Why your 12 sites pay 12 different prices for the same thing
Each site got quoted on its own day. By a different rep. Against whatever local provider happened to be nearby.
So the prices drifted apart. That is normal. We see per-Mbps cost swing 3 to 5 times across one company's locations. A suburban office on cable might pay $0.80 per Mbps. A site stuck on a 2019 fiber contract pays $3.50 for the same speed.
The carrier tracks all of this in a customer revenue profile. You don't. Fix that first.
Build the rate card: what to pull from every bill
Open a spreadsheet. One row per site. Pull these columns from each bill.
Site. Carrier. Access type (cable DOCSIS, fiber DIA, broadband fiber, fixed wireless). Speed down and up. MRC. Any install fee still being paid off. Contract end date. Auto-renew term.
Then the fee lines. These hide real money. The Cost Recovery Fee runs 3 to 10 percent of your MRC. The Federal USF pass-through runs about 34 to 36 percent on the interstate part of a DIA circuit, and carriers often apply it to the whole bill. Property Tax Allotment. Administrative Expense Fee. Modem rental at $10 to $25 a month. Static IP blocks at $10 to $30.
Now divide the clean MRC by Mbps. Rank every site. The worst ones float to the top.
The outliers are your opening offer
Your two or three most expensive sites are the wedge. Start there.
Say six sites sit at $0.90 to $1.20 per Mbps and two sit above $3.00. Call about the two.
The script is simple. "Site X pays $1,750 a month for 500 Mbps DIA. Our site in a similar market pays $650 for the same thing. Rerate to parity, or we move the circuit at term."
Carriers have room to move. They can do an in-term rerate if you extend the term. They can credit against an early termination fee. They can waive install on a replacement circuit. Make them pick one.
How carriers define "volume" and why it is usually a trap
Most "volume" deals are not a real per-unit discount. They are a commitment with a hook.
The common ask is an Annual Revenue Commitment. Commit $100k a year, get a discount schedule of maybe 15 to 20 percent. Here is the catch. If you fall short, the gap gets billed as a lump-sum underutilization charge. Close a site and the commitment usually does not drop. Not unless there is a site-closure clause.
Ask one more question. Can you move spend from a closed site to a new one without penalty? If the answer is no, walk.
Compare that to a plain term discount. A 36-month term instead of 12 often cuts 10 to 15 percent. No portfolio risk. No clawback. That is the safer tool for most companies with 5 to 40 sites.
One renewal calendar, not one carrier
Everyone tells you to consolidate with one provider. That is backwards. A national carrier's blended rate can run 40 percent above the regional cable provider down the street.
The real consolidation is dates, not carriers.
When you renew site A, set the new term to end on your anchor date. Even if that means an odd 27-month term. Carriers will do it. Keep two or three carriers for leverage and backup.
Watch the auto-renew clauses. Most business internet deals roll over for 12 months unless you give written notice 30 to 90 days out. Miss one site's window and the whole leveling effort resets.
What a leveled portfolio looks like in numbers
Ten sites. $14,200 a month before. Per-Mbps range $0.85 to $3.40.
Here is the work. Rerate the four outliers to within 20 percent of the median. Convert three month-to-month sites to 36-month terms. Drop equipment rental at the sites that bought their own modem. Get the Cost Recovery Fee removed as a negotiated term.
New total: $10,600 a month. About $43k a year. No new carriers added.
Keep it from drifting back
Carriers rerate upward at renewal. They add fees mid-term with a one-line bill message. So the work is never fully done.
Refresh the rate card every quarter. Set a 120-day alert per site. And ask for two clauses at signing: price protection, so the MRC cannot rise during the term, and a rate-review clause at your anniversary.
Stop shopping for the best "volume deal." Spend two hours on the rate card instead. Call your worst two sites first, parity number in hand.