Comments on: BREAKING NEWS: Frontier Officially Abandons Caps; Will Go On Marketing Attack to Sign New Customers

By: Mad Mac

Mad Mac — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:57:44 +0000

Isn’t the “Golden Triangle” the Beaumont, TX area where this all started?

By: Frontier Delays Tiered Broadband to Catch TWC’s Customers

Frontier Delays Tiered Broadband to Catch TWC’s Customers — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:31 +0000

[...] Cable last week named the city as a trial market for its own tiered broadband plans, also likely played a role, notes StoptheCap.com, which broke the story about Frontier’s delay. In February, Beasly told me the ISP would [...]

By: Mazakman

Mazakman — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:42:56 +0000

A link posted at DSLReports thread on the caps…

http://www.timewarnercable.com/GoldenTriangle/learn/hso/roadrunner/selectplan/default.html

I think that this is a California RR site ?

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:20:07 +0000

Clever bumper stickers here:

http://thayerdesign.myshopify.com/products/nickel-dime-warner-sticker

Maybe give the company itself a little more negative PR.

By: phil

phil — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:00:33 +0000

You gotta love “customer retention.” Say anything to keep the customer from pulling the plug. Sometimes they’ll give you a $10 inconvenience credit. That makes me feel so much better.

By: Danny Gibas

Danny Gibas — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:42:20 +0000

Jay, I think you got bad information on that. I have spoken to two reps at TW so far, and both have told me the caps apply to new and existing customers alike. I think they were feeding you a link of crap. Call them back and ask again, see if that answer changes.

By: Jeffrey_Bays

Jeffrey_Bays — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:26:39 +0000

NO! They are either lying or they have been mis-speaking through their press outlets. In each of the test markets, they will be implementing caps – regardless of how much of their crap service you subscribe to. The only people unaffected will be people that are UNDER A CONTRACT. Even those in promotional deals will be capped.

QUOTE : First off, the representative told me the usage caps will be applied to NEW customers who sign-up for Road Runner service only. Existing customers, and customers who subscribe to both cable AND RR, will be unaffected.

By: phil

phil — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:14:54 +0000

This is entirely different from the information we have heard about this. It was supposed to be applied to EVERYONE. If this was for new customers only, that would have been a major point for them to raise in their press blitz, and this is the first I am hearing about this. Beaumont was for new customers only, but that trial was supposed to be expanded to everyone down there as well.

I have no time to sit with TW on hold right now. Can several folks with accounts give them a call at 756-5000 and:

1) Complain about caps again, just for good measure.
2) Ask if it applies to new customers or to all customers.

If they say new customers, if you can inquire how they learned that and who at the business office can confirm it, that would be great.

As we learned with Frontier last summer, these companies can and do flip flop and change their minds on things based on push back from angry customers. My first impression is that this CSR is off script and is incorrect, but if this represents some policy shift that these people got a memo on earlier today, we absolutely need to know about it. I will not be satisfied personally even if they shift their response to indicate “new customers only.” A cap is a cap that needs to be fought, whether it personally affects you or not.

You can reply here with your findings. I need to go do my power walk. I have been on the phone or typing on this stuff all day.

By: Mazakman

Mazakman — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:05:57 +0000

Interesting information Jay. We need to dig this out and find out if this is true or not… the part about the caps only applying to new customers. But even if this is true, this needs to be stopped also.

By: phil

phil — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:02:28 +0000

Right now, the information I have is local to just Rochester. The Democrat & Chronicle coverage seems to imply it might be for all of their service areas. What you can do is call Frontier, and if they start reading the script similar to the one I put in the original article, it means they have no immediate plan for a cap in your area either.

One thing I learned last summer, however, what works competitively in Rochester may not be the same in more rural, captive communities where there is only one wired provider. I am a strong proponent of rural broadband choice, and I am always concerned about rural residents being given a second class broadband service just because no competitor is available to challenge that. We may have to approach this from a regulatory position, however, unless government incentives to expand broadband into more rural communities comes with strings attached to ensure speed, pricing, and availability are fair and equitable. I’m watching your back on this issue as well, cap or no cap.