This afternoon we had someone from ATT come by to try to convince us to upgrade our internet. He said our old line was less reliable as the new fiber optics and that we were overpaying as we could be getting 30x the speed plus get direct TV included for almost the same price. (I was thinking we were at 25 Mbps but his records showed only 10 Mbps currently.) That actually means about $30 more per month though (up from $102 to $129), and he said there is no option not to bundle it with direct TV. (We really don't have any interest in playing for TV. Mom only ever wants to watch channel 2/ABC, except on Saturday night when she wants channel 12/NBC. My soon to be 81 year old dad might watch sports or FOX News if we had it, by finds the prospect of leaning how to operate a new remote too stressful.)
Dad said no, but a few hours later our phone and internet stopped working completely. I think the router/modem/ gateway is dead, as nothing I do will make any lights turn on, but there could be something wrong with the line too.
They said they could not send a technician out until Monday and that it would cost at least $99 and more likely closer to $300 to fix it if we keep our current plan. Setting up a whole new improved system would be free now and about the same cost over the course of a year. Dad is now leaning towards getting the upgrade unless it miraculously fixes itself overnight
From the ATT website I just saw that it looks like it should be possible to get a phone and internet bundle at the higher speed without direct tv for only $72.99, although that may only be for new customers. Maybe it would work if we switched it from Mom's name the dad's or mine? I put in our current land line number it says it cannot be transferred. We get so many robo calls though that changing our phone number might not be such a bad thing. If it were just me I would not care much about a landline, but dad says having it is essential. If I had not just bought myself a nice new TracFone last month I might have preferred a bundle that comes with cell phones instead, but trying to get dad to learn to use a cell phone is too stressful.
It appears that we should be able to keep our number if we switch to Comcast Xfinity with VoIP phone service for $70 at 300 Mbps. Their office is closed now though and the website says there are some details I'd need to discuss over the phone before finalizing.
The last several days work was cancelled, but I expect they will want me to work tomorrow so I may not have much time for talking to ATT or Comcast.
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... yeah ! Yo go girl !
