Don’t come crying to Sean with your tales of Comcast woe, because he can probably top whatever you’ve got. His Comcast service goes down just about as often as the sun and no matter what the company does to try and fix the problems, they keep occurring. [More]
internet
How Long Should I Wait For Time Warner Cable To Hook Up My Internet?
By 6.11.10
Isaac signed up for Time Warner Cable internet at the beginning of the month. And he waited. And waited. And the company pushed his start date back again and again and now tells him he’ll have to wait nearly two weeks from when he signed up for a tech to visit him. [More]
FCC Seeking Volunteers For Test Of Residential Broadband Speeds
By 6.2.10
Among the chief complaints we get from readers about their broadband providers is that the lightning-fast speeds advertised by the ISP are far from the reality of what they’re getting through their modem. So in an effort to parse truth from lip service, the FCC is about to begin a nationwide test of residential broadband speeds — and they want your help. [More]
Verizon Kept Giving Me Worse DSL Service, Charging Me More
By 6.2.10
Joshua signed up for what seemed like a solid introductory deal for Verizon DSL, but the service was poor and the more he called for suggestions on how to fix it, the worse and deal he got. Verizon kept extending his contract while downgrading his service, insisting there was nothing else it could do to help him out. [More]
Comcast Understands That My Ex Was A Jerk, Lets Me Start Fresh
By 5.31.10
Lindsay was stuck with an overdue cable bill because her flighty live-in ex bailed on her, but found sympathy in the least likely of places — Comcast customer service. She explained her situation and got the company to give her a mulligan. [More]
An Easy Way To Make Comcast Spell Your Name Right
By 5.28.10
A fellow whose last name is Ernst — or is it “Earnest?” — says he’s annoyed with Comcast misspelling his name on its billing statements. He writes: [More]
Young People Actually More Likely To Be Savvy About Internet Privacy
By 5.26.10
The prevailing wisdom about young people is that they are not savvy when it comes to managing their on-line reputations — but a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life project says that the opposite is true. Young people are actually much more likely to actively restrict what information they share and with whom they share it. [More]
Google TV Is A Thing Now, And It Can't Be More Pointless Than Wave
By 5.21.10
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 5.17.10
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 5.13.10
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 5.12.10
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 5.10.10
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 5.6.10
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 4.24.10
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 4.24.10
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 4.20.10
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 3.29.10
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 3.24.10
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]
