How to Save Money On Your Internet and Shrink Your Spending

It’s estimated 42 million Americans have no access to broadband.

Those who are internet savvy or use it for basic tasks will more likely have an internet service provider in their home. Paying for internet services, however, can quickly add up.

In this article, we’ll show you how to save money on your internet bill. Let’s get started.

1. Research the Competition

You’ll never know if you’re paying too much for your internet bill unless you know how much other internet service providers charge. Before you go to your internet service provider and tell them you’re overpaying for their services, make sure you give them some examples.

Do your research and arm yourself with many competitor prices before you call your internet company. This will give you an edge and will help you plead your case.

If your internet company refuses to budge, you have other options.

2. Find Promotions and Ask for the Price

Internet companies offer many discounts and promotions for first-time customers. If you’ve been a loyal paying customer, you deserve the same break.

Some of those promotions include getting a discounted price for six months and up to a year. You can make the argument with your provider that you haven’t skipped on your payments and feel like you deserve a break.

Once the discounted period ends, it doesn’t hurt to call them again and see if you qualify for other discounts and promotions.

3. Attempt to Switch to a Competitor

Chances are, your internet provider is not the only one in the area, in fact, there might even be cheaper services.

However, we all know that changing services can be quite the hassle. If you want to get your internet provider to lower your bill, threaten to switch to a competitor.

Call them up and tell them you’ve found a better deal and you will be canceling their services. Companies are determined to keep their customers, so they’ll do whatever they can to keep their customers.

They might be willing to negotiate a lower price to prevent you from switching.

4. Get a Negotiator to Do It For You

Not everyone is a great negotiator. So if you don’t want to call and confront the people of the internet service provider, you can use a bill negotiation service to do it for you.

The process is quite simple. Once you send them all your bills, they’ll negotiate them for you. How can you pay for another service when you’re trying to reduce your bills, you ask?

Well, if they can get you a deal on your bills, they’ll take a percentage of the money you save. If they can’t save you money, you don’t pay them anything.

5. Lower the Speed

Are you paying for enough internet speed to power a three bedroom house, but you live in a studio apartment? You might not need all that speed.

If you only use your internet speed to stream Netflix or Hulu, you need about 10 Mbps of speed. Bigger houses, on the other hand, need about 20 to 30 Mbps of speed.

6. Ask About Bundle Options

Paying for internet and cable separately is like paying two unnecessary bills. Some cable companies have partnered up with internet providers to bring savings and deals for customers.

While sometimes people end up with more services than they need, they can also get some serious savings.

Talk to your provider and find out if they partner up with any companies that bundle services. A few of them partner up with cable and cell phone companies.

7. Pay for the Modem and Router

Have you ever taken the time to understand your bill? Next time you get your bill take a moment and break down all of the things you’re paying for.

You might find you’re paying a monthly fee for the modem or router. This might come as a surprise to many who thought they owned their router, when in fact they were merely renting it.

The monthly fee for a router might be around $10 a month. Do the math and that’s about $120 a year and $240 in two years.

Consider purchasing your own router. The average router costs about $150 and it will only be a one-time fee. You might find some flexibility in your budget.

8. Cut Back on Added Services

While it may work for some people to bundle services, others might spend more money than they need to.

If cable is in your internet bundle but you mostly stream shows on Hulu or Netflix, then you might be overspending.

Think about how often you use those services and make a decision to cut back and only leave the essentials.

9. Check Startups

Some of the more established internet service providers can charge an arm and a leg for their services. However, there are some startup internet providers, that will provide the same services for a lot cheaper.

There might still be a catch with startups, such as more upfront fees, but they’re willing to cut you a better deal when you’re a new customer.

Finding a smaller company will depend a lot on where you live. For example, those who live in the city have a lot more choices than those who live in rural areas.

If you live in a smaller town, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t source your options.

10. Are You Really Getting Your Money’s Worth?

How angry would you be if you found out you’re paying for high-speed internet but not getting it?

This happens to many users. Use a service such as speedtest.net to check your internet speed. If the speed is not what you’re paying for, then you might want to call your internet company and let them know.

How to Save Money on Your Internet and Other Bills

How to save money on your internet and other bills? Start by researching other companies, threaten to leave, bundle your services, ask a professional to negotiate, and get your money’s worth.

Your bank account will thank you.

If you want to learn about six financial mistakes to avoid in your 20’s, check out this article.