We saw this coming a couple weeks ago, but now it’s official: Google is busting down your door and stealing away your TV. [More]
Family Of Six Ditches Satellite TV, Gets All Shows Online
By May 17, 2010
Three months ago, Larry made a bold move. An avid sports fan with a wife and four kids, he unplugged the satellite TV. Larry loves TV, so much that he once worked in a TV station for six years. But his wife made him do it. That $50/month fee had to go, so he learned how to hook up his TV to the internet. “We’ve had our challenges,” he writes, but, “even with March Madnes I’ve managed to save a ton of money and with a few small adjustments, not miss out on any of our entertainment.” Here’s what he did and how it worked out. There’s nothing super fancy here but for someone just trying to get their feet wet, it has some good ideas: [More]
Get Ready For Anti-Net Neutrality Ads
By May 13, 2010
Foes of net neutrality are getting set to spend $1.4 million to air a series of ads against the Federal Communication Commission’s efforts to enforce net neutrality rules by regulating broadband access providers as telecom services. First up: this peppy offering from Americans for Prosperity, that warns that the Internet will be the next domino to fall to the encroaching menace of a “Washington takeover.” [More]
Verizon Blocked Me From Switching To TWC For A Year
By May 12, 2010
Donald chuckled at yesterday’s post about someone whom TWC blocked from switching to Verizon because Verizon did the same to him when he tried to leave it for TWC. [More]
TWC Goes The 'If You Won't Have Me, You Won't Have Anyone' Route
By May 10, 2010
Cold callers who work for cable service providers are known to be hard sellers, but Time Warner Cable stepped a few miles over the line by disconnecting a potential customer’s Verizon service and sending a technician to install TWC service — all this after the customer repeatedly turned down TWC’s overtures begging them to switch over. [More]
Comcast: Sorry We Never Installed Your Cable Correctly
By May 6, 2010
Reader K. wants to let us know that our tips for writing an effective complaint letter helped her solve her parents battle with Comcast. For months they’d been complaining about faulty internet service — only to be told they had the best signal they could get. Turns out, however, that their cable had never been installed properly. Whoops! [More]
What To Say To Your Cable Company To Get Them To Lower Your Bill
By April 24, 2010
Readers have told us the best way to save money on your cable bill without the hassle of actually switching is to call them up and negotiate… but what should you actually say?
Pre-Game Warm-Up: [More]
Verizon Won't Install FiOS Until You Email The CEO
By April 24, 2010
This is actually a happy story, despite my inability to write cheerful-sounding headlines, so pay attention if you’ve ever been told that your whole apartment complex can get cable/FiOS/whatever, but you can’t because you are special and not allowed to be happy. You’d be surprised at how many letters we get from people who have this problem. One such person, Andrew, Consumerist Reader, decided to email the CEO. [More]
Should Google Be Broken Apart?
By April 20, 2010
The consumer group Consumer Watchdog is planning to ask the Justice Department to “launch an antitrust action against the search giant and seek remedies including a possible break up,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The group will host a press conference in Washington, D.C. tomorrow where it will argue that there’s enough evidence to warrant antitrust action from the feds. [More]
Which Retail Bank Has The Best Online Service?
By March 29, 2010
Tom is moving here from New Zealand in a few weeks and he needs to find a bank. He writes, “I’ve checked out the major players, but the number one thing that’s turning me off is their online banking systems are horrible! I use online banking A LOT, so this is important to me. In terms of services I’d want, I need a debit card, and that’s about it. Maybe I’ve been spoiled, but this is what I’m used to.” He sent us a screen grab of his current bank’s online presence, and it’s quite attractive (see bigger screenshot below). [More]
Everything Is Five Bucks, And Completely Random, On Fiverr
By March 24, 2010
Fiverr is a website where people post gigs they’re willing to do for five dollars. Does it work? I dunno, but it’s a lot of fun to read through the offers: someone will burn a small paper effigy of your enemy, or send you a sock puppet, or turn a photo into a cross-stitch pattern for you. My favorite is, “I will give you $10 if you find two people to give me $5 for $5.” [More]
Target And Target.com Are Not The Same Company, So Just Deal With It
By March 16, 2010
Reader Patricia is angry and somewhat baffled by Target’s insistence that Target and Target.com are not the same company and its not a Target store’s problem if the website is messed up and tells you to drive 25 miles to buy something that isn’t in stock. [More]
Charter Communications Rep Says Cable Companies Taking Over All Streaming Video On May 1st
By March 16, 2010
The Charter Communications CSR who spoke with Dustin has some pretty astounding news about what’s on the horizon for all of us. It looks like starting May 1st, cable companies will have total, FCC-sanctioned control over streaming video and will take down all competing services. [More]
Comcast's Sarcasm Detector Is Broken
By March 16, 2010
As this chat transcript shows, Comcast does not have the necessary bandwidth to detect sarcastic remarks. [More]
Track Free And Cheap Games For Your iPhone Or Touch
By March 15, 2010
There are several apps on the Apple app store that help consumers track sales and free offers from developers, but you have to launch them and check in regularly. The website App Spy offers an automated price tracker for games (just games, unfortunately) that will send you an email whenever a price threshhold is reached. If you tend to be an app junkie, it can help save you money by letting you get your fix on the cheap good stuff. [More]
Test Your Broadband Speeds For The FCC
By March 15, 2010
Last Thursday, the FCC started collecting information from consumers about the quality of their broadband service. If you’ve got a PC that can run Java, you can go to Broadband.gov and run the test now. (The FCC will collect your IP address and physical address, but not your name or email address, reports Wired.) If you’ve got an iPhone or Android smartphone, you can download an app to measure your connectivity and report it. [More]
Leaks: How Much It Sucks To Be A Comcast Customer Service Rep
By March 12, 2010
Come, come hither. Step into the flesh of a Comcast customer service rep. Doesn’t it feel nice? Yes, yes. This is what it’s like to work for Awesome Cable Inc. Now you know what they go through, and tricks and tactics for dealing with them. Come my pretty, and let the Comcast mole teach you the ways… [More]
