Cincinnati Bell vs Time Warner? Duke Energy... (Lebanon, Sharonville: homes, living in)

[angel2animals]

Any suggestions for the best internet and television providers? I am attached at the hip to my computer so my internet has to be reliable and fast.

Also, it seems that people in Cincy seem to do the budget billing from Duke instead of just getting billed for their actual usage each month. What do you suggest? What does your gas and electric bill average and what is the approximate size of your home? I am especially interested in people who have older homes.

Any other suggestions for new services needed when I move are appreciated.

Thanks for your help!

[dramamama6685]

I know time warner's internet (roadrunner) is supposed to be faster than cincy bell's (zoomtown). However their customer service bites. Decisions..decisions.

[The Don]

1. Internet - I use Zoomtown. I am more than attached at the hip to my computer - my livelihood depends on it. There are times, particulary at 2:00 A.M., that I really need to have my internet connection up and running. Zoomtown does an excellent job at that. However, another post of yours indicated that you are looking at living in Westwood. If that is the case, you should be aware that you may not be able to achieve the full advantage of DSL.

I live in Bridgetown (a Western Hills Community). When I complained about the speed of my service not being as fast as Road Runner, I was told that it was because of old infrastructure; that my telephone service was coming from Sayler Park and that was the best that they could do. But honestly, speed is not really too much of an issue. I have two computers sharing the same DSL connection via a router and response time is fine. If I have to upload or download a large file (20+ Meg), it takes a bit longer than I would like.

I have had friends with Road Runner and have heard mixed results. I think cost and reliability were the big issues there.

As for Duke, my daughter uses "Current" from Duke energy and is very happy. It is reliable and fast. Certainly worth looking into.

2. Television Providers - Time Warner has its monopolist grip on the throats of Greater Cincinnati. Every year they increase their rates two or three dollars without a corresponding improvement of service or selection. The last straw for me was their cavalier dismisal of customer request for the Big Ten network in the basic tier. I would definately look into a dish.

3. Budget Billing - I tried budget billing many years ago - didn't like it. It was supposed to prevent nasty surprises in my utility bills. What it did was trade a number of little nasty (and sometimes nice ) surprises during the year for one LARGE NASTY surprise at the end of the year. The best you can hope for is a smaller than normal bill when you "settle up" with them at the end of the year; this just means they have had the interest free use of your money -

The best advice I would give you is to insulate the heck out of your place and don't worry about playing games. You know the old saw, "you can pay me now or pay me later".

[Ohiogirl81]

I tried budget billing, too, and hated it. I did my own budget billing -- gas was more expensive in the winter, cheaper in the summer. Electricity was more expensive in the summer, cheaper in the winter. I budgeted accordingly.

[CinciMag]

I just cancelled my Cincinnati Bell b/c I've had so much trouble getting the connection working. The customer service has been HORRIBLE. I work from home, so I really need it to work. I prefer DirecTV for cable, so I didn't want to get Time Warner. Someone recommend Current Communications, which you should be able to get if you live inside 275. It's internet through your electrical outlets. Their website is Current Communications and we received the modem and first month free - no activation fees! I'll post again to let you know how we like it once we've used it a bit.

[RockyMtnr]

I was living out in Sharonville a year ago when Time-Warner started coming into the area. That company spends more money in mailing fancy-dancy heavy-stock advertisements than almost any company I've ever seen! That turned me off to Time-Warner. I knew folks with zoomtown that seemed happy and ATT had some interesting promos going on at the time.
I think I would feel better with AT&T but the world has become too hi-tech for me to keep up with knowingly. My Gut tells me ATT/Zoomtown while my brain keeps shouting "It's Cingular, Dummy". Still, just the shear volume of mail from TW tells me something is fishy about the future with them.

[angel2animals]

Has anyone tried the Time Warner phone service?

[angi7d]

DRAMAMOMMA

So which have you found better? Time Warner or Cincinnati Bell?

[dramamama6685]

Originally Posted by angi7d

DRAMAMOMMA

So which have you found better? Time Warner or Cincinnati Bell?

Last time I was with Time Warner was prior to internet being in Lebanon, so I pick Cincinnati Bell!

[unusualfire]

Time Warner cut services and your bill is not cut. When i first got ti about 4-5 years ago. The usenet was free. It' s one of the reasons i got the service in the first place. Then all of a sudden. They discontinued that service June 23rd. I saw no reduction on my cable bill.