Comcast pisses a lot of people off. They still act like they're a monopoly ("We're Comcast. We don't care; we don't have to"). I think that "Peggy" guy works for their customer service.
Posted on 06/24/2011 5:40:26 AM PDT by abb
Cable TV distribution continues to lose customers in the top 15 markets, with telco companies sharply rising and satellite TV companies seeing little change.
There was a 3.8% decline in the first quarter of 2011 versus the same period in 2010 in the top 15 markets, slipping to 23.2 million customers, per SNL Kagan.
New York City, the biggest TV market, dropped 3.4%; Los Angeles, at No. 2, sank 4%; and Chicago, the third-largest market, slipped 5.1%.
The biggest declines in major markets were in Atlanta (eighth-biggest), losing 8%; Dallas (fifth place) gave up 7.7%. Seattle (13th place) lost the least, at 0.2%.
Telco was up 24% to 4.4 million among the top 15 markets during the period, with Los Angeles rocketing up 50.9% in customers during the period and Chicago 49.5%. The slowest movers were Dallas, rising just 7.8%, and Detroit (11th place) 16.4% higher.
Satellite TV distribution in the top 15 markets was virtually unchanged -- up 0.1% to 10.64 million. Washington (the 9th-largest market) was up 3.9%; Houston (the 10th-largest) was 3.8% higher.
Looking at all multichannel TV distributors -- cable, satellite and telco -- these TV business were virtually unchanged in the top 15 markets during the first quarter, slipping 0.1% to 38.18 million.
Washington witnessed the greatest rise at 4.7%; and Los Angeles was next at 3.9%. Atlanta lost the most at 5.2%; Phoenix was next at 3.3%.
That is how the free market is supposed to work. If a business is not providing what potential customers want, then it can change course or go out of business. The cable companies are subsidizing the networks that have few customers.
That's what inspired me to switch last summer. I'm glad I did just for the principle of it.
I am moving and having to reset my internet, phone, etc. I haven’t had cable in 15 years, but I decided to check into maybe swapping my DSL from ATT for a cable modem in my new location.
Comcast literally could not offer me a package with a fixed price. Every single “deal” they had started at one rate, then went up in 6 months, then up again after a year, then up again after 18 months ... just stupid. I have had the same ATT DSL package for years now with the exact same cost per month for all those years. I ended up sticking with that.
The cable here has been reasonable as far as internet goes. AT&T offers DSL with 6 Meg/Sec downloads for like $20/month. I checked my cable just this AM and its running at 10 Meg/sec down, 1 meg/sec up. $36/month.
The TV side is a little spendy, about $145/month for the full deal. I would cut that back if it were just me, but there’s another individual that gets a vote - mrs. abb.
And you know the saying, when mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody gonna be happy.
Comcast pisses a lot of people off. They still act like they're a monopoly ("We're Comcast. We don't care; we don't have to"). I think that "Peggy" guy works for their customer service.
http://townhall.com/columnists/robertknight/2011/06/23/the_brave_new_world_of_media/page/full/
Robert Knight
The Brave New World of Media
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/06/this-week-in-review-an-ipad-web-block-a-new-set-of-news-innovators-and-aggregations-legal-victories/
This Week in Review: An iPad web block, a new set of news innovators, and aggregation’s legal victories
I live in a rural area of Oklahoma and my choice was either dish or an antenna. 3 weeks ago we had severe storms and an F-5 tornado 5 miles from our house. Our area does not have tornado sirens, we depend on local TV for our warning. My wife and I were watching the storm’s progress on TV when, just before it reached my area, I lost the satellite signal because of heavy rain. My telephone company is in the process of installing fiber optic cable to my house. As soon as it’s installed I shall be pulling the plug on the satellite and switching to the fiber optic. I know that the satellite company will squawk but I must have continious TV coverage to track the storms we so often get. I cannot afford to lose my signal to heavy rain just when a storm is near my house.
We had Verizon FIOS until we moved 2 years ago to an area that doesn’t have FIOS. Oh, how I miss it. If it’s available where you live, go for it, you won’t believe how much better it is than anything else now available.
If you do get your antenna working and the house is wired for cable, hook your antenna to the cable wiring, that way you can have access to your antenna in any room that has a cable jack.
I read that about Verizon too but, our on-site building manager and the local director of ops for the builder have both been instrumental in pressing them to get it done faster. The fiber is in the ground (according to our builder), verizon just needs to get their own cables to our subdivision and make the connection live which they say will happen by the end of the year. Every time they say that, it’s about four months later than the last estimate but what can you do.
Our new sub has about 150 lots and there are about 70 occupied, about 20 in the pipeline and the third wave is starting up this month. Of the occupied lots, they have close to 25 people that switched to satellite because of the crappy service and new people aren’t even bothering to get it connected because the service sucks so bad, opting for the dish for both TV and internet, right off the bat. The sales manager for the builder tells everyone up front that the Comcrap service is bad, which he told us, but the wife doesn’t want a dish so I’m stuck.
This is a very affluent subdivision and there is a market for the service so I never understood why Verizon didn’t move in quickly to take advantage of that or why Comcrap doesn’t even try to head them off with competitive pricing and better service because once they get in, it’ll be bye-bye Comcast, just like they did in our current area. Over three years, we had one issue but it was addressed in like three hours.
My ATT DSL is capped at 3Mbs because they said the 6M won’t work in my location, which is weird because I am less than a mile from the CO. But I get phone (with ID and waiting) and LD and DSL all in a package with unlimited LD for about $90 a month. I don’t own a TV so cable is superfluous in that regard. I like knowing that the bill is set in stone no matter what ... it’s 90 a month even if I make a ton of LD calls that month. Comcast was all over the place with pricing ... that is a huge turn off to me.
I did the same for my provider, cut my VOIP price or I'm going elsewhere for half the price. They said fine with them and I dropped the VOIP. Luckily they still subscribe to net neutrality and don't interfere with the competition's VOIP over their cable Internet connection, because that's the only broadband option around.
http://fasthorseinc.com/blog/2011/06/23/newspapers-should-get-out-of-the-opinion-business/
Newspapers Should Get Out of the Opinion Business
Newspapers getting out of the opinion business is what many conservatives think they want - but what journalists don't know how to deliver.If you publicly cite a wise man - Thomas Sowell would be a fine example - for his wisdom, would he thank you for noticing his wisdom? No, he will distance himself from your characterization of himself as "wise." Not because he does not want to be wise, and not that he in his heart of hearts does not eagerly desire to be known as wise.
But he will distance himself from your acknowledgement of his wisdom becausehe knows that associating yourself with claims of your own wisdom is folly. He knows that he cannot know that he is actually wise, so he will limit himself to asserting that he loves wisdom - and will hear anyone out who presents plausible facts and logic to buttress their assertions of their own opinions. This is not possible, he knows, if he starts out with the assumption of his own wisdom.
The problem of obtaining objective information is directly analogous.
- sophist
- 1542, earlier sophister (c.1380), from L. sophista, sophistes, from Gk. sophistes, from sophizesthai "to become wise or learned," from sophos "wise, clever," of unknown origin. Gk. sophistes came to mean "one who gives intellectual instruction for pay," and, contrasted with "philosopher," it became a term of contempt. Ancient sophists were famous for their clever, specious arguments.
- philosopher
- O.E. philosophe, from L. philosophus, from Gk. philosophos "philosopher," lit. "lover of wisdom," from philos "loving" + sophos "wise, a sage."
"Pythagoras was the first who called himself philosophos, instead of sophos, 'wise man,' since this latter term was suggestive of immodesty." [Klein]
You can claim to be objective, or you can actually try to be objective. You cannot simultaneously do both.
And since journalism is the public relations business first of all, journalism as we know it is incapable of distancing itself from claims of objectivity. Indeed, how is journalism to promote the improvement in its product if it now begins actually trying to deliver what it always claimed it was delivering all along - when that improvement centers on humility, of all things?
We as conservatives simply must content ourselves with promoting the need to look past hype and read between the lines - and keeping firmly in mind the need to delay decisions until the smoke clears instead of reflexively acting on first reports and breaking news.
Are you able to pick up a NOAA station on a weather radio?
Those are 20 bucks or so and might be a good backup.
Also your county likely has a weather spotter channel that you can pick up with a scanner for live reports.
OK quick - everyone who likes the cable company raise their hand.
Good now everyone who views them somewhere between pond scum and dog vomit now raise your hand.
Good.
with cable, if you have bandwidth hogs up stream it can cut your service speed, with telco you are the only one on the line...
We have the radio but when the storms are near they are useless. Watching television as the severe storms approach the storm watchers and TV weather guys do a wonderful job of tracking the storms exact progress. Then in the middle of their broadcast the TV is interrupted by the NOAA weather radio broadcasting some general weather warning saying such and such counties are under severe storm alert. Thanks, but we already know that by watching the news. NOAA radio alerts are good but only in a general sense, they lack specific information on the exact position of the storm.
Since you’re a fellow twister belt resident, I’d recommend getting a scanner.
Hearing the county SkyWarn folks live is quite useful when there’s imminent danger.
BTTT
I don’t know that “wise men” like Thomas Sowell claim objectivity. They simply apply their learned skills of critical thinking to their historical knowledge to the subject at hand, and, yes, I think they value humility because they are aware of the frailties of human thought and knowledge. They accept that as a given and they don’t dwell on it. I doubt they shrink from being called wise because they know the above plus they know of the equal frailties of the ones calling them wise. They just let it be.
Those who write for newspapers, call them what you wish, journalists, reporters, editors, etc., attempt to portray their subjects in interesting and entertaining ways. Dry facts require no adjectives or adverbs and could be represented by tables and charts in many cases. That would appeal to few and make little money for the publishers. Money is many things but the most import thing is that it is necessary. Adjectives and adverbs by their very nature are subjective.
The real issue is the subjects they are subjective about. We don’t care if a sports writer is a “homer,” we expect him to be. Yet, we do want a complete picture of the contest so that we can put things in perspective for ourselves. The same for those who review movies, plays, restaurants, etc. What we don’t want is someone with an agenda, Left or Right, who practices selective journalism. We want the whole story, not just part of it, regardless of the slant put on it, and we want the truth.
The market never sleeps. It is always working and it is always a perfect reflection of human nature. The news media are being sifted through the evaluation of the market. Some are winning as others are losing. Newspapers, just like the United States Postal Service and passenger rail service, are being left behind by technology. Magazines and other print material will soon follow because of the progress in portable electronic devices. The political agendas of most newspapers has hastened their demise but that is not the cause of it. Technology and AM talk radio, old technology, providing cheaper and more plentiful alternatives are the main reasons.
It is always wise to wait until the smoke clears no matter the source of information. Errors happened even with the well-intentioned.
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