united-states
New Internet Company is trying to make me pay double for the same service
<p>I've been a customer of NewWave Communications as my home internet provider in Sour Lake, Texas for 10+ years. We are in a rural area and don't have many options in providers, so I'm pretty much stuck with who I have. I'm set up on auto-draft and have never missed a payment, and we have never had an interruption in service. We are happy with our internet speed, and do not need anything faster. </p>

<p>About a year and a half ago, they tried to tell me the plan I'm on is no longer available and they wanted to charge me slightly more and move me to one of their new plans. I declined their "faster and more reliable internet" (because it already <strong>is</strong> fast and reliable) and they told me they would keep my service and my bill the same ($42.74/mo). They said that as long as I don't change my plan, I'm grandfathered-in at the price and service I'm getting, and that there was nothing they could do about it.</p>

<p>Yesterday, I received a letter in the mail (from NewWave) stating, "The internet service I subscribe to is being discontinued, and my service is being moved to a <em>comparable</em> service or plan." Same thing they tried to tell me before. That <em>comparable plan</em> takes me from 1000 GB Data Plan ($42.74/mo) to a lower 300GB plan ($55.00/mo) and if I go over the 300GB, they will charge me an EXTRA $10/mo for every 100GB I go over. They note that my actual monthly data usage for the Oct-Dec months has been 701GB. In what world is that a <strong>comparable plan</strong>? </p>

<p>I called the number on the letter, and they said that NewWave Communications is being bought out by Cable ONE, and that this new company is going to charge me TWICE the amount for a "new" plan that I've always had because this new company says my plan doesn't exist. Look, my internet is just fine the way it is. Nobody is coming out to my house and re-wiring anything, and I'm not asking for anything more other than to leave me and my bill alone. Shouldn't this "new" company honor the price that I've had for years? I mean, AT&amp;T and Verizon don't offer unlimited plans to people anymore, but the people who got on those plans before they changed what they offer weren't forced to get another plan, right? They are grandfathered-in.  When Cable ONE acquires NewWave, don't they have to honor the previous agreements of the people that had them before they bought the company?</p>

<p>I understand that this new company structures their plans differently. Fine. When they get new customers, that's what they'll have to pay, but I am NOT a new customer. I am the same customer, paying the same price (with apparently slower service than the rest of the world even though we can't tell and don't care to to know the difference), and I'm getting the same service I have always gotten. Just because Company A sold to Company B, what gives them the right to all of a sudden charge me double? I didn't ask for any of this, and as an honorable customer in good standing, I do not appreciate being treated like this. I feel like they are trying to steal from me and telling me I don't have a choice. </p>

<p>What gives them the right to do this to me?  </p>

<h2>What does your contract say?</h2>

<p>If it says (as I suspect) that they can cancel the plan after some period of notice, then they can cancel the plan after some period of notice.</p>

<p>You can shop around for a new ISP but no business can be forced to sell you services in 2020 at 2010 rates.</p>
