Best Cable Company Ad EVER!

I laughed so hard..then i cried a little because I have no other choice as DSL is a pathetic joke.
 
That is pretty well made. High production value and good presentation. Thankfully I have a small local company that offers fiber in my area. Love them to death but everyone I know who has Cox in my city has been really happy with it. In their defense, Cox rates highly very consistently time and again. Wouldn't be the worst alternative.
 
It is rather odd that the sentiment of this video is that capitalism somehow doesn't work when people are making arrangements for prices and territories. This is what you get when there is no regulation.

People hate government but telling your monopolist to go fuck themselves on the internet might sound funny but it is rather sad.
 
Pieter3dnow said:
It is rather odd that the sentiment of this video is that capitalism somehow doesn't work when people are making arrangements for prices and territories. This is what you get when there is no regulation.

People hate government but telling your monopolist to go fuck themselves on the internet might sound funny but it is rather sad.
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Don't need regulation, simply enforcement of laws that prevent anti-competitive behavior. To be fair, this is really better applied to your local telco's. While we may not like the Comcast's, and Cox and other major players. The reality is they aren't doing too terrible of a job. The real problems are the telco's in the rural area's that have a stranglehold on their customers and are providing services that are just plain pathetic. These same telco's that got boatloads of money from government grants to upgrade their infrastructure, so they bumped customers speeds from 768k to 1.5mb. These are the local cable companies that are abusing their customers.
 
So true..

Recently we wanted to cut cable to save some money. We ended up keeping the same level of cable, tiny bit slower internet (but now with unlimited bandwidth instead of 150gb) and they reduced our bill by 75$. Just like that.
 
This is one of those things I want to laugh at but my urge to kill keeps kicking in...
 
I can't even get what I would call high speed internet. I'm stuck with 3 mbps AT&T DSL. No cable, no U-verse, nothing. And I'm not even outside of town. I'm damn near right in the middle of town, and every house around me has access to the highest speeds available in the city (60 mbps cable, 24 mbps u-verse). Hell, they even get 6 mbps DSL, which I would be happy with at this point. I have no idea why I can't get service. I'm in an APT complex that isn't that old (late 90's I believe), and they advertised it as "cable ready" whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean. The APT complex blames the local providers for not bring service in, and the local providers blame the APT complex. It's a no win situation for me, and I didn't find out until after I signed a 1 year lease. I'll never make that mistake again. Luckily my lease is up in June so I don't have to suffer much longer.

On a side note, who is actually responsible for bringing the physical cable to a home or APT? The builder, owner of the property, telco, etc? I've always wondered. I almost get the feeling that the cables are ran to at least the outside of the complex (large gated community), but the builder of the complex didn't want to pay to run the cable into each apartment. I see no evidence outside the apt of a cable box of any kind. Everyone in the complex who wants TV has satellite because nothing else is available.
 
As a cable tech I won't post a flamming response like I want to. I will say that I take customer satisfaction very seriously. Not only because I wan't the customers I see to be happy, but my job performance in regards to customer satisfaction is measured and I'm held accountable for it. But you know, there are always douchebags, on both sides of the line here. Thats about all I'll say.
 
Tanis143 said:
As a cable tech I won't post a flamming response like I want to. I will say that I take customer satisfaction very seriously. Not only because I wan't the customers I see to be happy, but my job performance in regards to customer satisfaction is measured and I'm held accountable for it. But you know, there are always douchebags, on both sides of the line here. Thats about all I'll say.
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It's the people that work in the field that makes these company's successful. When you knock on someone's door, you are the company. You have nothing to do with increasing monthly fees and dropping connections during peak hours.

When I first bought my home 13 years ago, we had Roadrunner and it was great. Then it was AT&T and it was pretty good also. Now we have the big C and my connection has degraded over the past few years.
 
Tanis143 said:
As a cable tech I won't post a flamming response like I want to. I will say that I take customer satisfaction very seriously. Not only because I wan't the customers I see to be happy, but my job performance in regards to customer satisfaction is measured and I'm held accountable for it. But you know, there are always douchebags, on both sides of the line here. Thats about all I'll say.
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Actually I don't think I've ever had a particular problem with the techs that come out to install. It's always with the CSRs on the phone or online, or with the service itself.
 
oligopoly my ass. where 99% of people live there's only 1 cable provider because it's A GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED MONOPOLY.

Oh and just so people know, you and I paid for the cable company to lay the lines out of our taxes. You know that weird surcharge you get on every phone bill? Yea, that's you, paying the government, who pays a cable provider, to lay the cable. Then the politicians give the cable provider a monopoly over the lines that you paid for. GREAT!
 
CoSWill said:
It's the people that work in the field that makes these company's successful. When you knock on someone's door, you are the company. You have nothing to do with increasing monthly fees and dropping connections during peak hours.

When I first bought my home 13 years ago, we had Roadrunner and it was great. Then it was AT&T and it was pretty good also. Now we have the big C and my connection has degraded over the past few years.
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Except the guy knocking on my door probably isn't even an employee of the cable company, he's likely an independent contractor. The cable company didn't want to offer full time employment and a benefits package to a local installer (never mind that he's going to be the only human interaction I ever have with my cable co), that money might lead to slightly less profit in the quarterly report and cut into the executives' multi-million dollar bonuses!

What ever happened to anti-trust enforcement?
 
Sad, but very true.
I've actually been pretty happy with Comcast as an ISP in my area, but their cable prices are a totally different story...
 
Pieter3dnow said:
It is rather odd that the sentiment of this video is that capitalism somehow doesn't work when people are making arrangements for prices and territories. This is what you get when there is no regulation.

People hate government but telling your monopolist to go fuck themselves on the internet might sound funny but it is rather sad.
Click to expand...

The lack of choice in cable providers is the result of regulation. Cable companies have exclusive franchise agreements with local governments that prevent competition. Remove the franchise agreements, allow competition, and there will be incentive to increase levels of service and disincentive to raise prices.
 
I have Charter and can't really complain about anything. Service, both with my connection and customer service is outstanding.
 
Tanis143 said:
As a cable tech I won't post a flamming response like I want to. I will say that I take customer satisfaction very seriously. Not only because I wan't the customers I see to be happy, but my job performance in regards to customer satisfaction is measured and I'm held accountable for it. But you know, there are always douchebags, on both sides of the line here. Thats about all I'll say.
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You know, I've met some pretty good techs over the years. More often than not the problem is on the cable company's side, and the guys usually fix it right away, and then we shoot the sh$t about the BS they put up with. They aren't the problem.

My 1st problem is the stupid crack whores they hire out of the alleys to answer the phones. I understand they have to deal with all kinds of people stupid - but have some kind of a clue and recognize when you're talking with someone with a brain.

My 2nd problem is just the crappy price tag for what you get. I got my first cable modem in 1999 and I was blown away. I was with COX then, and I'd have given them my firstborn child I was so pleased with my service. Since then, I've dropped all my premium channels and kept the services the same yet my cable bill has almost doubled. DOUBLED. My internet speeds are essentially the same. OOOOOooooo I got speedboost for like the first 5 seconds of that 12GB download off steam - thanks for nothing. Now, I'm about this close to cancelling everything except the bottom tier internet connection, going full on pirate for TV shows, and keep netflix dvds for movies. Sorry, but the ISPs are digging their own graves.

Cell phone companies are next - as much as I like my smartphone, they are about to be told to shove the bill up their you know what - and I'll get a prepaid flip phone that only makes phone calls.
 
Kongar said:
You know, I've met some pretty good techs over the years. More often than not the problem is on the cable company's side, and the guys usually fix it right away, and then we shoot the sh$t about the BS they put up with. They aren't the problem.

My 1st problem is the stupid crack whores they hire out of the alleys to answer the phones. I understand they have to deal with all kinds of people stupid - but have some kind of a clue and recognize when you're talking with someone with a brain.

My 2nd problem is just the crappy price tag for what you get. I got my first cable modem in 1999 and I was blown away. I was with COX then, and I'd have given them my firstborn child I was so pleased with my service. Since then, I've dropped all my premium channels and kept the services the same yet my cable bill has almost doubled. DOUBLED. My internet speeds are essentially the same. OOOOOooooo I got speedboost for like the first 5 seconds of that 12GB download off steam - thanks for nothing. Now, I'm about this close to cancelling everything except the bottom tier internet connection, going full on pirate for TV shows, and keep netflix dvds for movies. Sorry, but the ISPs are digging their own graves.

Cell phone companies are next - as much as I like my smartphone, they are about to be told to shove the bill up their you know what - and I'll get a prepaid flip phone that only makes phone calls.
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The only thing that stops me from cutting the cable (or satellite link) is the convience for the sports. Most of my baseball team's games are on Fox Sports so I can't pull them down from an antenna or get them over the net. MLB.tv has ridiculous blackout regulations (can't watch teams in your region) and I don't want to have to pay for a proxy to bypass it.

All these companies have intertwining agreements that make them symbiotic and reduces competition. As a consumer I can see it so why doesn't government step in and say something...cause our government, the people not the form, is broken and they need to be replaced. The incentives and high pay needs to be removed so as to attract people interested in the cause and not the money.
 
+100 on that video. I will say cox in my area in az is decent. Tier 1 support blows but the local techs that comes are decent.
 
The techs I've worked with have generally been nice and a few even lived not that far from me. When I lived in Blacksburg I basically would not have internet from 6PM until 2AM. The tech they sent out lived close enough that even he was affected by it, he said that it was up to Comcast to do something with upgraded lines they had laid, and Comcast said they were still waiting for the local branch to upgrade on their end... Long story short, much research and CoD4 were done over Edge/3G. :(
 
MikeTrike said:
I got lulz, then cried because its true. :(
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^
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Pieter3dnow said:
It is rather odd that the sentiment of this video is that capitalism somehow doesn't work when people are making arrangements for prices and territories. This is what you get when there is no regulation.

People hate government but telling your monopolist to go fuck themselves on the internet might sound funny but it is rather sad.
Click to expand...

But there is regulation. Most cities and towns will only allow one or two providers use the infrastructure like telephone poles, etc. So, if your town has Comcast, there is no way another cable company is going to step in and compete.

In places where FIOS has been installed, it's not quite as bad as all that. Typically, Verizon already has the access to the cities and towns for telephone service, so when they were able to replace copper with fiber they were able to add the new services and compete.

Since FIOS internet has been available in my town prices have lowered a bit for entry level services, and speeds across the board between Comcast and FIOS has been increasing for existing services.

So, while the video is funny, it's a bit off the mark for accuracy too. Government Regulation is one of the reasons why there is no real competition for these services.
 
jfreund said:
The lack of choice in cable providers is the result of regulation. Cable companies have exclusive franchise agreements with local governments that prevent competition. Remove the franchise agreements, allow competition, and there will be incentive to increase levels of service and disincentive to raise prices.
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This is not true. I have worked in accounting/finance in the cable industry for 21 years. While it is true that cable companies have franchise agreements with local authorities, those agreements are not exclusive, nor are they allowed to be by FCC mandate, though exclusive franchises did exist in the "old days". Competition in cable is limited by the cost of overbuilding existing infrastructure (if it is even possible because of existing pole and conduit space) NOT by exclusive franchise agreements.

The franchising authority uses the agreements to pocket 3-5% of the cable company's revenue but does very little otherwise.

Cable television is regulated by the FCC, by the way.
 
I would agree on the many channels and having to pay to watch half of them, however I have my internet though my cable provider (charter) and cant complain. Either way this was funny as hell.
 
jfreund said:
The lack of choice in cable providers is the result of regulation. Cable companies have exclusive franchise agreements with local governments that prevent competition. Remove the franchise agreements, allow competition, and there will be incentive to increase levels of service and disincentive to raise prices.
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It always amazes me that more people do not realize this.
 
Domingo said:
Sad, but very true.
I've actually been pretty happy with Comcast as an ISP in my area, but their cable prices are a totally different story...
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The video side of the cable business has prices driven by the programmers. Fees for ESPN and regional sports networks are the biggest offender. Who so you think pays for those huge TV deals with the NFL and NBA? The cable company does.....and we pass it on to you because we are a for-profit business.

Internet, on the other hand, has a pretty big markup and is a highly productive cash cow.

The funny thing is.....people complain about the price of our video products and LOVE the internet. Oh well.
 
you guys need to do what we did ... and move.

Seriously, it's an options.

Do you really need to live near your parents or that brother or sister? Childhood friends? Your crappy job? Life is short.

Once we heard Kansas City was getting Fiber, we started saving and planning to move. After a year of saving, prepping, getting out of a house rental, massive storage, into an apartment, waiting a few months and then loading up the apartment and storage into a huge ass moving truck, we moved from Nebraska to Kansas City.

We love it. We still have to wait about 6 months to get our service since our Google Fiberhood isn't schedule til this fall but it will be a fast 6 months.

Our Time Warner Road Runner service is ... so - so. We've had to call many times about buffering video which drives me crazy.

The only thing I can get to work is usenet and even then I have to use two different usenet accounts and cram freaking 70 concurrent connections down Timer Warner's throat to get my full 100mbit speed, or 13.5 Megabytes a second.
 
I'm with comcast on 3 package deal. Means everything is cheaper when you have phone, cable, internet. Drop 1 and the package breaks and the price of 2 become the same as what I was getting for 3. Roughly 200/month. But I like the premium channels lots of good programming, but I only pay something like 25/month for hbo/showtime.

Only way this will change is when enough people drop cable and force the companies to lower prices.
 
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