Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to elray
Re: Cable? Captive means no other broadband alternative available.
You are completely wrong. In a CAPTIVE market TWC does NOT engage in haggling. Why would they? They know they have you at whatever price they want to charge because THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE other than obsolete dialup or throwing your computer in the ocean.
Obviously, you are in a county with FOUR cable companies competing. Plus, you probably have DSL and satellite. I have ONLY TWC if I want broadband. I am a captive. My choices are: Pay TWC prices or go back to dialup. They know this so why would they lower their prices as they know dialup is completely obsolete now. I can't even get broadband at a exorbitant price (what my neighbor one street over - where TWC refuses to put a line and the street is in Hilo not out in the boonies - finally was able recently to get LOW SPEED broadband for $80 a month through her cell phone). I can't do that because I live in a concrete building and as for satellite there are no south facing windows or lanais (we pay for north facing view) and DSL is not available either.
So, don't go telling me that TWC haggles with captive customers. You aren't captive and that is why they will haggle. Don't go spreading misleading information. There needs to be state or federal regulation of broadband so that in the MANY areas where there is no competition that prices will be fair.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
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 DrDrewSo that others may surf.
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
kudos:8
3 edits | 
Oceanic TWC internet prices
Santa Monica TWC internet prices
Can't you get Earthlink over cable?
»www.oceanic.com/products/internet/earthlink
BTW, even though you feel you're "captive" with no choice other than TWC and you think elray has 4 cable companies available to get service from, your prices for TWC internet service are slightly cheaper.
Oh wait, I forgot you won't choose to use Earthlink because "it's that Scientology ISP"...  |
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elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA | reply to Mele20
said by Mele20:Captive means no other broadband alternative available.
So, don't go telling me that TWC haggles with captive customers. You aren't captive and that is why they will haggle. Don't go spreading misleading information. There needs to be state or federal regulation of broadband so that in the MANY areas where there is no competition that prices will be fair.
You don't have Clear, Hawaiian Telecom, 3G and satellite options?
As your for you inference, I'm probably more captive than you think you are. We can't get Fios, they won't sell us DSL anymore, I don't have satellite rights, our 3G services run at dialup speeds, and Clear doesn't cover us.
The difference between us, which I've outlined before, is that TWC isn't aware that we're captive - and we probably won't be in a year or two.
I'm not spreading anything misleading. I'm as critical as you can ask when it comes to competition - it IS lacking, and annual price negotiation sucks - there should be a better model, which includes UBB and a last-mile wired coop.
But I'm not going to lie and state that CableCo is falling down on the job, when in fact, across the Southland, we've seen remarkable improvement, especially as compared to telco. |
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Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to DrDrew
Earthlink is still OTWC. That is not a "choice"! It is on TWC. A CHOICE is no TWC!
And, yes, I do not support dangerous cults.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
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Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4
1 edit | reply to elray
said by elray:You don't have Clear, Hawaiian Telecom, 3G and satellite options?
Nope. Clear is not available here. I don't live in Honolulu or even on Oahu. I live in the second largest city in Hawaii and HawTelcom is NOT available in large areas of this town and they refuse to make it available. Again, I do not live in Honolulu. No satellite options because as I said we have no windows facing south. Our windows and lanais face north to look at the ocean. Putting a satellite dish on the lanai will not work. Besides, satellite is a bad idea in this town because we get over 160" of rain per year. Most of it is between 7PM -5AM. I am on the computer during many of those hours so I would be unable to use the internet a great deal of the time. Dish TV is a bad idea here for the same reason. Both are out much of the time. Kona side of the island is dry and satellite is ok over there.
By 3G you mean cell phone connection? I live in a concrete building. I can't get cell phone here except outside and certainly no internet that way. A neighbor one street over in a HOUSE (no concrete walls) gets her internet via AT&T cell (but she was only able to get off dialup and onto it about a year ago when it finally became available) and it costs $80 a month for 3 mbps down. OTWC refuses to wire the street and DSL is not available to her either. Of course, she has the terminal for Sandwich Isles fiber connection in her front yard but she can't get it nor can I and their cable runs in front of my building too. Neither of us live on Hawaiian Homestead land so we can't get that but our Universal Service Fees paid for Sandwich Isles lines (major scandal that the FCC finally did a little bit to stop but the USF money was already wasted).
I don't have $80 a month to spend. AT&T is horrible for any of the condos down here for cell phone...as I said outside only...in the rain. Verizon is the only cell carrier that can SOMETIMES receive in your home here and you can't get internet from them and if you could they would charge more than the $80 my neighbor pays AT&T.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
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DrDrewSo that others may surf.
join:2009-01-28
SoCal
kudos:8 | reply to Mele20
said by Mele20:Earthlink is still OTWC. That is not a "choice"! It is on TWC. A CHOICE is no TWC!
And, yes, I do not support dangerous cults.
It's a choice in that:
1. Earthlink is priced slightly less than Roadrunner with different services (speeds, email, newsgroups, dial-up backup, etc.) and promotions available.
2. Earthlink is not Roadrunner so you can count as a "newcomer" subscriber if you subscribe to Roadrunner later.
3. Many users have switched between Earthlink and Roadrunner to keep the latest low cost promos, in effect "haggling" a lower price out of TWC.
So 2 of the things you said weren't possible because you're a "captive" customer, are actually possible... but YOU choose to not take advantage of your options. You seem to think just because you can't hookup to a different wire in your condo, it's not an option. The only thing making you captive is you.
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If it's important, back it up... twice. Even 99.999% availability isn't enough sometimes. |
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