Spectrum Interent Service

[Marrk]

Just got a $15 increase in my monthly Internet service bill from Spectrum. It's punishing, no doubt about it.

Anybody else feeling the massive leverage of these "communication services companies"?

 

[chscag]

Give Spectrum (formerly Charter Communications) a call and tell them you want to disconnect their service and go with someone else.

See if they give you an offer that you can't refuse.

I quit them years ago because their service was so lousy, but truthfully, all service providers are alike. They intice you with low rates which they promise for a year and then afterward they jack up the prices.

I get Spectrum offers in the mail at least once a month. They have a large store in my neighborhood.

 

[Marrk]

@chsacg: Already called. Already threatened to switch. Already asked if I could close my account and open a "new" account so that I could get the promo rate ($30 less). They couldn't care less. They are holding all the cards, and they know it.

 

[krs]

Why are the holding all the cards? Is there no competition?
I would have expected a lot of competition for internet service in the Los Angeles area.

 

[Bosson]

Are they still alive?
10-15 years ago they were good.

 

[Marrk]

@krs: Hard to believe, but, in this market, the other services are 1) inferior quality and 2) more limited availability. For example, ATT has been building out their system for years, and it's still not available where I am.

Generally, the cable biz has always been run like fiefdoms or regional monopolies in the U.S. They control the tech that they know we need, so they call the shots. Even worse now since, at the moment, Los Angeles is a desperate hot zone for the pandemic. Everyone is under stay-at-home orders. Everyone needs their Internet. They could (and perhaps will) raise my fees by twice as much, and I'd have to pay it.

 

[pigoo3]

The main business model with both cable companies and cell phone companies is based on "switchers".

Both company types put together really sweet per-month deals for new customers...then when the 12 or 24 month initial agreement expires...you then pay the regular price (which shouldn't be a surprise if the fine print was read initially). Then you're hit with the sometimes annual increases (on top of the regular price/month)....and it gets quite pricey if you start comparison shopping.

No doubt during the previous 12-24 months with Company A...package deals & what they include from competing Companies (B, C, and D) will look pretty "sweet"...which of course are only available to new customers. Thus encouraging "switching".

I have had mixed luck in the past calling my present cable/internet provider at the time...and sometimes they did something...sometimes not (usually they offer free premium channels...or maybe a small bump upwards to the next speed internet service). Other than this...almost never a reduction in monthly charges or removal of a monthly/annual increase.

Thus you're left with paying the increase...or switching to a different provider.

Also no point in complaining about an individual cable/internet/cellphone companies customer service (all of them are bad). Only need to look at annual survey's for "most hated/worst companies" or "best/worst customer service"...and most cable/internet/cellphone companies with be in the worst spots on those lists.

Luckily...on those same lists...Apple will consistently be rated #1 or #2 against its competition (tech companies).

- Nick

 

[chscag]

Also no point in complaining about an individual cable/internet companies customer service (all of them are bad). Only need to look at the annual survey's for "most hated/worst companies" or "best/worst customer service"...and most cable/internet companies with be in the worst spots on those lists.

LOL, how true! With the pandemic, more and more folks are staying at home and using their computers or watching TV. The cable companies have the advantage while all this mayhem is going on.

I've looked into cutting the cord for cable, but a careful study on savings and what you get in the way of up/down speeds or channel selection, it just isn't worthwhile. None of the cutting the cord schemes can compete with the cable companies.

 

[krs]

I actually have no problem with my internet or cell phone provider in Ontario.
Last year I paid $C35.- per month for 100 Mb/s FTTH, that was the introductory rate of 50% off the normal $C70.- per month rate, I just renewed and was actually willing to pay the $C70.- because cable internet was even somewhat more than that and not nearly as reliable as fiber - , but my current internet provider offered a $C45.- per month rate for another year, so staying with them was a no-brainer.

 

[Marrk]

I am coming to the view that the Internet is a utility and ought to be regulated as such. That's right, I said government regulation. How "un-American," I know. But the lack of guaranteed universal Internet access (real high-speed access, not "phone modems for everyone") is holding back our economy, our culture and our future. It's also a major pain in the tush.

I'm now paying $75 per month for 200 Mbps. That's greenbacks, folks, not CAN$.

 

[Brian1230]

outside of Comcast's idiotic regulations as far as in home service these past few months, I really cannot complain about their service, I would love direct tv for television, but being in the "Valley" living in Cary on the fox river, there isn't a strong enough service. If I could get direct tv, I would get at and t's fiber network they just got set up in our area, but for now we will stick with Comcast.

 

[Marrk]

What does the phrase "cord cutting" mean?

Thanks.

 

[MacInWin]

"Cord cutting" is a reference to getting away from cable tv, theoretically cutting the cord that feeds the TV. Most cord cutting then relies on internet service to get to various entertainment providers directly, rather that through a cable TV company. So I might, for example, cut the cord with Xfinity, sign up for a different ISP, then subscribe to, say, AppleTV+ and Disney+ to get the entertainment I want. The challenge for cord cutters is to get the cost below what the cost was for bundled services from the Cable TV company.

 

[Marrk]

Think we'll ever get to the point where "cord cutting" means we no longer need ISPs? Why do we have ISPs? Before cable tv became a thing, I could go to Sears and buy a television, take it home and turn it on. I didn't need a television service provider.

 

[krs]

Think we'll ever get to the point where "cord cutting" means we no longer need ISPs? Why do we have ISPs? Before cable tv became a thing, I could go to Sears and buy a television, take it home and turn it on. I didn't need a television service provider.

You can still do that - there is a digital over-the-air option, at least in Canada.
No ISP or cable provider required, but you are severely limited in the number of channels you can receive - similar to the old "analogue" TV service.
Cable just offered a lot more channels and the quality of the reception was better than the old way with rabbit ears or roof antennas.

 

[Marrk]

@krs: Thanks. But I was using the television analogy to ask if we will ever be done with ISPs. I don't ever want to have to pay an ISP for high-speed Internet access. I want to buy a MacBook Pro, turn it on and start using it (without Spectrum or anybody else).

 

[krs]

As far as the internet is concerned, someone has to pay for the infrastructure.
It's not really comparable to over-the-air broadcasting at all.
With the internet there is the link between your location and its termination, the switching office with DSL or fiber or the cable distribution if you are connected to the internet via cable.
We also have 25 Mb/s internet wireless in the rural areas provided by the telco.
Then the connection to the ISP and the ISP high capacity link to the internet; in my case that link is provided by Sprint.
So my ISP pays the Telco for access to my home an pays Sprint for access to the backbone.
I don't think there will be any way for individuals to connect to the backbone directly.

 

[MacInWin]

Marrk, as @krs said, it's a nice pipe dream to think that it can all be "free" but the only way to free is slave labor. Behind that screen of whatever you are watching is a ton of technology that all costs money to buy, install, configure, maintain and modify. You want it "free?" Then everything from mining the raw material from which it is built (copper, silicon, gallium, cadmium, lithium, just about everythingium) through smelting, separating, purifying, creating components, designing circuits, assembling devices, shipping them, installing them, configuring them, designing software, testing it, installing it, supporting it, just about every kind of activity you can think of, would have to be done for "free." Which basically means nobody, anywhere, gets paid for their contribution. And that is the definition of slavery.

Even back in the days of broadcast TV, there were bills to be paid through advertising, you had to have an antenna, and feed line and electricity to get that "free" tv show. Would you want your ISP to force you to watch 8 minutes of ads for every 22 minutes of service? (That was how many minutes of ads there were in a 30 minute television program in the US.) That could probably be arranged, if enough people wanted it. I suspect it would NOT be popular, but it *could* be done.

 

[Marrk]

Certainly not asking for anything to be free. Just asking for a different business model.

I thought Mark Zuckerberg was going to put FaceBook satellites in orbit around the earth so that he could bring the Internet to Africa. What happened to that idea? The idea, as I understood it, was that the Internet would be available in Africa by satellite and without the usual "hard" infrastructure that we now have in developed countries.

 

[MacInWin]

Not Facebook. Elon Musk. And he's doing it. Won't be free, but will provide coverage where little exists now. I read a story a few years ago about how cellular towers in Tibet brought the summit of Everest into the internet. Musk's network of small satellites will make cell towers less important in areas like that.