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Happy Holidays 2018 Rate Hike from Cox

Phillip Dampier December 13, 2017 Consumer News, Cox 1 Comment

Cox Communications, which spent much of 2017 implementing data caps and overlimit fees on its broadband customers, is back for more with plans for sweeping rate increases that take effect Jan. 7, 2018.

According to a bill notification received by a DSL Reports reader, a long list of video packages will increase from $1-5 a month, with lower amounts for slimmed down TV packages and higher increases for Contour TV packages. Cox will collect even more from a big boost to its Broadcast TV Surcharge, rising from $4 a month to $7.50. Only one channel — Playboy — will see a significant rate cut (from $19.95 to $15.99).

Cox TV Package Rate Increases (effective Jan. 7, 2018)

Flex Watch will change from $40.00 to $41.00.
TV Economy will change from $34.99 to $38.00.
TV Essential will change from $75.99 to $79.99.
Contour TV will change from $79.99 to $84.99.
Contour TV Ultimate will change from $161.99 to 166.99.
Contour TV Preferred will change from $91.99 to $96.99.
Contour TV Premier will change from $105.99 to $108.99.
Advanced TV Ultimate will change from $158.99 to $161.99.
Advanced TV Ultimate with 4 Premiums will change from $167.99 to $170.99.
Advanced TV Ultimate with 4 Premiums and Record 6 DVR will change from $165.99 to $168.99.
Paquete Latino will change from $35.00 to $36.00.
El Mix will change from $52.49 to $53.49.
Super Mix will change from $89.99 to $94.99.
Flex Watch Latino will change from $13.51 to $14.51.
TV Economy Latino will change from $44.99 to $48.00.
Contour TV Latino will change from $89.99 to $94.99.
Contour TV Latino Preferred will change from $101.99 to $106.99.
Contour TV Latino Ultimate will change from $175.99 to $178.99.
Entertainment Package with 3 Premiums will change from $138.24 to $143.24.
Entertainment Package with 4 Premiums will change from $149.74 to $154.74.
CableCARD will change from $2.00 to $2.99.
Playboy will change from $19.95 to $15.99.
The Broadcast Surcharge will change from $4.00 to $7.50.

Substantial rate hikes are also forthcoming for Cox’s internet packages, rising $2-4 a month when bundled with at least one other service.

Cox High Speed Internet Rate Increases

Starter will change from $34.99 to $36.99.
Essential will change from $52.99 to $55.99.
Preferred will change from $67.99 to $71.99.
Preferred 100 will change from $72.99 to $76.99.
Premier will change from $79.99 to $82.99.

Cox is also risking losing customers for its digital phone service, which often gets targeted for cancellation when there are sweeping rate hikes. Cox seemed undeterred, boosting some basic plan prices while dropping others.

Cox Digital Telephone Rate Increases

Starter will change from $13.99 to $14.99.
Economy will change from $18.50 to $18.39.
Starter Lifeline will change from $10.99 to $11.74.
Essential Lifeline will change from $21.99 to $21.74.
Premier Lifeline will change from $31.99 to $31.74.
An Additional Telephone Line will change from $13.99 to $14.99.
The FCC Access Fee will change from $7.10 to $6.00.
The Cost Recovery Fee will change from $1.49 to $1.60.
Toll Restriction will change from $1.49 to $1.60.

A Cox spokesperson said the rate increases were to cover increased programming expenses, as well as recovering some of the investments Cox has made to improve its equipment and broadband service. Customers on a promotional rate plan are unaffected by the rate increases until their current promotion expires.

Net Neutrality Protests Coming to More Than 600 Verizon Stores on Thursday

Phillip Dampier December 6, 2017 Consumer News, Net Neutrality, Public Policy & Gov't Comments Off on Net Neutrality Protests Coming to More Than 600 Verizon Stores on Thursday

Thousands of pro-Net Neutrality supporters are expected to protest the imminent repeal of rules protecting a free and open internet at more than 600 Verizon retail stores nationwide on Thursday, Dec. 6.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is likely to preside over a 3-2 Republican majority Dec. 14 vote rolling back rules that prevent internet service providers from blocking or slowing access to websites and creating paid “fast lanes.”

“The protests are meant to pierce the protective bubble of industry lobbyists and ‘yes men’ who’ve surrounded Chairman Pai,” said Free Press Action Fund senior director of strategy Timothy Karr,  who helped coordinate the day of action. “The outcry from across the political spectrum has been deafening. Pai’s effort to ignore the overwhelming public support for Net Neutrality only isolates him further from the people he’s really supposed to serve.”

The largest protest is expected to take place at Verizon’s Manhattan store on 42nd Street near Bryant Park. Other New York-area protests will occur at Verizon stores and offices in Lower Manhattan, Williamsburg (Brooklyn) and Fordham University (the Bronx).

Verizon Protests, a website run by several internet activist groups, is coordinating the public pushback against Pai and features an online map showing scheduled protest locations, asking those planning to attend to RSVP and find out the time of the protest at each location.

The group chose Verizon’s retail stores for its protests because Verizon is funding anti-Net Neutrality campaigns and lawsuits.

“The new chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, is a former top lawyer for Verizon, and the company has been spending millions on lobbying and lawsuits to kill Net Neutrality so they can gouge us all for more money,” the website says. “By protesting at Verizon stores, we’re shining light on the corruption and demanding that our lawmakers do something about it. Only Congress has the power to stop Verizon’s puppet FCC, so at the protests we’ll be calling and tweeting at legislators, and in some cities we’ll be protesting right in front of their offices.”

The group is encouraging everyone to also take their protest to their members of Congress.

“Everybody can call (202) 759-7766.  Please introduce yourself, be polite, and say and say something like: “I support “Title Two” Net Neutrality rules and I would like you to publicly oppose the FCC’s plan to repeal them,” the group advises in a three-page protest guide. “Please contact the FCC Chairman and demand that he abandon his current plan. We don’t need legislation, we need you to stop the FCC from gutting the existing rules.”

Hissyfit Between Google, Amazon Exploited by Anti-Net Neutrality Forces

Phillip Dampier December 6, 2017 Competition, Consumer News, HissyFitWatch, Net Neutrality, Online Video 7 Comments

News that Google is dropping support for YouTube on Amazon-branded set-top boxes, personal assistants, and set-top boxes is being used by anti-Net Neutrality forces to claim those two companies are a much bigger problems for Net Neutrality than cable and phone companies.

Google will make YouTube unavailable to Amazon device owners on Jan. 1, 2018, with the suggestion the company might change its mind if Amazon agrees to carry Chromecast and Google Home devices on its website and support casting Prime Video.

The last straw may have been Amazon’s decision to drop some of Nest’s newest products last month. Nest is owned by Google.

“Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV,” said a Google spokesperson to Multichannel News. “We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon.”

“Echo Show and Fire TV now display a standard web view of YouTube.com and point customers directly to YouTube’s existing website,” Amazon responded in a statement. “Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website. We hope to resolve this with Google as soon as possible.”

The dispute was welcomed by anti Net Neutrality forces, who proclaimed consumers were the victims of Amazon.com and Google, not AT&T, Comcast, and other large telecom companies.

USTelecom, a group sponsored by the nation’s biggest telephone companies, also pounced on the dispute. CEO Jonathan Spalter:

“Broadband ISPs are committed to providing an open internet for their customers, including protections like no content blocking or throttling,” he said. “Seems like some of the biggest internet companies can’t say the same. Ironic, isn’t it?”

(Headline corrected. Thanks to Morgan Wick.)

The Many Lies of Ajit Pai About Net Neutrality

Phillip Dampier December 4, 2017 Astroturf, Competition, Consumer News, Data Caps, Editorial & Site News, Net Neutrality, Public Policy & Gov't Comments Off on The Many Lies of Ajit Pai About Net Neutrality

Pai

I’ve done a LOT of interviews and talk shows on the issue of Net Neutrality over the last two weeks. After listening to the talking point-festooned “experts” and show hosts with a political agenda, your listeners, readers, and I will not be gaslighted by the exceptionally ridiculous condescension campaign now underway by Net Neutrality opponents.

For those who don’t know, “gaslighting” refers to manipulating someone into questioning or second-guessing their beliefs by distorting facts, attempting to delegitimize evidence with falsehoods, confusing the issues, and suggesting one lacks credibility to speak or write on an issue… because they said so.

Fortunately, when these “facts” come from a cable/telco bought-and-paid-for policy institute or lobbyist, it is easy to identify these campaigns and debunk them. It is also entertaining to turn the tables by questioning the source of their talking points and the agendas in play. We always ask these individuals where the money comes from for their “policy institute” and the answers are always not revealing. For the record, Stop the Cap! doesn’t accept corporate donations, period. We accept contributions exclusively from individuals. It takes just a few seconds to explain our funding while the other side takes minutes tap-dancing around the corporate dark money that funds their efforts.

Phillip Dampier: Don’t gaslight me, bro!

Thankfully, there have been a lot of newspaper reporters taking time to understand the issues and have shown professionalism in their reporting. But some radio talk show hosts unfortunately don’t do as well and rely on short-sighted political positioning, “rescue” their cornered allies with convenient commercial breaks, interrupt, or change the subject with baited questions when the facts don’t go their way. Net Neutrality is NOT a conservative or liberal issue, but some attempt to make it one by injecting President Barack Obama’s name into the debate or claim Net Neutrality represents government control of the internet.

Speaking of facts, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s latest arguments for his Christmas gift repeal of Net Neutrality for the telecom industry uses similar gaslighting and false talking points that distract from a fact-based debate on these issues.

As millions of consumers express outrage over Pai’s unbending agenda to allow internet service providers to create an unlevel internet playing field and paid prioritization fast lanes that favor some content over others (as long as they disclose it), Pai and his staff are now resorting to calling Americans who favor the current free and open internet “desperate” or ignorant about how the internet works.

But you know more than you think, reminded each month (when the bill arrives) of the special ability of companies like Comcast to abuse the customer relationship with skyrocketing rates, data caps, and unhelpful customer service. Giving companies like this more ways to charge you more for the same service has never worked to your advantage.

Net Neutrality is one of only a few tools available to the FCC to keep ISPs in check. Banning data caps and zero rating schemes would be another great way to protect consumers from Wall Street’s insatiable demand for companies to extract more revenue from consumers. Investors know full well in a monopoly/duopoly marketplace there is every incentive to gouge and very little risk of losing customers doing so.

Our friends at Free Press did considerable research to debunk some of Mr. Pai’s talking points in a long series of tweets we thought would be illuminating:

Charter Introduces Gigabit Service on Oahu; New Standard Speed is 200Mbps

Phillip Dampier December 4, 2017 Broadband Speed, Charter Spectrum, Competition, Consumer News Comments Off on Charter Introduces Gigabit Service on Oahu; New Standard Speed is 200Mbps

Charter Communications has announced gigabit broadband is available on the Hawaiian island of Oahu for $104.99/month, thanks to DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades being tested in the state.

Spectrum customers in Hawaii will also find their Standard tier internet speeds have also been doubled to 200Mbps, up from 100Mbps. A year ago, the company was selling 60Mbps broadband for the same $65 price it now charges for speeds more than triple as fast.

Charter has been at the rear of companies upgrading to DOCSIS 3.1 technology, primarily because the company is still upgrading legacy Time Warner Cable systems to free up space for boosting broadband speeds. The last analog television service in legacy Time Warner territory is not expected to disappear until 2019, with around half of former Time Warner Cable customers still waiting for upgrades. Charter executives don’t mind that the company is among the last, claiming that by the time DOCSIS 3.1 is fully deployed across their systems, equipment will be cheaper and more plentiful.

Charter plans to roll out DOCSIS 3.1 upgrades in selected cities — almost all facing substantial competition from Verizon FiOS, AT&T Fiber, or a municipal gigabit fiber provider — starting in 2018. But most markets will have to wait until 2019 or later before gigabit speeds become available from Spectrum.

Charter CEO Thomas Rutledge added Spectrum customers will see base plan speeds increase as the company continues its upgrade strategy.

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