Joan on the Road...of Life

In our quest to lower our data/phone bill we have reached a solution. A few days ago we "upgraded" one of our modems to a 4G modem, $10 cheaper per month for 5 gigs. We bought a Cradlepoint router and installed the new modem. Both desktops are running wirelessly on the modem. We are suspending one modem for 90 days because there is a cancellation fee! We hope that in 90 days there will be something new happening ;)

Now, we don't have 4G service here. In fact, we're in a fringy area where service is spotty and inconsistent. However, it is still better than our satellite connection AND the Cradlepoint router and Verizon 4G modem support up to 16 wireless devices. Now we have room for a wireless printer, a 3rd computer, OR maybe an IPad or some such fun thing.

Has this helped our finances? Because we bought the router it will be 4 months before we start saving $70 per month! Yesss!

Posted by Joan at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We borrowed Tom's Mifi and Renee's Ipad to just check things out and see if there's a new way for us to go, connecting wise. The Mifi seems as fast as our two modems and we can save a lot if we change. The IPad is just plain fun! It's 2 finger typing but ok for short posts...an amazing piece of technology. BTW..4G is not available to us here. That will be a great change!!

Posted by Joan at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Several months ago we stopped using our satellite connection for internet and TV. We switched to modems provided by a company I'll cal Vee (they want to rule the air). Overall we've been happy with the modem service although we are in a "fringe" area where the speed is inconsistent. But Vee has very good customer service and has always been helpful.

Over the weekend, while looking at Vee's website, Jim found that the pricing for modems has dropped by $10 per month. Well, let's call them and get our billing reduced...that would be $20 per month, nothing to sneeze at. Yesterday Jim got on the phone to request what we thought was a simple billing correction. Not!

Our modems are now "old". The cheaper pricing is for new modems that can handle 4G. No, they can't lower the billing price. Our modems only have one plan, $60 per month and that's it. "But let's see what else we could offer you."

Half an hour later the upshot was, NO. No price adjustment. No other solution. We are not happy customers. "Let's have you talk to our technical people. Maybe they can come up with a solution." Thirty minutes later we are still unhappy customers. All we want is a price reduction that agrees with what the website says.

Later in the afternoon we got a recorded call asking us to explain our problem and telling us that a manager may call. This morning, sure enough, a "manager" calls. Jim goes through the whole scenario again. After 45 minutes of telling us why they could not reduce our monthly fee and offering technical and upgrade options....we still do not have a lower price and we are still unhappy customers.

I wonder if Vee realizes that with all the people we talked to, all the emails, data entry, phone transfers and recorded messages that we went through....they easily dropped $500 in trying to serve us. Let's see. $500 divided by 10 would be 50 months worth of $10 reduction OR 25 months of $20 off our bill (2 modems at $10 each)! 25 months!! That's 2 years worth of reduced price. AND we'd be really happy customers. AND that would probably take us to a point in time where upgrading might work.There's got to be logic somewhere in Vees thinking but I can't find it!

Posted by Joan at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)