Good for you! Now that the youngest has moved out, we find the TV on less and less.

When I left AOL years ago, they kept me on the line for 20 minutes trying to get me to change my mind.

They failed.

Yes, when they fear they are losing you, they can be can be quite persuasive and generous.

It was a surprise to me that Comcast wanted to keep my business badly enough to drop the price of broadband by $30 per month over the regular price. Makes one wonder just how much profit is built into their prices because I’m sure Comcast isn’t losing any money on the services they are providing me even at steeply discounted prices.

As soon as I had the cable canceled, I started getting sweaty palms. It’s one thing to have it and not use it, but quite another to just not have it. The last two months suggest that I will survive quite well without it, though.

Just to correct the record, some months back, I raved about Cox Communications, and I switched to their cable telephone, etc., and had a great deal with great service.  Almost immediately, my call waiting feature (the only one I wanted of the 14 “features") quit working.  Two months of service calls and no action.  Then, my “trial” period ended (I did not know I was on a trail period), and rates skyrocked for my bundle.  Two weeks ago, I bought an iPhone (my first cell), cut off land line phone service, scaled back significantly on my cable TV package, and reduced my bill significantly.  I wish I had tried your method, of just navagating around to get to the “right” person, but the caller-ID thing (it wasn’t my phone-- the function did not work on any of my phones), I had had it.  So, folks, my endorsement of Cox is hereby withdrawn.

What these large companies need is some stiff competition. Without it, they are going to price everyone out of the market just because they can and service seems to be a secondary concern.

The last time I had Comcast (before switching over to Verizon), they soaked me $175 a month for telephone, internet, and cable. Cable was the most expensive and I didn’t have any extras. I had a lot of trouble with picture clarity with the digital tv signal and the internet kept cutting out every couple of hours.  It just struck me one day, that $175 was a really outrageous price to pay for what I was getting (or not getting). Verizon offered me a much better deal, but their service turned out to be kind of dodgy, too. And they kept raising their prices.  So, back to Comcast with their fantastic new bundle offer—which, I’m sure has to do with how many customers deserted them for Verizon.

Now Verizon’s super high speed broadband internet and tv (FIOS) is moving into the state. It’s not available in my community yet, but it should be within two years. I can’t wait to see the price wars that result from that.

As I said, I am sure that Comcast is not losing money on me even with the greatly reduced prices. They charge what they charge because people will pay it. If their customers start doing what you and I and an increasing number of people have done, they might get a clue. I think the exodus to Verizon FIOS has them worried, too, and FIOS costs less than Comcast’s services.

I’d be interested in hearing how just having cell phone service works out for you after a couple of months. I’m really tempted to do that, too, but like the television thing, it’ll probably take me a few months to mull it over before I act on it. At least we have more options available to us now.