bombs in bottles
Today I canceled my broadband service.
My 2.3 regular readers may recall that I started playing with this idea (canceling broadband) a couple months ago:
commence project "yeet broadband?"
project "yeet broadband?" early observations
After two whole weeks of never turning on the modem-and-router power strip even once, I disconnected the modem and router entirely over the weekend. Packed them into a box and put my clarinet case in the space they used to occupy. (I really love this, because now the case is right next to the piano.)
I was going to wait until after band camp week to cancel, but then I realized: I won't be here during daylight hours for band camp week. So why would continue paying for broadband I won't even be here to use?
This morning I called to cancel.
In 2024, the FTC created a "click to cancel" rule that sought to make it easier to cancel recurring subscriptions and memberships. One way companies get your money is by making it easy to sign up and hard to cancel:
FTC press release announcing "click to cancel" rule
Because we as a nation voted ourselves No More Nice Things, however, federal courts under Trump have since eliminated this rule:
Consumer Affairs: Click to Cancel Rule Has Been Cancelled
I don't know if this rule applied to utliities like broadband. I do know that my Spectrum account took about five minutes to set up. I know Spectrum will let me do nearly anything to my account online *except* cancel it. To cancel, I had to call.
The call took twenty minutes. I was upsold on three separate services (TV, mobile, and "account transfer") during that time. I'm pretty sure Spectrum's computer system is designed to make the process slow and cumbersome, based on the number of times we had to wait for something to "process," which has never happened any other time I've needed them to do something (that or their customer service people are instructed to lie about the wait).
Oh, and I still have to return the modem. To a UPS store or a Spectrum store. Because sending me a label to print out would be TOO DAMN CONVENIENT APPARENTLY.
(There is a UPS store within biking distance, but that is not the point.)
I suspected they'd make canceling hard. But at $80 per month, they really gave me significant incentive to cancel and no real incentive not to. $80 per month invested at 7 percent annually for the next 20 years gives me another $39,665 to enjoy in my old age. That's a year of living expenses! For something that I don't actually need to keep making income! (Hotspot works just fine for documents.)
For home Intertubing, I currently have Mint Mobile's unlimited plan with 10GB hotspot. I'll probably stick with it a few more months, but if this month is indicative, I'll be able to cut back to the 20GB plan - I'm not using more than 20GB of combined phone and hotspot right now, and this is the time of year I use Internet at home the most.
I feel calmer already.
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