[davidbanham]

Many companies have done the sums on this and have dedicated churn teams. If you call and tell them you're planning to leave because you can get a better deal elsewhere they'll often match or better it in order to retain you.

It's a bit iffy since if everyone did this all the time the incentive to advertise low rates gets removed. As an individual bonus, though, it means you don't need to do all the paperwork it takes to change providers.

[batiudrami]

Most of the time it's as easy as calling and asking the first person you get connect to if you can "speak to retentions". I've always been put straight through.

[mszcz]

I was able to get a better deal when I started the move process. After starting that the churn team seamed more receptive to my arguments ;)

[SuperGent]

Some years ago, I accidentally ordered two new phones from different providers at the same time. AS I had a 14 day 'cool off' I phoned one company to cancel, as I didn't like that phone, and they offered me a much better deal. I then phoned the other to pretend to cancel and got a reduction in my bill there!