Cable in Duluth (Rochester, Cloquet, Hermantown: renting, home, transfer)

[Beenaroundabit]

So what does everyone do for cable tv in Duluth and the surrounding area? I'm partial to Dish, but have a feeling that the wind may wreak havoc with it. How is Qwest's TV service? I already have them for internet at home so I could probably just transfer that account here to Duluth and bundle it with TV. Thoughts?

Thanks all!

[aluminumpork]

Qwest's "tv service" is just DirectTV. So in that regard, it's just your preference between two satellite tv providers. I personally prefer Dish. There's also Charter here, which provides cable tv (up to 20Mb in certain neighborhoods) and tv. I actually don't care for Charter all that much, but it's the defacto tv cable service here and your only option if you don't want any sort of satellite service.

Here's a little breakdown of Duluth tv/internet service options:

Qwest - Standard Phone/DirectTV/DSL (up to 7Mb)
Qwest: Official Website - High Speed Internet, Fiber Optic, DIRECTV(r) service, Verizon Wireless, Phone Services
Charter - VoIP Phone/Standard Cable TV/Cable Internet (up to 20Mb)
Cable TV, High Speed Internet and Telephone Service -- Charter Communications
ClearWire (wireless service) - VoIP Phone/Wireless Internet (up to 2Mb)
Clearwire | Wireless High Speed Internet Service Providers

If you're in Hermantown/Cloquet/Proctor or other surrounding areas, you can probably get Mediacom.
Mediacom - VoIP Phone/Standard Cable TV/Cable Internet (up to 20Mb) - Mediacom

I personally prefer Qwest for internet service because they give the power user a bit more leeway. But if you have a TiVO and want to use that (twas' the case with me), I ended up getting Charter Extended Digital Cable and 5Mb Internet service. We pay about $82 w/ tax per month. This is a promo price and ends in a few months, at which time monthly will go up to $115 or so. I'll be removing the digital portion at the package at that time to hopefully get it back under $100.

Hope this info helps, feel free to ask any other questions.

[Clifford63]

DSL is much more subject to performance issues as you get further from your Central Office. I had it a very long time and it was extremely stable and very fast. After I moved, my options on speed were greatly diminished. Make sure you have good options before you cut over your service. Qwest seems to be a lot less interested in "shaping" user behavior and a lot more net neutral than most cable operators. In most areas, you also get to choose what ISP you want to use, which is really nice if you want static IP and stuff like that.

[aluminumpork]

Yeah, Qwest is very power user friendly. They block no ports (that I know of), they don't care if you do hosting and if you go with Qwest.net as your ISP (not MSN) then you get a web control panel where you can purchase a static block. The only way to get a static (or even host with dynadns) with Charter is upgrade to a business account. Even then, you still have to call and fight through menus to get one. If you can get 7Mb Qwest at your location, I would highly recommend going that route. I've only had good experiences with Qwest, I have had bad experiences (especially service wise, but also uptime) with Charter.

[Beenaroundabit]

Great guys - thanks for the information!

[newcastle]

I have Charter and their cable service is awful. Their promotions are dubious and their customer service is terrible. You always end up with someone in India (not that Indian CS is horrioble-I had Dell CS in INdia and it was really good) just reading repeatedly from a script regardless of the questions you ask.

I began the switch to Dish TV but I could not get a good signal from my home (they suggested placing a 30 foot post in my yard and running cable around my house). I am not really that dedicated to TV to go that route.

I have Charter Bundle with cable, phone, and DSL. Their servcie is pretty good for my internet and phone needs in that regard.

[Beenaroundabit]

Thanks. And unfortunately, it's looking like Charter may be the most cost-effective, even if I decide to get rid of the home phone altogether.

Qwest seems OK. I have their internet now, which hasn't been bad. But I thought the prices on the DirectTV movie packages (which is what we mainly watch) were a bit steep - even on a par with what I pay in Seattle.

I also didn't like the fact that for the budled packages, you have to "agree to receive e-mails from DirectTV" - HUH? I have to let you spam the crap out of me? No thanks.

I'd divvy it up and get the Dish and use Qwest internet, but I think the cost of the Dish service PLUS renting the equipment would put me over my budget (I did the "damn-the-torpedoes;-I-want-everything" deal last time and paid for it. Don't think I need it anymore).

Thanks again everyone.

[HometownMND]

We have Directv no problems. We had charter 8 yrs ago and the rates kept on going up and up and we switched but Directv of course raised their rates as well. Sat. is much better. The picture is better and their calling center is great when we switched dishes. The person was from Arizona on the phone as well. Stay away from Dish network I heard their customer service is extremely bad.

[aluminumpork]

Fun fact: Charter Technical Support call center is located in Rochester, MN. Customer Service operations are in Texas I believe.

[HometownMND]

Originally Posted by aluminumpork

Fun fact: Charter Technical Support call center is located in Rochester, MN. Customer Service operations are in Texas I believe.

Lol my dad got a parking ticket DT and if you mail it it goes to NY so he actually brought it DT so it wouldn't get lost in the mail and to give the city some business and it was $12-nice huh?