We have Verizon for our cell phones, and are pretty happy with them. They helped us out in May when we moved and couldn't get our home internet hooked up in a timely matter (new construction house we just bought). They raised our data cap a considerable amount without charging us an arm and a leg....and set it up to automatically revert back to our current plan which isn't offered anymore. That unlimited data plan isn't anywhere near unlimited btw...it's a joke.

Now....I wish we could go back to Comcast for our home internet. Yeah...I actually said that. I'd take just about anything over what we have now. Mediacom. These clowns took about two weeks with 3-4 different appointments to finally get a line ran to our house (arial cable line from across the street...actually running of the line took an hour maybe). The best part is that when they ran it, the guy was in a big hurry and didn't pay attention to what he was doing and pulled it so tight that the cover couldn't be put back on the pedestal across the street, and he had it low enough to almost get clipped by semi trucks coming through next to us...I would say less than a foot of clearance. It took two more maintenance appointments for them to fix those two issues...one of which (the height issue) wasn't fixed until last weekend, over a month since it was installed.

I have very little faith in Mediacom if we ever have any sort of technical issues with our internet here. I won't even entertain getting cable tv through them right now....it's going to take quite a while to get to that point to deal with them further than I already have to right now. I'm really hoping that Verizon will expand to bring their FIOS service or Comcast to expand to this area but I'm not going to hold my breath.

quote:

Originally posted by chessiedog1:
Try working for Verizon. It put new meaning into the word hate.

I feel your pain. I'll just leave it there.

I could spend hours typing out how I loath Comcast for the crap they've pulled.

Unfortunately they're the only real option for us.

Hey Floyd: We get the "To Be Announced" on every channel on the on-screen guide about once or twice a month. Our service, both OTA and BrightHouse / Spectrum cable, is fed through our TiVo.

A simple walk through the TiVo menus to re-start the TiVo box cures the problem for a couple of weeks.

My best guess is that the TiVo software / firmware has a memory leak that causes the "To Be Announced" problem, and the re-start fixes it for a while.

quote:

Originally posted by charlie12:
My Straight Talk cell uses Version and it works great for $45 a month.

If you don't need more than 5 GBytes data on a regular basis, try Total Wireless. One phone with 5 GB data, unlimited voice and text, $35 / month. They ride on the Verizon network. If you occasionally need more than 5 GB data, you can buy additional data at a reasonable cost, add it to your account, it is used as / when required, and the remainder never expires as long as you keep the account active (renew each month). You get a 5% discount if you allow them to auto-renew each month.

I'm pretty sure that both Straight Talk and Total Wireless are both owned by TracFone.

When I first moved to Richmond, and until about 2007ish (approximately) the only cable you could get in the Richmond Metro area was Comcast. So I went with it and internet.

I never had a problem with the field personnel, it was the billing that was always wrong, and they were always trying to charge me a late fee.

When we were finally able to get another provider the switch was immediate.

I/we are happy with Verizon. Great coverage, no dropped calls, two smart phones, one tablet, only 3G's data but we rarely use 25% of that, $85 a month.

Has anyone used "Sling TV?" Supposedly very inexpensive and you choose 25 channels. Are there any other options to Verizon/Comcast?

I have occasionally had bad customer service from one company or another, but with Verizon/Comcast if it weren't for bad customer service they'd have no customer service at all. And Comcast reps will outright lie to you. Many customers say that on these online "I hate Comcast" boards, and I switched to Comcast because of a lie.

I told the Comcast rep I was looking for lower monthly charges. He told me I could get "Internet Plus" for $77 a month. (As opposed to what I was paying with Verizon for that and a land line: $250.) "How many channels will I get with Internet Plus?" Pause. "Oh I'd have to check. But a LOT. More than you can watch, you know? Plenty."

"Plenty" turned out to be four.

So, they hooked me, knowing I would need to upgrade.

I tend not to buy consumer-grade tools, because that way lies poor performance and the resulting dissatisfaction.

So it is with our Internet service. We have Comcast Business High-Speed Internet. Does it cost more for less bandwidth? Why, yes. Yes, it does. But, you get more clueful sales types and way more clueful CSRs. You also get 24x7x52 support.

Verizon? *shrug* I've administered the wireless plan at work for, I dunno, the last ten years or so. They've generally been pretty good. But, again: Business service. (We use T-Mobile for my wife's and my personal wireless service. We are satisfied with them.)

The cable/phone/what-have-you company I hate the most, is, far and away, the thing that currently calls itself "at&t." In some 4½ decades of dealing with all manner of vendors of goods and services, personal and business, I have never encountered a worse, more inept company, bar none.

I finally moved our home phone service to VoIP a few months ago. The thing that calls itself "at&t" is now out of my personal life entirely. When I retire at the end of the month they'll be out of my life entirely.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Hey Floyd: We get the "To Be Announced" on every channel on the on-screen guide about once or twice a month. Our service, both OTA and BrightHouse / Spectrum cable, is fed through our TiVo.

A simple walk through the TiVo menus to re-start the TiVo box cures the problem for a couple of weeks.

My best guess is that the TiVo software / firmware has a memory leak that causes the "To Be Announced" problem, and the re-start fixes it for a while.

We get it once a week or more.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
I have both, Comcast for home and Verizon for cellular.

While I could be more satisfied, I am not dissatisfied. I get the service I asked for and pay the price I agreed to.

With comcast I have to "renegotiate" every two years or so once the special deal expires to get the price back to where it was. Only had Verizon for about 8 months so far, but am happier with them than I was with AT&T.

Comcast is essentially a monopoly in my area for home internet so not many options.

This is basically where I am. Every two years, I pay $30 more on one bill because my "special offer" expires, and I'm not sitting there on dead ready to cancel it before I have to pay the extra $30.

quote:

But, you get more clueful sales types and way more clueful CSRs. You also get 24x7x52 support.

My CC service is not bad. But when I have to call about an issue, I know I'm talking to someone halfway around the world. A while back my bank changed my CC due to some fraud they noticed. I had to change the info on many sites, CC being one. the two accounts I manage were changed. They showed the new CC info. Yet the auto billing was failing. They are telling me on THEIR screen, the old card is up???? then why have online accounts if they don't work.

Better yet is the account I manage for my mother in NJ. She doesn't have or want voicemail. So after seven rings, callers hear a message that the "number is not in service". the idiots at Comcast, somewhere in a third world country tell me that's normal.

On the other hand, they called and told me they noticed a issue in some of my wiring and had a tech come and check. He found a few connectors and one cable bad. they sent a new router and now my download speed is over 270Mbps.

Verizon's mobile advertising makes it sound like they've got 100% coverage in most rural areas, yet I have only slightly better reception than when I was with AT&T. Being that I live a mere 60 miles from San Francisco, I was expecting coverage to be better than that when I made my switch. Now I'm paying more for similar service that I was already receiving from AT&T.

quote:

Has anyone used "Sling TV?" Supposedly very inexpensive and you choose 25 channels. Are there any other options to Verizon/Comcast?

You're still going to need an internet connection.

I've had generally better luck with Verizon, plus I'm getting a company discount from them.

Comcast normally doesn't give me much in the way of issues, ( other than the periodic 'To be announced' ) but when I moved about six months ago, getting service established at the new house, ( with comcast equipment already on site here ) was a bit of a shit-show with their customer service and setting up for a tech to show at this address when they said they would show. Cost me a couple of days off from work.

While the tech/installer got things all squared away here, the new, ( upgraded ) cable box remote was a step backward from the one I'd been using for years. Can't control the TV's volume with it. Minor pain in the ass.


Otherwise, no other gripes about either.

I use Verizon, at first I had problems. They'd sent a tech out, he'd screw with some things, blame the house wiring (master electrician and I ran and terminated every cable and Ethernet line in my house) and leave. It would work for a few days and then the same problems. Finally they replaced the ONT. Problems went away. Once they somehow got the wrong work order and thought they were supposed to rerun a new service drop to my house for some reason. They cut my fiber line and Cu business line and took a week to fix it. Major annoyance.

Next issue with Verizon. They ran temp line for my neighbors across my back yard. I called and complained for months, I think this is what lead to the above screw up. Ran over the line with lawn mower, bent it in half, disconnected it from the manhole they put in my back yard. Worked my way up the customer service and construction chains (they don't communicate with each other). Finally a field Tech was servicing the lady's next door's service. Finally I found out where the line went to. Actually went the opposite side of my yard from mine to another manhole then somehow back to a different one then their house. Made zero sense. He ran new temp line from my yard to their house.

Finally problem solved! Verizon finally gave me a $500 credit for the 16 month ordeal. The temp lines are only supposed to be there for a week or two, and don't usually run through other people's yards. I had a lot of hate for them at the time.

As far as service/cost. I have 25down/25up (just tested it 30.50/27.15) I always get above what I am provisioned for. TV now is 99% reliable, I never miss more than 5 seconds when it does flake out, usually just momentary random pixels. No phone service. I have all standard HD channels, no premium channels. I have standard definition channels, I'm not sure why, I don't want them, but I guess I'm stuck with them for some reason. If it's not HD, I simply won't watch it. I have two cable boxes. One HD, one HD DVR. You can play the DVR on bedroom box, but can't pause/rewind there unless you start recording on living room one.

I pay $137 per month. I negotiated it down to $105 until last month. My efforts to get it back there failed last time I tried. I need to call back again. Even if I can't get it back to $105, at the $137 I pay now it seems way cheaper than what I hear a lot of people pay. Their gigabit service is now $77 per month but they won't sell to existing customers at that price, only new ones, WTF???

Comcast had unreliable service, bad customer service, and many billing errors. Verizon was pretty good all around. We have since discontinued television and telephone service and just have Verizon FiOs internet. It has been problem free.

Spectrum, formerly Time Warner

Comcast is a thieving bunch that my mother used to have a subscription with until moving from Illinois to Texas with us.
Billed her an overcharge of $100 for equipment that was returned.
A couple of months later they sent a "credit" for the overcharged $100, which is entirely useless since we have no Comcast or any actual cable service in our area.
Then they had the gall to request $40 for a missing box (got stolen at an estate sale) for which we had ALREADY paid the $40.

Got pissed at Verizon sticking me each month for some additional "sports" fee.
When I told them I had NO SPORTS CHANNELS and did not watch any sports (athletics to the Hemingway fans) and refused to pay, they had me drop to a plan with fewer channels.
Nevertheless, at least I was no longer being ripped off to help pay for some ingrate asshole like Kapernick to make a living.

Verizon could also be a pain in the ass when something needed repair but they did bring fiber optic into the neighborhood in the early 2000's and as it turns out, they had reasonable rates.

However, they sold our area to the 2nd or 3rd tier bastards, Frontier.
Found out from a repair person that in essence, Verizon dumped their old equipment on Frontier and stuck them with the contract for the off-shore customer service.
Supposedly, the off-shore support knew that their services were to be terminated.
I spent well over 10 hours (no exaggeration) with them attempting to get my billing and service issues corrected.
Lie, after lie, after lie, as well as hanging up on me.
And realizing the sensitivity of these useless off-shore scum, I was and remained polite with them.
[Actually it was that I did not want to wait for a minimum of 20+ minutes on hold to reach them again if they hung up].
It got so bad that eventually ALL of my services ended up not working due to them making corrections.
No TV, no internet, no phone.
I could only reach them using my cell phone.

Finally reached someone in the USA for support and was able to get the technical issues sorted out.

Was initially quoted a lower rate of $99 plus taxes for the same level of service as provided by Verizon.
Then the first bill came and it was for $244.
I dropped their TV services and now pay about $20 a month MORE for just phone and internet than when with Verizon.
Their are no other viable options in this area so I am stuck with them.