Cheap High Speed Cable Internet Advice Tips

Cheap Cable Internet--What You Pay For

Although you get what you pay for, cheap Internet doesn't mean you have to sacrifice tools and amenities that enhance your online experience. You may have to purchase additional anti-virus software, for example. However, most cheap cable Internet services won't cheat you out of Webmail, personalized home pages, parental controls, and so on. Cable carriers often include free cable Internet features as incentives to sign up for what they advertise as the cheapest high speed cable Internet service. Again, cheap Internet is only a bargain if you're getting more than the ability to send e-mail (even if that's all you use your cheap cable Internet for.)

Finding Free Cable Internet

Many cable carriers offer free cable Internet access for the first 1 to 3 months, plus free installation. Most cable companies offer cheap cable Internet service if you are a cable subscriber. However, that's as close to free cable Internet as you can come, no matter what the spam in your inbox says.

You receive discounts when you sign up for, say, digital cable and high-speed cable Internet. However, just like lunch, there isn't any such thing as free cable Internet, just cheap Internet service and the cheapest high speed cable Internet access you can find.

Cheap Cable Internet Goes to College

A Washington Post article reports that 65 percent of college students have broadband, and it's often a cheap Internet service, if not included in tuition and housing costs. At community colleges such as Allen County Community College, students get free cable Internet in their rooms, included presumably in dorm fees, but it's up to the student to supply the necessary networking hardware.

N.B.: free cable Internet or the cheapest cable Internet comes with responsibilities, such as installing anti-virus protection and not doing illegal file-sharing. (University of Michigan, one of the pioneers of the Internet from its infancy, offers its cheap Internet-using students the use of Cgidix, a music download service that costs $2.50 a month.) But since you're in college, you already knew that. See…there are benefits to staying in school, like the cheapest cable Internet access for your tuition dollars.

And The Cheapest Is…

Cheap high speed cable internet advice:
Free cable Internet is still a dial-up pipe dream. However, you can find cheap cable Internet deals so low-cost you'll think they're free.

Many DSL/broadband/cable Internet Web sites allow you to search for the best cheap Internet deals in your area. Usually the cheapest high speed cable Internet deals are in the ballpark of $19.95 a month, sometimes just for the first three months. We have seen cheap cable Internet at $6.95 a month, but that's usually only for the first few months. “Cheap” also has to take into consideration whether you're getting value-added services: free anti-virus protection, free installation, etc.

Cheap Cable Internet Scams

More cheap high speed cable internet advice: Although most cheap cable Internet is on the level (all joking about cable companies aside), there are plenty of free cable Internet and cheapest high speed Internet scams out there just waiting to trap you. In general, avoid anything that comes through on bulk e-mail with the words “free cable Internet” and “cable descrambler” anywhere. Other warning signs:

• Don't trust offers of unlimited free cable Internet or unlimited cheap cable Internet. Usually that means “unlimited for the first 250 hours.”
• Beware of “free trial offers” that ask for your credit card, then automatically charge you after the trial period has expired.
• Several scams pose as legitimate cheap cable Internet access providers, similar to “phishing,” the way crooks try to make you believe Microsoft has sent you a security update via e-mail.
• Run the other way if the prices quoted seem unrealistic.
• Beware of offers for a free cable modem or other equipment. Usually you end up paying a fee anyway.

Note that the cheapest high speed cable Internet service in the world won't be entirely ideal, because the federal government steps in. The FCC allows cable operators to charge customers $75 a month if customers want to use their own ISP rather than the provider selected by the cable company in their broadband cable package, and that's before inflation.

Bird Specials on Cheap Cable Internet

You've saved all your life but are on a fixed income, and let's face it, you deserve cheap Internet, if not free cable Internet. But you're wise enough to know there's no such thing as a free lunch—that's what you're always telling your kids, right?

Check out AARP if you're a member, since Earthlink offers cheap Internet dialup access and cheap cable Internet access, as well as a $25 VISA gift card. AOL offers its cheapest high speed Internet plan for AARP members, knocking as much as $28 off your yearly fees with either the Unlimited All-Access Plan or AOL FOR High-Speed plan.

Many independent and assisted living facilities include free cable Internet access. If you don't have it, ask for it. You've earned it.