Best Buy Tells Time Warner Customers to Ditch VoIP > Bundling is cheaper.

Bundling is cheaper.

The TimeWarner modem that I had (and replaced) both came with batteries.

reply to IowaCowboy
What IF? What If? What If? Are you EVER 100% secure, no matter what? Short answer... NO. When it's YOUR time... it's YOUR time. What did people do when they actually had no cell phones? What did people do before they had no phones period? WOW....most found a way to survive... The one's that didn't we don't miss much... Darwin rules!
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Isn't it sad that those that raise their right hand and swear "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America" are usually the ones most likely to trash it.

I for one LOVE TWC Phone service! In addition the conveyance of Caller ID on TV has helped some people that I know with limited mobility because they can see who is calling, without having to struggle to move around and get to the phone. I also love the high-speed Internet service from TWC. It's the mediocre program guide that is the worst part of their service.

I always believed that TWC included the price of the monthly modem with the rest of the package, if you were on a bundle deal. We had to initially pay $11 more to get a wireless router from TWC, but when we got our own router, we dropped the $11 fee. For our area, the cost was always a part of the discounted bundle.

Is this $4.00 rental fee for everyone? Or just selected markets?

Satch

reply to en103
same here - our battery backup for the VOIP/data modem is built into the modem itself, and lasts at least 4 hours.

TW's phone service is actually great. no complaints. but, this is the first i've heard of the $4 hike. i'm about done with random price hikes. plus, we're on a bundled deal that i think protects us from such hikes for another year or so. adelphia had the family that was bilking the company out of 100s of millions... what the hell is going on with TW? there hasn't been an appreciable increase in service in years - certainly nothing i'd call a competitive advantage over the other providers (we're just locked in because the other providers don't exist in our area).

the reason why we moved to TW phone was because ATT/Verizon were charging us about $60 minimum just to have the phone active and not be limited to our own area code. it was a "we don't want to service you anymore" charge - i think the deal is that they want to get out from under all the old franchise contracts with the city that require them to share line access and provide low-income-tier service. all the fiber stuff is on a separate set of contracts and the FCC doesn't require fiber services to share. goodbye POTS.

anyway, this $4 is another sharp pinch, but i think we're still winning over most of the other landline services available.

aside from all that, the TW VOIP service uses bandwidth separate from the data bandwidth. if we purchased a standalone VOIP service, then i'd have to carve out some bandwidth to make sure the new system would always work. it's doable, but i'd rather not.

for us, i think the choice is solely between TW VOIP + cell or just relying completely on our cell phones. there are 911 and security system monitoring issues with relying on cell phones, so i think we'll have to stay with the VOIP. i'm certain the wife feels that way.

if we had a choice to go with FTTH, we'd do that in a second.

summary - if we are charged the $4 fee, then i'll call them up and ask why that isn't part of our bundle deal. if they push the hike through anyway, then i may threaten to remove all our TV portion of the cable bill and see if they'll cut us a deal. i'm on the fence. i like some TV live, but our whole family probably watches too much TV as it is. i haven't priced out SAT-TV in a while... but last time i checked, our bundled price/service wasn't going to be beat by mixing and matching SAT-TV and CABLE-DATA-VOICE.

my guess is that the reason why the hike is $4 and not $5 is because $5 would put the price difference within about $5 of mixing and matching. if i want the three services, i don't think i'll find a cheaper rout. let me know if i'm wrong.
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Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

reply to en103

reply to en103
Not all areas provide batteries as they generally do not work when you lose power.

reply to jig
The problem is the sense of entitlement by the wire line carriers. Being a duopoly they take the position that: "We are not Burger King we are the phone company or cable company so take it our way or go F$%K yourself."

reply to IowaCowboy
E911 PSAP ( Public Safety Access Points ) can track cell phones. They have programs on servers and CAD dispatch systems that can even tell the speed you traveling if you in a car. I know I install and work on these systems.

reply to IowaCowboy
Time Warner DOES provide batteries for the modems: standard 4 hour battery is free of charge; larger capacity has to be bought from manufacturer.

reply to exRolmman

That is how the cell carrier has it set up or they are routed by default. You may want to talk to Verizon Wireless about that or the State since that is an OLD way of transferring calls for a lot of areas.

And if you're afraid of a home robbery you should have an alarm system and turned on when you're in the house. And yes, you can have a wireless system that uses Cellular Networks and not a landline. ADT makes them and plenty of other companies. And they can obtain your address the same as Sprint's AiRave device with GPS. Also how is a cell phone not reliable for a fire? If you have a fire your main concern isn't to call 911 right away, but to get everyone out of the house and then call.

reply to exRolmman
Not all systems are up to date with this technology/servers. It's a case by case issue as the laws to require those systems to be updated were later given up on. Still there are more counties in the US that do NOT have those systems than do. A lot of it comes down to $$$$ to even purchase the new updates, but yet they have caller ID. And that's about it. If they need to trace your cell phone they can by going to the cell carrier but even that takes a little bit. I have lived in several large cities before and needed 911 called via cell phone and no location, only phone number shows up. Even the State of Ohio Trooper call centers do NOT have the GPS for cell phones installed and now we have a state wide cell number to call into from a cell.

reply to JimMcCoy

reply to IowaCowboy

quote:

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Bundling is cheaper.

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reply to TBusiness

Re: Bundling is cheaper.