straight to a special call queue with almost no wait time. There you spell out the deals you see with the competition and all of a sudden you magically start qualifying for rebates. I did this two months ago and my tv bill went from $113 to $73 a month for a year.

I have internet with Comcast. Paying $25/mo for 25 mpbs speeds with 1 TB data cap. Price will go up $10 when promo runs out. For tv I'm with Playstation Vue and get 70+ channels with DVR for $35/mo. I get all the sports channels including SEC NW and even the Big Ten NW, not that I will ever watch the B10. Local channels I use an indoor antenna. Best deal out there imo.

Is CSpire Fiber available where you are? I dropped Dish Network and AT&T internet about a year ago and switched to Cspire. I get 1 GBps download speed (was getting 3 MBps on the best day with AT&T). I lowered my TV/internet bill and vastly improved the service.

You can do the bargaining trick with XM Radio too if you have that service. Usually you can get them down to about half their stated price.

TV and internet pretty much have us over a barrel. I pay about $110 for 60 MBPS internet & landline, and Dish is about $120. It's as low as I've been able to get it so I just don't worry about it.

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Originally Posted by Buddy

Is CSpire Fiber available where you are? I dropped Dish Network and AT&T internet about a year ago and switched to Cspire. I get 1 GBps download speed (was getting 3 MBps on the best day with AT&T). I lowered my TV/internet bill and vastly improved the service.

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C-Spire is not available where I am. Wish it was. I think what I'm going to do is research the ones available in my area and go back to Direct and tell them I want to cancel and tell them the prices I can get by switching. Hopefully they'll bite and I can save a little. The first year with them was good because I was getting their intro deal. I knew the second year they would make it up, but overall it was still a better deal than what I had with cable. I don't watch enough TV to justify what I'm paying but the wife and kids watch a lot.