Got a letter in the mail from Mediacom, my cable-modem service provider. They are raising the monthly cost for high-speed internet access $10/month. My bill will now be $55/month just for internet access. The only explanation the letter gave for the increase is that, "it is still a great deal for internet service that is 30 times faster than a dial-up connection". What a crock!!! No better service, no added features, just a $10/month increase because they have a monopoly on the cable lines and they CAN raise it whenever they want. They just bumped it up $5 about 4 months ago. I'm sick of this crap...I have had a cable modem for over a year now, and I'll admit I love the speed. But, in my opinion ANY form of internet access should cost under $20/month. I'm going to get rid of the service and go back to 56K even if it kills me! I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle here though because most people will just go on paying whatever the cable company wants them to. I, for one, won't be a schmuck though. I hope more people feel the way I do and won't stand for it.
Dave Alfstad
High speed price increase...
Moderator: Wiz Feinberg
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Dave Alfstad
- Posts: 431
- Joined: 24 Mar 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Indianola, IA USA
- Contact:
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Steve Feldman
- Posts: 3345
- Joined: 5 Dec 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Central MA USA
Yeah, that sucks. Only thing you can do (short of sucking it up and paying the dough) is to send them a message by switching back to dial-up - and hope lots of other folks do as well. Not likely to happen, but I'd love to see a big dent in their customer base that would force them to 'reconsider' their price gouging policy. Depends on your use. If the Forum was the only thing I was doing on-line, 56Kbps would be no problem.
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John Gretzinger
- Posts: 427
- Joined: 20 Aug 1999 12:01 am
- Location: Canoga Park, CA
One big reason I have DSL and not a cable modem. My DSL rates have gone DOWN in the last year, not up.
My DSL line costs about $32.00/month (ISP is separate) which is not that much more than a second phone line with all it's additional charges (life line, long distance access, etc.). For that I get 768K download and 128k upload.
Good luck,
jdg
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MSA D-10
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer
My DSL line costs about $32.00/month (ISP is separate) which is not that much more than a second phone line with all it's additional charges (life line, long distance access, etc.). For that I get 768K download and 128k upload.
Good luck,
jdg
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MSA D-10
'63 Gibson Hummingbird
16/15c Hammered Dulcimer
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Jack Stoner
- Posts: 22136
- Joined: 3 Dec 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Kansas City, MO
I've got TW Roadrunner and it's going up too. But it's still somewhat reasonable considering a second phone line and a dial-up ISP will cost almost that much.
The cable connection is usually faster than DSL, too. I can download at over 200kbps with cable where I only got 70 to 80Kb with DSL.
The biggest drawback is the support. TW is big and the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing if there's problems (after being on hold waiting for a first level support person). The DSL ISP that I had was a local outfit and I usually got the owner when I called in with a problem and it was either resolved or I knew what the reason was. When I moved, recently, DSL was not available so I either had to go with the cable or a dialup.
The cable connection is usually faster than DSL, too. I can download at over 200kbps with cable where I only got 70 to 80Kb with DSL.
The biggest drawback is the support. TW is big and the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing if there's problems (after being on hold waiting for a first level support person). The DSL ISP that I had was a local outfit and I usually got the owner when I called in with a problem and it was either resolved or I knew what the reason was. When I moved, recently, DSL was not available so I either had to go with the cable or a dialup.