My cable bill was about to go up again. Here’s how I stopped it — for now.

It was time once again to take stock of my bill for cable television and internet services.

Calling my carrier — Optimum, now owned by Altice — is something I do several times a year to take advantage of credits and promotions and keep my monthly bill as low as possible without cutting services.

Before we get to my most recent efforts, let’s review how my bills have changed and why I’ve stayed with Optimum despite years of promising to cut the cord and quit cable.

Back in 2020, Optimum announced it was hiking some popular television packages by as much as $30 per month. Our monthly Optimum bill for ”triple-play” service of cable, telephone and internet was already $263.63. With the increase, it would go up to $280 a month.

As a consumer — not as a consumer columnist — I called Optimum to negotiate, securing some discounts that lowered our monthly bill to $230.

An improvement, for sure, but I wanted to see if I could do better.

I went on a research blitz, comparing streaming television and internet services to see if I could cobble together a package that would match our services. The package I pulled together would cost $181.95 a month.

That’s when I made my first pledge to cut the cord and quit cable.

But when I called to quit Optimum, it put together a bunch of credits and discounts that would put my bill at only 50 cents more than my cobbled-together package. Because we were actually happy with Optimum’s service, we decided to stay.

Those credits and discounts, though, were only valid for a year. So every year, I’d have to call back to ask for the credits to be renewed. After that, some credits were renewed for a year, but others were only good for six or three months.

I managed to get even better deals with new or different credits and promotions with each new call.

My most recent effort in January was the best yet. My bill was down to $117.06 per month.

That would last only for three months because of short-term credits.

But oh, life gets in the way. I should have called by April to re-up some credits. It was indeed on the calendar, but I never made the call.

So alas, my bill went up to $157.06. That was on me.

I also had marked on the calendar that another credit — one that gave us a few “premium” channels for free for six months — would expire at the end of July.

This time, I paid better attention and got on the phone.

When I called, I was told it was too early in the month to see what the upcoming promotions would be. The representative gave me a one-time $10 loyalty credit just for calling, and she promised to call me (that’s right — she would call me!) when the new credits were available.

And she did call.

But there were no equivalent offers available. When the premium channel credits would end, the bill would go up by $32.97 to keep the channels.

That wouldn’t do. I asked if there were “loyalty credits” she could offer to equal, or at least come close to, that amount so my bill wouldn’t change that much.

I’d have to talk to the retention department, she said.

The retention department is where customers are sent when they call to cancel, and it’s the department you should ask for if you’re ever looking for steeper discounts than what the regular representatives offer.

To the retention department I went. I asked about loyalty credits, or any other credits, that could offset the expected price jump. The representative took some time to go over my bill, and option by option, determined that what I was already getting — or what I have in place until January 2026 — was better than alternatives he could put on the table. And there were no loyalty credits available.

I asked him to review any other options. (In the past, it seemed that new discounts or credits would surface after asking the representatives to check a second or third time.)

He indeed found one strategy that would help keep the same services without a major price change: I could sign up to get one of the channels for free for three months (and then I’d have to call back to re-up the credit), and I could take the other two channels as a package that would cost only $1 per month for a year. To offset that cost, the rep would give a one-time $12 credit, effectively making it a wash for the next year.

My July bill would go down to $136.06 — including the $12 credit for the channels and the $10 one-time credit from the first agent. After that, it would go to $158.06 — just $1 more than I’m paying today.

Sure, no one wants to pay a penny more, but I’ll take it.

The representative reminded me — and he’s right — to check back every month because there are always new promotions and credits that come online.

It’s worth a try.

I’m adding several new notes to my calendar now. Good luck with your own efforts.