4 ms·

I don't play this game personally, but where I live in Canada, it seems that the main internet providers (Bell and Rogers) each offer heavy discounts if you bug

I don't play this game personally, but where I live in Canada, it seems that the main internet providers (Bell and Rogers) each offer heavy discounts if you bug them enough and threaten to switch. A year later your temporary discount expires, and you play the game again. We still have alternate ISPs that the above two have to share their last mile infrastructure with, and mine has no-BS pricing and policies so I stick with them. But a friend who does play the game routinely gets his internet access cheaper. Rogers is really offering heavy discounts in streets where Bell has just installed their fiber-to-the-home stuff.

ev1 5y ago
What the hell is Bell offering? FTTH? FTT neighbourhood then copper? The product is called "Fibe" but their lowest plan is 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up? What on earth type of optics even offers that?
- nick__m 5y ago
  Fibe is an umbrella marketing term. In my neighborhood, they offer FFTN then copper , a few blocks away it's FTTH (speedtest at 900M down 800M up). In both case they call the service Fibe and charge a similar price .
  - ev1 5y ago
    That explains a bit. Also very on point for Bell to advertise copper as "fibe"...
    - mthoms 5y ago
      In the West, Shaw is getting sued by Telus for calling their service "Fiber+" even though the "last mile" is copper. https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/06/12/telus-shaw-lawsuit-misleading-fibre-ads/ https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/06/12/telus-shaw-lawsuit-mislea...
- MarkusWandel 5y ago
  Bell markets FTTN (i.e. VDSL) as "Fibe" and FTTH as "Fibre". Not the most ingenious branding IMHO. I'm on 15/10 FTTN and have no reason to go faster (it tops out at 50 down). Bell's new FTTH offering (conduits being buried on my street as I write this) starts at Can$85 for the lowest practical tier (150M and unlimited). Their nominal cheapest tier ($55) only gets you 100G/month which is a joke. Rogers offered my friend $39/month for 500M unlimited on his street, where Bell's FTTH service is already live.
fotta 5y ago
This is a yearly ritual for my family on Comcast/Xfinity. The promotional offer ends, you call and say you want to cancel, get sent to customer retention, and re-up on the promo. I'm pretty sure they know the game since it's so common.
- ryandrake 5y ago
  Careful with that! I once called up to do that retention routine and got a surprise. “Hi, I want to cancel because the regular rate is too expensive.” “Ok, sir hang on, I will put you in touch with someone.” So then I’m thinking yesss, retention team is going to get me the discount... Then I hear: “Ok, sir, we have canceled your service as of today, your final bill will come in a few days.” Me: “uhhhh wait...”
  - fotta 5y ago
    Oh wow yikes. I've never not had the IVR send me to retention by saying "cancel service" to the bot.
  - colanderman 5y ago
    This has been my experience too (as mentioned in a cousin comment), albeit in an area with competition, so (thankfully) no loss to me other than time. Must be a new national strategy.
- SyzygistSix 5y ago
  This has never worked for me, despite me always being kind and considerate to the phone support workers.
colanderman 5y ago
So, I have the amazing luck of having three wired broadband providers on my street in the US (Comcast, RCN, and Verizon FiOS). Competition is fierce and prices are low, yet, having attempted the above trick twice now (RCN -> Comcast, Comcast -> RCN), both times the reps I called were sufficiently clueless to not try to offer me a discount incentive to stay despite my plain wording that I was switching to get a better price. And both times, I was contacted by a rep after I switched, basically asking, "why did you leave? we could have given you discount X!" Like... someone in their offices is clueless that the competition is very real in my area and that they need to empower/train their customer service reps to actually offer discounts to stay. Regardless we've been able to keep low prices just by actually switching. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they never get the idea to collude with each other.
- a1369209993 5y ago
  > I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they never get the idea to collude with each other. To be fair, that should be (and probably is) illegal, although good luck enforcing it if they're smart enough to maintain plausible deniability.
- maxerickson 5y ago
  I've been told that the local offices do better at retention than the phone support.
jogjayr 5y ago
No reason not to play the game, honestly. Even if it takes waiting an hour on hold (highly unlikely), a mere $20 discount on service is like earning $240/hour.

ev1 5y ago

What the hell is Bell offering? FTTH? FTT neighbourhood then copper? The product is called "Fibe" but their lowest plan is 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up? What on earth type of optics even offers that?

nick__m 5y ago
Fibe is an umbrella marketing term. In my neighborhood, they offer FFTN then copper , a few blocks away it's FTTH (speedtest at 900M down 800M up). In both case they call the service Fibe and charge a similar price .
- ev1 5y ago
  That explains a bit. Also very on point for Bell to advertise copper as "fibe"...
  - mthoms 5y ago
    In the West, Shaw is getting sued by Telus for calling their service "Fiber+" even though the "last mile" is copper. https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/06/12/telus-shaw-lawsuit-misleading-fibre-ads/ https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/06/12/telus-shaw-lawsuit-mislea...
MarkusWandel 5y ago
Bell markets FTTN (i.e. VDSL) as "Fibe" and FTTH as "Fibre". Not the most ingenious branding IMHO. I'm on 15/10 FTTN and have no reason to go faster (it tops out at 50 down). Bell's new FTTH offering (conduits being buried on my street as I write this) starts at Can$85 for the lowest practical tier (150M and unlimited). Their nominal cheapest tier ($55) only gets you 100G/month which is a joke. Rogers offered my friend $39/month for 500M unlimited on his street, where Bell's FTTH service is already live.

fotta 5y ago

This is a yearly ritual for my family on Comcast/Xfinity. The promotional offer ends, you call and say you want to cancel, get sent to customer retention, and re-up on the promo. I'm pretty sure they know the game since it's so common.

ryandrake 5y ago
Careful with that! I once called up to do that retention routine and got a surprise. “Hi, I want to cancel because the regular rate is too expensive.” “Ok, sir hang on, I will put you in touch with someone.” So then I’m thinking yesss, retention team is going to get me the discount... Then I hear: “Ok, sir, we have canceled your service as of today, your final bill will come in a few days.” Me: “uhhhh wait...”
- fotta 5y ago
  Oh wow yikes. I've never not had the IVR send me to retention by saying "cancel service" to the bot.
- colanderman 5y ago
  This has been my experience too (as mentioned in a cousin comment), albeit in an area with competition, so (thankfully) no loss to me other than time. Must be a new national strategy.
SyzygistSix 5y ago
This has never worked for me, despite me always being kind and considerate to the phone support workers.

colanderman 5y ago

So, I have the amazing luck of having three wired broadband providers on my street in the US (Comcast, RCN, and Verizon FiOS). Competition is fierce and prices are low, yet, having attempted the above trick twice now (RCN -> Comcast, Comcast -> RCN), both times the reps I called were sufficiently clueless to not try to offer me a discount incentive to stay despite my plain wording that I was switching to get a better price. And both times, I was contacted by a rep after I switched, basically asking, "why did you leave? we could have given you discount X!" Like... someone in their offices is clueless that the competition is very real in my area and that they need to empower/train their customer service reps to actually offer discounts to stay. Regardless we've been able to keep low prices just by actually switching. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they never get the idea to collude with each other.

a1369209993 5y ago
> I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they never get the idea to collude with each other. To be fair, that should be (and probably is) illegal, although good luck enforcing it if they're smart enough to maintain plausible deniability.
maxerickson 5y ago
I've been told that the local offices do better at retention than the phone support.

jogjayr 5y ago

No reason not to play the game, honestly. Even if it takes waiting an hour on hold (highly unlikely), a mere $20 discount on service is like earning $240/hour.