As promised yesterday, I went and ordered my new computer yesterday. After checking out the delivery costs, extra memory costs etc, I told the salesman I would like to buy it, and proceeded to the counter. There, a surprise awaited me. Here is the salesman's spiel:
If you sign up for ISP X right now, we can give you a 15,000yen discount on your computer. The regular monthly charge for the service will come to about 4,000yen all-in (for 40M ADSL), but the first 3 months are free. You need to commit to using this service for 1 month, so basically, you can use the service for a month or two for free, then cancel, and you will still get the 15,000yen discount.
Now, just to put this into perspective, 15,000yen is about $150. That's a pretty good discount, in my book. By comparison, BT in the UK is offering FREE connection charges (usually 30 pounds) as part of their campaign to spread broadband use, and also a FREE USB modem. Mmmm, tempting, but I think I'll stick to the offer I got from the mysterious ISP X! The total value of the discounts I will receive from this ISP will come to around 30,000yen, or $300.
Finally, one of my colleagues decided to change his ISP every time his free service ran out (usually every 3 months), and see if he could make it through a whole year without paying for ADSL service. I'm not sure if he succeeded in the end, but that sounds like too much effort to me...
Posted by Gary at February 4, 2004 11:23 AMWhen I went home to the US I tried to sign my parents up for some broad-band, thinking that I could find some free trial for at least the month I would be home.
No such luck. Not only could I not find a free trial, I couldn't even find a provider that would allow me to sign up for only a month. Some places had "deals" where you could get the first couple months for a bout $30 / month, but after that your rates go up to regular price... I forgot how much, but too high. But in order to sign up, you had to agree to a year contract, and the cancelation fee was basiacally paying the monthly fee for all the leftoever months.
Posted by: kevin at February 4, 2004 07:27 PM