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 is extending an online promotion to Extreme (30/5Mbps) customers to upgrade to Ultimate (50/5Mbps) service for an extra $10 a month above your current pricing.
I’d be afraid to take TW up on this deal, as the full price after the promo ends is officially unknown. TW strongly resists telling you what the post-promo price will be. Just trust them. Getting them to admit the current “regular” price is like pulling teeth. They may reluctantly admit the regular price will be “oh, just 10-15% more”. I assume they mean “higher than the current regular price”. In my multiple experiences, regular price was 30% above the promo price! I’m not so worried about being forced to “rent” a modem for the first few days. Assuming there… Read more »
It is my understanding this is not a promotional price but rather an incremental upgrade offer that carries no expiration. It also won’t affect any current promotions on your account, but you can call and double check. I am considering this myself, because it is a good deal, but I’ll probably call and ask them questions before jumping on it. You need a DOCSIS 3 modem for 30/5 or 50/5 service just about everywhere. I prefer DOCSIS 3 because it provides a more even experience because it can take advantage of channel bonding. I also would not worry about them… Read more »
“their internal systems do not necessarily end promotions on schedule, depending on how good of a customer you are and what the likelihood is you will jump if they raise your rates” Well, I do not view this as an explanation, so much as an admission that they consciously keep things hazy so they can game the system. Service prices are NOT DICTATED BY A STOCK MARKET. There’s nothing complex about telling a customer that they’ll charge you such and such for the first year, then so and so after that. Damn near every other merchant does this cheerfully. Noone’s… Read more »
I’ve had standard internet service since it became offered in my town. Back in 2004, TW offered me a 2 year deal to switch from satellite for standard internet + digital cable + all the premium channels for $80/month. Two years later, my digital cable bill started creeping up, then I added one DVR and a second. Last March, I messaged TW on twitter and got them to offer me a promo deal on my cable services. I got a notice this spring saying that my promos were going to expire. All this time, I still had the promo rates… Read more »
“I’d be afraid to take TW up on this deal, as the full price after the promo ends is officially unknown. TW strongly resists telling you what the post-promo price will be. Just trust them. Getting them to admit the current “regular” price is like pulling teeth. They may reluctantly admit the regular price will be “oh, just 10-15% more”. I assume they mean “higher than the current regular price”. In my multiple experiences, regular price was 30% above the promo price!” We have had this discussion many times. NO ONE has any idea what the price will be AFTER… Read more »
Ok then, Loons. I’m just wondering then, what your industry-sympathetic explanation is, for the fact that every other ISP *DOES* tell you what they will charge you after the promo ends? Oh, and don’t forget that TW occasionally runs promotions where they will “lock you in” to a certain rate for the coming year. Barring an amazingly enlightening response from you, it seems TW DOES possess the ability to determine what they’ll be charging a given customer after the promo ends. Maybe they don’t tell their customer service agents, and maybe they train those CS agents to claim that noone… Read more »
This might be good news as I look to ditch their Signature Home Package for Internet only. I was going to drop down to the 30/5 package to keep up with the multiple connections here, but if I can get a 50/5 package for $10 I would keep mine. I agree with the above posts that finding out what Time Warner’s “actual” everyday normal prices are is virtually impossible. Nobody has a clue. I couldn’t even get price information for dropping down to a CableCard with Internet Only. The reps are clueless. How do they not have a price list?
I tried upgrading to this online by speaking to an online chat rep. They were unable to process the change however because of my current promos I had on the account. They were going to escalate to expert support and call me back either way.
So far no call back…