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Comment by threentaway | Hacker News Reader

> ~44CHF/month for 100mb/s. While not dirt cheap

That _is_ dirt cheap by US prices. Comcast (my only option) is $75/mo for 250/5 (yes, only 5 megabit up!).

$50/month here for me in southern Mississippi for gigabit fiber from AT&T. I'm not sure what dirt cheap is for internet in the US but I think I'm there.

That's approximately $46 USD, which is actually in line with most cable companies when you are a new customer.

Of course, they get you by turning that $45 for 100Mb down with the modem rental for $10 / month, the 'fees' and taxes that are another $10 / month. Then, after your 'introductory' prices expire, you end up at $70 / month for the same 100Mb. But listen to this - a deal you can't refuse when your intro prices expire: They will sell you a 'bundle' with included cable TV for the same price of $70.

And now you're looking at the original $70... plus digital box fee of $10 / month x 2 or 3 outlets, and also another $5 for sports programming fees you never watch, DV recorder boxes for all the outlets, so you can record that one show, and even an HBO Go trial that was 'free' for 6 months, but then turns into a $10 / month recurring charge.

And this is how the average household in America ends up paying $150 / month, when all they really wanted in the first place was a $40 /100MB internet connection. Unless you're making below poverty rates, where the telecoms are forced to offer you a basic internet plan for under $20, you're going to get screwed because there is no way to get just decent internet without all the add-ons.

You can get the original promo price if you threaten to cancel. There's a song and dance with CSR but once they transfer you to the retentions dept, they are authorized to give you the original price again for a year. Actually, Comcast did give me a different deal once where the price was slightly higher than my original introductory offer but speeds were also better.

That trick had worked for me about 10 years ago. The last time I was buying my own plan, Verizon was not interested in playing that game. The 'TV bundle' was the only thing they would offer, which is why I ended up at $70 anyway. And that was in a city with another Cable internet provider and a (very slow) DSL option.

Most consumers don't even have another option, and the cable companies know you aren't going to just get rid of internet to spite them.

$75/mo here in Iowa for 30/30 fiber to the home.

I’m on a 2 year contract with Comcast and getting 600 down for $60. You might give them a call to see if they can lower your rate.

I get att fiber 1g at 70$. It's even cheaper now at 50$

$40/month 1 Gig - SONIC in Bay area.

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