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| Name: |
DaBurglar
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| Subject: |
Checked your cable bill lately
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Date:
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8/6/2008 7:10:37 AM
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WE NEED A NEW CABLE COMPANY. My wife showed me the cable/Internet bill yesterday and it was $139.00. Thats more than 1/2 our electric bill. I say we need to do something to bring in another company. If Comcast will come as far as Kowliga they need to cross the bridge and come to Alex City. I am so close to handing Charter there box back it aint even funny.
About two years ago I was doing taxes and had all 12 of my bills for the year in my hand and each month our nill was up or down $20 - $30. We never got a answer from Charter why. Then they locked us in at $83.50 and yesterday it jumped to $130 plus...They have us where they want us but, I know better.
Go to Google and search "Free To Air". Love to hear your comments and I will be posting on the lakemartinforum so the people running for office can hear that this is a large issue and should be looked into.
Thanks for letting me unwind...
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| Name: |
Maverick
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| Subject: |
Checked your cable bill lately
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Date:
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8/6/2008 10:49:48 AM
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DaBurgular - Every 6 or so months our Charter bill in Bham goes from lets say $60 per month to like $100 per month. I call to inquire about any specials running and tell them they are almost forcing me to put in a Dish.
If they say they do not any then I ask to cancel my service. I am then transferred to the Cancellation Dept and their tone changes real quick and all of a sudden Poof a deal comes out of the air for $60 or so dollars per month.
Give it a try has worked for us for the past 3 or so years.
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| Name: |
DaBurglar
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| Subject: |
Checked your cable bill lately
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Date:
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8/6/2008 11:40:38 AM
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Thanks Maverick,
I will give it a try... Going gold prospecting today tho...
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I wanted to have a cable outlet installed @ our place. I scheduled an appointment. The appointment time was a five (5) hour window. I drove 2 hours and waited from 11a.m untill5:30 Pm. With promises that they were still on the way. They finally showed up around 5:45 and gave me the box, bust said they couldn't hook up the outlet without permission from the corporate office. This was to go in our guest house.
I tried to call, but it was too late to talk to the proper authority. They apologized an said they should have installed it. They didn't have an excuse for the installers except they were lazy. I received a BILL for the install that NEVER HAPPENED<. I called madder than ___. They PROMISED they would be there if I re scheduled. They said they would not charge for the instal . I gave them their last chance. I rescheduled. drove 2 hours down and waited all day. Ended up staying the night because they said I was the last call and they PROMISED they were still coming. They never called back, never showed up. I plan on getting dish or DSL unless there is some other option other than charter. I am canceling my home service as well. I pay this lousy company $250 a month in cable & internet and I get nothing in return but LOUSY customer service!
But if you think this is bad you should have been there the day they sent dumb and dumber to my house and they dropped their cell phone down in my return duct vent. Called in help. They got stuck and called in another man. He fell through my ceiling. Leaving me with no cable and a huge hole in my ceiling . Then they told ME to call the contractor, get the estimates, get approval to get it fixed and they would then reimburse me once I submitted the paperwork to their insurance co. Now after writing this, I think that I am the dumb one just for still being with them!
Calling now to compare dish stuff!
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| Name: |
twc
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| Subject: |
Charter STINKS and here is why
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Date:
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8/6/2008 5:27:31 PM
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I'm not taking their side but.......
I have Charter cable and internet at the lake (Logan Martin) and Dish in town. Can't get internet in town. No DSL with Bellsouth and Charter doesn't run to the house in town. I know that sounds crazy but anyway.
While most of what you guys are saying about Charter is true, it's far better than Dish IMO. The dish system is mostly useless when the weather gets bad. It has been taking a mind of it's own and just switching channels mid program at various times. And in the last week, I have had to start re booting the thing (turn it off then back on) almost every night. And it always happens right in the middle of one of the few programs that is something someone might want to watch. I will give the Dish network installer credit tho. He arrived early. Called beforehand to make sure it was OK for him to come earlier than scheduled. He was polite, courteous and clean. And we asked him about internet through Dish and he was completely honest with us. He asked what we were used to and said we would not like it and their internet service was slow and overpriced but it did work.
I'm like the last guy on the line with my Charter service at the lake so if there is ever a wide range outage, I'm the last one fixed. But it works pretty well and I to have the area manager and a couple of the service guys cell phone numbers. They have always been great to come out pretty quick most of the time. Calling the 1 800 charter stinks number never really works but the folks in the field do.
I guess what I'm saying and the reason I'm chipping in my .02 is, I have them both and in a side by side comparison, Charter just works better more often. and from what I have seen of the bills, there really isn't any difference.
I guess it's the heat thats got us all inside fussing about tv and internet. Let's go for a swim to beat the heat and forget the garbage on tv.
Peace from Logan Martin
<><
TC
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| Name: |
DaBurglar
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| Subject: |
Maverick is my Hero...
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Date:
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8/6/2008 5:47:05 PM
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Thanks for the advice. Worked perfect...
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| Name: |
Maverick
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| Subject: |
Maverick is my Hero...
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Date:
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8/6/2008 5:50:08 PM
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You owe me all the gold you found today and a cold beer at Chuck's - LOL.
Glad it worked out !!!
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| Name: |
water_watcher
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| Subject: |
Checked your cable bill lately
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Date:
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8/6/2008 8:51:46 PM
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i just had the "Dish" istalled ... 4 TV's, two HD and a DVR ... their all HD package was $29 for 45 HD channels ... great quality. Included all the channels I would want. You can add Montgomery locals for $5 more. Attach your broadband internet to the DVR and you can download over 3,500 movies on demand plus you get 25 PPV channels. Great deal that included free installation.
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I have had Dish for a few years and couldn't be happier. It may go out for a few seconds in VERY Heavy weather but that is rare.....for those that have Dish and find it going out in moderate weather, you need to get the latest equipment and also make sure your dish is aimed correctly (the HD satellite is more sensitive). You may also need to have them install a separate dish for HD because a single dish can have problems picking up strong signals on both satellites that are needed.
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is this the company owned by AT & T
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| Name: |
Swimmer27
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| Subject: |
Dish
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Date:
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8/7/2008 4:38:16 PM
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I called DISH today and got some pretty impressive prices. They just kept adding 'extras'. Then I called charter and got them to lower my monthly charge, but it is still not as good as DISH. BUT, if I cancel my cable, the internet service goes so high that it wipes out the savings from DISH. Unfortunately, charter is the only internet game at my house. No DSL is offered here. I don't understand why because it is down the road in both directions. Go figure.
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| Name: |
Mack
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| Subject: |
Swimmer?
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Date:
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8/7/2008 6:11:05 PM
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Are houses down the road in both directions served by the same telephone company as you? And they have DSL?
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| Name: |
Swimmer27
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| Subject: |
Swimmer?
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Date:
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8/7/2008 6:23:44 PM
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I used 'down the road' in a relative way. I don't know how close it actually comes to me, but I have a friend in Dadeville, but on the other side of 280 that gets DSL, yet here off madwind road it is not available. Go figure? And yes it is all ATT. I thought if it was availabel for an extension, say 825, then everyone with that extension could get it. Thats what I get for thinking......
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| Name: |
Mack
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| Subject: |
Swimmer?
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Date:
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8/7/2008 7:22:10 PM
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I'm retired, coming from a history of telco engineering/broadband (DSL/Video) engineering, broadband equipment sales. Technology is available to solve your problem. But, they will not do it unless the demand is there.
Do this if you are serious:
1. Follow your telephone line from your house, to the pole, then follow the poles in the direction of the nearest most major street, then from there to the next most major street, and so on. Got it?
2. Log on to ATT/Bellsouth.net and request DSL Service. You enter your tel number and it says, nope not available??
3. If you are serious, contact everybody on the cable route you defined in #1 above via phone, mail, mail stuffer, etc asking them to apply for DSL service also thru the web site.
4. Know anybody at the telco? Use it. Their construction budget is zip right now, but exceptions do happen.
One irate customer WILL NOT DO IT!!
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| Name: |
Ulysses E. McGill
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| Subject: |
I think we are lucky for what
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Date:
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8/7/2008 8:17:12 PM
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have available on the south-west side of the lake. I get Windstream telephone and DSL for $40 bucks a month. That includes caller ID, call waiting, a few other options I can't remember, and their fastest DSL; it also came with a very nice wireless router and free installation on a promotion. Add to that my HD dish package and DVR, and I spend about $80 dollars a month for phone, HDTV, and DSL after taxes. Windstream and Dish are linked to provide discounts if you have both. The service I have received from both Dish and Windstream have been outstanding. I have the personal cell numbers for local technicians from both companies.....they are great guys that are proud of their work, and offered their personal contact numbers without me asking.
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| Name: |
Summer Lover
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| Subject: |
Swimmer?
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Date:
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8/8/2008 7:46:29 AM
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Unfortunately, not every number in an exchange (like 825) will have access to DSL, You are routed out of a central office (CO), that may be a building or a box along the road (more likely). If the remote CO does not have DSL, you will not have DSL. Relative Loop Length – determined by physical length and line quality can make it where you have a DSL CO, but still unable to get DSL in your home. Most lines will have Bridge Taps – sort of like an additional phone jack between the CO and your home, and the length/number of these may keep you from getting DSL or degrade the signal you do have. Load Coils are put in place to help voice communication, but are in essence low-pass filters – you do not get as much static, but since the DSL signal is at about 25 KHz it will not pass, and you have no DSL (in some cases these can be removed – telcos do add CO’s or upgrade lines that would eliminate the need). DSL is not available on our line at the lake (Point Cloxson), but at home (McCalla) we have DSL as does our neighbor directly across the street, but because of routing it is not available to their next door neighbor (yet).
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| Name: |
Webmaster
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| Subject: |
Charter Price
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Date:
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8/8/2008 10:42:45 AM
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About the price of Internet only service, you are correct in that it is really high. Mine is around $58 per month with Charter... When I first signed up for service at the lake house, Charter had a scalable deal offering only 384k service for something like $25 per month (this was over 3 years ago). Then, not long after that, they basically "did away" with that plan and the price went to around $45 per month for that same speed. Then they tried to upsell to me the faster 2.0 Mbit service for an "only" $5 per month extra. I declined because at the time I might have spent two weeks of the year there to use it. But Charter was the only thing available and the kind of business I'm in necessitated that I have Internet everywhere I go. Having it just gave me the option to go to the lake and stay. I guess I felt like that was worth any price.
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| Name: |
Webmaster
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| Subject: |
Dish
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Date:
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8/8/2008 10:57:15 AM
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To answer the question of Freshwater Bay Girl:
"Is this the company owned by AT&T"
Dish Network is not owned by AT&T.
Dish Network is owned by Echostar. Echostar used to be known for the larger C-Band satellites (when people had 10 foot dishes in their yard). Echostar bought Dish Network about 10 years ago so they could immediately complete in the DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) market.
Dish Network is exclusively promoted by AT&T so AT&T can offer a TV option to compete with cable companies in these "package deals" of phone, TV and Internet. AT&T gets kickbacks from Dish Network for new accounts.
The deal between AT&T and Dish is fairly new. It hasn't been too long ago that AT&T was exclusively promoting DirecTV.
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Thank you for the info. That is great. I am an AT&T customer already and use them for cell service as well. I found out they will give additional discounts if you use their other services. Good Bye Charter and GOOD RIDDANCE!
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| Name: |
BigFoot
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| Subject: |
Checked your cable bill lately
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Date:
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8/10/2008 10:10:52 AM
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...just a somewhat amusing story of my experience with Charter. I was using Charter for TV and internet when they tripled my monthly charge 2 months prior to the date on which my 12 mo. commnitment was to expire. I called to talk with representative and ended up talking with some guy in Republic of Panama....the conversation was not going well at all...in fact, he was extremely rude to me whereupon I called him a 'son of a b-----'.......His response to me was......
"YOU ANOTHER ONE!!..................end of conversation....cancelled service..
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