No, I don't have a TV or a landline...

October 4, 2012 6:18 PM

Is there a way to get a cheaper Time Warner Cable deal for internet only in Los Angeles? And what are the alternative providers?

My Time Warner internet-only deal (about $35/month) expires at the end of October. How do I get the same deal or pay only about $5 more/month? Tips for TWC customer service? Alternative providers in LA that have internet that works? (Note: pretty sure Verizon does not service my zip code.)
(Long-time lurker, first-time poster :)

posted by Red Desk to computers & internet (9 answers total)

Have you tried calling them up and asking? I just did that, earlier this week, and got them to knock off $8/month. Of course, there's a catch: I have to try their VoIP service for a month, but the discount is guaranteed, even if I cancel the VoIP.
posted by roger ackroyd at 6:27 PM on October 4, 2012

Consider DSL, which is about that price (landline not included).
posted by rhizome at 6:52 PM on October 4, 2012

I'm in Ohio, but when my promotional rate with Time-Warner expired earlier this year, I paid the higher rate for a month, then phoned and said I was trying to cut back, and was there a way we could lower my bill somehow? I ended up paying about $30/mo for 10 mbps, which was $5 more than my promo rate for a much faster speed. It's worth a try.
posted by MeghanC at 6:55 PM on October 4, 2012

We also only have internet, no TV or landline. When our promo deal expired with one company (AT&T maybe? I'm not sure.) we tried to negotiate a cheaper rate by telling them we would switch away otherwise. It didn't work, so we actually switched. When we called to cancel, they finally offered us a lower rate, but it was too late.

We were switching to Time Warner, not trying to keep it - but I think the idea is the same. Tell them that you will cancel if they don't give you a better rate. If you can actually convince them that you will cancel, they will give you a lower rate. If not, just switch to someone else.

(I'm in Los Angeles too, for what it's worth).
posted by insectosaurus at 8:14 PM on October 4, 2012

I'm in Santa Monica and use L.A.-based DSLExtreme and I couldn't be happier with them.

It's been a few years now and I don't think there has ever been an outage that I was aware of, compared with TW which would go down for days at a time some times, and when my modem died last year I had a new one the very next day. CS is always helpful (I've had issues with my connection but they were all on my end.)

As far as speed goes, I pay $32/month for the 3000/768Kbps connection. I'm running a speed check right now; I don't really understand the technical part of it but it "feels" fast enough for me. (Speed test results: DL - 2018 Kb/s, UL - 612 Kb/s, Latency - 20 ms)

Let me know if you want any other info.

--
When I last moved three years ago I vowed to never pay TW again. Starting this season, The Lakers are part of a deal that removed all the locally OTA broadcast KCAL games to a new TW sports package. Around 4pm today the TW installer left my house. Fuckers.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:14 PM on October 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ok, thanks for the answers so far. I did some shopping around, and DSL Extreme has a good deal except that you need an active home phone line. I have no idea how to do this or how much it would cost. Help?
posted by Red Desk at 2:16 PM on October 5, 2012

Did they say you needed an actual land line with the phone company, because I have never had a phone in my current place. I remember at first there was a little bit of confusion over this when I set up my account but I guess Verizon just made the phone jack "live". As far as I know there isn't a phone number associated it, and I definitely never set up a new account so it doesn't cost anything.

Without a phone number CS would get confused too, until someone referred to it as "random" and now when I tell them that they just ask for my account number. Maybe that's the secret word you need to use.

Perhaps a more knowledgeable MeFite can unjumble what I've said.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:24 PM on October 5, 2012

Great, thanks, Room 641-A. It did seem on the website like you needed an actual phone number - there's a box to enter your phone number, and then it says in small print next to a checkbox "I don't have a land line right now but will obtain one after I place this order." I will try calling their customer service to figure it out.

I tried talking to TWC, but they have been inflexible so far. I checked for other providers, and AT&T has DSL with no landline required but charges a required $100 for their modem/router thing. Earthlink also has no landline DSL but they only have a deal in my price range for the first 6 months of a 1 year contract.
posted by Red Desk at 5:57 PM on October 5, 2012

Oh, great! I was in a little over my head but I'm glad it made sense.

I didn't think to mention it but my cost has remained fairly flat, so I don't have to go thorough the whole dance every 6 or 12 months. As a matter of fact, I was month-to-month (also good sometimes) but I recently accepted their offer of $5/month off to sign on for a year.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:44 PM on October 5, 2012