An insider at Charter Communications has told Broadband Reports it plans to introduce a $200 “activation fee” for customers choosing 100Mbps broadband from the cable provider.

“Ultra is a premium service which results in higher incremental network investments, equipment costs, and other operating expenses,” the company tells Karl Bode. “In an effort to maintain reasonable monthly recurring service fees, we have implemented a higher installation fee for Ultra customers.”

The new fee is scheduled to begin Oct. 16.

In July, Charter simplified its broadband tiers, leaving customers with two choices: 30Mbps (250GB limit) for $50 a month or 100Mbps (500GB limit) for $110 a month. The company eliminated modem rental charges at that time.

Mashburn

A veteran Kansas City AT&T employee with more than 40 years of service to the company died Sept. 19 after waiting 15 minutes for his employer to respond to urgent pleas for help and another 30 minutes before the company and emergency responders were finally able to locate him in the suburb of Gladstone.

Questions are being raised about why AT&T waited so long to locate and help Kevin Mashburn, 58, even as an ex-convict sits in a Clay County jail, charged with his murder. AT&T has so far refused to officially answer why dispatchers were not available to receive Mashburn’s frantic pleas for help and why they failed to use built-in GPS tracking equipment installed in company trucks to find Mashburn sooner.

According to official 911 transcripts, an AT&T employee eventually told Gladstone 911 dispatchers she was unable to ping Mashburn’s cellphone to help identify his exact location, telling the dispatcher “we’re not that useful.”

Mashburn was working alone, making overnight repairs to AT&T facilities in the area, when he was attacked by someone with a pry bar. Authorities later charged 35-year old ex-convict Bryan Middlemas with the crime. AT&T offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the case.

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KSHB Kansas City Son Quicker response time could have saved dads life 9-25-12.mp4[/flv]

KSHB in Kansas City talked with Mashburn’s surviving son, who expressed concern that a quicker response time could have saved his dad’s life. Independence Power and Light says AT&T’s delayed response would never happen at their company.  (3 minutes)

Mashburn used AT&T’s instant messaging system installed in company trucks to alert his employer that he needed an ambulance after being attacked, but court documents show Mashburn waited 15 minutes for AT&T dispatchers to respond:

Kevin (2:52:24 a.m)  Amanda I NEEDE YOU TO CALL ME AN AMBULANCE

Kevin (2:52:37)  I HAVE BEEN ATTACKED

Kevin (2:52:57) HELP ME PLEASE

Kevin (2:53:32) I am in Gladstone, MO AT THE KENDALLWAOOD APAT. COMPLEX OFF ANTIOCH

Kevin (2:54:01) DOYOU READ ME?

About 15 minutes later an AT&T employee named Amanda responded to Mashburn’s message.

Amanda (3:11:20) I got it.

While he waited for the dispatcher to respond, Mashburn also sent messages to another AT&T employee on duty:

Kevin (2:55:13) GRACIE ARE YOU THERE?

Gracie (3:11:06) I’M HERE NOW

Gracie (3:11:11) I WAS IN A MEETING

Kevin (3:20:10) need police

Gracie (3:20:43) THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED.. AND SO HAS STRICKLEN

Kevin (3:20:47) hurry

Gracie (3:21:14) THEY ARE EN ROUTE

Kevin (3:21:07) ok

Kevin (3:21:14) ok

Gracie (3:21:21) STRICKLEN ALSO EN ROUTE

Kevin (3:21:38) ok

Kevin (3:24:03) was attacked wiyh a flat crowbar

Gracie (3:24:40) we are praying

Gracie (3:25:08) you hurt bad?

Kevin (3:25:12) yes

Kevin (3:25:37) head split open

Gracie (3:26:15) stricklin on line.. can you give us an exact location we have the address

Gracie (3:26:21) he is trying to find you

Gracie (3:26:45 he is trying to find you

Kevin (3:26:45) near crossbox. Beacon and flasher are on

Kevin (3:27:25) I can sound horn

Gracie (3:29:10) yes

Gracie (3:29:10) us are on kendallwood

Kevin (3:30:44) yes

Gracie (3:32:10) are you near a business… can not hear you horn but keep sounding

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KSHB Kansas City GPS questions in ATT techs murder 9-26-12.mp4[/flv]

KSHB explores how AT&T used (or did not use) the GPS system built-into Mashburn’s company vehicle to help locate him. (3 minutes)

Kansas City Police contacted Gladstone dispatchers regarding the assault on Sept. 19 at 3:12 a.m. Mashburn was not located until 3:42 a.m. Despite the fact AT&T trucks have built-in GPS tracking to monitor employees, the company has not publicly explained why it apparently went unused during the 30 minute search to find Mashburn. The frustration by all concerned was readily apparent in this portion of the official 911 transcript:

3:30:18 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: Our officers are still looking. They haven’t found anything yet.

3:30:20 a.m. Radio 258: I’m pulling out my map for the rental properties.

3:30:21 a.m. AT&T Supervisor (to dispatcher): Oh you’re kidding?

3:30:22 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: No.

At 3:32 a.m., AT&T Amanda said she called both Mashburn’s work and personal cellphones, but got no answer. By this point, four Gladstone Police officers were searching for Mashburn across the apartment complex.

3:32:50 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: Are you guys possible to ping his cellphone?

3:32:54 a.m. AT&T Amanda: I don’t have a way to.

3:32:56 a.m. Gladstone Dispatcher #1: You don’t have a way to do that?

3:32:59 a.m. AT&T Amanda: We’re not that useful.

3:33:33 a.m. AT&T Supervisor: It’s amazing you can’t find this guy.

Although medical teams eventually reached Mashburn, he did not survive the ordeal and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Mashburn’s son says he has been asked why his father sent messages to company dispatchers instead of calling authorities directly. William Mashburn told the local Fox affiliate that he was not surprised his father used the mobile data terminal to seek help, because that was one of his primary tools on the job.

“If you could try to keep in mind it was a pretty severe head injury,” William Mashburn told the Fox affiliate. “Maybe the ability to speak wasn’t there. Maybe the phone was dislodged during any confrontation or something so, there’s a lot of questions we don’t have answers to, if people could be a little sensitive to that, we’d appreciate it.”

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KSHB Kansas City 911 call details confusion in ATT attack 9-27-12.mp4[/flv]

KSHB chronicles almost an hour of confusion and frustration trying to reach the injured AT&T worker, who was pronounced dead when he finally reached the hospital nearly an hour after the attack. (3 minutes)

[flv width=”480″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSYR Syracuse Time Warner Cable to charge monthly Internet modem fee 10-2-12.mp4[/flv]

WSYR in Syracuse and WCPO in Cincinnati report Time Warner Cable and former Insight Cable customers are upset the cable company is introducing new modem rental charges on Nov. 1 in both areas, but the company has yet to directly notify customers the new fees are coming. WSYR covers the concerns of customers in central New York. (1 minute)

Charter Communications’ new CEO Thomas Rutledge loves Connecticut so much, he is moving the company’s executive headquarters to a new facility in Stamford — just minutes from his tony estate in New Canaan —  at taxpayer expense.

Rutledge has been running Charter, based in St. Louis, largely from Connecticut and a temporary executive suite in New York City since he accepted the position days after quitting as Cablevision’s chief operating officer in December, 2011.

But instead of relocating to St. Louis, Rutledge will force about 100 employees to quit or move to Connecticut, with taxpayers picking up the tab. Charter blamed the move, in part, on the downsizing of St. Louis’ airport which company spokesperson Jessica Hardecke said hampered the ability of the company’s employees to visit its cable systems in 25 states.

Under the terms of the corporate welfare deal, Charter will receive a 10-year loan of $6.5 million financed at 2%, with principal payments deferred for three years. If Charter meets modest job milestone requirements, the loan’s balance will be transferred to state taxpayers who will pay it back in part or in full, depending on Charter’s job growth performance. The company has promised to add up to 200 jobs in Stamford, which will earn them an added bonus. The package allows Charter the opportunity to access up to $2 million in grant funding — $1 million for each additional 50 corporate jobs they bring to Connecticut. The company can also receive $1 million in grants if it adds 100 jobs. The grants are capped at $2 million.

News reports indicate Charter is eyeing 70,000 square feet of premium office space in a 15-story high rise in downtown Stamford shared with UBS Financial Services and Harmon International.

Rutledge has a long history of stubbornly sticking close to home. While an executive at Cablevision, he refused to move closer to the company’s headquarters on Long Island, requiring the cable company to provide a helicopter service that flew him back and forth from Connecticut every day.

Rutledge

Rutledge could have self-financed the entire move out of his personal compensation. His four-year pay package at Charter is worth about $90 million, according to recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Two other former senior executives who left Cablevision to join Rutledge at Charter may have known Rutledge would never move to Missouri. Neither Charter’s chief operating officer or chief marketing officer have put their New York City-area homes up for sale. Now they don’t have to.

St. Louis officials were shocked by the decision, and were fuming about the company’s surprise announcement Oct. 2, because nobody gave them an opportunity to make a counteroffer to get Charter’s executives to stay.

Steve Johnson, executive vice president for economic development at the Regional Chamber and Growth Association, wasn’t given a chance to change Charter’s mind either. “You never want to lose corporate headquarters and the cachet that goes with them,” Johnson says. “But I’m not sure there was anything we could do to influence this one.”

County Executive Charlie Dooley was more succinct: “I don’t believe [Rutledge] wanted to come to St. Louis.”

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KMOV St Louis Charter Moving to Conn 10-2-12.mp4[/flv]

KMOV in St. Louis reports local officials were unpleasantly surprised with Charter’s sudden announcement, but were partly mollified with promises Charter would hire an additional 300 modestly paid customer service workers in St. Louis (without any taxpayer incentives) between now and the end of the year. (2 minutes)

 [flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KTVI St Louis Charter Moving Headquarters Out of St Louis Area 10-2-12.flv[/flv]

KTVI in St. Louis notes Charter’s executive exit from Missouri has become a political issue, with Republicans complaining the state has to do even more for businesses to keep this from happening again. (2 minutes)

Time Warner Cable’s new $3.95 monthly cable modem fee applies to customers signed up for broadband service, but if you are a Time Warner “digital phone” customer and don’t subscribe to broadband, the fee does not apply even though the same equipment can sometimes be used for either service.

Time Warner Cable claims the new modem fee was needed to cover the cost of repairing and replacing cable modems over time. But New York City customers have been asking why Internet customers have to buy their own modem to avoid the fee while those using the same modem only for telephone service do not.

The New York Times reached out to Time Warner Cable’s director of public relations Justin Venech, who had to acknowledge the logic disconnect between “digital phone” and Internet customers, but could only offer this weak explanation:

“The way we have decided to charge this fee is, we’re charging it for use of the Internet portion of the modem,” Venech explained. “It’s a business decision. It’s a matter of starting to treat this equipment the same way we treat our other equipment.”

That explanation did not seem to fly… with Time Warner Cable’s own customer service representatives.

When Manhattan resident Tom Arana-Wolfe demanded an explanation for the inconsistent fees, the representative put his call on hold to transfer him to a supervisor, but forgot to hit the mute button.

“She was discussing our conversation with a co-worker and said that they have to come up with something better, because ‘He has a valid point,’” Arana-Wolfe said.

Arana-Wolfe is considering starting a class action lawsuit against the cable operator relating to the modem fee, but is also considering switching his service to Verizon FiOS, which charges no modem fees.