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Survey

Started by Chinatown, Monday Oct 01, 2007, 05:43:38 PM

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Chinatown

I have had Satelite TV for about ten years now.  The only inconvienance is the 10 minutes or so, per year, that service is interrupted by storms.

I Must admit, in perusing the posts, that most of them seem to be negative as to TWC., their lack of Hd programming, etc.
 
Is the only reason that you stay with cable  the lack of a clear view of the southern sky?...............

I welcome your responses

Jack 1000

#1
I prefer cable over dish because of consolidated billing with Cable, Road Runner Internet and Digital Phone, which Dish does not offer. I don't have an HD set at this time so  the 70 or whatever HD channels on dish are not relevant for my needs.  While HD picture quality appears to be an improvement, their just isn't enough there to justify paying the difference in price ($1000 for a TV set.)  I do have an HD DVR, so when cable gets more channels in the future and the prices for HD come down, I'll be ready.

With dish, I was turned off by the required two-year commitment contract and up-front installation fees.  Being forced to have an unobstructed view of the Southeast to get quality reception on the dish seemed like an added hassle and expense.

I have been with Time Warner Cable for over 20 years and had maybe 5 service calls during that time.  Two were to replace buggy boxes.  Only one tech was what I would consider incompetent.  Maybe I have been lucky.  I have not had NEARLY the problems with cable that others have talked about on the boards.

I hated my old DSL provider and their crappy service.  We also wanted to consolidate our phone, Internet, and cable into one bill so we went with Time Warner All The Best and are very happy with it.  They gave us free DVR service for a year, which was cool.  We paid about $200 for separate bills from 3 companies, now we pay about $160.  I also have wireless Road Runner.

Direct TV and Dish didn't have the phone service or the Internet service that we needed and we didn't want to have multiple bills anymore.

However, I think that for many people with HD TV if that is all they care about, and can handle the upfront cost and contract commitments, Dish may be a better option.  But to me HD, is not a big deal, and I have friends and relatives who have seen HD pictures and were not impressed with them.  I don't know if this is because they aren't used to an HD format, or their set was adjusted funny.  But it wasn't the hoopla for them that so many others make it out to be.

I also believe that corporation customer service has dropped throughout all industries in the last ten years.  Everything is automated, and the CSR's want to get you off the phone as fast as they can to maximize profits.  TWC may have an excellent state-of-the-art technology facility, but their CSR reps are not as well educated and knowledgeable as they used to be.  To get any action, you almost need to speak to a supervisor and "hope for the best."  It's not just TWC.  The whole industry must work to improve its employee customer relations base with competent staffers.  There are too many clueless people working in major corporate industries today.

But having said that, my individual experiences with Time Warner have been better than most others  We are happy with them. The consolidation of multiple services on one bill and no long term contracts,  are the main reasons why I am not interested in dish.

Jack

PS.  Other issues that I have to consider:

1.) Living in an area with tons of trees. (no clear signal)

2.) Having to pay extra if service calls are required.

3.) The loss of instant Movies and free I-control programs On Demand. (Dish has the older pre-set start and stop times for PPV.)

4.) Installation stories with dish about holes in the floor, wires hanging all over the place, and houses being ripped apart to install it.  We got a new roof recently and wouldn't want it damaged by an inept dish installer.

Many have complained about the long delay to get help on the phone from TWC.  Back in January, when they were testing the new Navigator Guide to a largely unfavorable response, I recall the hold time being about 40 minutes. (I attribute this to new system software.)  Now, my wait is no more than 10 minutes and sometimes I get through immediately.  I have never ever had to wait two hours to get help on the phone.

I guess I must be one of the lucky ones.  However, it is understandable that there will be positive bias in favor of dish on a HDTV forum because dish has more HD choices with dish than cable.  However, there are environmental considerations as I mentioned above that might suggest that dish may not be for everyone.

I think what has happened in recent years is that TWC got so involved into promoting their high speed Road Runner Internet service and Digital Phone (I love both btw) that they lost site and focus of their original foundation which was cable TV.  They laughed when satellite was promising a 70-100 channel HD environment by the end of 2007.  Now that more HD channels have been added for people with HD sets, that is a very big motivator for people with HD sets to switch to dish if their environment and financial situations can handle it, and most likely they can.  If you are paying $1,100 for an HD set, you are going to want the most channels in HD possible.  Therefore many will choose dish.

Time Warner should have gone to an all digital format like Cox to have SDV video capability and at least added all the other HD channels in other states that Wisconsin doesn't have yet.  Time Warner underestimated the interest and influx of HD TV, whereas satellite embraced it.
Cisco 9865 DVR with Navigator Guide

Matt Heebner

QuoteBut to me HD, is not a big deal, and I have friends and relatives who have seen HD pictures and were not impressed with them. I don't know if this is because they aren't used to an HD format, or their set was adjusted funny. But it wasn't the hoopla for them that so many others make it out to be.

I have yet to show anyone HD that wasn't completely impressed with it. I believe I am the main reason why almost all of my brother-in-laws now have big screen HDTV's...it was showing them HD sports.  
If you know people who aren't impressed with HD, then I would venture to bet they watch very little TV, ot none at all.

jjallou

I've got neighbors who have an HD set with TWC cable. I stopped over one night and noticed they were watching CBS58 on TWC channel 5 (analog 58). After asking why they weren't watching channel 505 (CBS58-HD) they said "Oh, it's the same thing...just a little clearer".

Mikey

I have TWC currently because I have zero other options available to me.

I rent and don't have a Southern exposure.

I currently have the all-in-one bundle.  My RR service is excellent so far (I've had it for about 6 months now or so, I was with AT&T DSL before that).

I would really love to have more options.

I am thinking of moving this coming summer.  Will cross that bridge when I come to it.

TPK

I am not with TWC anymore....  Right now I am with U-verse, but will probably switch to DirectTV if U-verse cannot get its act together soon...

I was with TWC for a very long time before U-verse...  There is one HUGE advantage cable has over any other TV provider, and was probably the main reason why I stuck with them for so long, and that was because of its analog channels...

Basically you can wire up any television (vintage 1980 or later) in your house with a single cable (which you can split and terminate yourself) and not require a cable box or any other equipment to tune to a channel..

If your like me, and have a TV in every room, and do not require anything over the first tier on a lot of these "secondary" televisions (kitchen, spare bedroom, garage, etc..), then cable is really your best choice, and the reason I think that most people are afraid to switch from cable to anything else...

Chinatown

Quote from: TPK;42520I am not with TWC anymore....  Right now I am with U-verse, but will probably switch to DirectTV if U-verse cannot get its act together soon...

I was with TWC for a very long time before U-verse...  There is one HUGE advantage cable has over any other TV provider, and was probably the main reason why I stuck with them for so long, and that was because of its analog channels...

Basically you can wire up any television (vintage 1980 or later) in your house with a single cable (which you can split and terminate yourself) and not require a cable box or any other equipment to tune to a channel..

If your like me, and have a TV in every room, and do not require anything over the first tier on a lot of these "secondary" televisions (kitchen, spare bedroom, garage, etc..), then cable is really your best choice, and the reason I think that most people are afraid to switch from cable to anything else...


You mentioned going with "D". That will, of course, require a receiver on each set.

If you opt for Dish, there will be half as many, as one receiver can operate 2 tv's.

I switched from "D" to Dish last March.  The installer left with 50+ feet of old cable, as it was not needed in the new setup.

In addition, I find their DVR's to be far superior to what "D" can offer.