Dave at Chenosaurus was helping out his friend and discovered that all you have to do is disable JavaScript on your browser—the device's interface is accessible anywhere on the web by default—and you'll be able to access pretty much everything on the router. TWC knows about the problem, thanks to Dave's post, and they say they've pushed out a patch while they work on a long-term solution.

Here's what Dave discovered:

The web admin for the router [model number SMC8014WG-SI] simply uses [JavaScript] to hide certain menu options when the user does not have admin privileges. By simply disabling JavaScript in the browser, I was able to access all the features of the router. With that access, I am now able to change the wifi settings, port-forwarding, etc.

Jeff Simmermon, the Director of Digital Communications at Time Warner Cable, left a comment on Dave's blog addressing the situation:

From what I understand, our QA got a list of fixes for the identified issues on Friday, and are currently testing (if not finished with testing) and preparing to hand this off to our Ops team at this very moment.

Our customer's security is of the utmost importance to us, and we are constantly working to identify and repair holes and flaws as we discover them. This is not the sort of thing where we'll roll the fix out, go "okay, done, phew," and go back to our comfy armchairs. With more than 14,000,000 devices in the field, we've always got bugs to fix and holes to secure.

We contacted Jeff to find out where TWC stands on the current status of the SMC8014WG-SI. He wrote back:

The updates [that we have applied to the router] are done remotely, without the customer getting involved.

This security issue affects roughly 67,000 out of over 14,000,000 customers. To imply that all of our customers' data is at risk would be false. We deployed a patch remotely on Tuesday [October 20th] specifically to protect affected customers' data while we QA and roll out a long-term solution. Customers with the affected routers should not have to do anything to upgrade their hardware or worry about their data.

So TWC is on the issue and planning a "long-term solution."

But here's what's puzzling: SMC deliberately made a router that only uses WEP encryption, and that "protects" admin features by using JavaScript, and that stores passwords in plain text? Unless SMC is backed by some cybercrime-loving mafia, it makes no sense. I've never heard of SMC before, but from now on I'll always remember it as the router company that is banned from my house.

"Time Warner cable modem/router major security hole" [My California Adventures via mocoNews
(Photo elements: James Cridland, Mykl Roventine, mugley, and ThisParticularGreg)

My mother is moving to a new home on the lot next to ours. She's getting older and I'm much more up-to-date on the terminology I'm sure the cable agents would be throwing at her.

I was browsing the Time Warner Cable site looking at the packages available, decided on a package with phone service that would suit her, and attempted to sign up on-line. Unfortunately, when you do this Time Warner must consult a database and not finding the newly built house/address in the database claimed that they didn't service my area. Since our home is literally 500ft away and have their service just fine, I figured I'd call and someone would help me out.

When I called customer service the agent was happy to take the order for new service - at a higher price than the "web only specials" that I'm unable to sign up for. When I noted this, she said I would have to sign up via the web and she was not authorized to give me that pricing as those are "from a different contractor." I was annoyed. Knowing I wasn't going to get anywhere, I said to the agent (and the recording that I dearly hope was happening for someone to review), "I'm simply trying to get service started and it should not be this difficult. It is not my problem that Time Warner is using a different contractor for the web specials. I go to your web page, I see 'Time Warner'. I call your number and it answers 'Time Warner'. To me, you're all the same and you should be able to help."

Trying a different tact, I figured if I chatting with a live agent via the same website, I might have better luck. I started up the session, chatted with the agent noting the above. I get what amounts to links to the same web page for the specials that I can't sign up for in the first place and a "is there anything else I can help you with?"

At this point I'm ready to call Dish Network. DirectTV. Have my kids do finger-puppet shows for grandma. Anything.

I cooled down and decided to try one last time. I called the general customer service number and got what turned out to be a very nice rep. When she answered the first thing I said was, "Hello, I've been trying for about a hour to give Time Warner money and no one seems interested in taking it. Can you help me?"

I went through all of the drama I experienced above, told her what I wanted, and we got the install scheduled. By then, mom had canceled her existing service by using their phone tree and getting it done easily. Stop for a moment and giggle to yourself that it's easier to get service terminated with them than it is to start it in this case.

The problem I have with all of this is that I needed to find the right person to speak with. At no time in my call or web conversation was I directed to a phone number where someone could take my service request and "make it happen." Maybe I was even lucky to find a great person that was willing to help. I could have just as easily have taken my business elsewhere, but given my options I was going with a company that we already have service with and am generally happy with - past Consumerist posts aside.

I hope someone at Time Warner Cable reads this and empowers their reps to do a little more for a customer that is saying, "here is my money! Take it! Please!"

Customer service reps with no power are the reason for so many of the complaints here at Consumerist. At the same time, I wonder whether this is a common problem for newly constructed houses. Do all new homes miss out on the best Web deals? Or is it just Steve's mother?

As many readers guessed, the re-emergence of the account occurred because Jennifer no longer worked for Time Warner. Someone able to fix the situation contacted her through Consumerist, and yesterday she wrote:

Well, the nice man from AOL's "executive escalations" department cleared my account of all charges and said he'd do the same with Allied Collection Agency, so that's good. (This whole thing only wasted about 6 hours of my life). It was indeed because I left Time Warner. The dates didn't add up, which we couldn't solve for, but basically AOL doesn't inform anyone-company employee or not-that their account can change overnight from an unpaid to a paid account. Pretty reprehensible in my humble opinion. If a service is now free, it should be free, no matter what you signed up for nine years ago. I'm contacting Time Warner's benefits department to let them know they need to warn people!

Thanks again to you and your readers for helping me get to the bottom of all this.

Now all that's left to do is make sure that the collection agency actually listens to AOL. If you work for Time Warner and have a free AOL account, make sure it's put to rest when you leave the company.

Also, no matter where you work, make sure that any subscriptions and benefits you get through your employment are squared away before changing jobs.

PREVIOUSLY:
Zombie AOL Account Crawls Out Of The Grave Nine Years Later

(Photo: Maulleigh)

Comcast and Time Warner Cable are working to bring this to you, starting with Turner Broadcasting programs. BusinesWeek has the details:

Here's how the trial will work: Starting in July, 5,000 Comcast subscribers will be able to see shows online from Turner Broadcasting's TNT and TBS channels, like The Closer and Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns. But first, they each will have to demonstrate that they're a Comcast cable-TV subscriber through a screening called authentication. That most likely will entail a user name and password. Comcast will offer the shows on Comcast.net and Fancast.com, and Turner on TNT.tv and TBS.com.

Cable companies hope to stop users from giving up cable entirely through evil plans such as cable subscriber authentication and charging for sites like Hulu. Will media companies succeed in breaking younger consumers' belief that content should be free?

Time Warner, Comcast Plan to Wall Off Online TV [BusinessWeek]

(Photo: LAYeiser)

@jeffTWC: Please RT: working on customer loyalty programs and would love your ideas/input - raffling an iTouch on Thurs to constructive suggestions

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I have a whole handful, where do I send them?

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want to choose and pay for the channels I want. (I know this is not a TWC decision but TWC has the clout to push it)

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want the CS reps to listen when I tell them I have already rebooted my computer and its not on my end. #customerloyalty

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want a bill that I can understand that doesn't have cryptic misc. charges. I want to know what the charges are #customerloyalty

jchristenbury @jeffTWC I want Higher internet speeds. the US has the lowest speeds of all.

jeffTWC @jchristenbury Thanks for your tips here — but we're not really addressing industry problems with this, just creating a marketing tool

jchristenbury @jeffTWC These ARE things that will increase customer loyalty.

jchristenbury @jeffTWC Gimmicks only get you so far. Take care of your customers.

JeffTWC gets a gold star for telling an inconvenient truth about what his job really is. Too bad we have to take it away for his initial claim that he was actually looking for "constructive suggestions."

Another Reason Why Time Warner Doesn't Get It [jchristenbury's posterous]
JeffTWC on Twitter

So after much debate, I decided to downgrade my Time Warner cable service to internet only and purchase Apple TV. Turns out, you actually get all kinds of channels free (even some in HD) if you just subscribe to internet. I don't have DVR, but I'll live without. After all, my monthly bill will be going from $145 to $45. not too shabby.

I called to cancel last week, but the CSR told me it wouldn't be effective until I turned the box in. I did so this morning and when I got my receipt, I did notice that the current balance was listed as -$558.85, but I just figured it would fix itself. I logged into the Time Warner payment site and noticed that in the Recent Activity section that there were tons of charges and credits, but in the end, it told me that the amount applied to next bill would be $1271.25. Hmmmm.

So I called, of course, to figure this out. I got a nice guy on the phone that was completely stumped. I was put on hold a couple of times, then finally he comes back and says, "Well, we can't fix it, it's an error on our part. Enjoy." He said they have no idea what happened, but that it was their fault. I told him to please make a note on my account that I question this. After all, I don't want to use the credit, then them fix it and suddenly I owe 6 months of service. I'm going to call back tomorrow, but this seems for real.

Ever hear of this??

The credit is a tease. Don't even think of spending it. One Time Warner customer service representative might be willing to part with money that isn't his, but the company is going to want it back. If you use their services, set aside the full amount so you aren't surprised when they come asking for payment.

Austin StoptheCap! reader Ryan Howard kicks off our premiere edition with a report that his Road Runner service was cut off yesterday without warning. According to Ryan, it took four calls to technical support, two visits to the cable store to try two new cable modems (all to no avail), before someone at Time Warner finally told him to call the company's "Security and Abuse" center.

"I called the number and had to leave a voice mail and about an hour later a Time Warner technician called me back and lectured me for using 44 gigabytes in one week," Howard wrote.

Howard was then "educated" about his usage.

"According to her, that is more than most people use in a year," Howard said.

Thanks for the warning, guys.

HissyFitWatch: Cutting Off Customers Who Use "Too Much" in Austin [Stop the Cap] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

(Photo: dragonflyeye)

Massa says:

"Just at a time when access to information is driving our economic recovery, Time Warner is moving to stagnate the 21st Century technology needed to rebuild America."

"Internet access is as essential to our economy as water is to our survival," said Congressman Eric Massa. "With limited choices in broadband providers, and virtual monopolies in many market areas, I view this as nothing more than a large corporation making a move to force customers into paying more money. I firmly oppose capping internet usage and I will be taking a leadership role in stopping this outrageous, job killing initiative."

The Rochester Democrat And Chronicle says that Massa is drafting legislation that would prevent Time Warner and other ISPs from charging by the gigabyte.

Internet users upset by Time Warner's usage-based pricing plan [Democrat & Chronicle]
Congressman Eric Massa calls on Time Warner to eliminate Broadband Internet Cap [Eric Massa] (Thanks, Kevin!)

"Time Warner Cable Expands Metered Billing" [DSLReports] (Thanks to pezhore!)
(Photo: Willrad)

RELATED: Reach TWC Office of the President Executive Care Team (Photo: tehusagent)

My TimeWarner cable installer did not show up at the appointed time, and when I called them, they said the installer had logged a call to me and said I did not respond. My cell phone has perfect reception and shows no call in my log. When I talked to someone else, they said the exact same thing happened to them. In both cases, the installer logged the call at the very end of the window. I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist, but is this maybe some clever ploy to keep up their ontime installation statistics somehow? The ensuing wasted day where TimeWarner kept promising to call back, failed to do so, and then refused to make any concessions for their screwup didn't help anything either.

We're working on a theory that in another universe, people are getting calls from Time Warner every day. Those people probably complain about having too much cable installed.

Update: Check out this explanation from a former Time Warner employee, and the follow up comment by chris_d. If this is happening to you, you might want to double and triple-check that TW has your correct phone number.

(Photo: Pink Sherbet Photography)

Be sure to read our Ultimate Consumerist Guide to Fighting Back, a go-to handbook for the dissatisfied consumer. Once you've decided to go the executive customer service right, be sure you read this first so you know what to say when you call the corporate avatar of your choice.

The Consumerist Executive Customer Service Index

ACS
Adelphia
Air Tran
Alamo
Alaska Airlines
Allegiant
Aloha
Amazon
America West
American Airlines
American Express
Amtrak
Apple
ATA
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
Bank of America
Barnes and Noble
Bell Canada
Best Buy
Blizzard
Blockbuster
Blogger
Bloomingdales
Blue Cross/Blue Shield
British Airways
Borders
Busey Bank
Buy.com
Cablevision
Charter Communications
Chase
Circuit City
Citibank
Comcast
Continental
cox
Delta
Direc-TV
Discover Card
Dish
Disney
Ebay
Enterprise
Equifax
Experian
Fedex
Frontier Airlines
Fry's
Gamefly
Geek Squad
Georgia Power
Helio
Home Depot
Humana
HSBC
IKEA
ING Direct
Insight
Keybank
Lenovo
Loew's
Macy's
Microsoft (and Xbox)
Midwest Airlines
Motorola
National City
Nicors
Northwest Airlines
Norton
Office Depot
Office Max
Orbitz
Paypal
Pitney Bowes
Qwest
RCN
Regions Bank
Register.com
Ryan Air
Samsung
Seagate
Sears
Sirius
Skybus
Sony Ericcson
Spirit Airlines
Sprint
Sports Authority
Staples
Symantec
T-mobile
Target
Time Warner Cable
TransUnion
Uhaul
United Airlines
United Health Care
UNUM Life Insurance
UPS
US Airways
US Cellular
Verizon landline/DSL/Fios
Verizon Wireless
Vonage
Wachovia
Walmart
Washington Mutual
Wells Fargo

In the event you can't find the info you are looking for here, you can scan our backlog of contact info, or use Google to uncover the addresses yourself. In the event you find something we don't have, feel free to share at tips@consumerist.com.

Researched by Alex Jarvis
Last updated: 11/07/2008

We thought one of the perks of being famous was getting good/free service, but DirecTV and Time Warner don't care who you are—you must be punished. That's why this morning on "The View" (or "I Don't Hang OUt With My Mom And Her Friends For Just This Reason"), Whoopi Goldberg complained that she can't get anyone from DirecTV to come repair her broken service. Sherri Shephard chimed in and said she can't get Time Warner to show up to install her TV, cable, or phone.

We're locating the video now, but in the meantime here's a recap from a member of the DBSTalk.com forums:

Whoopi said she's been waiting 3 weeks for them to come out, and they kept telling her that they went out there to some red building and she had to tell them each time she doesn't even live in a red building. So who knows if anyone will ever get to her home since all the repair people seem to think she lives in a red building...

Then Sherri said she's been waiting 2 weeks to get her Phone, Internet, and TV connected by Time Warner, that they didn't show up the day they scheduled her for; and then when she called they told her it had been rescheduled but they didn't know by who. So Sherri has no home phone, internet, or TV...

"As I type this: Whoopi is going off on Directv" [DBSTalk.com] (Thanks to Don!)

Rather than waste another 45 minutes languishing in line, Matt used our contact information to launch everybody's favorite armament, the Executive Email Carpet Bomb:

Dear Mr. Jeff Simmermon and Ms. Terry Cronin,

The good people at the Consumerist recommended I email you with my problem, which has dissolved into a Kafka-esque farce.

The thumbnail sketch of my situation is this... In mid-June, my roommate Alexis moved to Seattle and out of the apartment we shared. I stayed in said apartment and wanted to continue TW's service. Before she moved out, we'd gone into a TW Cable office, filled out the transfer forms, had them copy our IDs and thought everything would just be transferred—after all, we were only changing the name on the account, not any of the services—and they assured us it would be.

Toward the end of June or thereabouts, I received a letter saying that somehow they had not received a copy of my driver's license, though I'd seen the woman who took our applications make one. Odd, I thought, but I dutifully made a copy of my license, filled out the form, and sent it in. I call to confirm that this is all I need to do. I'm assured it is.

In late July, I realized that the account was still in my roommate's name when she got a new bill, so I went in to my local office (in Santa Monica) for the second time. I was told to go to the Culver City office as that's 'where the paperwork is...'. Uh, okay....so I drive over, wait in line for about 45 minutes, fill out all the paperwork again, they make TWO copies of my license. I confirm—enough times that they started to get annoyed—that this was all that needed to be done and the names would be changed automatically within two weeks.

Guess what I found out today? That's right, the change has not been made.

I call TW Cable from work. I'm told to go into an office. I explain I've done that already. I ask for a supervisor. I wait for 40 minutes due to high call volume until my office closes and I have to go home and try again. Then I decide to give emailing you two a try.

Please, all I want to do is change the name on the bills. No service changes to my phone, cable or internet. No address change, either. Literally everything should be the same except the name on the bill.

Please, is there anything you can do? I've been happy with my service overall—which I've had since TW took over our account from Comcast—but this experience has wasted so much of my time (two Saturdays, several hours on weeknights, plus an hour at work today) that I'm exploring other options.

Thank you and regards,
Matt

Terry Cronin later responded:

I do apologize for all the confusion! I certainly will have this looked into right away. You should receive a call sometime today.

Read our handy guide and you too can learn how to fire the problem-solving Executive Email Carpet Bomb.

(Photo: Getty)

Nancy writes:

Time Warner is charging me for movie purchases which I have not ordered. My current bill is 1400.30. The overwhelming majority of these movies are pornographic. My bill informs me that among many others, 17 were ordered on May 8 and 14 were ordered on May 10. Time Warner says it is impossible (their word) that these movies were NOT ordered from inside my house using my remote control and my cable box. I am a 60-year old English teacher. I have never seen a porn movie in my life. I LIVE ALONE. No one else has access to my house when I am a work. My husband who works out of another state is helping me in an effort to rectify this mess.

So far, we have been through the telephone drill (on hold, rude customer service clerks), a 90-minute visit to my local cable company where I was told that "maybe your dog ordered them," a phone call to the Time Warner CEO's office in Connecticut (national, not district) where I talked with a Customer Relations rep, a call from a Customer Care rep at district level, etc. None of this has helped. I was told at every level that the only way known to man that these movies could have been ordered is from inside my house using my equipment. I am 100% certain that they haven't been ordered from my house.

It looks like I'm going to have to swear to that under oath in court because my husband and I have agreed that we will not pay for these movies (52 movies since 4/21, most of them costing $11.99 —- I didn't even know there were on demand movies that cost $11.99). Though I have been researching this problem for hours and hours and have seen comments from others being charged for movies they say they didn't order, I have not seen anyone with a problem with Time Warner of this magnitude. Can you think of any possible way this could have happened?

17 porn flicks in one day? We're young. We're ambitious. But that's too much—by far—even for us.

Nancy's situation calls for a dose of common sense, which means executive customer support. Call Jeff Simmermon, Time Warner's Digital Communications Director, at (203) 351-2221, and see if he can't help wipe off those misfired charges.

(Photo: Getty)

"We've seen a fall in customer service as we've gone into a recession," says a customer service consultant in the article. "As the cost cutting occurs . . . they start to cut the wrong things." But that implies that AOL had good customer service before the recession, doesn't it? Wait, what?

All but one of the top 10 companies are either in communications or finance, with the one weird exception of Abercrombie & Fitch (4th place, 38%).

"Most of these companies actually aren't thriving," said Michael Shames, the executive director of the Utility Consumers' Action Network, a California nonprofit that monitors business practices. People don't look at companies with poor customer-service scores and say, "Here's where I should invest," he said.

"The Customer Service Hall of Shame" [MSN Money]

It's alleged that while Jackson worked at Time Warner, she received a payment on a customer's account through a credit card and kept the victim's credit card numbers. This allegedly happened at a call center located in Blue Ash, according to a Time Warner representative.

In the following weeks, Jackson allegedly ordered items over the internet and over the phone using the numbers.

Investigators said Jackson had the items sent to her home, but it is not yet clear whether that led to her arrest.

Wait, she used the stolen info to shop and mail things to her own address? We're going to allege that Jackson was an idiot.

"Former Time Warner Cable Employee Arrested For ID Theft" [WCPO News]

The major provisions of the "Cable Consumer Bill of Rights" are:

• 1. Customer Service Transparency
• Cable companies will be required to collect and report detailed information about consumer complaints, and to follow-up with complaining consumers within 30 days to ensure their problems have been resolved
• Companies must also collect and report detailed information about service outages by borough and community district, and submit a quarterly Plan of Correction for communities that are routinely subject to service outages
• Companies must also improve meaningful consumer disclosure; including providing consumers with a full and accurate list of all service tiers, sub-tiers and channel offerings for their franchise area
• Cable operators must provide convenient service centers that are easily accessible by mass transit. We recommend one service center for every 500,000 customers served
• Ensures privacy protection for the customer which prohibits the cable providers from sharing data on customer's internet usage and television viewing habits
• 
  2. Cable Rate Transparency
• Cable companies must provide needed transparency about their cable rates so that consumers know what percentage of each bill is allocated to:
• Cost of content, capital expenditures, system maintenance, administrative expenses and profit
• Independent programmers affiliated / non-affiliated with cable or broadcasting companies
• 
  3. Independent Arbitration
• Create an independent arbitration system to help cable companies and independent programmers efficiently resolve disputes over access, rather than denying consumer access to popular programming. (This mechanism would avoid the type of blackouts that consumers have experienced such as when Yankees and Mets programming were not available to many cable subscribers for lengthy periods of time
• 
  4. Annual Cable Consumer Report Card
• Cable companies must publish and distribute an annual Cable Consumer Report Card so that consumers can easily:
• identify their cable company's performance over the previous year,
• access cost and service information,
• view improvements that have been made and service outages that have occurred, and
• view complaint ratios by community board
• The availability of a report card as well as where to obtain the information (web site, phone number) must be included in all promotional materials issued by the providers
• This annual report must also disclose the existence of exclusive contracts that cable companies make with Multiple Dwelling Units (MDUs), which prohibit residents from choosing among cable providers

Information in New York City's monopolistic marketplace leads to anger and frustration, but not action. Say a consumer finds out that their monthly cable bill is $145 plus 3 squids because their building signed an exclusive contract with Time Warner, who allocates 99% of those funds (including the squids) to shareholders, and not infrastructure improvements. What's the consumer supposed to do? Cancel their service and go with.... right, nobody.

The franchise renewal represents the city's best shot at forcing cable operators to meet strict customer service goals. New York can look to Montgomery County's franchise agreement with Comcast for inspiration. Under that agreement, Comcast agreed to:

• Answer the phone within 30 seconds and transfer the customer to a live human in an additional 30 seconds.
• Fix service interruptions within 24 hours if no work is needed inside the home, and 3 days if access to the home is required.
• Provide a 10% per day credit if the technician is unable to repair the connection during a scheduled service appointment.

The franchise can't be signed without the approval of the Franchise Concession and Review Committee. The Mayor, Comptroller, and Borough Presidents should stand up for New Yorkers and write a real Cable Consumer Bill of Rights, one that will provide the level of customer service all New Yorkers deserve.

And then use that agreement to extract even stricter standards from Verizon.

Comptroller Thompson Unveils "Cable Consumer Bill Of Rights (Press Release) [NYC Comptroller]
(Photo: Dr. Hemmert)

On Tuesday, April 15, 2008 a Time Warner representative came to our home to install the digital telephone modem which would also provide our internet service.
 
My husband observed an insect walking on the modem box and asked what it was and the employee seemed dazed and confused.

After the installer left, my husband and I saw cockroach after cockroach emerge from the modem. We killed them as quickly as we could. We have never seen roaches in our house before. Our house is free-standing and many yards away from neighbor homes.
 
I called Time Warner insisting that they come to remove the modem. The woman I spoke with insisted that I had to be wrong and that it was impossible for cockroaches to be in the modem. She refused my request that Time Warner come on the following day to remove and replace the offending modem, which housed a swarm of roaches.
 
We wrapped the modem up in plastic and duct tape.
 
On Saturday, April 19, 2008 when the representative came to replace the modem, we had arranged for a witness to be with us. We took the modem to the front porch, removed the plastic bag, and a number of cockroach bodies fell out. The Time Warner worker agreed that modems sometimes came from other people's homes and were reused. He suggested that the modem may have first been used in a contaminated home or that it was possible that the first installer may have had cockroaches in his truck.
 
In the meantime, cockroaches of all sizes and ages are in our study. We try to kill them as we can. We would not have had this infestation were it not for the Time Warner modem.
 
Yours sincerely, Natalie Columbus, OH

In the Charleston SC area we are fortunate to have local a internet / phone / cable provider called Knology that has made customer service an art form.

Over the last few weeks I have been reconfiguring my home network and have contacted their customer support several times to change my settings, each time I was greeted by a competent employee who handled my request with ease. I finally settled on using an Apple AirPort Extreme and placed one final call to set it all up.

Now, because I am a lifelong Mac user I expected to hear "What is a Mac?" or "We don't support Apple products." Instead the customer service rep said it wasn't a problem and even shared some geeked out fact about the router that I didn't know. He made the changes needed to the account, I didn't even have to touch my keyboard or mouse. At the end of the call he offered to have a technician follow up with a call in an hour to make sure it was working. One hour later the technician called while I was happily surfing the web over my new wireless connection.

An amusing postscript to this story. Right after I had finished setting up the connection, an AT&T salesman comes to my door and I was able to give him an ear full of what I thought of his illegal wiretapping company. It was like icing on the cake. : )

In New York, customers tired of Time Warner, Verizon, and Cablevision can look to independent DSL providers like Bway.net. Frustrated residents of other cities can use DSLReports.com to track down their own local alternatives.

Local (Mom & Pop) ISPs [Broadband Reports]
(Photo: dailyinvention)

I moved this past month to a new apartment in the same building — when I was setting up the account transfer, the representative uncovered that I had been misbilled for nearly 2 years for service on a 3rd, non-existent, television. It wasn't clear due to the billing information, and I was instantly promised a credit for $170.20 that was calculated by the rep and his supervisor. As a loyal consumerist reader, I got all their extensions and representantive ID's — just in case. After the move, I received a bill and there was no credit. I called, and was informed my credit was denied due to a 'disclaimer' that would allow them to only go back for 3 months with a credit. They didn't care what I had been promised, nor did they care what another rep and their supervisor had noted on my account.

My countless calls every few days kept me in a runaround, as I was told this was being researched on "microfiche" (Hello 80's???).

I had enough of the runaround... I searched on your website, and found a number for Barry Rosenblum's office, he is the president of TWCNYC. After a quick conversation with the friendly woman, I was transferred to Ed Urbanowski, who pulled up my account and saw the entire history of my runaround... within 3 minutes, my call was done after Ed happily resolved all the pending issues. My credits were put through immediately by him, and he provided me with his direct number should I have any difficulties interpreting the next statement that arrives.

While I'm thrilled that Ed was able to resolve my issue so expeditiously, I hope that they look further to uncover other issues which prevented me from resolving this through the normal channels.

Kudos to Consumerist, Barry's office, and Ed... and shame on TWC Billing.

(Photo: USAgent)

Overall rating / Company / Rating for Internet / TV / Phone
250 Verizon FiOS 84, 84, 82
222 Bright House 75, 69, 78
222 Cox 74, 69, 79
221 Verizon/DirecTV 73, 74, 74
221 Qwest/DirecTV 72, 74, 75
221 AT&T/Dish Network 72, 70, 74
214 Cablevision 72, 65, 77
208 Time Warner 71, 63, 74
199 Comcast 66 ,62, 71
188 Charter 61, 59, 68

Despite occasionally setting a house on fire, Verizon FiOS is clearly tops, while Comcast and Charter are scraping the bottom.

Internet, TV, phone [Consumer Reports]

From their press release:

"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."

"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."

Format wars suck. That's all we really have to say about it.

Warner Bros. Entertainment to Release its High-Definition DVD Titles Exclusively in the Blu-Ray Disc Format Beginning Later This Year [Time Warner]
(Photo:someToast)

From Sports Illustrated:

"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after the league announced it was reversing course. "What we have seen for the past year is a very strong consumer demand for NFL Network. We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever."

NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said officials would have no further comment Wednesday.

This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of an NFL game since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC televised the meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.

"We're happy to accommodate the NFL's request for a joint national simulcast of this potentially historic game to make it available to the widest possible audience," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal's chairman for sports and Olympics.

Giants-Pats available nationwide [SI] (Thanks, Justin!)
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

The NFL's binding arbitration deal would have retroactively charged TWC for the game after the arbitration process was finished.

Time Warner Cable's CEO Greg Britt wrote to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell:

"As I'm sure you are aware, over the years we've been able to successfully reach agreements with hundreds of programming networks without the use of arbitration," he wrote. "We continue to believe that the best way to achieve results is to privately seek a resolution and not attempt to negotiate through the press or elected officials."

Meanwhile, a number of states, including Wisconsin, are trying to force the cable companies into arbitration against their will. From USAToday:

A vice president of the Green Bay Packers told the state Senate committee in Wisconsin that the channel's exclusion from some major cable networks could spell the beginning of the end of the sport's popularity.

"Sports die off when they are not broadly accessible to the fans," Jason Wied said. "This is the start of that problem."

Wied, along with the president of the NFL Network, spoke in support of a bipartisan bill that could require an arbitrator to resolve disputes between the network and cable companies.
...
The director of the Wisconsin Cable Communications Association, which represents Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, MediaCom and 25 other smaller providers, said the state should not interfere with negotiations in a free market and doing so may be unconstitutional.

We love the NFL (obviously), but the fact remains that most people don't want their cable rates raised year round to accommodate a small number of sports fans who enjoy watching out-of-market football— and the cable companies know it.

NFL offers arbitration to cable for NFL Network [USAToday]
(Photo:Paul Keleher)

I don't see this mentioned very often but if you need help with a local cable company or telecom company you should see if your county/city has a franchise authority. My county has a very active authority and in the two times I have used them I have gotten resolution quickly for issues I had previously spent months on. In talking to my local authority they try to avoid being involved in petty billing disputes or when people haven't yet tried to resolve the issue directly but they want to be involved if you fail to get a response after a good faith effort to resolve the issue.

Situation 1:
A technician left a cable across the road and failed to tack it down. So the cable coiled up in the middle of the road and sidewalk, over the next 3 months numerous children riding bikes or just running down the sidewalk would trip and fall. Every week I would call and report this cable but nothing was ever done, well 4 days before Halloween I got desperate and tried the franchise authority (Imagine kids in costumes walking down the street close to dusk and a black cable along the ground). One hour after my email someone from the authority called me back to say that a Cable company rep would be calling me that day. They did and a tech was sent one hour later and the cable was removed!

Situation 2:
I started having problems with my cable service and repeated calls over a month would result in a tech visit who would say that the problem is upstream. During one of the tech visits I was told that some large repairs were needed at the head-end and until they were done the whole back half of my neighborhood would continue having this problem. So I sent another note to my franchise authority. Three hours later the local office manager called and said that someone would look into it first thing in the morning. The next day I was told they had confirmed the problem and it would be fixed in 3 days. Sure enough, 3 days later my cable TV was perfect!

In both cases the people who responded were helpful, followed up and kept me appraised of the status of my issue. I think it helped that in both cases I was offered service credits and discounts, which I declined to avoid any pretense that my issue was about money. I have found that this helps the escalation reps understand that the call is about the issue at hand and not someone looking for a hand-out. I was also very polite, told them how much I appreciated their help and never bashed them or their company, I would just explain my issue and my hope for a resolution. My cable provider is Charter but this should work with any provider assuming you have a strong franchise authority.

In Los Angeles, franchises are overseen by the Chief Administrative Office, who setup a hotline for consumer gripes at: (213) 922-8350.

For all other localities, try calling your local executive—Mayor, Town Supervisor, Chief Cow Herder—and ask about the local franchise authority.

Cable & Open Video System Complaint Form [DoITT]

This suit follows a cease and desist letter sent by Comcast warning the NFL to stop trying to coerce the company into placing the channel on a different package. A previous lawsuit decided that Comcast had the right to offer the channel on whatever package it wanted, including a premium "sports tier."

From Broadcasting & Cable:

In the suit, which was filed Thursday, according to a copy supplied to B&C, Comcast said the NFL had breached its agreements "through what has been described as a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign to drive Comcast's customers to its competitors and, thereby, to wrongfully coerce Comcast into abandoning its bargained-for tiering right."

In May 2007, the New York State Supreme Court upheld Comcast's right to carry the channel on a sports tier after a dispute between the two parties over whether Comcast's right to tier the network had been triggered. The operator had initially carried the network on a more highly viewed tier per its contract.

"We haven't seen the lawsuit so we can't address specifics," NFL spokesman Seth Palansky said, "but they seem nervous. An educated consumer is a good customer."

Meanwhile, Senator John Kerry of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts thinks the upcoming Patriots-Giants game is a matter of national interest and has sent a letter to the NFL, Comcast, and Time Warner offering to help them negotiate a truce that will allow more viewers to see Tom Brady's enormous forehead go undefeated. The Patriots-Giants game is the final regular season game for the Pats, and it seems more than likely that Brady and the boys will join the '72 Miami Dolphins as the second team to finish a season without a loss, and the first to go 16-0.

Sen. Kerry has a history of personally interceding when his sports viewing is in jeopardy; he pulled a similar stunt earlier this year, when he encouraged the FCC to get involved in DirecTV's deal to become the exclusive provider of MLB's Extra Innings package. So far the Senator has shown little interest in the heinous NFL Sunday Ticket Monopoly, so his sudden obsession with a single Patriots game is sort of... lame.

Also, to be perfectly frank, we find the current Dolphins' potential "perfect season" much more interesting (and hilarious), and Tom Brady's hair makes him look like a Lego.

Comcast Sues NFL Alleging Breach of Contract [B&C]
Kerry Wants to Huddle with NFL, Cable Operators [B&C]
(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Klausner is estimating damages and future royalties from AT&T and Apple at $360 million. From the press release:

Klausner Technologies was founded by Judah Klausner, the inventor of the PDA and electronic organizer. Apple's original groundbreaking PDA, the Newton, was, in fact, covered under an OEM patent license granted by Judah Klausner over twenty years ago under his landmark US Patent 4,117,542.

The iPhone violates Klausner's intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone's inbox display. Apple has called iPhone's Visual Voicemail "one of the greatest advances in the history of mankind ... without question."

Apple Inc. Sued for Patent Infringement on iPhone by Klausner Technologies, Inc. (Press Release) [Yahoo!]

The commission is preparing to take steps to make it less expensive for rivals of the largest cable conglomerates to buy their programs — so that, for instance, a satellite company would find it less expensive to purchase programs by the Turner Broadcasting System, a unit of Time Warner.

One of the proposals under consideration by the commission would force the programming of the largest cable networks to be offered to the rivals of the big cable companies on an individual, rather than packaged, basis. That proposal, known as "wholesale à la carte," is vigorously opposed by the large cable companies.

The agency is also preparing to adopt a rule this month that would make it easier for independent programmers, which are often small operations, to lease access to cable channels.

And Mr. Martin has been circulating a plan that would use the finding on cable television dominance to set a cap on the size of the nation's largest cable companies so that no company could control more than 30 percent of the market.

The Chairman is assuming the broad new regulatory powers under what is known as the 70/70 rule. Once the FCC finds that cable is available to 70% of American households, and that 70% of those households subscribe, the FCC is empowered by the Cable Communications Act of 1984 to promote "diversity of information sources." Expect the cable industry to poach Verizon's dragon-riding lawyers to argue that the requirements of the 70/70 rule have not yet been met.

F.C.C. Planning Rules to Open Cable Market [NYT]
(Photo: Jiri Kopsa)

TWC, Comcast and other cable companies have refused to carry the channel on basic cable because they say it costs too much and they don't want to raise rates for all of their subscribers to pay for a channel that only a few people want.

Comcast briefly carried the channel on its basic cable package, but sued to have it moved to a more "a la carte" sports tier and won. Neither they, nor Time Warner cable, seem too concerned about a backlash.

"We don't think any of our customers will disconnect just because Jerry Jones tells them to do so." said Time Warner spokesperson Maureen Huff.

Until Sunday Ticket isn't DirecTV only, the NFL, including Jerry Jones, should really just shut the hell up.

NFL Network Seeking More Regular-Season Games [Portfolio]
(Photo:Traveling Fools Of America)

But you can only get it on DirecTV. So it sucks. And it makes the NFL into a bunch of hypocrites when they whine that Comcast and Time Warner are relegating its "NFL Network" to a sports tier. And they whine an awful lot.

From ESPN:

The doublespeak here is rich. The NFL restricts its magnificent Sunday Ticket product, which enables viewers to choose for themselves which game to watch, to the lucky few who get the satellite service DirecTV. Millions of homes cannot receive DirecTV for technical reasons or can pull in the signal only after expensive special installations. Frank Hawkins, the NFL's chief negotiator for television contracts, told me that when he lived in Virginia, his home could not receive DirecTV until he had a tall metal pole installed in his backyard. Yet although the NFL won't let anyone in the U.S. except DirecTV subscribers watch Sunday Ticket, the league is furious that Time-Warner and Cablevision won't buy the NFL Network and Comcast will buy the NFL Network for its premium sports tier only. The NFL wants NFLN on every basic cable system, which was the path to success for ESPN and CNN. A war of words has broken out, in which the NFL is denouncing the cable carriers in consumer-rights language while asking that Congress intervene to force the NFL Network onto basic cable. The cable carriers are firing back, accusing the NFL of all manner of perfidy. Meanwhile, 35 million households already get the NFL Network, while only 1.6 million get Sunday Ticket — and the consumer's barriers to Sunday Ticket are much higher than the barriers to the NFL Network.

It's time to open up NFL Sunday Ticket to everyone [ESPN]

Christos called Time Warner to complain. Time Warner understood that Christos didn't want holes in his wall and floor, or borrowed cable. To apologize, they offered a $30 credit and "a few movie coupons." Christos writes:

I initially contacted Time Warner to acquire all three services they offer; Cable T.V., Internet and Telephone.

On August 18th 2007 I called Time Warner for new services. When the technician arrived to my apartment he told us that we need to be referred to a "post wire". So we agreed and he made a phone call to set this up. Our next visit was about a week later from another technician and he also told us we need a "post wire". I initially thought this was the purpose of his visit. So this technician made ANOTHER call to refer us to another "post wire". The third visit, needless to say another week later... "post wire" again! It took three visits for us to finally get someone to come over and install a "post wire" construction.

The third technician arrived at 12pm on September 28th (wearing a Time Warner shirt) and couldn't find the main line coming to my apartment so suggested it might be hiding between closet walls which he went on and made two huge holes in my wall with a hammer, creating damages to my apartment. He didn't find the cable, so he drilled through the floor of my apartment and through the neighbor's ceiling right beneath me. His solution? To split the line of the neighbor and share the cable; Without understanding what happened when I plugged my TV to the cable I had picture(without the box even being present) all tiled and pixilated...and moments later my channels were changing on their own! I have come to realize that Time Warner directly or not violated someone else cable line and provided me with it...I am not sure if this is "pirating" or not but I believe it is.

I have followed through for a damage claim; that is to get my walls repaired after the installers made huge holes in my walls, splitting the line and offering me my neighbor's cable line. That is unethical and against company policies.(your own technicians gave me "pirated" cable tv- that is illegal to my understanding.)

The damage claim is going to take care of the damages occurred to my apartment made by their own technicians so I don't perceive this as "credit to me".
I was offered credit of $30 and movie coupons by a supervisor named Chris with Operator ID # C87. I find this very offensive as i take it i and my time is valued at only $30 and a few coupons .

From time to time companies need to realize that US customers make paydays happen and keep the foundation alive.

I have resulted emailing Time Warner numerous of times because i find $30 inadequate to compensate my troubles and frustration of over a month trying to get services and neighbors knocking on my door accusing me of "stealing" their cable and their picture is coming up all tiled and pixilated...

The last email I received suggested I contact customer service over the phone, and so I did to get offended and spoken to very condescending and unprofessional. I read all the success stories you guys accomplish, so i am asking for any help, i am in the Los Angeles region.

(Photo: *USB*)

Hello,

My name is Clayton. I recently bought a new condo and was excited to finally subscribe to TW cable and internet after I spoke to your customer service representative last Monday, 9/24.

Before I ordered cable and internet I asked the representative if they would be able to install my service this coming weekend. I was told that the usual wait was only 3 days, so it will be no problem. Keeping this in mind I ordered a package.

When everything was finished and it came time to schedule the installation, I was told that she was mistaken, and the earliest date they could install would be the following Monday, October 1st. Needless to say, this didn't make me very happy, and the representative offered to submit a request to be given an installation slot this weekend should there be a cancellation or new spaces opened up. I was told I would receive a phone call the following day to find out if this is possible.

When I didn't get the call, I called back this morning. The representative I spoke to, who refused to give me their name, informed me that I had been scheduled an installation date of November 3rd, a full month later! She told me that this is the usual wait for installation, I could not be given an earlier date, and there was nothing she could do. She refused to let me speak to anyone else regarding the matter, and even invited me to cancel my installation and order service from an alternative provider should the installation date not suit my needs.

Needless to say, I am surprised and disappointed by the way I feel I was tricked into ordering service. I have not cancelled my installation yet, but I did contact Dish Network, who assured me they could install service this weekend.

I would like to give TW cable the chance to earn my business. I am asking that I be scheduled for an installation date for this weekend, or in the event that is impossible, the following weekend, October 6th or 7th.

Thank you for your time,

Clayton

There are red flags to be found in each telecom provider's privacy policy. A close reading of Time Warner's policy reveals:

Along with knowing juicy details of your calling and viewing habits — those 900 numbers, say, or that subscription to the Playboy Channel — the company keeps track of "Internet addresses you contact and the duration of your visits to such addresses."

Time Warner not only compiles "information about how often and how long" you're online, but also "purchases that you have made" via the company's Road Runner portal, which provides access to thousands of goods.

On top of that, the company may monitor "information you publish" via the Road Runner portal, which should send a chill through anyone who accesses his or her e-mail through Time Warner's servers.

That's not to say Time Warner or any other service provider is reading people's e-mail or invading users' privacy in any other way. The point is, they're explicitly saying they could.

The unchecked accumulation of consumer data represents a monumental threat to consumers. Data is collected to be used. Precision marketing is a relatively innocuous manifestation of data mining when compared to the nightmare scenarios envisioned by civil libertarians.

Most troubling is that these revelations hid in broad daylight. The contracts signed by consumers are not secret, and yet nobody noticed that something was amiss until a reporter from the L.A. Times sat down and read the contract.

Your loss of privacy is a package deal [L.A. Times]
(Photo: ann-dabney)

Police said the banging at the door lasted at least 15 minutes, and the man at the door was Hernandez.

"He started to yell at her, and was belligerent, demanding why was it that she didn't open the door sooner," Gutierrez said.

The warrant said Hernandez was there to fix a problem outside, but the woman said he forced his way in, saying he needed to look at equipment upstairs.

Police said the woman later went to see if Hernandez was done and sat down on the edge of her bed as he worked at a desk. The warrant said Hernandez turned around, started to strangle her, and put a cable tool to her neck as he tried to remove her pants. The woman said Hernandez also hit her with a cell phone.

Investigators said the woman broke free and ran downstairs, but Hernandez caught up with her, threw her on a couch, and tried to force himself on her.

Police said the woman pushed him away and he left. The woman said Hernandez threatened to return. The woman then called police at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

The police, with the help of Time Warner, tracked down and arrested Hernandez for attempted sexual assault. He has been fired, and faces up to ten years behind bars.

Repairman charged with attempted sexual assault [KENS 5]
(Photo: the_kid_cl)