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I see mostly negative comments in the other city-data forums about either potential buyer: Comcast or Charter.
I've been with Time-Warner for almost 10 years at this stage. I could gripe out some things but they have always restored service within a day if there's an outage. I lease my modems and they've replaced 4 or 5 of them over time.
TWC and Comcast have made a lot of investments in technology. Charter, not so much. In some areas, Charter has decided to discontinue offering multi-room DVRs.
Wireless gets around the whole "need for a cable to your house" problem. AT&T (and probably others) are rolling out new technologies that will get to the "several megabit" range very soon. I'm spoiled with cable speeds though...
We can have multiple providers, but it's just TWC who has all the infrastructure built out.
A few years ago, a company called Carolina Broadband tried to build out and compete. Currently, RST Fiber is building out in the area.
We really don't want Charter, even if it was an option
I have seen a lot of folks say negative stuff about Charter, but I have Charter at my mountain house and have had nothing but excellent service for many years - and the cost is much lower than I paid here in Charlotte for TWC. Now, maybe that is b/c they have a different price scale for different areas (??? not sure about that) . . . but it would be a significant savings if I could get Charter at the same rate here as I do in Boone.
I currently do not have cable. I dumped TWC - got sick of the high cost and poor picture quality. I just use OTA now, along with NetFlix and Chromecast.
I was told (and have no idea if this is true) that TWC has some kind of "contract" with CharMeck about non-competition. I have no idea if that is factual but I have wondered about it.
I have seen a lot of folks say negative stuff about Charter, but I have Charter at my mountain house and have had nothing but excellent service for many years - and the cost is much lower than I paid here in Charlotte for TWC. Now, maybe that is b/c they have a different price scale for different areas (??? not sure about that) . . . but it would be a significant savings if I could get Charter at the same rate here as I do in Boone.
I currently do not have cable. I dumped TWC - got sick of the high cost and poor picture quality. I just use OTA now, along with NetFlix and Chromecast.
I was told (and have no idea if this is true) that TWC has some kind of "contract" with CharMeck about non-competition. I have no idea if that is factual but I have wondered about it.
ani - I'm heading in the same direction that you are - back to good ol' OTA! I'm not quite there yet, though. The idea that Charter or Comcast may swallow up TWC and further lessen any chance of competition is indeed a chilling thought! Even less competition will bring higher prices in the long run!
I suspect your Kansas experience with cable was probably a lot more positive, because the town likely owned the cable infrastructure itself and put out bids to companies like TWC or Comcast - and whoever had the best price, got the contract for a few years. When the contract expired, the town would open up bidding for a new one. This action kept the prices down and the cable companies screamed bloody murder that municipalities did this, rather than having any one company wire the town or city and giving that company complete control over its system. Towns and cities that, in essence, own their cable infrastructure, have the cheapest prices.
And speaking of Kansas, there might be a strange savior on the horizon. Google is conducting an experiment in Kansas City to provide next-gen high-speed internet and TV service that is faster and cheaper than anything the cable companies can offer. TWC customers are dropping their service at an alarming rate and signing up with Google, leaving TWC crying their eyes out!
I just despise TWC and cable companies in general, with the price rises that happen after your "special deal" expires and you get "sticker shock" opening up the next bill. Combine that scenario with the typical "bill creep" of a package or equipment prices slowly being raised makes my blood boil!
Last year, when TWC started charging a rental fee for their cable modems was just about the last straw for me. I bought a cable modem and TiVo ( the model that can do cable or OTA ...the basic Roamio) and got rid of TW's cable modem and two cable boxes, one with DVR! One more jump in TWC's prices and I'll cut the cord! With Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu+ and a good antenna, I'll say goodbye to TWC!
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