Lincolnite

I’m all for anything that can damage TWC. However, $149 a month seems steep as much as I’d love me some more speed.

I would be very happy just to have Verizon FiOS.  15 mbps up and down for just $65.  Unfortunately the lack of fiber in Nebraska is sign that I have a while to wait.  The Qwest is getting started on fiber to the node (not quite as good mind you) in Omaha, so I can still dream…

Comcast could offer a 1 Gb/sec connection and I wouldn’t take it, given their blatant disregard for net neutrality and their hostility to their own customers.

Closer to home, I vaguely remember reading an LJS article detailing Windstream’s plans for fiber in Lincoln, but I could only find a couple glancing references to it online.

I’ve never been a Comcastic customer, so I can’t speak to their customer service, but really - could it be worse than we have locally with TWC? I’ve been doing a lot of research on TWC and HD, and we are totally getting screwed over in Lincoln compared to other TWC cities. I think the problem comes down, at least in part, to the local management being clueless. I’ve heard as much from employees that work there, and my communications to and from the top office in Lincoln leave me a zero degree comfort level in what’s happening here. I’d like to take my fight to the people, but I can’t figure out how.

My “Comcast sucks” argument stems from their bandwidth-shaping behavior, blocking non-80 ports, and then then repeatedly denying that they were doing anything of the sort. As ISPs go, Time Warner is quite benign.

As for the HD issue, I’ve heard that too. The larger question is, if you want as many HD channels as possible, is why you’d bother with cable at all. The satellite providers have many more HD channels than cable.

I was wondering what your feelings were with TWC. Recently - just this last week - I had a pretty annoying payment related experience with them that left me a bit irked. Its a long story and I won’t get into it, but I agree that there are several aspects of their service that leaves something to be desired.

Were you asking about *my* feelings as per TWC?

Fletch - Yeah I was wondering about your experiences with them as you are obviously not a big fan. Focusing just on their customer service, I have found it to vary widely from pleasant to unreliable - nothing that is particularly better or worse than customer service from any other entity. My last negative experience with them that I referred to was related to their automatic payment program.

Hey Mr. T - I will type more on that in the morning. Here’s an example of what really aggravates me:

“From PRNewswire: Time Warner Cable is adding 50 new HD channels to homes in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island on April 30. CNN, Fox News and Fox Business are among the channels. Time Warner will extend the HD package to digital customers in Manhattan, New Jersey, and the Hudson Valley later this year.”

How many HD channels are they adding here this month? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I don’t know what I would do with 50 mb/s since most sites don’t even push data out at nearly that speed.  If I was constantly downloading from big ftp servers or downloading 30 movies at once I might want it but it definitely would not be worth the cost.

What would be nice is some competition.  TWC and Windstream are basically the same price if you factor in the land line you need for Windstream.  I have no use for a land-line and most people my age and younger don’t either.  I also have no use for cable TV.  Either way it’s going to cost you $50/month.

This is Wisco’s $0.02

I have friends around the Country who have Comcast and everyone tells me how bad the product and customer service is. Let me tell ya, I have very little love for TW but I don’t think Comcast is any better.

I’m with jwiltshire and think the best thing on the horizon is Fiber-optics.
I agree Verizon will take a long time to get to Lincoln but you may want to keep your eyes open for AT&T;Fiber. They have an interesting plan to running FO lines into neighborhoods and then using the existing copper lines to deliver the signal to individual homes. This will allow them to move into markets quicker and then go back and deal with connecting homes directly to fiber network. The signal doesn’t run as strong as Verizon’s FiOS but it blows traditional cable out of the water and they’re offering HD packages similar to Dish.

I think the cable companies opened a can of worms when they went after Ma-Bell

I had Comcast cable and hi-speed internet from 1999-2005 when I lived in Denver. (Including the period of time when AT&T;bought them and rebranded it with their own logo, then ditched them).

My opinion is that their service is worse than what I have gotten from Time Warner since moving to Lincoln in 2005. Admittedly, I never had a set-top box that went through all the issues.

Moreover - I agree with Swoof. Bigger numbers sure look pretty, but I won’t pay for them. The good old interweb has many variables between you and your website, any one of which can throttle down the speed of all of it. (The old “weakest link” argument.) Most people’s home email and website needs are met at 7mb/sec anyway.

Of course, some people are in a position to use that kind of service, (I’d like to think I would.) And that is why they can sell it. But I certainly won’t buy it at that price.

Plus - Swid is right about their disregard for net neutrality, though it is hard to find a corporation in that biz that that thinks otherwise.

It’s all a mess, but competition can only help - right??

I was kind of hoping that with 700 or 800 Verizon employees at the call center that will be calling Lincoln home, it may spur their FO to get here sooner rather than later. That’s probably wishful thinking.

I’ve not had time to go into my TWC rant, and I’m about to head out of town. If anyone wants to hear more about the HD issues, let me know.