Any Cable/Internet providers that DON'T suck a fat one?

I've been on the phone with ATT for the last 3 hours concerning a botched move request on their end that may result in us not having service for 4 weeks.

In addition, i've just now looked at our billing history and since our sign up promotions expired in 2010, our bill has increased by $35/month (not including the jump from the expiring promotions), to the point that we're now paying $50/month for 6/1 internet. (obscene for such E36 M3ty internet) This is the bundled price, too. Yet...it's $15/month higher than what their normal price for standalone internet only shows on their own damn website.

Customer service is hideously terrible. We've had various service issues over the years, and maybe... twice out of 40-50x have actually received a promised callback. (Current issue is 0 for 4.)

I just... i'm berkeleying done.

Going to a "ditch cable" plan is not an option. Faster internet would be cool, but isn't a deal breaker. We get all the movie/HD channels and would like to continue that, since we like HBO, Cinemax, etc etc etc.

Currently paying $192/month for 6/1 internet and "Uverse U-450" tv service.

Other than this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7e4b3gvWWQ

I got nothin'.

I'm trying to find a way to work "engorged hog" into the conversation.

move to austin, kansas city or provo? google fiber

I think this is all a matter of talking to the right person.

The right person being "member retention" upon threats to move to Comcrap.

Free upgrade to 18 meg internet, $100 account credit, $300 cash gift card, $15 off internet, $40 off TV for 12 months, move/activation fees waived, and they putting a rush through for a Monday move/install.

Suck it, ATT.

I dislike Centurylink far less than the others. YMMV but my service has been mostly reliable. I still hate them all, but Centurylink is far less engorged hog and moreso flaccid sow. Still pigs, but one isn't as likely to berkeley me.

everyone cusses the cable companies .. but Charter (other than price) hasn't been bad to work with … pleasant attitude, helpful with problems … worked with me (over the phone) one time for nearly 30 min to get things working back the way they should … again, very knowledgeable and pleasant … plus she "sounded" cute

It must be nice to have options. Best I can get is "6/1" DSL that clocks in at 3/.3 with our phone company.

Inlaws have it worse and are stuck with Hughes net as the only option beyond dial up.

IF you have more than one (competing) choice in the area, you can leverage them against each other, otherwise read up on long range WIFI antennas or deal with it.

In reply to Swank Force One:

"Are there any Cable/Internet providers that don't suck a fat one?"

NOPE

Yeah....google fiber keeps delaying the rollout and at this point they will be the 3rd provider to offer gigabit service in town.

For the record....yes they all suck in one way or another. ATT here in Austin is actually not too bad.

I'm happy with centurylink.

Comcast is the only one available to me. They bought out Adelphia ~15 years ago. I have had no problems worth worrying about. Only time I lost service for more than 1/2 hour was when the neighbor's tree took out everything (cable, power, and telephone).

I do have one advantage. When I want to make any changes, have any questions, I don't call. I just go 6 blocks down the street to the local office and they take care of it immediately.

Verizon has been good to me. Very responsive when needed. I had 5 years of no issues then random internet failure that progressively got more frequent. Called them and they did a remote diagnostics on the unit and came up empty. Even so the unit was replaced and all issues have gone away. No hassle no fuss and they were pleasant to deal with.

Comcast has worked well for me, too. No service problems, high speed connection.

stuart in mn wrote: Comcast has worked well for me, too. No service problems, high speed connection.

I have had this experience as well. When I had an issue they were prompt and courteous in trying to solve it. I say try because they were actually unable to solve it. So... they gave me free stuff instead.

No real issues with Time Warner so far. I bought my own wifi modem, so the second tier internet is $35/mo. I don't have TV service (I use Amazon Prime through my TV + a hundred OTA channels), but it appears that bundling to "save" adds up in a hurry.

I'm on TWC for TV and internet and for the most part they have been OK.

Well, unless you count:

1) the girl who signed me up for phone service at the outset even though I specifically said 'no phone'. I called back when I realized what had happened, stopped the credit card payment when they said there was nothing they could do. Then SUDDENLY it got fixed. Whaddya know.

2) The same girl who screwed up my phone thing misspelled my first name, took me a year to get that straightened out. In the meantime I found out who they sold my info to.

3) I own my own modem, the installer brought one anyway, I refused to sign for it and I thought he was going to cry.

4) They left me at the initial signup amount for 18 months, since then they keep sneaking the damn bill up $2-$4 at a time about every six months. Jerks.

5) But at least outages are very rare.

Comcast had outages all the time along with poor TV reception, they also charged me $5 a month modem rental for about 3 years, admitted their mistake and credited me... wait for it... $25.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: "Are there any Cable/Internet providers that don't suck a fat one?" NOPE

This has been my experience. I have had Wow! and Comcast. Both suck. I am thinking of going Uverse which I bet will suck too but at least it is cheaper then Wow! which is my only other option where I live.

Curmudgeon wrote: I'm on TWC for TV and internet and for the most part they have been OK. Well, unless you count: 1) the girl who signed me up for phone service at the outset even though I specifically said 'no phone'. I called back when I realized what had happened, stopped the credit card payment when they said there was nothing they could do. Then SUDDENLY it got fixed. Whaddya know. 2) The same girl who screwed up my phone thing misspelled my first name, took me a year to get that straightened out. In the meantime I found out who they sold my info to. 3) I own my own modem, the installer brought one anyway, I refused to sign for it and I thought he was going to cry. 4) They left me at the initial signup amount for 18 months, since then they keep sneaking the damn bill up $2-$4 at a time about every six months. Jerks. 5) But at least outages are very rare. Comcast had outages all the time along with poor TV reception, they also charged me $5 a month modem rental for about 3 years, admitted their mistake and credited me... wait for it... $25.

Comcast owns TWC We were on the phone for a hour for the TWC guy to tell us sorry, but the game is blocked out and there is nothing we can do about it....talking to them on the phone is usually a waist of time, there training is horrible.

My dad lived in Florida and said that brighthouse was the best cable deal he ever had. They were so good, that he was walking to the door with a box and the lady handed him a new one when he got into the door.

Swank Force One wrote: Currently paying $192/month for 6/1 internet and "Uverse U-450" tv service.

That is insane! What on earth do you get out of it that's worth $192/month? I feel ludicrous spending $60/mo.

In TN ATT was good to us for two years. Much better than Knology or charter. However they have been a huge pain in the ass since moving to TX. First even though we had an email confirmation of canceling the service in TN on July 27th they still charged us for Aug. When we called to fix the issue there was nothing they could do about it...and then said we owed them for the equipment that was never turned in. Except it was turned in on the 24th and we have receipts to prove it. After several days of phone calls speaking to many different supervisors, some cussing and yelling they finally got everything figured out and upgraded internet service for the same price when we threatened to go to another provider.

dculberson wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Currently paying $192/month for 6/1 internet and "Uverse U-450" tv service.

That is insane! What on earth do you get out of it that's worth $192/month? I feel ludicrous spending $60/mo.

It's not worth $192/month, which is why this thread exists.

I've had AT&T for years now without faults. I'm on the midgrade plan (12 mbps) for about $55 monthly. That's it, no cable or phone service with that.

I have Comcast. Oh, wait, just re-read the thread title. Never mind.