While it pains me to say it (it's much more fun to complain), Optimum's support has been excellent. When the reframed my bill, for the balance of this billing cycle, they credited $13.50 towards next month's $14.99 bill. They sent me an email outlining the changes to my billing and it included removing a $5 monthly credit for using auto-pay and paperless billing. I called them back (not because I wanted another five bucks off the bill, but to make sure they didn't de-activate my monthly auto-pay) and was told that the rate wasn't stackable with the credit, but the autopay was still on. Ten minutes after I hung up, their support department called me back (I guess because I had telephoned twice in the same day and offered to escalate my issue to a supervisor if it hadn't been solved.

I'm used to spending hours arguing with ultra-polite Philippians in an effort to speak to a supervisor and their gratuitous offer of one was very impressive.

On the other hand, my ditching of Verizon in 2011 and cobbling up a Google Voice phone system which cloned their services (and then some) was due to their appalling customer service. It was incidental in my decision to drop them, but certainly beneficial as, for about $100 out of pocket, I haven't had a landline phone bill since.

Similarly, for the cost of an indoor antenna, I receive a vast number of TV stations "over the air" (being on a high floor in a major metro city probably helps), as well as the hundreds of streaming stations my smart TV seems to bring in for free from the internet (life is too short to watch them).

Jeff