This month my TWC bill just inexplicably went up by about 6 bucks. No notice in the bill, no explanation. Last month, it was $155, now it's $161. Because?
Fuck them sideways.
Fuck them sideways.
F$%^ You, Time Warner Cable
- Thread starter zenter
- Start date
This isn't a huge deal but it pisses me off out of principle. After they jacked my bill up about a month ago I called and agreed to a new package with only a slight increase. As part of the package, the rep told me that I wouldn't be subject to the increased modem rental fee because my package started before the new price kicked in. Sure enough on my next bill I get charged the new increased fee. I think it's three bucks a month.
I had to call them about another billing issue and I brought this up. The rep said they had no record of the adjustment being made to my account but she agreed that my fee shouldn't have gone up. But she isn't authorized to change it back. So the only way to fix it is to have an escalation manager review the taped conversation I had when I agreed to the new package to see if the rep told me that my modem rental wouldn't go up. Once they confirm that, they can then adjust my account and I'll get a call when the investigation is complete.
I don't expect to hear from them again. Worst company ever.
I had to call them about another billing issue and I brought this up. The rep said they had no record of the adjustment being made to my account but she agreed that my fee shouldn't have gone up. But she isn't authorized to change it back. So the only way to fix it is to have an escalation manager review the taped conversation I had when I agreed to the new package to see if the rep told me that my modem rental wouldn't go up. Once they confirm that, they can then adjust my account and I'll get a call when the investigation is complete.
I don't expect to hear from them again. Worst company ever.
And MDLTG, at least part of the increase is probably the new modem fee. I think they doubled it. So in the last year the modem cost went from zero to six bucks per month.
You're right, $5.99 modem fee now, which totally changes the dynamic on whether you buy your own or not, so they basically slow played me by getting the $2.99 a month out of me for a few months, which wasn't worth it to me to buy my own, before jacking up the price to the point of driving me away.
And I believe the monthly fee for the DVR went up $3.
I'm actually contemplating at this point building my own NVR just to spite them, no matter what it costs.
And I believe the monthly fee for the DVR went up $3.
I'm actually contemplating at this point building my own NVR just to spite them, no matter what it costs.
There is not. Certain apps have a small number of "out of home" available channels but that's about it. Otherwise, the the outside MAC on your modem is checked against account data for verification. And if you're thinking that you can spoof the MAC, it checks for TWC IP space too so that won't work either.SPDougie said:
Well, there might be a way to set up a proxy at the parents' house so that the TWC network believes the data is being transferred to the parents house only, but that would be inefficient and clunky. Be better off setting up a Slingbox there instead.jercra said:
I've been in and out of town for the past month-and-a-half for work and vacation, and somehow missed a letter from Time Warner. Apparently the $29.99 a month I was paying for internet was a promotion that ended in July. But I don't need to worry! As a favor to me, they're only going to raise my rate to $39.99, still $15 less than the regular price of $54.99. What a deal! Oh and, hey! I don't need to do anything to receive this glorious rate increase. This will all happen automatically on my bill. Thanks for pointing that out TW, because I was all, "Surely I must have to jump through fiery hoops in order to receive this mere $10 increase!" It's great that I'll automatically receive the pleasure of my bill going up "only" $10 a month. That's mighty generous of you!
I'm moving next week, so it's getting canceled anyways. Then I get to deal with AT&T. We'll see how that goes. When I moved here a little over a year ago, TW was willing to negotiate on price with me, whereas AT&T would not. Now I'm moving to a building where I don't have a choice.
I'm moving next week, so it's getting canceled anyways. Then I get to deal with AT&T. We'll see how that goes. When I moved here a little over a year ago, TW was willing to negotiate on price with me, whereas AT&T would not. Now I'm moving to a building where I don't have a choice.
I love how they charge $6 for a cable box and then another 19 cents or whatever for the remote control
Yeah they're insane. They offer the triple play for $99 or whatever but the "real price" is like $175. So when the first year is up and they offer it to you for $165 you're getting a deal apparently. Basically I threaten to quit every year and get a new package at a slightly higher price.
timlinin8th said:
The other option is to set up a router as a VPN concentrator and a DHCP client on the home network, then use a VPN client to tunnel back to the parents' house and have the router NAT the requests so it looks like the request for video is coming from the router. I have colleagues who do this with their home networks so they can watch TV on iPads from the road. AFAIK, the cable provider doesn't check the first half of the router's MAC to confirm that the manufacturer isn't Cisco or Juniper, but that could also be an issue.
I have TWC in Portland and it's not working well this morning. Not connecting to sites and running slow in general.nocode51 said:
Yeah, I was down for an hour, had no idea what was going on. Some sites worked, some didn't, on different browsers. I reset the router and modem and it appears to have been fixed.
Anywhere from 5-50 days.
Who the fuck knows with these clowns. I'm sure they'll give you a credit for the prorated modem lease charge though. Worst company ever, although Yahoo may be about to pass them for first place.
Who the fuck knows with these clowns. I'm sure they'll give you a credit for the prorated modem lease charge though. Worst company ever, although Yahoo may be about to pass them for first place.
I'm currently working 14 hour days with 1 hour of commuting each way. I get one day off a week. I want to sit on my couch and play video games or watch streaming movies and television on that day. Today, my day off, I get to sit and stare at a blank TV screen and load SoSH at the speed of dialup because Time Warner Cable sucks maggot infested donkey balls.
Fuck Time Warner, indeed.
Edit: They are having an area outage that appears to be contained to my building. I'm guessing a rat chewed a line and the rain and snow yesterday allowed moisture to get into the main line for the building. So it's not really TWC's fault, but fuck them anyway.
Edit: I added an edit to a post that hadn't been edited yet. I am a douche bag. Or I'm incredibly tired. Or both.
Fuck Time Warner, indeed.
Edit: They are having an area outage that appears to be contained to my building. I'm guessing a rat chewed a line and the rain and snow yesterday allowed moisture to get into the main line for the building. So it's not really TWC's fault, but fuck them anyway.
Edit: I added an edit to a post that hadn't been edited yet. I am a douche bag. Or I'm incredibly tired. Or both.
Snodgrass'Muff said:
Time Warner will probably consider the rat chewing the line as a service call and charge you for it.
Does anyone else have this problem? Once in a while I turn on the tv and while the picture is fine the audio is just incredibly loud static sounds, as if I have no signal. Usually if I turn off the box it's ok but sometimes I have to reboot. I'm seriously concerned that it could blow my speakers. It sounds like it's on max volume when it happens and it scares the crap out of me.
glennhoffmania said:
Do you turn the box off when not in use? I've learned the box needs to be turned off occasionally which allows the system to perform updates otherwise it has issues.
On another note...TW has taught me I can get the best pricing if I'm relentless (spelled ASSHOLE). My current package recently expired bringing the new rate up to $185mo. which included phone, HBO, Cinemax, Sho, Starz, Encore, and standard RR. I called and told them to drop the phone as I use Magicjack. They told me to I had to keep the package which was the best they could offer. At this point I demand (rant) on speaking to someone else. I then ask the next person what kind of deal can i get? Eventually I have been able to get someone who offers a better rate. My new package excluding phone is $145mo.
I've been wanting to cancel my cable and just go with internet for a long time. I finally called TWC a couple days ago and tried doing so. That did not happen.
Under the promotional deal I signed up under, I pay ~$80 for cable and internet. Roughly $60 of that is for cable. I don't watch a ton of TV. The shows I watch, I'm never home for and don't have DVR, so I rely on the free Hulu episodes instead.
So at first, the customer service rep tried selling me on paying $5 more for cable/internet/land line. I said no, I just want internet. After a 10-question survey on how I use electronics (or whatever the purpose was), she tells me that if I cancelled cable, I would still be paying roughly the same price for just internet that I do now for both because I wouldn't be able to get the same price that I pay now for internet. I found that hard to believe as I was looking right at the rates for internet, but I was in no mood to argue.
Instead, she told me she'll be cutting $17 off my monthly bill so I can keep both. I'll believe it when I see it, but I accepted.
I'm a bitch. F you, TWC.
Under the promotional deal I signed up under, I pay ~$80 for cable and internet. Roughly $60 of that is for cable. I don't watch a ton of TV. The shows I watch, I'm never home for and don't have DVR, so I rely on the free Hulu episodes instead.
So at first, the customer service rep tried selling me on paying $5 more for cable/internet/land line. I said no, I just want internet. After a 10-question survey on how I use electronics (or whatever the purpose was), she tells me that if I cancelled cable, I would still be paying roughly the same price for just internet that I do now for both because I wouldn't be able to get the same price that I pay now for internet. I found that hard to believe as I was looking right at the rates for internet, but I was in no mood to argue.
Instead, she told me she'll be cutting $17 off my monthly bill so I can keep both. I'll believe it when I see it, but I accepted.
I'm a bitch. F you, TWC.
If you can, and you're in Boston (and a few other locales), go over to RCN. Just changed my plan with them, and now pay $100 for 50mb internet, digital cable, Showtime, 1 Tivo Quad and 1 Tivo mini. Just tested my BW and got 59 down/8 up
By moving from 25 to 50 mb, I brought my bill from $150 down to $100
By moving from 25 to 50 mb, I brought my bill from $150 down to $100
I got an email offer from TWC for 3 months of complimentary FREE Showtime and all I have to do is input a code in a website.
At the end of the e-blast there was:
I.. don't trust this. Will they try shenanigans after the 3 months is up? Has anyone done this with TWC?
At the end of the e-blast there was:
I.. don't trust this. Will they try shenanigans after the 3 months is up? Has anyone done this with TWC?
I got the same letter and threw it in the trash. No trust whatsoever for only 3 months.rembrat said:
Just a side on TWC, my son in San Diego says that he hasn't been able to get Padres games there for two years now. Some kind of dispute. He's still mostly Red Sox, and Pads haven't done much lately, but still, background baseball is nice to have on when you're cooking or something. Can't imagine no local baseball TV.
This is an issue that has popped up repeatedly since I moved to Queens. I get download speeds in line with what I'm paying for but my upload speeds tank to something around 0.05 or so, or just stop all together. I get error messages on the upload side of a speedtest.net test quite often. Every time this happens a maintenance crew is dispatched to the area and a day or two later the service returns to being functional. I'm convinced they aren't fixing anything, but rather, are just reallocating bandwidth toward whatever neighborhood is complaining at the expense of another neighborhood's bandwidth. It's the exact same problem every few weeks or so.
When my lease is up in May and my girlfriend and I are looking for a new place, TWC's presence in any potential new neighborhood will actually factor into our decision. Their internet is fucking awful.
When my lease is up in May and my girlfriend and I are looking for a new place, TWC's presence in any potential new neighborhood will actually factor into our decision. Their internet is fucking awful.
rembrat said:
I got a Showtime for $3 a month for 12 month offer. My wife wanted to watch Masters of Sex, so I jumped on it.
Couldn't you just set a reminder for yourself to call and cancel Showtime a couple of days before it's supposed to run out anyhow, just to be safe?
Why would they stop it? Cable has more competition than it ever has before. Comcast and TWC don't share any markets. No one would lose any choice they currently have for video delivery.
jercra said:
Comcast has already signed non-compete agreements with Verizon on FIOS that stop VZN from rolling out any more infrastructure to new markets. Plus it basically puts Comcast for Cable TV & Internet at nearly the level that AT&T was at for nationwide phone service before it was broken up by the government. It seems ridiculous to me that regulators might let this acquisition go through. Beyond the negative effects this has for consumers, it will put Comcast in such a dominant position that they will be able to strong arm networks and content producers.
Combine this with the strike down of net neutrality and internet access in this country could become a really shitty situation if Comcast wants to put the screws on Hulu/Netflix/etc. And say goodbye to any progress in freedom from the stupidity and backwardness of the current Cable TV paradigm; the delivery is already antiquated in our current world of streamed content but we'll be stuck with it for a long ass time if Comcast is able to control a vast majority of the market in this country.
Comcast is going to be GIGANTIC. I don't think the regulators will stop this deal but I do think it's getting close to the point where it should be looked at closely. Comecast will have an incredible amount of media power.
That said, I don't agree with derekson. The delivery system is not antiquated. If you had to pay per channel, the bill would be astronomically higher. If you want to cut the cord, go ahead. But the delivery system isn't the problem. In fact, it's never been better, in terms of streaming on tablets and laptops. As well, a lot of the cable companies are reaching the point where you can watch your TV anywhere you want, not just in your home. It might make a company like Slingbox superperflous but the system is not the problem.
That said, I don't agree with derekson. The delivery system is not antiquated. If you had to pay per channel, the bill would be astronomically higher. If you want to cut the cord, go ahead. But the delivery system isn't the problem. In fact, it's never been better, in terms of streaming on tablets and laptops. As well, a lot of the cable companies are reaching the point where you can watch your TV anywhere you want, not just in your home. It might make a company like Slingbox superperflous but the system is not the problem.
Comcast isn't effected by the strike down of open internet rules. They are bound by them for years from the NBC acquisition, and will get additional handcuffs when this deal gets approved.derekson said:
They're the worst company I've ever dealt with though, although sounds like TWC was worse.
The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa said:
jercra said:
The key question is NOT about consumers. As Rafat Ali nicely put it on on Twitter: "There was no competition yesterday and there will be no competition tomorrow." This is a problem regardless of the number of cable companies.
However, TWComcast could be under scrutiny for another type of anti-competitive/monopolistic behavior - content deals. As a major content producer and a potentially-giant buyer of content, they could wield outsized influence in negotiations with the content creators of the world (from Disney on down to Netflix), which affects consumers' access to said content.
It's thus possible that this deal is allowed with some regulatory strictures on the extent to which Comcast can push content creators around. On the far outside, there's a possibility (albeit nanoscopic) that the Feds require spinning-off NBCU or (very slightly more more realistically) operating NBCU with no overlapping staff and no preferential treatment.
EDIT:
Stitch01 said:
Comcast and TWC routinely make it to Consumerist's final 4 of worst companies in America. Comcast held the title for a couple years but has recently been ousted by EA. TWC usually does just a hair better than Comcast in this respect.
What will be materially different? Every single business that works in cable bends to Comcast's will already. They negotiate as the top dog in every negotiation already. A few million more subs isn't going to change their bargaining position by enough to block a deal of this magnitude. That's without considering that since they purchase of NBCU you could argue that they've actually lost bargaining position. The existence of streaming media as an alternative to cable was essentially non-existent in 2009, today it's a real alternative. There is literally nothing stopping someone like Amazon from negotiating exclusive rights with Disney as far as I can see.zenter said:
I think cable companies are taking the worst of it pretty easily against big video content providers. We'll see how DirectTV vs Weather Channel shakes out, but I have a hard time coming up with a battle with a content owner where the video provider scored a victory. I suspect Time Warner getting killed by CBS in their confrontation last fall played at least some role in this deal. The video system is, on-balance, not super competitive but the content guys and TV broadcasters are benefiting more from the existing regulatory system than the cable providers IMHO.zenter said:
Comcast has restrictions on how they distribute NBC content, Id expect that expanded as part of this deal.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe there's any need for something to be materially different for it to draw federal intervention. IIRC, one of the huge beer companies was blocked from acquiring a much smaller one not because of direct consumer effect, but indirect effects of losing a disruptor from the marketplace. Obviously, neither TWC nor Comcast are disruptors, but magnitude (pop pop) matters to the government. That's why only MS was punished for browser bundling. Giving the biggest negotiator an even bigger piece of the audience market might tip the scale in the direction of further content/carrier restriction.jercra said:
Your Amazon/Disney argument doesn't track here because Amazon isn't a carrier. You're merely changing the content source, not the method. Even here, TWComcast still holds the biggest audience card and could theoretically (though I'm pretty sure not legally) throttle our block Amazon. At the very least, they could preferentially force Amazon to pay more to house content within Comcast servers just because. Thus is exactly the sort of downstream effect the government will examine.
We pretty much agree here, you're just looking from another angle. There's a reason for government to scrutinize the deal, and it's not consumer competition.Stitch01 said:
This isn't true. Comcast is locked into Net neutrality. The court ruling doesn't apply since it was a consolation to close the NBCU deal. In fact, buying TWC actually expands the scope the network which must remain neutral provided the newly owned TWC properties are also held to the same standard. I still don't see how this significantly impacts either content production or distribution. I don't see why DOJ would stop this deal.zenter said:
Not sure what you're arguing with here.jercra said:
Yes, they're locked into NN... That's a premise to everything I wrote. Indeed, there's nothing saying that I think DOJ would stop the deal. Scrutinize? Yes. Enhance the NN and carrier/content rules? Quite possibly.
Preferentially overcharging Amazon for colocating a server inside Comcast's network is not covered by the NN provisions right now because this kind of thing unaffected by all but the very strictest interpretation of NN. It's well within the realm of possibility that even this kind of rather normal business behavior is further restricted because of Comcast's larger size.
Ok, I totally misread what you were saying. Sorry, I'm sick and my brain is broken.
This is exactly what I think happens too.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. What I meant was in response to your first post saying that Comcast would have too big of a stick when dealing with content providers after the merger. Is your contention that this is because they would own too much of the delivery vehicle (IP or QAM) so it wouldn't matter that ESPN and Monday Night Football would only be available to Amazon Prime subscribers? If I'm way off base then I'll just happily stop posting until I regain reading comprehension.
No worries. I'm not sick and my brain is broken most of the time.jercra said:
In part. I see cable tv carriage and internet content delivery as virtually the same, and (from a technological standpoint), cable companies agree.
That Netflix has House of Cards and HBO has Veep is irrelevant if the pipe bringing them into the home is literally cut, right? (Putting the lie to the term "cord cutter".)
Comcast can't cut the cable cord, but they control their own network. Net neutrality doesn't stop anyone from shortening the distance from source to site. Content providers (cable and internet) routinely put their stuff inside carrier's networks for a fee. That fee is negotiable...
The reason the servers are moving inside the carrier networks is 1080p distribution. It really makes a ton of sense, most carrier 'slowness' is due to saturation at peering points and this helps remove a big culprit.
I tend to believe all the players since Netflix themselves are delaying (beta, I think) 1080 distribution to everyone but consumers of a few carriers who happen to have colo'd Netflix gear.
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I tend to believe all the players since Netflix themselves are delaying (beta, I think) 1080 distribution to everyone but consumers of a few carriers who happen to have colo'd Netflix gear.
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So my internet has been slowly getting worse for about a week and today it stopped working. My modem was going up and down and I wasn't able to connect to any webpages. I finally called to see if they were working on an area problem, which is usually the case in this neighborhood, and the customer support person assured me there were no area problems. I asked if there were any crews working in the area that could be temporarily disrupting my signal. She said no. They had no work scheduled in my neighborhood today. She then told me she was communicating with my modem at that moment with 0% packet loss. I pointed out that I was plugged directly into the modem and was unable to load gmail and she just repeated herself as though it would nullify the fact that my internet was not, in fact, working.
I pointed out that I'd worked as a cable tech before figuring she might stop bullshitting me, but instead she blurted out "I've put your modem on a watch list for the next 24 hours. If your internet stops working call us back. Bye." and hung up. Ten minutes later I hear a screw gun in the hall. There is a full team of TWC techs out there replacing every wire in the building.
Good on them for proactively upgrading the wiring here, but what the fuck? How does your customer support team not have a way of seeing that "Oh, yeah, we have a team in your building today upgrading your wiring. There may be intermittent outages while they complete their work."
I called back and got a supervisor on the line to file a report about the woman who "helped" me, and he just made excuses for her saying that tickets can take 48-72 hours to update in their system, which is bullshit. I'm so incredibly glad Comcast bought them out.
I pointed out that I'd worked as a cable tech before figuring she might stop bullshitting me, but instead she blurted out "I've put your modem on a watch list for the next 24 hours. If your internet stops working call us back. Bye." and hung up. Ten minutes later I hear a screw gun in the hall. There is a full team of TWC techs out there replacing every wire in the building.
Good on them for proactively upgrading the wiring here, but what the fuck? How does your customer support team not have a way of seeing that "Oh, yeah, we have a team in your building today upgrading your wiring. There may be intermittent outages while they complete their work."
I called back and got a supervisor on the line to file a report about the woman who "helped" me, and he just made excuses for her saying that tickets can take 48-72 hours to update in their system, which is bullshit. I'm so incredibly glad Comcast bought them out.