Cable companies are starting to notice the move to Internet only. Even big companies, such as Comcast, now have more customers with Internet than customers with their TV service.
To fight this movement, and in an effort to recover some lost revenue, cable companies are starting to add more fees to their service.
Let’s take a look at Comcast as an example of the costs:
Modem Rental: $10/month
Unlimited Internet: $35/month
Modem Rental Tax: $2/month
Total: $47 every month!
The good news is you have options to pay a little less.
First the Modem Rental fee can be eliminated by buying your own modem. Many modems that work for Comcast start at about $50 and go up to about $100 with Wi-Fi. The best part is that by buying a modem you also stop getting the rental tax some states, such as Texas, add that averages about $2 a month.
Total savings so far: $12 a month.
Now the big one, the unlimited Internet fee of $35 a month. This applies to markets where Comcast is enforcing their 300GB data cap. (Note: Comcast seems to be slowly expanding their enforcement of the data cap so even if you live in an area without it pay attention here.)
300GB is a very low level of data use for a cord cutter—you can easily go over that just by streaming Netflix in HD for a few hours every day before we even get to emails, gaming, and music.
Comcast does offer an unlimited option that is cheaper for many people. Do you work from home even a few nights? Maybe you should look at the Comcast business class Internet that is data cap free and, for many, will be less expensive than their current plan.
You may ask why don’t you just switch ISPs? Sadly, many do not have this option, and the two largest DSL providers both aggressively enforce their data caps.
So look over your bill and make sure you are not paying unnecessary fees that you can easily work to eliminate.
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