Why New Cord Cutters Pay Too Much for Internet It’s the part of cord cutting people talk about the least—internet service. Sure you can cut cable and shed yourself of your overpriced bundle of channels, but odds are, you’re going to still need internet service. With 75 million people subscribing to Netflix (that’s not even counting all of those who bum passwords from their friends), there’s pretty much no way around it. You need internet service to stream.

And for most people, that means going back to the cable company you just cut ties with and making a deal with the devil, so to speak. You can probably guess what comes next. The spurned cable company will gladly take you back, but not without changing up the deal. Sure, they’ll give you standalone internet service, but it will come at a price. “I currently have the ATT Uverse package, and I'm cutting the TV and phone services,” one of my CutCableToday.com readers wrote to me. “They now want to increase my internet cost from $14.95 per month to $47 per month!” So what’s a cord cutter to do? Do you have to just bite the bullet and pay? Not necessarily. When you cut the cord, the first thing the cable company will try to do is push you to upgrade your internet speeds. Comcast’s retention guide instructs reps to push for it if customers insist on cutting cable. Verizon has been caught telling customers they need faster internet to make Netflix run more smoothly. But do you really need faster internet to stream when you cut the cord? Not likely. (There’s a reason cable companies are the least liked of any US industry.) In general, you need about 5 Mbps to stream Netflix and similar services in decent quality. Of course, if you plan on doing anything else online while you’re streaming, you’ll need some wiggle room. And if you want to stream on more than one device at a time, you should figure you need 5 Mbps per stream. But if Verizon is trying to convince you to go from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps, don’t do it. Think about how many people you have in your home that will be streaming and estimate your speed needs. Odds are, you’ll be able to get by with much slower internet than what they’re trying to push on you. And remember, if you find out you need faster internet, you can always upgrade later. Now, full disclosure, you’re still going to pay a bit more for internet service if it’s not bundled into a package with TV and home phone. However, you’ll still save plenty once it’s all said and done. You also have to remember that those bundled prices won’t last forever—the promo will run out, and you’re price will undoubtedly rise. Now, full disclosure, you’re still going to pay a bit more for internet service if it’s not bundled into a package with TV and home phone. However, you’ll still save plenty once it’s all said and done. You also have to remember that those bundled prices won’t last forever—the promo will run out, and you’re price will undoubtedly rise.







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Most recommended from 60 comments

wkm001

join:2009-12-14 18 recommendations wkm001 Member Worry about yo-self Lets say you spend $100 a month on tv and internet. If you get rid of the $60 tv portion your bill is still $60 for just internet. Is it fair? No. Is the perceived value still there? No.



But you are still saving $40 a month! Once again a little friendly competition would solve all of this. sandman_1

join:2011-04-23

11111 16 recommendations sandman_1 Member Cable And I have always said, once you cut cable TV, you probably won't ever go back. I have sales' reps buzz my house from AT&T and TWC all the time. No matter what special they are running at that time, it isn't nearly as cheap as what I am paying now. I know, at least in my case, they have lost a customer for life. My kids are growing up without Cable TV and commercials. I suspect when they get out on their own, they won't pay for Cable TV either. It is a grim future for these Cable companies and it is of their own doing.

Anon8417a

@teksavvy.com 12 recommendations Anon8417a Anon What I learned reading this Adding internet to a tv package is cheap, because it's costs them nothing to use the same line to provide the signal.



Remove the tv and suddenly the price shoots up, not because the cost went up, but because they want to make the same amount of profit off your service.



Competition would definitely do away with this, and I mean real competition, not the lip service wireless vs wired BS shills are always chirping on. tmc8080

join:2004-04-24

Brooklyn, NY 4 recommendations tmc8080 Member of course it's a ripoff.. both telco & cable should be offering 100mbits symmetrical by now for under $40 a month and gigabit for under $100.. but if wishes were horses..

borked

Cheese With That Whine?

Premium Member

join:2003-08-10

North Fort Myers, FL 4 recommendations borked Premium Member Sometimes it's cheaper with basic TV If you have Comcast you can actually get Internet at a cheaper price if you also have basic TV service. I wanted Internet only but they offered me Internet + Basic TV for $20 less per month than stand alone Internet. My STB sits in my closet unused.

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA 4 recommendations ctaranto Member Not in my case... I had VZ FiOS triple play (TV, Internet, Phone). I never used the phone part (have independent VoIP service), but the package was cheaper than without phone. Go figure.



My bill was $280/month, including 3 HD/DVR box rentals, taxes, fees, etc.



Dumping TV and Phone and keeping my Internet service the same (75/75), my bill dropped to $85. Being out of a 2 year commitment, I called and asked them for any promotions. They dropped my bill to $60/month.



With the $220/month I'm saving, I was able to get a nasty antenna, mounted it in the attic, bought an HDHomerun, and now have broadcast + DVR on those same TVs. Plus Netflix and Prime. I paid for everything with less than two months of savings.

davidc502

join:2002-03-06

Mount Juliet, TN 3 recommendations davidc502 Member 2 years and is slowly catching up with me 2 years ago I cut the cord and went from around 130 + tax (TV and Internet) to about 50 including tax (Internet Only 50mbps unlimited). This was a 2 year deal.



Well, after 2 years, I'm not saving nearly as much as I used to. Now that my 2 year deal is up, I'm paying around 90 dollars a month including taxes for 100mbps and basic TV to which I do not use. Why did I bump up? Because it was 1 dollar more for 100mbps+TV, than 50mbps internet only service.



So, I went from saving around 1000 dollars a year down to 500. It appears companies have worked hard to find out ways to extract the lost revenue though one's primary was of watching TV is over the internet.