I'd like to also see them break-up the monopoly these companies have on 'zones', cities, etc. Where the consumer has no choice. I personally wanted Verizon FIOS, but had to get UVERSE from AT&T because AT&T zoned my area of town before Verizon could.

Again, read below. Breaking them up does nothing at all! Who is going to overbuild and incur the same expenses as the sole provider and fight for a fraction of the subscribers?

No one - except in very high density areas.

Instead oif simply whining, look at the basic financial realities!

I mean if your point is valid, you essentially have an unlimited market to support market overbuilds! Go to it!

Unfortunately you won't find funding as those who understand the market won't touch the endeavor!!!

I find this all funny, FCC probing cable etc, what a farce that is. I live in south dakota and the prices here are high very high, over $50.00 for most packages and going higher and there internet is high also. But they like to tell us that they are the cheapest, so I did some research and found that to be a outright lie. The biggest cable company is the state of south dakota charges way too much for everything.

I think one of the frustrating things for me has been to see the number of options dwindle down to almost nothing over time.

When DSL first came on the scene, you could choose from a bunch of providers, not just the phone company that supplied the line to your house.

But then, maybe due to line usage fees, at least in part, these service providers started going belly-up, and without competition to drive prices down, Verizon and others just kept raising rates and pushing 1 or 2 year contract requirements.

They also started gobbling up all the little guys and pretty soon, there was hardly any other options available in many areas.

Then you have that merger of Sirius and XM, and maybe something like the Dish Network and Direct TV, and bam, more choices go bye-bye.

I'm not normally a big guy on wanting regulation, but given the lack of competition, market forces are not seeming to be enough to help the consumers.

If we don't have choices, we may need some level of regulation to at least keep some of the extreme cost and service issues from impacting consumers in such a negative way.

If the FCC didn't pretty much force cable companies to offer a lower-end tier, instead of $15 a month for limited basic, I'd be forking out like $60 or more just to get TV.

Using an antenna to get the free over-the-air channels hasn't really been an option in many cities for years. You just can't get any sort of decent reception. I don't know if that will be the case with DTV or not, but man, it would be pretty cool if I could just get the free channels for free, you know?

They have moved so many channels off the "Limited Basic" tier that it's already sort of unfair. Maybe if the Gov forced them to provide Ala Carte options, that'd be cool too.

I know. I whine a lot. But man, lately you can just get hammered with examples of huge companies screwing the consumer, and even screwing their own employees.

In the middle of this economic mess, Comcast up and raises their rates - just because they can?

I dunno. Something seems kinda off about all that.

A very simple thing to understand.

The cost to overbuild an existing network and to incur the same expenses as well as to fight for fractions of the availanble market is financially prohibitive.

The only chance there is (effectively) is for the advent of a disruptive technology which can effectively deliver the same or similar functionality at a lower producer cost.

So they don't decide what the service is worth - YOU DO! And the irony is that most just whine and pay it!

You want to stop it, get a majority of consumers to say no and unsubscribe. The irony? Folks like to whine, but seldom like to do what is necessary to cause change.

How many who are whining here have dumped cable/satellite? 'Nuf said.

If anyone has worked within the 'cable' (incl satellite) industry, you know the pricing strategy - regardless of whether they are working in collusion.

Of course they are trying to increase revenue however they can withing the limits of the regulated environment.

Why do you think they have been vehemenently fighting ala carte package configuration under the ridiculous guise that it is too difficult to implement?

But then if they did that, many would end up with ~6 channel packages while ignoring the rest of the crap. As hard as it may be to believe, while they may be crazy, they are not entirely stupid. They understand all too well the implications of the ala carte option, just as they have grown accustomed to skirting the regulatory limits regarding packaging and price increases.

...and Obama my @ss. After listening to so many fools project their wish lists upon him, he will will be too busy eliminating poverty...LOL!

pleaze...

cable tv providers have been probed so many times theres nothing left to probe.

the FCC will continue to sit on their own probes and enjoy the ride.

perhaps obama can replace their probes with a boot.

my homeboy Obama will fix this... :-)

lol...yah...ok...

I do wish I personally had more choice. I now live in an area that does not offer standard COPPER telephone service.

This means that Comcast and Verizon FIOS are the only wired option.

We can get Satellite, but ClearWire does not provide a usable signal in our area.

I'm not a big fan of Cable TV, and have the "Limited Basic" package, which is about $15 a month plus fees and such. Cable Internet is about $40 a month, again, plus fees.

I miss having DSL. Yeah, it was still Verizon, but it was about $30 a month and it worked very well for me for going on 7 years. (First GTE, then Verizon bought them) I didn't mind having tiered speed service either.

If somehow I was able to get DSL, I'd be perfectly happy with a 768k/384k setup. But again, I no longer have that option.

Comcast says if we drop the TV part of our service, the Internet package goes up to $55 a month anyway, which I think is just insane, but somehow they get away with it.

FIOS in our area is just a confusing mess right now. A year and a half ago they offered a $24.99 a month FIOS package (with 2 year signup) and $29.99 (with 1 year signup), but now I don't think they offer anything close to that.

Besides, if I went FIOS, I seem to remember them telling me that they had to install a bunch of hardware into our garage and we were limited to using only the router that THEY provided.

It's a drag. I would just like to have more choice. More options. More companies. But we don't, and that sucks.

Who knows, maybe with a new Dem president, bigger Dem congress, they might start talking a bit of RE-Regulation when it comes to consumer communications.

Who knows, maybe with a new Dem president, bigger Dem congress, they might start talking a bit of RE-Regulation when it comes to consumer communications.

Yeah... The gov's always been so *good* about regulating "public utilities" in the past. ;)

Well, yeah. But politicians look like they need to be doing something, and now that they control the Presidency and Congress fully, it'd be an easy target.

It's the pendulum swinging back and forth.

With Bush it went way too far to the right, and now is swinging back to the left.

I just hope that somebody does something about the problems families and consumers face.

I'm trying to keep an open mind. :)

Yeah promotion means, lets rip off the existing subscribers and give others a discount.

When I called At&t to match a promo, they did it with a smile.

No, genius.

Promotional pricing is merely an introductory rate offered to *new* customers.

It is not and never was meant to have any effect at all on existing customers.

Of course, you feel entitled to the cheapest rates possible regardless of reason or feasibility because, you, like so many others, can't see beyond your own self-centered, "world revolves around you" outlook.

When I called At&t to match a promo, they did it with a smile.

*gasp*

Perhaps because you were a new customer?

Hey, Dummy!
You're now a marketing spin doctor, an ecomonist, and no doubt a social demographer.
Breathtaking, where do you find the time? Seeing as all day seems to be spent spewing vitriol here. Attendant to this is I thought your time these past few weeks would've been pushing the barrow for the "Caribou Barbi"!
Anyway, it is a wonderful treat to see someone more inherently bitter and twisted than me!
XXX

*laughing*

Sorry, I didn't realize defining "promotional price" would raise your dander. Not that I care...

Funny how you have yet to add a single comment to any thread or topic on this site that isn't a direct personal attack or flame ... usually directed at me.

Do you love me that much?

Hate to break it to ya, but I'm married. Go stalk someone else. (Or go play in traffic...Lord knows we could use a few less of you in the gene pool)

Thats EXACTLY what Comcast has done in my case. They moved analog channels to digital tiers so that the 'basic' channels lineup that we had, we now have to pay for the digital portion to see them.

Also, the providers need to get over the whomever has the most HD channels is the best mentality, as the majority of them are utter crap. Have some quality HD programming, and get rid of the religious shows, and all the non-english channels UNLESS we request them. If they were smart, they would offer spanish, and all the other languages as seperate packages, either as a substitution to the english ones, or an additional fee to include them.

I know first hand that with Comcast you don't get digital channels without their HD box whit DVR service. They also claim they have more HD channels than satellite, that's quite possibly the biggest joke on the face of the earth. Other than the four networks, that they are required to carry, on their lineup there are about nine other HD/Digital channels. Even the premium channels, HBO, Showtime, etc., there are only one of those channels offered in HD. All totaled there are less than two dozen channels in Comcast's lineup. In the ads by Google that are on the side of this page it says Comcast has service for $39.99 a month, that is only a three month promo price and after that it triples, and that is only for analog. When I owned a home in Saint Petersburg I had a C Band satellite dish. Even at it's most expensive package I only paid $50 a month for everything that was broadcast and that was only a couple of years ago. How Comcast justifies quadrupling that is beyond me. God knows their customer service people are about as useful as tits on a bull. Obviously they need to be knocked a few hundred pegs.

cable speeds

A few weeks ago Comcast unveiled some new speed tiers for markets that are being upgraded to DOCSIS 3.0. Comcast not only doubled existing speed tiers ("Performance" 6Mbps/1Mbps and "Performance Plus" 8Mbps/2Mbps tiers became 12Mbps/2Mbps and 16Mbps/2Mbps), but adding two new tiers to the mix ("Ultra" 22Mbps/5Mbps and "Extreme 50" 50Mbps/10Mbps). 20% of Comcast markets should see the new speeds by the end of this year, while all markets will be upgraded by the end of 2010.
http://www.dslreports.co...ading-98874?nocomment=1

cable caps

This month, AT&T (NYSE:T), the largest ISP in the U.S., quietly launched a bandwidth cap trial for its customers in Reno, Nev., just one month after rival Comcast (NSDQ:CMCSA) instituted its own bandwidth limit.

As of Nov. 1, new AT&T High Speed Internet customers in Reno will receive a bandwidth usage amount ranging from between 20 GB and 150 GB per month, depending on their broadband speed tier, the company announced.
http://www.crn.com/networking/212000481

FiOS NY State/City

The New York Public Service Commission's staff recommended that Verizon Communications halt its installations of new FiOS TV customers in New York City until it can prove that 95 percent of its boxes throughout the rest of New York state are properly grounded.

The recommendation came after the PSC's recent evaluation that Verizon's deployments were lacking--the agency said some of Verizon's inspections of grounding issues around its installations did not turn up enough information. The PSC staff also said that Verizon's suggestion for a self-imposed deadline of 60 days to fix problems is too long, and should be shortened to about 20 days.
http://www.fiercetelecom...ation-freeze/2008-09-29

At first this seems strange as fiber is not a conductor while coaxial cable is an excelent
conductor. I live in a neighberhood where 90% of the homes both aerial telephone, elctric
and cable. A quick check of 11 households revealed that although every telephone drop
had protection not a single cable had protection. In fact all were home run directly to the
first tv in the string.

It appears tht TWC has the state Inspector General in their pocket. Andrew (evil eye) Cuomo.

What is it with those who mistakenly believe that the corporate can do no wrong and is always thinking of the best for the average person? If the current economic situation in the USA has more than proven this isn't true. Profit is their only concern, even at the expense of quality and the like.

Their faith in the corporate is highly religious in its nature. Libertopians also hold this foolish belief as well.

That $700 billion Corporate Welfare payout is already being used to make individuals there richer instead of what it was suppose to be used for. BTW, I'm not surprised in the least that this is happening so blatantly.

Leave it to you to misplace blame and use completely unrelated markets in order to rant about the US again.

I bet you think Bush is responsible for the housing/credit tank as well as the *entire* deficit... You're worse than the political commercials because you actually believe that s***.

FWIW, I actually do agree with you on the bail-out. The liberals got their way on that one.

You still have an Analog TV but have Verizon as your TV provider??? Thats pretty f'ing stupid. Going to have cable, DTV or Verizon and still using Grandma's TV? You deserve the discomfort for being that stupid. Consider it a lesson in how not to be a moron.

Not everyone can afford to buy a brand new HDTV. Especailly in these rough economic times.

This has nothing to do with HDTV, analog TV's have long been going away. This has to do with DIGITAL cable which is a much better product than analog.

You spent $1,500 on a flat-screen set and are paying the cable company $165.00 a month for the privilege of watching such mind-stimulating fare as "CSI", "House", "So You Think You Can Dance", "WWF Smackdown" and The Cartoon Network in hi-def ???

You deserve the discomfort for being so stupid as to allow yourself to be hypnotized by the clever marketing strategies of those companies.

Consider it a lesson in how to be a moron.

That has nothing to do with anything unless you are referring to HDTV content. I have a Digital TV in my bedroom and I only ever watch analog signals on it (from my digital cable box). even on my HDTV I rarely actually watch an HD channel.

Time Warner Cable offers promos like $29.99 for 12 months for their cable modem service.

Current subscribers are not eligible for that price. Some pay $34.99, $39.99 or even $44.99. For a current subscriber to get the promo, you need to pull teeth. And you cannot get back to back promos. So if you've just come off a 12 month promo, you need to actually disconnect service and connect a day later, and you'll be greeted with open arms. So stupid.

You'd think a loyal subscriber gets better pricing then some joe shmo off the street.

Time Warner execs have their head up their a$$
Investigate them first.

It's a promotional price. Do you know what that word means?

ONLY $44.99 for Time Warner's fastest service? Try finding someone other than the rip off kings at Comcast. They're top cable modem service is close to $100 a month, their cheapest is $50. You should be offering at the altar of the god of cable for not getting ripped off as much as we do. There is one saving grace though, AT&T has begun wiring the neighborhood hopefully they will think more of their customer's and try not to rip them off as much as Comcast does or they're gonna have trouble retaining customers. I really don't see how Comcast is going to be a viable cable service in the next five years unless they cut the price to their customers. Every day I see satellite dishes going up on houses in my neighborhood while Comcast's techs are removing cables from homes.

Sadly, promotional is a 4 syllable word, so some of the folks around here might not know what it means...

Actually, it's simple entitlement.

They feel entitled to the promotional price for the duration of their use of the service, just like they feel entitled to free music, unlimited bandwidth usage, and welfare.

Yup! :)

But screw the welfare...

Comcast has been blatantly taking advantage of the broadcast changeover to prey on consumers. They have issued a number of highly deceptive ads.

The cable companys have also absolutely been shafting people trying to stick to low-end analog tiers of programming. They have the balls to raise prices while taking popular channels off of analog and into digital as a not-so-subtle way of trying to force people over. Part of the reason behind this is that the cable companies are struggling to keep up with the race to provide the most HD content. There isn't that much bandwidth left to work with, which is why so many of the cable HD channels are compressed. Analog stations take up a lot of valuable bandwidth that the cable companies are itching to free up for the sake of remaining competitive.