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Cutting costs on digital services

UPDATE: Andrew here... Matt's post below is right on target. It motivated me to check on the various things I receive, and what I found surprised me so much I decided to repost his original entry with my findings. One thing I found was an online special for my home telephone service. I will continue to get the same basic package for $19/mo less than what I was paying. Additionally, I found an extra $4 monthly charge for a billing fee I was able to get removed. So, all-in-all I'm saving $276 a year! That's a lot of cash back in this Pryor household for merely checking in on my phone company. So, invest the time to review your services. You may be surprised at the kind of return you get. Here's Matthew's original post again...

Weren't we supposed to be paperless by now? Not only are we still buying paper (maybe more now than ever), we have all these digital costs piling up. I love a cool piece of tech as much as the next guy, but I'm less than thrilled about the added expenses.

How to Cut the Beastly Cost of Digital Services gives some good advice on how to make small but meaningful changes:

• DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL: Cable, satellite and telephone companies can only be overjoyed that millions of their customers take no action to lower their bills, and instead routinely pay much too much for overpriced plans they purchased a decade ago.
• IF THEY SAY NO, THREATEN TO SWITCH: If you’re thinking about switching to another satellite, cable or phone provider, call your current one and let 'em know.
• BUNDLE YOUR SERVICES: With traditional landline ownership dwindling as more customers use only cellphones, the major phone and cable companies are chockablock with packages intended to keep you from straying.
• RECONSIDER THIRD-PARTY CARRIERS: Once, third-party long-distance companies offered cheaper long-distance calling than you could get from your local provider, but that might no longer be the case.
• ASK FOR CORPORATE DISCOUNTS, MONITOR WEB SITES FOR DEALS, AND IF ALL ELSE FAILS, DOWNGRADE

Have you tried any of these? Or maybe you know of some better ways that aren't listed?

Me? I'm ready to get rid of our landline altogether since we have cell phones (which I finally succumbed to in 2009). Most of the calls aren't for me anyway. That'd save about $350 year. Hmm, that's about how much I'd need to buy one of them fancy new paperless Kindles...

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