As a former Philadelphia, PA area person, I had to laugh about this Ars Technica article about Comcast.
When I lived in the area for eight years, they were likely the most hated company in all of Philly. Their TV service was poor, and their customer service was hateful and nasty. If you had a problem, it was only your problem. They didn't seem to fix anything.
I was so lucky to live outside the city and twice used Suburban Cable, and then, American Cablecom, from the Washington, DC area, was at one apartment complex. They had a 28 day fix clause in their contract and they would fix things on day 28, but they were still better than Comcast.
When I was in Florida, there was some small cable company and we were all wishing that Time-Warner Cable would take over. When they did, they played games with us. Several years later, having my own house, Time-Warner switched many locations with BrightHouse Networks. Unfortunately, they kept their game-playing employees.
I've had DirecTV (or however they write it now) since 2008 and I'm pleased. I'm still concerned about SBC/The New AT&T buying the company, but they can't hurt it totally, can they?
Comcast sends me a flyer weekly, but I don't want to deal with them. My adoptive mum did, and she got no satisfaction dealing with them. The problem was supposedly with her TV set. When she switched to their box, due to digital upgrades, she not only got to pay more, but changing channels took many minutes for the actual change to occur. Eventually, they replaced the remote several times, then the box, and then, they discontinued service. The local people were pleasant at the end, but the people on the toll-free number were so awful that I would never consider having service with Comcast.
I'm just as thrilled with the way Dish Network treated her, hanging up on her regularly. We learned at the end that the installer put up satellite dish without a clear view of the satellite. Apparently, the company didn't do any quality inspections for two years. They were concerned about the issue just before she died.
Update 2015.04.28: They're not merging/buying Time-Warner Cable, since they learned that the government was against it.
Showing posts with label Cable TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cable TV. Show all posts
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Comcast buying Time-Warner Cable
While I really dislike Time-Warner Cable, I really hate Comcast. Why would they be good together? They'd have monopoly security.
They've got agreements with municipalities for exclusivity from other cable companies. This is the way it has been since the early days of Cable TV. They had to pay to wire the area, so they wanted a captive audience. In some cases, they've made sure that homeowners' associations would have a no-antenna rule, so that you couldn't have off-the-air programming in your fancy schmanzy development. Thankfully, that didn't stop using DirecTV or Dish Network.
I've got through the various local cable companies and many have been personable and reliable. There was only one, American Cablecom, which handled the Audubon, PA apartment complex where I lived, surrounded by a large cable company, that things weren't good. The company had a 28 day repair clause. If a channel was down for more than 28 days, they would have to give credits. They would certainly show up on the 27th or 28th day each time.
When I lived in Altamonte Springs, FL, the tiny cable company was so bad that people in the apartment complex were hoping that Time-Warner would buy the company. They did, and service became somewhat better, and Time-Warner's marketing people showed us that they were nasty, vicious, and deceitful. Besides that, there was never a problem with service--it was all in "your set". When they sold the area to Bright House Networks, nothing changed but billing since the same local people were in charge. I swore I'd never have another bout with Cable TV.
Back when I lived in the Philadelphia, PA area, I was lucky enough to avoid Comcast. People hated Comcast. People hated to call Comcast, if there was a problem. You've heard that Philadelphia is one of the rudest cities in the U.S.A.? It can be. I swear that the people working for SEPTA (transportation authority) and Comcast are the worst ever, and I know how to swear very well. :-D
When I moved to my current location, Comcast had bought the smaller cable company that bought the local cable company. My adoptive mum was on the phone constantly as things did not work. It wasn't their problem. Toward the end, she would try to change channels, and in 3-5 minutes, the channel would be changed. The service technicians swapped the equipment 3 times and there was no change. At least, she didn't have to have someone yelling on the phone that the problem was in her set.
Now, with all that blah blah blah, does any customer really want Comcast and Time-Warner to become one huge entity? More than ever, I'm thankful for DirecTV.
They've got agreements with municipalities for exclusivity from other cable companies. This is the way it has been since the early days of Cable TV. They had to pay to wire the area, so they wanted a captive audience. In some cases, they've made sure that homeowners' associations would have a no-antenna rule, so that you couldn't have off-the-air programming in your fancy schmanzy development. Thankfully, that didn't stop using DirecTV or Dish Network.
I've got through the various local cable companies and many have been personable and reliable. There was only one, American Cablecom, which handled the Audubon, PA apartment complex where I lived, surrounded by a large cable company, that things weren't good. The company had a 28 day repair clause. If a channel was down for more than 28 days, they would have to give credits. They would certainly show up on the 27th or 28th day each time.
When I lived in Altamonte Springs, FL, the tiny cable company was so bad that people in the apartment complex were hoping that Time-Warner would buy the company. They did, and service became somewhat better, and Time-Warner's marketing people showed us that they were nasty, vicious, and deceitful. Besides that, there was never a problem with service--it was all in "your set". When they sold the area to Bright House Networks, nothing changed but billing since the same local people were in charge. I swore I'd never have another bout with Cable TV.
Back when I lived in the Philadelphia, PA area, I was lucky enough to avoid Comcast. People hated Comcast. People hated to call Comcast, if there was a problem. You've heard that Philadelphia is one of the rudest cities in the U.S.A.? It can be. I swear that the people working for SEPTA (transportation authority) and Comcast are the worst ever, and I know how to swear very well. :-D
When I moved to my current location, Comcast had bought the smaller cable company that bought the local cable company. My adoptive mum was on the phone constantly as things did not work. It wasn't their problem. Toward the end, she would try to change channels, and in 3-5 minutes, the channel would be changed. The service technicians swapped the equipment 3 times and there was no change. At least, she didn't have to have someone yelling on the phone that the problem was in her set.
Now, with all that blah blah blah, does any customer really want Comcast and Time-Warner to become one huge entity? More than ever, I'm thankful for DirecTV.
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