f#*k Time Warner Cable

Thankfully I'm not using TWC for Internet as it sounds like that is where the majority of the issues lie. With classes starting up tomorrow if something like that happened to me, I'm not really sure what I would do.

 
You can choose between Cox and TWC for internet/cable here in Manhattan and I went with Cox. For the past two months or so Cox has had intermittent outages and its grown a bit frustrating but from reading this I'm glad I went with them.

 
huKSer said:
And yes TWC sucks. They are a monopoly - EVERY community should have a minimum of TWO cable/internet providers and let the capitalism begin. And Dishnetwork don't count
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The same **** went on when we had to use TWC in our apartment complex here in the Dallas area years ago. Cable TV and internet went out, took them two weeks to dispatch someone, and it turned out it was because of a lazy f*****g installer that ganked our cable feed for a new install.

Now, they're doing same-day dispatch requests, bill credits, affordable plans with fast internet, and they're generally doing everything they can to repress years of being d***ks in the minds of their customers?

Why? Verizon FiOS moved in and is now the king (where they're offered, at any rate).

Granted, AT&T also came to other TWC areas with their U-Verse offering, but that is only their failing attempt to provided FiOS-like service without actually having to pay any money to upgrade equipment or facilities in the last mile.

huKSer is dead on--once you have the local monopoly broken, it's amazing how quickly they shape up. But for some of the cities down here, it took their governments a while to see through their BS, threats, and lies when local franchise agreements were given to Verizon.

 
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Bucky said:
You can choose between Cox and TWC for internet/cable here in Manhattan and I went with Cox. For the past two months or so Cox has had intermittent outages and its grown a bit frustrating but from reading this I'm glad I went with them.
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I could accept intermittent outages in exchange for better customer service. You made the correct decision with Cox. Like I said up there, my parents have had that in Omaha for years and Cox has always been great.

I about lost my mind a couple of hours after I started this thread yesterday - a god damn TWC truck was outside another apartment building yesterday. It was there for at least 8 hours though, so I assume whoever owned that truck must live in the complex. If he does, I'm going to find him.

I'm expecting full reimbursement for these near two weeks we've had problems, and I feel I should also ask for a temp upgrade given the B.S. they put me through. We don't have the fastest internet, so maybe we could swing that for a few months.

 
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knapplc said:
This is what I don't understand. When America forced Ma Bell into divestiture in the 1980s, they didn't force any competitors to come in and build infrastructure - they basically said It's already there, go ahead and use it. Near as I recall (fuzzy memory, I was quite young then), Bell Telephone didn't get a dime from anyone else coming in and using their lines. We shouldn't have to force competitors to rewire an already wired America.

In fact, unless I'm mistaken, TWC didn't even wire Lincoln - their predecessor (name escapes me) did it.
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Was it maybe Cablevision? I think that's what it was called back in the day.

It has been my experience that all cable and phone companies suck, particularly at customer service. The people saying Cox has good customer service is the first indication I have ever seen that possibly all of them do not suck. I absolutely hate Comcast/Infinity and Verizon in our neck of the woods.

 
I think it really can be a regional thing. The funny thing about TWC is just about everyone hates them, regardless of location. For my parents and I, our service rarely if ever cut out, they were always helpful when we had problems and we almost always saw a tech within a day or two of having issues.

Today, I was finally able to speak with a TWC rep to figure this stuff out. They have no available service appointments until Saturday, had absolutely no record of my appointment being moved to Sunday, and the woman I was talking to had very few conversation skills and was extremely awkward.

There must be very little accountability within tTWC, and there really isn't a lot people can do about it (especially in Lincoln). You don't want internet? Well, good luck, cause we own the internet in this town. It's just ridiculous.

 
sd said:
i like dish, but i have never really researched directv.
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We had Dish for a few years and hated it. Anytime there were clouds in the sky, we lost signal. The turning point was when we asked about upgrading to a DVR. They told us it would be $300 for the receiver even though we had been with them for a few years. We promptly called DirecTV, got the HD/DVR, cheaper price, better signal and haven't looked back. Dish tried getting us to come back but when we told them we were switching (dish promised us a free HD/DVR) but we told them to come get their crap. We've been happy with DirecTV ever since. Only "glitch" is we lose the HD channels during bad weather but we can switch to standard def channels and they come in just fine.

 
HuskerfaninOkieland said:
sd said:
i like dish, but i have never really researched directv.
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We had Dish for a few years and hated it. Anytime there were clouds in the sky, we lost signal. The turning point was when we asked about upgrading to a DVR. They told us it would be $300 for the receiver even though we had been with them for a few years. We promptly called DirecTV, got the HD/DVR, cheaper price, better signal and haven't looked back. Dish tried getting us to come back but when we told them we were switching (dish promised us a free HD/DVR) but we told them to come get their crap. We've been happy with DirecTV ever since. Only "glitch" is we lose the HD channels during bad weather but we can switch to standard def channels and they come in just fine.
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huh, i have had a pretty good experience. only a handful of times weather has been an issue (although, during the fall when i throw football get togethers, i have had to hold my breath a few times). after our two year contract expired, i was able to negotiate to get the hopper and most of the discounts new customers receive. i just gave them an ultimatum and said that i want what a new customer is entitled to (as, i pretty much was since i was willing to sign a new 2 year contract). (full disclosure, i really did not want to have to walk because i did not want to change providers).

 
The only things I really like about Time Warner are "Free HD" (which it really isn't), channel clarity, and the fact that it's not a dish so it's usually reliable. Customer service is usually a joke. Most people are friendly enough, which makes it that much harder to be honest about how bad they are, but they either don't have timeliness or don't know what they're doing. One guy hooked up my cable and I was supposed to have HD. Well after he's gone I turn on the tv and start watching it and it looks like a sh**ty youtube video it's so bad. I look behind the tv and the bone head only had a standard cable hooked up, no RCA cables, no HDMI, nothing. 50" tv mind you, so why would I want crappy standard def? Called them up and they told me I would have to come pick one up at the only office on the opposite side of town. Went down there and got it no big deal except they were going to charge me 20 bucks for it, but the guy at the counter was nice enough to give it to me for free. If I was a little older and wiser I would have bitched to get the stupid installation fee dropped.

Moved my girlfriend out to podunk last month and their small town cable company, Pinpoint I think it is, has a better presentation and delivery than TW. Picture in picture previews when you browse the channel guide, recall of the last 5 or more channels you were on so you don't have to keep punching in numbers just little things like that blew me away. Plus the packages they have pretty much include the stuff I watch regularly without all the fluff that you get with TW like music channels, kids channels, multiple listing of the same channel, etc. They even had some channels I've never seen like abcnews. And the moviechannel, BTN, SPEED and all the ESPN's were included for the fee which was less than half of what I payed for TW. Makes since because it's only about 200 channels but if you take out all the fluff you don't use with TW it's way cheaper.

Just wish someone could negotiate a deal with the media companies to get a shopping cart type channel selection going. That way you could just pay for what you want and nothing else. Right now I don't think that would be affordable for the consumer or the cable company though...

 
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Dish is basically a way worse version of DirecTV but for barely cheaper if you go with comparable packages.

Windstream is another company that offers internet in Lincoln. Apparently their customer service is so bad that a couple people I know switched from Windstream back to TWC. I heard stories of not being able to get through to a rep for days, being hung up on, etc.

These companies know that we will gladly keep paying them for their product, regardless of how bad their service is, so they just don't give a sh#t about their customer support at all in order to save a little money. You'd think some company would come along that would offer great customer service and use that to their advantage to attract customers, but apparently not.

 
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