Internet Providers: The Least of All Evils? (Austin, Howe: home, transfer)

[LolaIsMyPuppy]

Grande, Time Warner, AT&T? I live on the East side off MLK. Reading reviews online only makes all of them look pretty bad, yet I assume people are more likely to write reviews when they're extremely frustrated than when everything is A-OK. So lay it on me:

Horror stories? Customer service nightmares? Or (if it exists) decent service for a low price? Thanks in advance!

Oh, also, we're only looking for internet (no tv/phone) and doesn't need to be super fast, only reliable and fast enough to check email, watch Hulu, and occassionally download. Thoughts?

[XLadylawX]

Speed: If you can get actual fibre optic cable to your door then AT&T U-verse would be the fastest. Otherwise, Time-Warner is your choice for speed.

Customer Service: My guess is they are all bad. None of them want to take your call. I did get some good information last week when I called for billing information on our TW Cable but I'm still skeptical.

As to TW Cable, the menu interface is just rotten. My kingdom for Comcast Cable.

[ATX Wahine]

TW is great for internet service. My internet literally never goes down with the exception of one time for about 15 minutes so I'm really pleased with it. Their tv service is a whole 'nother story - I'm with Xladylawx - it royally sucks. When I have had to deal with customer service they were friendly and as efficient as possible.

[centralaustinite]

i have ATT without U-verse, DSL, at "pro" speeds. Fast and very reliable, 5 plus years and never a single problem.

[atxcio]

I've heard nothing but good things about Grande.

I can't get it where I live, so it's Time Warner for me. They have been very reliable, and the speed is excellent. However, other people have had problems. I won't use AT&T because I've had terrible times with service/billing from them in the past. Their service sometimes acts like they are still the monopoly phone company of the 80's.

[8080a]

We've had Grande for about five years, almost from the day they switched on in our first neighborhood here. We were really tired of the problems we had with Time Warner—though it's been so long, I can't remember what our complaints were at the time. But, we love Grande and have been extremely happy with them. We've used all their services, they've been very reliable, and the customer service has been great. Honestly, it's the one bill I pay every month that I don't pay grudgingly. We're constantly getting a better deal on our services and upgraded due to the length of time we've been with them. We called a while back to upgrade to the next level of high speed internet—we just wanted to go from the lowest level to the next highest so that YouTube, etc. would be a little faster—and they told us that the packages had all improved since the last time we called and we ended up going up to the second highest speed for internet (bypassing the level we were calling about), AND got upgraded digital cable with DVR, AND lowered our bill by $23 per month. Plus we get discounts for having multiple services. It's rare for me to stop and really tout a product or service, but I have nothing but good things to say about them. I'll hate giving up Grande when we leave Austin.

[GreenPlastic]

Have had TW and Grande. Grande has been a little more reliable, but their customer service is way better. Two minutes on hold rather than the hour I held when with TW.

[AGA]

Nice to hear the good things about Grande! My husband works for them! Even if he didn't I would suggest them based on what others have told me.

[Jebra]

We just got through a nightmare with AT&T. We transferred our service when we moved, it took them over 2 weeks to finally connect. And that was with me calling almost every day and spending hours of frustration on the phone with them. Every time I called there was a different person, in a different city, and the tech support based in India disconnected on me twice. And even though I got routing numbers in case, I still couldn't get through. And they never seemed to make notes on the account because I had to explain every detail of my fiasco every time I called. It's infuriating when they insist on following protocol and asking me every time if my router was plugged in, despite my insisting to be forwarded higher up. I can set up networks with my eyes closed and it's just condescending for them to ask me the same retarded questions over and over again.

They finally sent someone over at 8am on a Saturday morning, and apparently all they had to do was flip a ****ing switch in the box.

And we have been overcharged and plagued with billing errors for the past 4 months. Just got another letter from them in the mail saying my automatic payment wasn't accepted today.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Jebra

We just got through a nightmare with AT&T.

They finally sent someone over at 8am on a Saturday morning, and apparently all they had to do was flip a ****ing switch in the box.

And we have been overcharged and plagued with billing errors for the past 4 months. Just got another letter from them in the mail saying my automatic payment wasn't accepted today.

Similar experience here, several years ago though. I lost my business number for a few days when transferring from THEIR analog to THEIR digital service. Had an install once scheduled for between 8 am and 5pm, stayed home ALL day, then they didn't show up til about 7pm. Called all during the day, and could get no indication of when, or even if, they were coming. When they did arrive, it was also a matter of just flipping a switch, apparently. Also got "slammed" repeatedly, with unknown charges from different providers of so-called accessory services showing up on my bill without my approval. That's never happened with digital phone from TWC.

It's too bad, because their U-Verse product looks really good, and their "naked dsl" is dirt cheap. If it weren't for their poor service in the past, I might well have tried them again.