Money Crashers: How to Save Money With Your High-Speed Internet Service Provider

Regular readers of this blog will know that over the years, Brian and I have had a fair amount of trouble with our Internet service.

There are two and only two broadband providers available in our area: Optimum (formerly Cablevision) and Verizon. At our old apartment, we had Verizon DSL, so when we bought this house, we initially tried to set up the same service here. For nearly a month, Verizon gave us the runaround, telling me every time I called that our service would be activated "in a day or two." In the meantime, I had to limp along with an antiquated dial-up connection, supplemented by piggybacking on our neighbors' connections when I could. Then, at the end of the month, Verizon sent a message to say, "Sorry, we don't have DSL" in your area and summarily cut off even the dial-up access I'd had up to that point. So I had to hastily set up an account with Optimum, which we've had ever since. In 2013, we transferred our phone service to them as well after our Verizon landline became unreliable (and the company, after putting us off for a week, failed to show up for its appointment to do the repair, without even attempting to notify us).

However, in the ten years we've been with Optimum, I've often had my doubts about whether we're really getting our money's worth. I was already questioning our decision in 2014, just one year after we'd switched, when our introductory rate ran out and I realized that we could save over $500 a year by switching both phone and Internet back to Verizon. I questioned it still more in 2015, when Optimum raised our rates yet again right around the same time Verizon showed up at our door to announce that its Fios service (faster and more reliable than our cable connection) was now available in our area. I was actually on the point of switching earlier this year, but changed my mind after reading about how Verizon was one of the ISPs behind a big push to end net neutrality protections—and Optimum was one of the few ISPs that wasn't. (The company has since implied that it will continue to refrain from blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization of content, but it's made no explicit promises.)

But just recently, Optimum raised our rates yet again, from $105 to $115 a month. Verizon, meanwhile, is willing and even eager to offer us a gigabit connection, plus TV and phone service, all for $87 a month. Or, we could get the cheaper 100Mbps connection - still much faster than what we have right now - plus voice service for $70 a month (if we purchase the router instead of renting it). And given that Verizon actually gets higher marks for customer service than Optimum, and given that Optimum hasn't really promised to maintain open Internet protections on its service, is it worth an extra $540 a year?

I haven't decided yet what's best for us, and I know from past experience that trying to negotiate with Optimum is unlikely to get me a better deal. But what hasn't worked for me could still work for you.

So in my latest Money Crashers article, I offer some advice on how to get a lower rate on Internet service. I discuss such strategies as looking for subsidies (which only works if your income is below a certain level), comparison shopping, negotiating with your provider, cutting your Internet speed, and dropping unnecessary extras.

How to Save Money With Your High-Speed Internet Service Provider

I even learned, while researching this article, about one other option that I might try: hiring a company that will negotiate with your ISP for you. If they succeed in getting you a lower rate, they take half your savings for the first year as their payment; if they don't, it costs you nothing. Given that I wasn't able to get anything out of Optimum when I tried negotiating by myself, it seems I have nothing to lost by letting one of these companies give it a try. If they succeed where I failed, I'll save money, and if not, I won't have wasted either time or money in the attempt.