Hannah needs some more training, because her knowledge of Comcast’s bandwidth cap is less than Comcastic. We also think calling her an “analyst” is maybe stretching it a bit.
internet
Time Warner Cable Caps Metered Broadband Overage Fees At $75
By 4.10.09
Time Warner Cable, sensitive to the public outcry about metered broadband, has tweaked its policy — capping overage fines at $75. Does this make it all better?
Yelp Will Allow Business Owners To Respond To Negative Comments
By 4.10.09
Angry small business owners get your keyboards ready — Yelp is going to let you respond to negative comments! This is going to be …. awkward! Oh well, we love a good fight.
New York Representative Goes After Time Warner's Metered Broadband
By 4.9.09
Rochester, NY is one of the expanded test areas for TWC’s new metered broadband program, (along with Austin & San Antonio, TX, and Greensboro, NC.) The people of Rochester are especially upset about the change, including their representative, Eric Massa, who had strong words for Time Warner.
By 4.2.09
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FileFront isn’t shutting down after all! The original founders decided to buy back the company from Ziff Davis Media after learning that the service was to be shut down at the end of March. [FileFront] (Thanks to Bob!)
Time Warner Cable Expands Metered Billing To Four More Cities
By 4.1.09
If you live in Rochester, NY, Austin or San Antonio, TX, or Greensboro, NC, your broadband access from TWC is about to be capped. The company is expanding its trial run from Beaumont, TX to these additional four cities, where TWC broadband customers will have to choose one of the company’s tiers of service—anywhere from 5GB to 40GB per month. DSL Reports notes that all five markets lack Verizon’s FiOS as an option, and TWC faces little to no competition from other providers.
Comcast: Don't Use Your Residential Account To Sell WiFi To Apartment Buildings
By 4.1.09
OceanNet is a company that provides building-wide WiFi to residential buildings in Ocean City, Maryland. One problem — the WiFi was really just some guy’s Comcast account.
By 3.30.09
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Verizon Netbooks? Wireless carrier Verizon is branching out from offering just mobile phones. Last week, Reuters (and other news sites) had reported Verizon would start selling netbooks this year. Those reports have now been confirmed by a Verizon spokesperson. [CR]
Sirius Streaming Radio Not Working For Some Customers
By 3.25.09
Sirus-XM charges for access to its Sirius Music Player, but for the past few days, some customers can’t get it to work. One of them in this forum says it only connects after Howard Stern is over, and speculates that some cost-cutting measures have reduced available bandwidth, leading to locked-out customers. In another thread customers are complaining that popular third-party streaming radio services have been sent cease-and-desist letters from Sirius, further limiting access to streaming Sirius programming online. Naturally, Sirius-XM hasn’t responded to customer queries about the issue.
Gazaro Rates Gadget Sales Based On Historical Price Data
By 3.16.09
If you’re shopping around for a TV, computer, camera, or other consumer electronics gadget, you may want to add Gazaro to your online toolbox. The service, which is free but requires registration, tracks items that are listed on sale, then rates the sale price by comparing it to the item’s pricing history. It’s an easy way to quickly scan a list of current sales and see which ones are actually good deals. We like it, but there are still some areas that could be improved.
This Is How All User Agreements Should Be Displayed
By 3.16.09
Aviary is a suite of web-based graphics programs, both free and subscription-based. What’s awesome about Aviary from the Consumerist perspective, though, is their Terms of Use, which offers a plain English summary in bullet points alongside the legalese. It’s brilliant, it’s simple, it doesn’t reduce the power of their legal agreement, and it helps users make informed decisions. Everyone should do this.
By 3.13.09
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Bank of America has launched a new cash-back reward program called “Add it Up,” where money is deposited in your bank account when you shop from partner retailers. For example, they offer 1% cash back on every dollar spent at Newegg, and 5% for every dollar spent at CompUSA. [Dallas Morning News]
A Glimpse Into The Future Of Broadband With Time Warner Cable
By 3.9.09
Time Warner Cable is running a pilot program in Texas where they’re metering your bandwidth usage and charging extra if you exceed your monthly allotment. This also gives them the opportunity to create a tiered system where you pay more for more bandwidth. Richard is a TWC Texas customer, and his story is a good example of how things work in a tiered, metered system like this. The bottom line: if metered broadband comes to your area, get used to paying extra to take advantage of things like Hulu (which is free) or Netflix video streaming (which you already pay for).
Sorry, Your XBOX 360 Isn't The Right Kind Of Broken
By 3.9.09
By now, most people know about the dreaded Red Ring of Death issue on the XBOX 360 — and the accompanying 3 year warranty. What many do not know is that that 3 year warranty only covers the “3 red lights” issue. If you get any other error code, you’re out of luck.
More Business-Owners Accuse Yelp Of Review Extortion
By 3.9.09
The review website Yelp is being accused again of extorting small business owners — but this time the business owners say that Yelp used the guarantee of positive reviews to get free products for their events. The Chicago Tribune has a quote from the owner of a cupcake shop who says that Yelp “guaranteed us good reviews on the site if we catered one of their parties for free.”
E-Harmony Gives You 58 Dimensions Of Suck By Billing You For Two Accounts
By 3.3.09
Update: eHarmony has returned the money.
Comcast Using Free Wi-Fi To Keep You From Switching To FiOS
By 3.3.09
Comcast is testing WiFi service at about 120 NJ Transit rail stations in an effort to retain broadband customers who might otherwise be tempted to switch to FiOS. Will it work?
Time Warner Cable Getting Slammed By Denial Of Service Attack
By 2.26.09
Time Warner Cable wants you to know that if you’re one of their customers — the slow speeds you’ve been experiencing are the result of a denial of service attack by nefarious hacker-types.
