Fed up with High Phone and DSL Bills and AT&T

[Wild Bill]

I have Cellular service with US Cellular 3 phones 1000 shared Minutes for $98/Month out the Door. I have AT&T Home Phone and DSL Internet Service, A 2nd Line and Pay around $125/month for that. I am looking to cut this total down to something reasonable. At just over $225 per month and never getting a promised gift card rebate for a new modem (they seem to only last about a year) I have had it with At&t. Any suggestions from the internet savy group here. I am open to suggestions. I have been happy with US cellular, I have been impressed and changed over to them 2 years ago since they set up portable truck cell towers at large car shows and other events to handle the added demand and coverage in areas that are sometimes remote for good service. Send me a pm, are the "package Deals" as advertised or should I keep things seperate. Any advise from your personal experiences would be appreciated. The Christmas season promotions are just around the corner. Bill

[steve smoot]

We have AT&T DSL, Extreme 3.0 and unlimited long distance. It cost us $106 per month, which I feel is a bit high too. I will be interested in the responses you get from other members.

[Juneaudave]

I always figure in the cable/sat tv when comparing options. It's frustrating to have cell/internet/home phone/TV costs so high...

[Miriam C.]

Bundle package at home with Cable One = $75.... phone, cable and internet router....

We are switching to Verizon for cell....Sprint needs to get with it..

[asianflava]

Start off easy, call AT&T and tell them that you don't want to pay that price anymore and want see what they can do.

Check your cable company (the only other viable alternative) to see what they offer. I had AT&T DSL when I was in TX and switched to Comcast bundled service when we moved to CO. The Comcast package is a much better deal.

[EffieRover]

We ditched our land lines a couple of years ago and transferred the land line number to my cell phone. (Number portability - they have to do it for you) Saves us a decent amount. Just be sure your phone has the 911 locater on it. Most modern phones do.

Every six months, I call DirecTV and RoadRunner and ask for the cancellations department. I tell them I am canceling because of the high price and they offer me a discount. Haven't paid more than $35/mo for high-speed cable internet and $60/mo for satellite TV w/Sirius radio & DVR included in years. Sometimes much less, but only for six months or so.

Some people go with bundling, but I can't stand the pricing / functionality of DirecTV's internet and won't go with RoadRunner TV because of outages and DVR pricing. So I wheel & deal ...

Hope that helps.

[rebapuck]

I'm not happy paying $95/mo for RR, basic cable and unlimited phone from TimeWarner. Before I bundled, I paid less than $15 for basic cable. So I know that I'm now paying $40/mo each for RR and phone. Not much of a deal to me.

My cell phone is carried for emergencies only. I pay $98/yr from Tracfone.

[Cliffmeister2000]

I am dumping my landline, building one of these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

and dumping cable, and reducing my internet to 256kbps.

I will be down to $50 for my cellphone, and $29 for internet.

[myoung]

... don't forget to ask your carrier about discounts that may be available. I got a 15% discount from AT&T.

[Wild Bill]

Already Called At&t for a better "deal" and they offered me a "$100 rebate" I am still waiting for a "gift card rebate" on my At&t modem that if you look at the blogs, At&t is the worst for making deals that they have no intention of keeping. There "rebate" is not a check but a debit card only good for a limited time with lots of hoops to jump thru to use, that is IF you actually get it. I am ready to tell them to Shove it but I want to find a reliable provider before I dump them. I have been very happy with U.S. Cellular, I have been with 2 other providers and Have better coverage and fewer dropped calls and like I said they set up at the big events so every customers phone works. There are only a couple of companies who seem to have a monopoly on the service,

[youandi]

If your phone carrier is AT&T and the only thing your using them for is the hard line and DSL (internet), you can request a data "ONLY" hard line. The hard line will have no dial tone, you will not be able to talk on the line, but your high speed internet will work. You will not be charged for the hard line, you'll only be charged for the internet service. Our phone cost went from $85.00 ($40.00 for phone line & $45.00 for High-Speed Internet service) to $19.95 per month for their highest speed internet service. AT&T will hold the price for 12 months, after 12 months you have to renew the pricing again. The bad thing is, you will pay regular price for 3 months and only then will they will issue a credit toward your account. The only reason for AT&T to make you wait for your credit (IMO) is they can hold you hostage, so you won't leave their network. I just don't understand why they don't just give you the price up front. I just went through this with AT&T last week, very aggravating. The other thing you can do is go with SPRINT and their new mobile hot spot device, if your in a Sprint 4G network area, you can get their mobile hot spot device and get un-limited internet service (NO USAGE CAP) and can be completely mobile at $60.00 per month. We are looking into this now.

Prices may vary across the country, hope this helps!

[Lou Park]

We are switching to Verizon for cell....Sprint needs to get with it..

I just dumped verizon after years of service. It was taking up to 2 weeks to get voice mails. Having a child trying to get a hold of you with their service was just plain dangerous.

[starleen2]

"cancel" is the key word with ATT&T - we found ourselves with a $200.00 (NOT ATT&T) cell phone bill in addition to our land line with DSL service from ATT&T (another $107.00 monthly). We would rarely use the land line for phone calls since most calls we make are from the cell phone - so why the need?, right? I called to "cancel everything except the DSL service. After explaining why I just wanted to cancel everything except DSL, the customer service agent offered me basic line service at $5.00 per month AND a discounted DSL rate. Now I pay less that what i was was paying for DSL along and still keep the land line for others to call me if needed ( I have some church people who still do the land line thing) MY ATT&T bill is now $25.00

[Cliffmeister2000]

My land line basic service is $11 and change. However, when all the fees and taxes are added, it is well over $26. And, we don't use it. It's going away.

[Arne]

got bundle from comcast cable. very high speed internet (no waiting at all), expanded cable tv, land line phone with call waiting, call forwarding, caller id for $113.00 including tax.

Since I only use my cell phone for making calls (I don't need people calling me all the time), I use tracfone for $99.00 per year with 450 minutes... it rolls over every year and I now have 2,000 unused minutes.

I play pool and have had to wait while the person shooting has to stop to take a cell phone call from their wife or some other person who just has to talk to them that very moment. As you might gather, I consider most cell phone users a pain in the ass.