FiOS is playing hardball and want to increase rate

[Joe1]

My two year promotional agreement with FiOS has expired. They don't really want to negotiate much and seemed indifferent if I switch back to cable. My rate will increase by 45 ollars a month if I do not enter into another 2 year agreement.

When I had cable,they didn't want to negotiate much until l told them I had FiOS installed. Suddenly they offered me a reasonable deal,but it was too late by that time.

For me,l am happy with internet only,but the wife enjoys television.

How should I negotiate with them for a better rate? I wanted to keep my current service and rate but they insisted on an increase with a 2 year agreement and a hefty increase without a new contract.

I'm leaning towards having cable installed again to get the promotional rate and saying goodbye to Verizon once my cable is installed. I would prefer to get Verizon to match the cable introductory rate to avoid the hassle of switching providers,but they won't budge.

Any advice is welcome.

 

[Greasymechtech]

Cancel the service now.
Wait 30 days, and call for a special.

If you can't live with tv/internet for 30 days, you have bigger problems than your cable/fios bill.

 

[Joe1]

Unfortunately, the wife and l work from home often and need internet at a minimum.

 

[HerrStig]

Buy an antenna for HDTV, and tell the FIOS droids you will have to reduce your service level to be able to afford basic FIOS. They'll likely transfer you to the "Customer retention department" to see if something can be worked out to keep you. Also check with the cable company to see how "happy" they'll be to get you back. If you live close enough to NYC there ought to be a lot of over the air TV to watch.

 

[AZjeff]

You seem to be driven by price only, you haven't mentioned the level of services of either. Go with the lowest price and understand you'll be doing this every 2 years.

 

[Donald]

I do not think Verizon is doing much with FiOS as its just too difficult to run fiber to every home or apt.

The future is either going to be wireless or DSL using G.Fast which is a new standard for DSL. DSL only requires a pair of copper phone wires.

 

[hatt]

Seems pretty simple. Tell Fios what you're going to pay them. If they don't take it go with cable. Then keep switching every year or two. A lot of people don't have access to both cable internet and Fios. Get your wife an antenna along with a Roku/Fire stick/etc and ditch the cable TV. That's just burning money.

 

[bubbatime]

I call my cable company every year and ask for the retention or cancellation department. They have more leeway and ability to adjust your bill than an average customer service rep does. Tell them you received an advertisement from Dish/Cox/Brighthouse (whatever competing service services you area) with a much lower price than you are paying and you are going to switch services unless they adjust your bill. They adjust my bill down $50-$80/month every time I ask them to. You just have to threaten to cancel sometimes.

Another option is to switch to a competing service and than back every 12 months so you are always in the promotion rate.

 

[oilmutt]

Please, what does FiOS stand for ?

 

[djb]

Originally Posted By: Greasymechtech

If you can't live with tv/internet for 30 days, you have bigger problems than your cable/fios bill.


You can also live without running water, indoor plumbing, a phone, clean clothes, electricity, heat, or a house.

I would find it difficult to keep my job if I didn't have internet service. Going to a library or coffeeshop won't substitute.

 

[sleddriver]

You should ONLY be talking to a rep from the Cust. Retention Dept. When you get there, ask for their DIRECT number and only use it. If you're not satisfied with their offers, ask for a supervisor at the next level up. They (usually) have more strings to pull, getting you a better deal.

I have to play this game regularly with ATT....

 

[crazyoildude]

I severed all ties between myself and anything Verizon they are always the the highest priced everything period!

 

[ARCOgraphite]

You may want to get a 4g hot spot for about $50 a month. and go to OTA HDTV for the local channels if you live near the transmitter.

see about hotspots (portable 4gLTE wifi)

You can also use your phone as a wifi if it advanced, likely.

 

[Greasymechtech]

Was the internet for work mentioned in the 1st post?

And, don't change the topic. Nothing mentioned about running water, indoor plumbing, phone, clean clothes, heat, electricity, housing..... Useless debating with topic changing zombies or thread lacking specifics.

Get a 4G LTE hotspot. Will make your break away from Fios easier while you switch to cable or whatever. I'd keep it as a backup since Fios and cable still have some teething issues.

Its just as easy to run Fios to the house as it was to run that corroded resistive twisted pair. Verizon understands that even the fancy Fios is tethered to an obsolete umbilical cord(whether coax, fiber, twisted pair is irrevlevant) since wireless growth is where Verizon's investment has been. Not sure if the payback is there to run fiber everywhere without gov't subsidies(even though the telecom's collected those subsidies for years).

Does Verizon still have any employees? Was over a decade ago when they started slowly 'contracting' everything out to low paid call centers, contract techs, and don't care about nothin' workers(2 tier pay). If you don't get a caring US Verizon employee, even a 'retention dept' could be hopeless contract call center or foreigner. VZ could call it the 'abandonment dept'.

 

[rshaw125]

If you both work from home you either expense or take a deduction on the yearly price.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
You may want to get a 4g hot spot for about $50 a month. and go to OTA HDTV for the local channels if you live near the transmitter.

see about hotspots (portable 4gLTE wifi)

You can also use your phone as a wifi if it advanced, likely.

4G for your home internet sucks if you have other options. My brother has a couple Verizon unlimited lines he uses for internet. He's always complaining. I borrowed one with a Jetpack to see how it worked; I couldn't wait to get roadrunner hooked back up. 15/1 cable runs all over the much faster Verizon LTE for general usage.

 

[OneEyeJack]

This is beginning to sound like a junkie dealing with the corner dealer and trying not to sweat or shake during the transaction.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: Joe1
My two year promotional agreement with FiOS has expired. They don't really want to negotiate much and seemed indifferent if I switch back to cable. My rate will increase by 45 ollars a month if I do not enter into another 2 year agreement.

When I had cable,they didn't want to negotiate much until l told them I had FiOS installed. Suddenly they offered me a reasonable deal,but it was too late by that time.

For me,l am happy with internet only,but the wife enjoys television.

How should I negotiate with them for a better rate? I wanted to keep my current service and rate but they insisted on an increase with a 2 year agreement and a hefty increase without a new contract.

I'm leaning towards having cable installed again to get the promotional rate and saying goodbye to Verizon once my cable is installed. I would prefer to get Verizon to match the cable introductory rate to avoid the hassle of switching providers,but they won't budge.

Any advice is welcome.


Call cable. Set up new service. Call Verizon, cancel service 1 day after cable install. Done.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Joe1
For me,l am happy with internet only,but the wife enjoys television.


I would "dig deep" within yourselves to determine exactly what level of service you can live with, and then figure out how to get there.

We used to have cable, but we do watch TV. My wife enjoys a few of the evening drama shows (like Bones or House or whatever those are called) and I like watching things like Top Gear and live sports (college football, mostly, but also golf on summer Sunday afternoons). We wanted to get rid of cable TV, but we wanted to be able to still watch some TV.

The solution for us was to install an aerial antenna (it's up in our attic), reduce our cable subscription to internet only (which is currently $55 for 50 down/5 up), and then fill in some of the gaps with Netflix and Hulu. We use both Netflix and Hulu, and our total monthly bill for the lot is $71.

We own our equipment (antenna, Rokus, cable modem, router), so those costs are already paid.

I would first decide, if you are driven by cost, what the lowest level of service is that you will accept. Then, we can offer suggestions based on our experience on how to get there.

 

[oggb]

I've never had any luck attempting to haggle prices with Verizon -- they've always been more than happy to say "We have appreciated your business -- on what date would you like to have your service disconnected?"

Comcast seems to try pretty hard to keep you as a customer.