Recent Headlines
October 2, 2009
Be Sure to Read Part One: Astroturf Overload — Broadband for America = One Giant Industry Front Group for an important introduction to what this super-sized industry front group is all about. Members of Broadband for America Red: A company or group actively engaging in anti-consumer lobbying, opposes Net Neutrality, supports Internet Overcharging, belongs to […]
October 2, 2009
Astroturf: One of the underhanded tactics increasingly being used by telecom companies is “Astroturf lobbying” – creating front groups that try to mimic true grassroots, but that are all about corporate money, not citizen power. Astroturf lobbying is hardly a new approach. Senator Lloyd Bentsen is credited with coining the term in the 1980s to […]
September 27, 2009
Hong Kong remains bullish on broadband. Despite the economic downturn, City Telecom continues to invest millions in constructing one of Hong Kong’s largest fiber optic broadband networks, providing fiber to the home connections to residents. City Telecom’s HK Broadband service relies on an all-fiber optic network, and has been dubbed “the Verizon FiOS of Hong […]
September 23, 2009
BendBroadband, a small provider serving central Oregon, breathlessly announced the imminent launch of new higher speed broadband service for its customers after completing an upgrade to DOCSIS 3. Along with the launch announcement came a new logo of a sprinting dog the company attaches its new tagline to: “We’re the local dog. We better be […]
September 23, 2009
Stop the Cap! reader Rick has been educating me about some of the new-found aggression by Shaw Communications, one of western Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, in expanding its business reach across Canada. Woe to those who get in the way. Novus Entertainment is already familiar with this story. As Stop the Cap! reported previously, Shaw […]
September 22, 2009
The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, may be forced to consider American broadband policy before defining Net Neutrality and its role in Canadian broadband, according to an article published today in The Globe & Mail. [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s] proposal – to codify and enforce some […]
September 21, 2009
In March 2000, two cable magnates sat down for the cable industry equivalent of My Dinner With Andre. Fine wine, beautiful table linens, an exquisite meal, and a Monopoly board with pieces swapped back and forth representing hundreds of thousands of Canadian consumers. Ted Rogers and Jim Shaw drew a line on the western Ontario […]
September 11, 2009
Just like FairPoint Communications, the Towering Inferno of phone companies haunting New England, Frontier Communications is making a whole lot of promises to state regulators and consumers, if they’ll only support the deal to transfer ownership of phone service from Verizon to them. This time, Frontier is issuing a self-serving press release touting their investment […]
September 7, 2009
I see it took all of five minutes for George Ou and his friends at Digital Society to be swayed by the tunnel vision myopia of last week’s latest effort to justify Internet Overcharging schemes. Until recently, I’ve always rationalized my distain for smaller usage caps by ignoring the fact that I’m being subsidized by […]
September 1, 2009
In 2007, we took our first major trip away from western New York in 20 years and spent two weeks an hour away from Calgary, Alberta. After two weeks in Kananaskis Country, Banff, Calgary, and other spots all over southern Alberta, we came away with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Good Alberta […]
August 31, 2009
A federal appeals court in Washington has struck down, for a second time, a rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission to limit the size of the nation’s largest cable operators to 30% of the nation’s pay television marketplace, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” The 30% rule, designed to keep no single company from controlling […]
August 27, 2009
Less than half of Americans surveyed by PC Magazine report they are very satisfied with the broadband speed delivered by their Internet service provider. PC Magazine released a comprehensive study this month on speed, provider satisfaction, and consumer opinions about the state of broadband in their community. The publisher sampled more than 17,000 participants, checking […]
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Time Warner Cable’s spring promotion for broadband service has gotten more aggressive on pricing, particularly for the company’s fastest tiers.
I currently live in an apartment complex where the only choices for cable are time warner, dish, direct TV. Did the tweet trick, they called me, and no dice. Just recently learned Qwest was dropping fiber in my front lawn, I think i’m going to go with them. Or should I use that aginst TWC to get a better deal? Options? Comments? @Spintaruen on twitter
Just called them to see about a lower price – Standard service goes up to $52.99/mo when the 12 month promotional period ends. They offered me $39.99/mo for 6 months to retain me, I said no thanks and asked for a better price due to budgeting. Also reminded them that I am cheaper to retain than it is for them to get a new customer, and they let me cancel my service. Unbelievable. Not sure what else I could have done to get a lower price. I don’t want cable and don’t need a phone, so the upsell bundle packs… Read more »
You have to remember that an agent can ONLY offer you the prices that exist in the Billing system. They cant get creative and offer a special tailor made offer for individual customers.
The offer of 39.99 is just over a buck a day. I really am not sure whether you can find High speed internet for less than that especially as you seem to be a single play customer.
Good luck.
Hob
Hi Laura. If you canceled service, I predict they will start calling you (answer those unfamiliar caller ID calls) and try and give you a customer “winback” offer. Here are your options right now: 1) Go sign up for Earthlink via Time Warner Cable. It’s $29.99 for six months of broadband-only service. Speeds and service are identical to TWC broadband (and delivered over TWC’s network), but you will not get their Speedboost feature (you don’t need it.) After that promo ends, sign up as a new Time Warner Cable customer on their 12 month promo deal. 2) Go and tweet… Read more »
Thanks for the advice! I tweeted them and they asked me to email them. I emailed them at 9:02 and had a response at 9:11 tonight, saying they would forward my request to the local management (Los Angeles). I sincerely hope that isn’t the same group I already talked to, and I hope this isn’t the run around. I didn’t realize that I could sign up for a new account right away, so that might be the next best option. I know I’m not that valuable since I only want broadcast and have no need for a home phone, but… Read more »
Should I ask them if I could get the 50/5 teir at the 79.99 price? I just want the speed, Qwest is dropping fiber in front of my house within the month (flags are planted and trucks are out there daily) I just want a better price, i’m playing 69.99 + tax for a service they have marked down at 49.99 now.
I am surprised they said “no dice.” What were you specifically asking for? Did you threaten to walk/schedule a cancel two weeks out? More details will help me figure out what to suggest next.
I told them that Quest was coming with fiber, they said, Okay, and then I said Well i guess i’m going to go to them in the next 2 weeks, and then they said, thank you for being a customer have a great day! I was kinda annoyed at the fact, all i wanted was the 50/5 deal they were running for 79.99 it’s an upgrade to what I have, and at 10 dollars more than what i pay right now, it’s a deal!
Sign up online as a new customer, possibly under a spouse’s name on their website, but make sure a service cancellation order is in place first. Time Warner won’t install service at an address shown with active service.
The service is in her name right now, i’m just on the account as a whatever they call it. It is a hassle though, but i’m still not happy i got the service not even 3 months ago, and then they decided to drop the price, I’ve had time warner for 6 years now, and haven’t complained or do much in the fact of getting money managed from them, I just want what I’m paying for, and a cheap price to boot.
It seems like every division is different. In the northeast, TW will fall all over customers to give them what they want, but we’ve seen some pretty nasty “don’t care” attitudes in the south (especially Texas) and out west (California in particular).
I suspect having CenturyLink or AT&T as a competitor isn’t as threatening as Verizon FiOS.
These “price drops” are actually just new customer promotions, not a change in the regular price. We reported earlier they had gotten more aggressive with these. But even these promos vary from region to region.
Well if anything, I’ve been having speed problems since day one of connection. I’ve had 4-6 techs look at my apartment, the lines, the pole and node, and they still can’t figure out what’s going on. I have the regional Supervisor coming out this week to fix it. Maybe he can sport me the “Cheaper” package since I’ve not gotten what I’ve paid for for the past 3-4 months. LOL
I’m currently playing $75 for the 30/5 tier (whatever it’s now called).
Is it possible to “upgrade” to 50 Mbps for $5 extra? or do i have to be a new customer?
I really don’t need the 50 Mbps, I’d prefer to get 30Mbps for $50… but I’m not really into canceling my service.
The deals referenced above are for new customers. Go the Twitter route and see if you can negotiate a lower rate. Only you can decide if $25 a month in savings is worth the hassle of a disconnect-reconnect.
Small update to this post: they must have reverted the 50/5 back to 99.99 in my area, cuz it was the 79.99 guess people got pissed?
Location: South Carolina I just got hit with the old Bait and Switch. In January, I ordered the 30mbps “Extreme” package at the $49.99 rate. The installation tech never arrived, so I had to reschedule–for March. The promotion was still around, so I went ahead with the install. The service was odd, but acceptable for me. I’ve been online since I was a child in the mid-90’s, and I know that guaranteed speed can vary. Regardless of the issues I had with speed variations, I was surprised to receive my second bill of $77.95. From the representatives at TWC, I… Read more »
I just spent hours on the phone and chat with them. No dice on the promotion. Disconnected from the phone call 4 times and 3 times on the chat. Does anyone have a link to this promotion that I can bookmark or print to pdf? Many thanks.
If you go through the New Customer order process–putting in your address and checking the Internet checkbox at the top, it will show you the promotion. It’s ongoing. My issue was resolved, but it took lots of calls and claims of false advertisement for them to relent.
Prior to that, they were keen to just drop the issue with “It’s not on your account, sir. Thank you for choosing Time Warner Cable”, so it is something you need to go through a little bit of phone tag.
Not right, but what is these days?
https://order.timewarnercable.com/OfferList.aspx
Faster link for that selection process, though it may ask you to enter your address anyway. Make sure to do NEW CUSTOMER, even if you’re an existing customer to get the promotion info.
For new customers like me who had the promotion taken off, they make no mention of the promotion afterwards.
Still showing 99.99 for me for the 50/5 teir, I got Fiber coming soon to the apartment I’m at, I wonder if i can scare them into giving me that price though? U-Verse and Qwest prices are at the same, but what if they smell competition? opinions on that?
Show up at Time Warner’s office with modem in hand (if you rent from them) and tell them you have to cancel because you can’t afford it anymore. At that point they will (should) offer you a super deal. I did that and my bill lowered to $29.99 and they let me keep RR Turbo.