Maybe this is just where I live, but I have found that my phone company more or less offers the same deals (such as they are) to everyone. It's nothing super fantastic, but it's a price I'm willing to pay and it's reasonably consistent over time. I originally got my phone/internet service through Qwest, which offered me service at what turned out to be a pretty consistent rate. They got bought out by Centurylink a couple years ago, and since my monthly rate was kind of creeping up and my internet had become quite slow (since I hadn't changed my service in a few years and available internet speeds are faster than they used to be), I looked into what I could get if I switched plans.
Ultimately, I ended up with roughly 5x faster internet for about $10/month less than I was paying before (and everything else stayed the same). As far as I can tell, that's pretty much exactly what a brand new customer would be able to get, and the plan has some sort of price-lock guarantee for 5 years. I do pay kind of a lot for phone service, since I have unlimited long distance, but it's cheaper than the cell phone plan I ditched a year ago (in favor of a prepaid cell phone).
Comcast, on the other hand, is like highway robbery in comparison. They offer a $99/month for phone, internet, and cable, but only for new customers, and only for 6 months. They start charging more like $250/month after that introductory price, and I get the feeling they don't offer much in the way of deals to existing customers. I didn't (and don't) want to pay for cable or satellite anyway, so I considered going through Comcast for roughly 5 minutes before I went with the phone company instead.
Topic: "I'm never shopping THERE again!" Share your story! (Read 1964221 times)