I’m so pumped about this I’m posting it. I get cable TV and Internet from Comcast. This month the price was nudged upwards again. Now that my bill broke the $150 mark I was reminded of all the things that enrage me about Comcast. I don’t get OnDemand like everyone else because I live in a 550 MHz ghetto and there’s no word of any upgrade work being done. Actually the rumor I did hear was that Comcast had no intention of upgrading my cable system. They were going to wait for the analog channel switchover to free up bandwidth instead of laying more cable. I still only have 9 HD channels but only 2 of them really count. One of them is HBO but I don’t pay for any premium channels so I don’t see this. Another is Fox Sports Net but this only shows Warriors games so it’s off the air pretty much all the time. That is such a waste of bandwidth. Five of the HD channels are available OTA for free. All I need is to buy a $30 in-door antenna and I could watch all of those. Actually if I did that I would be able to get an additional OTA HD channel that Comcast doesn’t provide.

I called in to Comcast to ask for any available deals. I did some homework first, picking out a new DSL provider for Internet and a cheaper DirectTV plan for TV. You can’t bargain if you don’t know what else is out there after all. I read online that it’s a mistake to straight up ask to be disconnected. If you do that you run a good chance of getting a CSR who will simply take down your cancellation date without any bargaining. So I opened up with “I received a mailer from DirectTV and I was thinking about switching. Do you have any deals available that I could sign up with instead?” There the negotiations began.

First we discussed the alternatives I was considering. The CSR then offered me the Comcast Triple Play – Cable, Internet and Phone for $100. That actually would have been an improvement for me but my knee-jerk reaction was to tell her I don’t have a phone. I gave it up months ago and switched to my cell phone. So then we talked about what I would do for Internet. She mentioned I already had a discount applied to my Internet service. That was news to me because I was already paying $43 for that. I ignored it though and mentioned the price I had from a DSL provider named Sonic. They offered 6 Mbits for $33. That led to another conversation about phone service.

To be honest I had no idea if I would be required to get phone service if I signed up with Sonic. That didn’t really matter though because the CSR made me a pretty sweet offer. She lowered my bill from $150 to $91 and she threw in Starz for 6 months. Now that’s an awesome deal. That’s less money than what I was paying when I first signed up in 2001. My last bill will be prorated and Starz should work immediately.

Before I got off the phone I made sure I gave her a good thank you. She must take a lot of abuse in that job because she stopped to thank me for that thank you. As soon as I got off the line I checked my TV. Not only did she give me Starz, but now I have HBO and the HBO HD channel! Remember when you’re on the phone with a CSR, politeness pays.