RSS FeedCheap Internet And Cheaper Electricity In The District
Cheap Internet
$32.70 per month (including tax & fees) for high speed internet and no strings attached? It’s called Naked DSL or dry-loop DSL and you can get it from Verizon. It’s a high speed internet connection that works over your telephone land line delivering speeds of 3 Mbps/768 Kbps. But, the important note is that you don’t pay for a dial-tone or voice service on that phone line – only internet. If you live in Washington, DC, naked DSL is almost a certain possibility.
But, the fun only begins here. Verizon wants you to be a voice AND internet subscriber, so they don’t make naked DSL easy to obtain. If you move into a place and have no phone service, you can input your address only to qualify for naked DSL service. Of course, when GPLiving attempted this, it took several combinations of the web form for our building to show up (leaving off “Unit #” helps). Once the list of units came up, GPLiving’s unit was not on the list! Ok, so time to call up sales and sign-up over the phone. Calling the local DC phone number and selecting “internet” from the menu only bumps you back out to a national call center – and magically, no one knows about naked DSL. They’ll kindly refer you back to your local sales phone number.
The solution: Sign up for voice and DSL service through Verizon, get connected, get the discounts, and then . . port your land line phone number to your cell phone (or somewhere else). Once the phone number port is complete, everything is automatic. Your voice service will self-terminate and you’ll be left with DSL internet only. Here are the step-by-step instructions.
Cheaper Electricity
You may have seen the ads in the Express (page 18) or maybe on TV, but it isn’t extremely well publicized – for good reason. Why would a PEPCO funded (gov’t mandated) advertisement want to encourage people (who are already PEPCO customers) to switch electricity providers?
The list of other power companies in the District are listed on the DC Public Service Commission website. While commercial customers have a wide choice of suppliers, residents only have two choices: PEPCO and Washington Gas Energy Services.
The process looks very simple to switch from PEPCO to WGES, but which is cheaper? WGES offers a flat rate of 12.25¢ or 12.65¢ per kiloWatt hour that is fixed through June 2008.
How does your current electricity bill match up to this competing rate plan?
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I just reviewed my last PEPCO power bill and I averaged ~8.5¢ per kiloWatt.. Hum, looks like PEPCO wins this month. Now, the only reason I’d see switching to WGES is for the fixed rate until 2008. But that would only make sense if I thought PEPCO prices would double between now and 2008.