Cheap Internet Access

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FIREd

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Hello frugalistas,

right now MIL pays about $45 a month + taxes for a DSL connection which is both slow and unreliable. She doesn't really use the internet that much except for ordering stuff and checking her bank account online. So she doesn't need super fast connection speeds or a large bandwidth. She is also thinking about dropping her landline and use exclusively her new, supercheap prepaid T-mobile plan (another great ER.org tip).

No, she doesn't want to tap into the neighbors' unprotected wifi networks.;) And there are no businesses around her house offering free wifi access.

So I count on you guys to find her another great deal!

Thanks!
 
We have DSL at home. We recently called to ask about an extra $1.50 charge for mailing statements and make sure we were not charged that. In the same conversation, they said they could (1) discount our DSL by $9 a month and (2) switch the phone from unlimited local to metered outgoing local (50 cents a call) and unlimited incoming. This latter thing might be called a "SafeLine" in your area.

Since we use our cell phones all the time and are never home, we did both (1) & (2) which allows us to keep our home phone number. It looks like our bill dropped from $55 to about $20 a month by doing this (including taxes). If the phone company hadn't tried to jack us for $1.50, we would still be paying $55 a month.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that ISP rates may actually be negotiable. I called to cancel an AT&T Uverse installation appointment and they offered to lower the monthly rates in order to try to keep us from sticking with cable.

I should really call the cable place to see what they would be willing to do to keep us from switching to Uverse. :)
 
TooFrugal said:
One thing to keep in mind is that ISP rates may actually be negotiable. I called to cancel an AT&T Uverse installation appointment and they offered to lower the monthly rates in order to try to keep us from sticking with cable.

I should really call the cable place to see what they would be willing to do to keep us from switching to Uverse. :)
Click to expand...

I agree. Call your ISP. I assume its Bell South or ATT and tell them you are going to drop dsl and all phone services and go cable/cell phone if they cannot offer a better deal.
 
FD, we pay about $20/month for 6 Mbps down DSL. That's a special rate for 12 months, after 12 months it goes up $35 I believe. I've had DSL for almost 5 years with very few problems. In some areas, there seems to be multiple DSL providers. As others have mentioned, a quick call is all that is necessary to lower the rate. I've also never had to sign a contract; the $20/month is month-to-month.
 
LOL! said:
...........switch the phone from unlimited local to metered outgoing local (50 cents a call) and unlimited incoming. This latter thing might be called a "SafeLine" in your area..............
Click to expand...

I just checked and in my area you have to be certifiably poor - on food stamps, 150% of poverty, etc to get Lifeline service. Drat!
 
FIREdreamer said:
She is also thinking about dropping her landline and use exclusively her new, supercheap prepaid T-mobile plan (another great ER.org tip).
Click to expand...

Careful - that super-cheap plan gets expensive quickly if you use a lot of minutes. It's great for low minute users, a $100 refill gets you a 1000 min good for a year and 'Gold Status'. After that $10 refills (35 minutes) are good for a year.

Does she really use her landline so little that this will work? A couple half-hour chats a week add up quick. Plus you have to find Internet that is cheap w/o a bundles phone service.

-ERD50
 
Check with your cable company. Where I live they offer different levels of internet service, the cheapest is $19/month and the speed is pretty decent.
 
I have naked DSL (what a name) for $19.95 a month from Bellsouth/ATT in rural SC. I don't think we can get cable out here, but I am not sure as we don't have TV.
 
Hot Spotting! Our internet service is f r e e. A wireless provider was expanding in our area. I offered free roof space for their small antenna in exchange for free access. Now entering year three with no problems.
 
My internet is also expensive. There is no competition. I'm too far from a telco to get DSL so only cable, satellite and dial up are available. Satellite has too high of a latency and dial up is too slow!
 
jdw_fire said:
check out virgin mobiles new mifi plans. the unlimited plan is $40/mo no contract. and if your mom really doesnt use the internet much maybe she will be good with their $10/mo plan. MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot | Virgin Mobile
Click to expand...


This is really a good deal for travelers. The only downside I see is having to use the Sprint network (no roaming on other peoples networks). I don't know how good their coverage is out in the boonies.

To emphasize what you said above, the service is unlimited, you can have I believe up to four users on the "hotspot."
 
For the past three years I've been using a Sprint 3G aircard but they yanked the rug from under those of us who originally had a grandfathered unlimited plan. I said goodbye to Sprint and went to another source for internet at the house but recently purchased a Virgin Mobile aircard for our RV trips. As Martha points out, it does have limits as it uses only the Sprint network and won't allow roaming.

My first real test of how it works for me will start tomorrow when we head out on a trip.
 
I just checked the At&T/BellSouth website and they offer a low end DSL plan whose regular price is $20 a month. But they do have plans with regular pricing of $43 per month for 6Mbps service. Suspect your mom is on one of the higher priced plans and, if desired to cut cost, drop down to a lower speed/priced plan.

Though now in NW PA, lived in Huntsville for over 20 years. It's a great place to live.

RE2Boys
 
Start with the lower speed--she'll never notice the difference! I have it, called DSL lite, and it is just fine for $19.95 a month.
 
Consider this...she can leverage the broadband connection cost with a VOIP telephone service.

The wife calls her aging mother in Sweden 2x per week for 1-1.5 hours at a clip for a flat fee of $10/month.
 
So, it looks like Sprint finally decided that its network bandwidth could not hack all that youtube music video traffic from this forum, and to renege on the original "all you can eat" deal...;)

REWahoo said:
For the past three years I've been using a Sprint 3G aircard but they yanked the rug from under those of us who originally had a grandfathered unlimited plan...
Click to expand...
 
I've been flipping back and forth between BellSouth/AT&T and TimeWarner.

When AT&T and BellSouth merged, they were required by terms of the agreement to offer $10/mo DSL. But as I was a current BellSouth customer, I had to quit for 6 months before I was entitled to it. So I switched to TimerWarner, taking advantage of a $15/mo "special" (that jumped to $45/mo after 12 months). So before the price jump, *I* jumped back over to AT&T and got the $10/mo DSL light.

But the most current thing, and the point I wanted to make, which agrees with other folks here, is that you need to call your ISP and be persistent.

When my $10/mo DSL light expired, they put me on $15/mo DSL VERY light (as in "really slow"). When I asked the first time to get the 12 month special price on DSL extreme (3.0 Mbit), they wanted to charge me like $40/mo. I threatened to call TimeWarner and hung up. Then I followed an advertisement link for the $15 DSL extreme, and instead of a bean counter, I started talking to a marketing person. All the difference! They said, well, we don't usually do this, but since you are asking specifically for this.... So now I've got at least 12 more months of reasonably fast DSL at $15/mo!

--Dale--
 
Thank y'all. MIL decided to go with AT&T/Bellsouth 's DSL lite. It's $14.95/month for the first 12 months and $19.95/month thereafter. I am trying to sell her on VOIP, but I think she wants to keep her landline for now.
 
You have to have a landline to get DSL don't you? We dumped our landline a few years ago, so DSL would cost us more than a cable modem (far faster), when you add phone service (was costing us $32/mo or more) plus DSL. If this is no longer true, please advise, I'm not thrilled with paying $46/mo for internet access...
 
Midpack - you do need a land-line in the sense that you need the physical telephone wires to your house in order to get DSL service, but you don't necessarily need phone service on that line in order to have DSL. DSL without phone service on the line is called dry loop DSL.

My local phone company (AT&T) offers basic speed dry loop dsl for 19.95/month.
Ask your company if they offer it. They don't usually go out of their way to promote it but it's probably there if you ask.
 
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