This week my wife and I officially moved in to our new home. Naturally, in order to stay current with first world technology, we needed to have an internet connection installed to the house. This entry is a story about how that went…

In the city of Spokane, WA there are really only two choices when it comes to internet: Comcast or CenturyLink. There are a couple satellite internet providers in the city, but they have much slower bandwidth at not very competitive costs so we ruled them out as viable options. Between the two land line options Comcast offers faster speeds but is generally more expensive. CenturyLink is the opposite: slower speeds, but is generally more affordable. After getting some advice by some friends at my place of employment my wife and I decided to go with Comcast as our ISP (Internet Service Provider).

I’ve lived in Spokane long enough to understand that Comcast employees enjoy playing a pricing game, but I was definitely not expecting the monkey shine my wife was about to experience with the sales representatives over the phone.

My wife and I determined together the optimum speed for us to pay for would be the 50 Mbps speed. My wife called Comcast’s 1-800 (toll free) phone number in order to determine pricing for said speed in our area. Why didn’t she check online? Well, she did, but she decide to call to see if she could get any better offers. The first “offer” she received from the phone person was $39.99 per month for the 50 Mbps. She explained to the employee that the offer sounded reasonable, but she will have to talk to her husband before entering the contract and that she would call them back in order to finalize the deal. So, she talks to me and I give her the OK to proceed making the deal. She then calls back Comcast. She is now speaking to a second person. The second person she talks to informs her that the deal she was just offered is not actually available, but she could get 50 Mbps for $49.99 per month ($10 per month more than the last offer). She’s not too satiated with the apparent miscommunication between Comcast employees. Again she decided to talk to me before we entered into a more expensive contract, so she told the person on the phone she would call them back. After she informed me of the developments I was a bit frustrated. I asked her why they couldn’t make good on the first offer they provided and asked her to call them (a third time) to ask for the first offer of $39.99.

She calls again, a third time, this time the man on the phone said he could not provide anything cheaper than $104.99 per month for the 50 Mbps speed. At this point my wife has caught on to Comcasts price game. She told the man she will call [him] back; so she hangs up and calls back. The price is now $45.99. Finally, she calls a fifth time. The price is now very affordable, $34.99 for 50 Mbps. “STAY!” I proclaimed, and she sealed the deal.

Everything that you have read above is true. I didn’t make it up or exaggerate the events in order to a good story. Getting a good price for internet from Comcast is quite literally like playing the lottery. Just keep calling back and getting new sales representatives until you get a price you want to pay. Obviously the sales reps will only go so low, but at least you can determine the range of prices they will offer from multiple calls.

Hopefully his experience will help those who are moving their residence to a new location. Play it smart! Call back.