I am in the process of decreasing my bills like many other people out there are. One of the ways my husband and I decided to take action that would have long lasting effects is to decrease internet and phone bills. In this post, I will discuss what I did to lower internet bills.
Get Monthly Internet Bills for potential Information
First, we compared each internet service provider in my area. In my area, I have CenturyLink, Falcon Broadband, and Comcast Xfinity. We called each provider and found out about speed, delivery method (DSL and/or cable), and pricing for service and any equipment rentals. This can be tricky because you also have to ask about bundled price versus nonbundled price, especially if you are willing to change phone service companies and any other services you have with your current provider.
Sort the Information
The next step to lower my bill was to sort all this information, because there was a lot to look over. Then, my husband and I talked about it and compared notes.
Decide if you are willing to have multiple companies:
We decided we were willing to drop the phone service with Century Link and have our internet and phone service providers be different companies. (I’ll go into that in another post)
Our contract, as well as DSL internet special with CenturyLink, is about to expire. So we made sure to compare the price that we’ll be paying into the equation ($55), rather than the price we are presently paying ($30).
We called Falcon Broadband, a local service provider, and found out that there were no contracts, just a set up charge of $45. Also, the faster cable internet service costs about $45 per month with the modem rental.
Comcast was too expensive and I forgot what the fees were.
Decide which Internet Service Provider is the best fit:
We decided to go with Falcon Broadband rather than try to get in on another special with CenturyLink because we wouldn’t have to be locked into a contract. We aren’t planning to move or stop internet service altogether (our kids need it for school).
Buying a D-Link DIR-605L Router
However, I made a silly, but pretty common mistake. I forgot that I would need to purchase a wireless router because the cable modem had only 1 outgoing ethernet port (CAT 5) and all my equipment was designed for DSL service.
I started looking up various cable routers that were at least as good as my DSL router. I ended up looking at a router by D-Link because D-Link Routers have an app for both android and iphone/ipad that allows you to control the device remotely. For instance, you can have the router email you when an unknown device tries to connect to your wireless connection. Then, you can connect to the router and block it permanently or allow it. You can also see if your kids are getting online when you aren’t there and block them, too.
I chose the D-Link DIR-605L because it wasn’t going to stretch my budget. It is pretty fast- up to 300Mbps.
The specific model ( D-Link DIR-605L) I ended up choosing was available at buy.com. I chose to work with them because I have had previous successful purchases and there is free shipping. They also had a better price than the competition, by about $5. My new router arrived within a few days, not weeks.
It arrived yesterday and was very easy to setup with all my wired and wireless devices. I didn’t even need to use a DVD or CD to install the programs. All the instructions were in the paper work provided. I did make one silly mistake, that you can read about in another blog post.
If you have any other ideas for lowering your internet bills or experiences with a D-Link router, I’d love to read about them in the comments below.
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