I found this interesting chart on Gizmodo about how Blu-Ray players are basically following the same price trajectory as traditional DVD players:

I don’t have a Blu-ray player myself, but I’m sure glad I didn’t buy one at $300. Hopefully this means that the discs will become dirt-cheap just as quickly. I can wait. 🙂

I mentioned before that I am shopping for a new car. I’ve been to multiple dealerships since this is the first new car I’ve ever bought, and (for some odd reason) wanted to experience the new car buying experience complete with high-pressure sales tactics. Here are some examples of lies and deceptions that I’ve run across so far from different folks.

MSRP “Market Value Adjustment”
Apparently, MSRP isn’t good enough for some cars. I like the Honda Fit, which is a relatively popular car in my area and one in which the MSRP isn’t that much higher than invoiced (as confirmed by TrueCar.com) and thus doesn’t have that much built-in profit.

So, they add another $1,000 to $2,000 and tell customers that this makes the price “market value”. Of course, as I finish negotiating back down a bit below MSRP they admit “oh, the first price I said is only for folks who don’t know how to buy a car. But one person every week walks in and pays it!”.

And people wonder why car-buying isn’t a fun experience.

Options That Aren’t Optional
Another way to boost profit is to package a bunch of options like floor mats, wheel locks, or keyless entry and make a non-official $600 options package and put it on all the cars. When you don’t actually want something, say, wheel locks, they just say “oh, it’s already installed, sorry”. I can remove the floor mats in about 30 seconds, pal. If you push, they’ll let you buy one without options only if you commit to one that hasn’t arrived yet but is on their shipping list.

Jacked Up Options Prices
If you’ve already artificially tried to raise the price of the car, and then tack on default accessories, what is left? Make the price of the accessories above MSRP.

I wanted to buy a cargo cover for the back, and was told it was $225. When trying to negotiate, I got the sob story “oh, I only make $20 on this anyway”. Really, then why can I go online to another genuine Honda Dealer at College Hills Honda for only $119 plus shipping? And the retail price is shown as $165??

Always look online for a dealer that has fair prices on direct accessories, and either use that price to haggle or buy the accessories separately if you’re willing!

The Magically Disappearing Newspaper Ad Car
Finally, they even whipped out the magic for me. I saw a dealer with a newspaper ad for a 2009 model car at a great price, only $150 over invoice. I called them, and they said it was in stock. I drove over, and they said to take a seat and they’d bring it over. “Oh! I’m sorry, that car has just been sold. Can I interest you in something else?” I was pissed and started walking out the door. “Okay, okay! What if I offered you a 2010 car that had identical features or better at the same price!” Fine, show me. Now. After we look for a 2010 that was similar for about 10 minutes, the 2009 was miraculously available again!

That’s it for now, I’ve got to catch another flight, but I’ve got more salesman deceptions to share later…

‘Tis the season for some haggling with your internet service provider! Let them know you have other options, and you should be able to get a lower bill for at least a few months that can add up to some big savings. Below are some new customer offers – you might not get them to match completely, but anything is good in my book. (Also handy for those that recently moved – try using the name of another household member – or just want to start up new service.)

ComcastOffers
$19.99 per month for 6 months, with free wireless modem and $100 cash back

Broadband National
Click on “promotions” in the upper right corner for several offers including:

AT&T – $19.99/month for 6 months, free modem/router, and $100 cash back

Charter

Cox High-Speed Internet
$19.99/mo. for 3 months, free modem, free self-install kit.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out some of the haggling tips in this DirecTV haggle post.

File-sharing and online collaboration site Box.net also has a handy feature that other similar services don’t have – 100 pages of free outgoing faxes per month via eFax. Their free Lite plan includes 1 GB of online storage with a per-file size limit of 25 MB. Simply upload the file you wish to fax (PDF files work well), right-click, and select “Send with eFax.” If you don’t see that option, click on “Add Applications” and find eFax.

There are no ads, and if you need a cover sheet you’ll have to include that in the .PDF file you upload. The fax is sent immediately after you initiate it, and it was received by my fax machine without errors and with good print quality (for a fax). You do get a confirmation e-mail from eFax that it was sent successfully. Not bad at all for free!

As a reminder, you can also sign up for a free fax number to receive incoming faxes at eFax or K7.net and have it sent to your e-mail. Together, I would imagine these services can cover most casual fax usage (assuming you have a scanner to convert things to PDF format).

In testing out my Ooma, I used the free fax website FaxZero.com to send a fax over to myself. I thought I’d share a quick review.

• The free service has certain restrictions. You must have it converted to Word/PDF format, up to 2 faxes a day, and a maximum of 3 pages (6 pages total a day).
• There is an ad on the provided cover page, but thankfully it is just a simple FaxZero ad and not some random company. Here is a scan of what it looks like.
• You must provide a working e-mail address, as you need to click on a confirmation links sent via e-mail to send your fax. Some users report increased spam, so be careful which e-mail you use.
• The fax is not sent immediately. It says it might take anywhere from 5-30 minutes depending on how busy they are. It took about 5 minutes for me for my fax to ring.
• The fax did come through successfully, and the quality was acceptable.
• You do get a confirmation e-mail with the subject “Your fax to XXX has been sent successfully”.

Overall, I have no complaints about FaxZero since it was a free service that performed as promised. You can also try HelloFax.

Today I tried to both send and receive faxes through my new Ooma VoIP phone system. I used a Brother MFC-7340 multi-function printer and my Ooma is connected via cable modem.

While fax is not officially supported, there is a section with several tips in the Ooma Support Knowledgebase, which I highlighted below. Short version: Connect your fax machine directly to the Hub, and dial *99 before your fax number. Both sending and receiving worked perfectly for me on the first try. I’m very impressed!

While the ooma system is not guaranteed for Fax transmissions, it often works successfully, provided you follow these simple instructions:

1. For the best results, make sure your Fax machine is connected to the back of the ooma Hub or Telo unit, not the ooma Scout. The fax machine should be plugged into the “PHONE” port of the ooma device. If you plan on using a phone handset with the ooma Hub or Telo, you can use a splitter to connect a phone handset and the fax machine to the ooma device.

2. Dial the prefix *99 before you dial an outgoing Fax call. Please note that you may need to insert a pause or two in the dialing sequence after entering the *99 prefix and before entering the Fax number.

If you are still unable to send or receive a Fax, try the following additional steps:

1. Disable “ECM” (i.e., “Error Correction Mode”) on your Fax machine.
2. Decrease the transmission or baud rate.
3. Reduce the number of pages that are sent per fax.
4. Decrease the desired image quality of the fax.
5. Discontinue any large file downloads (for receiving faxes) or uploads (for sending faxes).

This is turning into telecom week. 🙂 A reader asked me what the best prepaid cellular plans are. (Maybe you quit Sprint without penalty and are looking for an alternative?) Here are the two plans that I would probably use, although depending the specific person another plan might work better due to coverage or usage patterns. Both have no contracts and no credit checks. Let me know if you know of something better.

T-Mobile Prepaid for Light Usage

You can buy a $100 card that last for an entire year with T-Mobile, which gives you 1,000 minutes. That’s just $0.10/minute. This gives you a basic cell phone for only a bit more than $8 per month. On a traditional postpaid plan, the taxes and fees alone are $5 per month! If you need more minutes, you can buy more but the best per-minute rate is at $100 refills (which resets your expiration another year as well).

T-Mobile coverage is pretty good is most urban areas, but I’d ask around first. Phones start at $20, although I think you can use any unlocked GSM phone.

StraightTalk by Tracphone for Moderate to High Usage

A relatively new product, StraightTalk offers you 1,000 minutes, 1,000 text messages and 30MB of data for only $30 per month. Everything expires after 30 days. The phone selection for this plan is pretty bad, so don’t expect anything with a touchscreen. However, this is a flexible package that offers a generous bucket of minutes, texts, and even casual web surfing for a great price. As compared with postpaid plans, a basic text plan is usually at least $5 per month, and again taxes are usually $5 a month alone. You can also upgrade to an “unlimited” plan for $45 per month.

StraightTalk uses Verizon’s cellular network, which is a plus. Phones start at $20, and I don’t think you can use other phones. There are some nicer ones that cost $100+. Phones and refills also available at Wal-Mart.

I’ve decided to go without cable TV for at least 6 months from January 1st, 2010. I actually don’t mind paying for cable that much, it is simply an entertainment expense and given the overall convenience, not that expensive in my mind (especially if you haggle every so often). Primarily, I want to cancel it as a passive barrier against my future kids don’t watch too much TV. Also, I want to experiment with ways of re-allocating that $50-$70 per month into other entertainment methods.

Potential Experiments. This gives me a little over a month head-start to find some solutions to fill the gap. I’ll probably start up Netflix again, and considering getting a PS3/Wii with PlayON or a WD Media Player-like device for viewing downloaded content on my TV. I’ll need to figure out a smooth way to stream internet TV like Hulu to the living room with remote control (Roku?). For live sports, I wanted to see if I could grab some network channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS) off the air using an HDTV antenna for those that have an HDTV.

I’m not really A/V-savvy, but after some reading all I got was that getting HD channels from an antenna is not necessarily like using the old rabbit ears, but also still similar. I mean, it’s digital, so with a good signal you’ll be getting HD-quality images that is just as good as cable TV. However, it’s still over-the-air, so reception quality matters; It’s not like you either get nothing or 100% clarity.

Finding what’s available. To see what broadcast channels are generally available in your area, visit Yahoo TV and input your zip code > Antenna > Broadcast TV. Next, visit AntennaWeb to get a better idea of what you’ll actually get, and tips on where to point your antenna if needed.

Buying an antenna. If you actually have “rabbit ears”, break them out and try them first. There is actually no such thing as an “HDTV-specific” antenna. I don’t have any, and to try this it out I wanted to buy an antenna from a local retailer so that I could return it easily if I didn’t get adequate reception. I stopped by Radio Shack and picked up their Amplified HDTV Antenna for $35. The online reviews were mixed, but there were some positive ones, so I gave it a shot.

Result. In a word, disappointing. I was only supposed to get ABC and FOX in my neck of the woods, but the reception wasn’t that great for either one. The image was widescreen and HD but was “blocky”. If I stood near the antenna or held it just right for a minute, it would get acceptable but wouldn’t stay that way. It may be just my antenna, review site HDTVAntennaLabs and Amazon users seem to like the indoor Antennas Direct DB2 at a reasonable $38 and the outdoor Winegard HD8200U at $140, not including installation poles and such.

I don’t know if it’s worth the bother for a few channels, but if you’re in a nice flat metro area you may be able to do much, much better.