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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Well, I was able to hook up DSL with no issue when I first ordered it from Verizon (Frontier sent a tech out with a modem to hook up the Frontier line) and it was pretty easy (of course as I’m technically savvy). Insert filters on the line, plug in the modem, power it on, run the CD/use your web browser, create an account and then configure the modem, all done in under 20 minutes. I’m sure Roadrunner is just as easy to hook up, possibly easier, given people don’t trash their signal with too many splitters or putting it… Read more »
The first time I got Time Warner RoadRunner in 2000 (I think) they had to come in and “install” it. When the tech saw I wasn’t running Windows he asked if I would be good on my own from there. I said yes, think that he didn’t need to show up at all really except to run a line from to pole to my house. Self-install kits make a lot of sense, but gouging someone who wants your service but may not be tech savvy just to recoup a couple bucks is pretty low. Are they trying to tell me… Read more »
Hi Brion: I don’t think $19.95 is that bad. I think you and I know a lot of people that can’t get it right no matter how simple. That being said if they want a full paying customer it should not be an extra expense. Like you and me and most here we have seen it all something as simple as shutting down a computer can be a mass mess for them. Their idea just turn the switch on the power strip off. Not a good idea. Any good installer has to connect to the computer and maybe insert any… Read more »
I just consider it part of the service that shouldn’t be an extra fee. If they want to give me a $20 credit for not having to come out that’s fine by me. Consider people who buy DirecTV or DishNetwork – they come out to your house, install the dish, run the coax, hook up your box(es) and check the signal to make sure everything is working fine so when they leave you can start using it immediately. How many people would sign up for satellite if they charged an extra fee for the installation service? Satellite companies used to… Read more »
I did agree with you. Anybody that wants $40+ a month for the rest of my life better not be looking for an install fee. If they are loosing on the TV end of things That is their problem and I do not want to support cable TV where 99 percent of the channels are junk filler. I never saw it but im sure watching a bunch of cows taking a dump every 10 minutes would sure turn me on….not
Y’all are lucky. I’m in Comcast territory and an internet installation is $100. Then again, I didn’t have TV, which I’m assuming the RR starter kit works with.
Ian it would have to be based on the fact that the wires for tv were
already there and where the computer is located. BUY what happens if you tv is on the first story and your
computer is on the second story. Time to run out and buy some compatible
coax some splitters and a cordless drill ladder and caulking. Can you picture that?
Drilling back outside you house, running the wire along the gutter or
somewhere then drilling a new hole back inside the house.