How to Compare internet Providers: 5 Important Questions to Ask Before You Make a Switch

As politicians are even fighting to make access to the internet a basic human right, many of us are still paying too much for service.

If you’re thinking about changing service or setting it up for the first time in a new home, you need to know which questions to ask. When you compare internet providers, there’s no such thing as asking too many questions so don’t be afraid to speak up.

Here are five questions that you have to ask.

1. What Are Your Needs?

When you’re shopping for internet service providers, the price might be your number one motivator at first. While that is an important aspect of finding a service provider that works for you, it shouldn’t be your only motivating factor. When seeking out a company that provides internet in your area, you need to assess your needs.

Some people may just need a provider that can bundle up their TV package with an internet plan that provides enough bandwidth to check their email. Other people spend their time sending and receiving a lot of data or streaming videos. If you work from home in an industry where you’ll have to send and receive big files, you need to prepare yourself for that.

The amount of data that you need to send should be a major factor in helping you decide on internet providers. If you choose one that can’t give you the service you need, you could be risking your job or your competitiveness.

If you work in the tech sector, you should get as granular as you need to be when deciding which provider to work with.

2. Are Prices and Service Competitive?

Now that you’ve figured out what you need, you can start thinking about price.

Price becomes a more complicated issue when you’re thinking about bundled packages and add-ons. If you’re concerned about just internet, don’t be swayed by deals that give you more things than you need. In recent years, with the decline of landlines, many internet providers have foolishly tried to throw in a landline to attract people.

Look at everything that each company provides and compare them to one another. While one company might have a better price, they might not offer free customer service.

Several companies will try to charge you when they have to send out a specialist to fix problems with the line. Even if it’s not your problem, they might try to charge you anyway. If you don’t have competitive service, a lower price might come back to bite you when you need something fixed.

Ask the right questions and you’ll get the service you need to have when problems arise.

3. What Are People Saying Online?

While internet reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt, there’s often a nugget of truth at their core. When you see reviews online, make sure that you read through them carefully. You might find that the person writing it has similar concerns to what you have when looking for a service provider.

If a company has terrible reviews, look into why. There might just be three disgruntled customers and no one has taken the time to write anything positive. However, if a company has gotten dozens of mediocre reviews, that company might not be worth working with either.

Be discerning when you’re looking at reviews. While it can be hard to discern fact from fiction, you can use your discretion to help you decide whether or not you should be alarmed by a review.

If reviews are anonymous, you’re better off disregarding them. They could be a tactic by another company to try to sway people from one provider.

4. Are Their Rates Consistent?

When you’re setting up your internet service, ask lots of questions. Don’t be afraid to be annoying or to be asking stupid questions. The people who don’t ask questions are the ones who will end up being blindsided by hidden fees.

Often when you sign up for a service for the first time, they offer you a rate that other providers will struggle to match. What you might not catch is that that rate isn’t a permanent rate. In fact, it’s subject to double in a year. If you sign a two-year contract, you’ll be locked in and have to pay a fee to get out.

Most people don’t have time to read through all the fine print to find this out. However, if you look carefully, you’ll see there are all kinds of fees that could be written in.

Ask them over the phone to go over everything. Since their calls are recorded, they can’t risk being deceptive. You’ll get more information if you ask.

5. Will You Need More Equipment?

One of the ways you might end up paying more with one service provider than another is if they make you buy their router. if you don’t feel like buying their router, they might “lease” it to you for twice the price of buying one. If you have to spend an extra $200 on equipment, spending an extra $5 a month might not seem so bad.

Ask about equipment needs and give them the specs on your router. If you have a router that’s under five years old, it should work with any modern system.

If they say their service isn’t compatible with your equipment, you should find one that is. In this era, all equipment should be compatible with most any kind of service around. You don’t need the hassle of shopping for new tech tools.

Compare Internet Providers Carefully

When you’re working to compare internet providers, you need to read everything carefully. A good deal could turn into a money pit if the rates suddenly jump out of reach.