Time Warner Digital Report

[TimL]

(To Moderators: Wasnt sure if this was the right Forum: feel free to move if neccessary)

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I would be switching to Time Warner Digital Cable here in Canton for at least the next year..I had gotten some "incentives" to switch over..but I did keep my Dish (2 receivers) for Sky Angel and just today added back the supers and some distants...Missed the news programs on different channels over the country. (all allowable distant networks except CBS which i was denied)

The installer was very professional and courteous and amazingly found a way to not drill holes in the walls to connect the cables. We have now had the Digital cable (with DVR-similar to Tivo/PVR with a second digital box for over 3 weeks....Free HBO with half off DVR service total bill should be around 55 dollars a month.

The DVR 8000 (Scientific Atlanta) seems to be very similar to the TIVO (from what I know)..The interface is very different from the 501/508 and took some getting used to. The recording seems to be name rather than time-based with 2 tuners.. Can record up to 2 programs at a time while watching a 3rd live..Can also watch a taped show while taping a different show.And of course Rewind live, slow motion, etc...I could use this if needed..no real problems to speak of thus far..

some advantages programming wise:
They have Goodlife and Trio..Been watching some of the Classic WB Dramas and Westerns (Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, etc). on Goodlife..Had forgotten how entertaining they were.
They have Ohio News Network
Fox Sports Ohio with ALL the Tribe Games
Local Access Channels(which I know you can get with basic or lifeline cable)
Fox Sports Digital..(Condensing all of the Dish Sports Pack RSN's into 3 channels..more variety on fewer channels
On demand..All the major sports packages
some free on demand on regular cable channels..(Not a lot there)
Music Choice seems a bit better than Dish Music Packages
All full power Broadcast stations in the DMA except one (WMFD-68 -which neither DISH or Direct have)

Disadvantages
Encore Themes and TMC/Encore West in Top 150 would cost extra with TWC
Pixellation/blocks when tuning digital channels which I knew would happen.
Only One DMA allowed (at least here)

In summary:
I'm going to keep this setup for a year and see what happens..If I cant get what I want price wise after the year I probably will go back to Dish..(Though I never really left it)


Tim Lones

[John Corn]

Intresting, TWC seems to be alot better than Cable One was.
I'm thinking in Sept/Oct. I'm going to get roadrunner. :)
Thank's for letting us know.

[Mike Richardson]

Intresting, TWC seems to be alot better than Cable One was.
I'm thinking in Sept/Oct. I'm going to get roadrunner. :)
Thank's for letting us know.
NO! Get Earthlink Cable. It's faster. It's cheaper. It's the same as Roadrunner, but it's better. PLUS, if you don't have Cable TV, Earthlink doesn't charge any additional fees! RoadRunner charges up to $10 more if you don't have cable TV!

http://www.earthlink.net/cable/

[Mike Richardson]

They have Ohio News Network
This is technically an unfair comparison because those news networks like that are owned by cable companies and they don't even make them available to DBS. In Houston we have a Houston news channel and a Texas Cable News channel. Neither are even available to DBS companies.

Local Access Channels(which I know you can get with basic or lifeline cable)
A bunch of lame mettings? ::lauging smiley face here, dunno how to make one::

I'm going to keep this setup for a year and see what happens..If I cant get what I want price wise after the year I probably will go back to Dish..(Though I never really left it)
Your price WILL go up when your so called "special DBS conversion benefits" wear off.

[TimL]

I know my prices will go up after a year..no secret about that ..just needed to cut corners financially at this time. I also know about Satellite not being able or willing to add Cable only local channels...And thre can be some good local access..our Canton City schools channel 11 looks a lot more professionally done than even a year or so ago.

Tim Lones

[John Corn]

Good point Mike, It's been along time since I spoke with TWC.I know for a fact one time they did charge extra if you didn't have cable TV service, but I could have swore they said they no longer charged the fee. :confused:

Thanks for reminding me. :)

[Claude Greiner]

NO! Get Earthlink Cable. It's faster. It's cheaper. It's the same as Roadrunner, but it's better. PLUS, if you don't have Cable TV, Earthlink doesn't charge any additional fees! RoadRunner charges up to $10 more if you don't have cable TV!

http://www.earthlink.net/cable/

I wish they would offer that around here. Sounds like a nice way to screw the cable company out of their $10 penalty for having Dish with a Cable Modem.

I pay about $58 at the office, and can't really complain since its $11 cheaper than what I was paying with Starband!

[Mike D-CO5]

Cost me about $10.00 more with basic cable locals vs just $6.00 more without the local basic channels with TWC in Beaumont , Texas. The roadrunner charge is just $44.95 by itself but you still pay either way , whether you have locals or not. I think they should not charge anything extra. It is kind of like extortion just to get a cable modem. I wish Dish would get a cheaper priced service with their broadband solution they are supposed to have at the end of 2004.

[Mike123abc]

I have cable modem service with TWC here in Wichita Falls. I pay an extra $10/month because I am not a cable subscriber.

[Bardman]

That's Strange, i have TWC Roadrunner here in Greensboro with no TV service (I have D*) and they DON'T charge me the $10.

Guess I should keep quiet to TWC

[Chris Freeland]

Unfortunately I am in Comcast territory here and the only cable internet is their own. CoNcast charges $42.95 if you also have a cable tv package, however if you do not have cable tv CoNcast charges a whopping $57.95. To be fair, Comcast does offer Limited basic cable tv here for $8.65 and I believe it counts for the internet discount, if I am correct it would cost me a total of $51.60 for Comcast Internet and limited basic cable tv compared to $49.99 for Ceturytel DSL, something I will need to take into consideration in the future once I decide to upgrade to some form of broadband from my current Free dial-up service.

A question for those of you with cable internet. Centurytel DSL includes 20 hours per month of a tol-free dial-up service that subs can use when out of town, does cable internet offer this same service?

[shy007]

The newsgroup are not very good on Earthlink...... If you care nothing about the newsgroups, then Earthlink is fine..... I switched over to Earthlink and had to switch back to RoadRunner becasue of the newsgroups......

[Mike Richardson]

That's Strange, i have TWC Roadrunner here in Greensboro with no TV service (I have D*) and they DON'T charge me the $10.

Guess I should keep quiet to TWC
How much do you pay per month? I don't think they actually put on the bill "Ripoff Charge for non-cabler $10"

[Mike Richardson]

The newsgroup are not very good on Earthlink...... If you care nothing about the newsgroups, then Earthlink is fine..... I switched over to Earthlink and had to switch back to RoadRunner becasue of the newsgroups......
Switch back to Earthlink right now and use the newstest2.earthlink.net newsgroup. This is their experemental newsgroup and it beats the crap out of their regular one in speeds :)

[Mike Richardson]

I have cable modem service with TWC here in Wichita Falls. I pay an extra $10/month because I am not a cable subscriber.
If you call Earthlink, they can switch you in 5 minutes. You don't need a new modem or any of that. And you save $10/mo.

PS: Sorry to sound like a walking billboard for Earthlink but it makes me mad people pay the ripoff fees for non-cablers. I do not have any affiliation with Earthlink other than being a satisfied customer.

[raj2001]

NO! Get Earthlink Cable. It's faster. It's cheaper. It's the same as Roadrunner, but it's better. PLUS, if you don't have Cable TV, Earthlink doesn't charge any additional fees! RoadRunner charges up to $10 more if you don't have cable TV!

http://www.earthlink.net/cable/

While the price and free dialup with Earthlink may seem tempting, their customer service is the pits.

Take this for a former Earthlink DSL customer.

They screwed up so many times I just can't count anymore. There were times I had to be on hold for an hour or more on the phone. Is that any kind of service? They lied about my DSL speed (claiming 1.5 down and I only got 768).

The cable company (RCN) has my business now.

Earthlink Cable may be good, but only because it's on TW's network.

Not me and earthlink any more!

[Brett]

Unfortunately I am in Comcast territory here and the only cable internet is their own. CoNcast charges $42.95 if you also have a cable tv package, however if you do not have cable tv CoNcast charges a whopping $57.95.

The Comcast rates are same here.

I think Time Warner is a better cable provider than Comcast. I visited North Carolina last weekend and the place I was visiting had TWC cable.

TWC cable provides a greater number of cable channels like SoapNet, ESPN Classic, Oxygen, and many channels Comcast refuses to carry in the analog level (Comcast makes its customers pay extra for digital), or channels Comcast refuses to carry altogether. Comcast refuses to offer Cablevision Rainbow Networks like IFC, WE, Fuse, and several other networks on many of its systems. Comcast believes: offer less , and charge more.

[pez2002]

Comcast Had IFC on my cable system not anymore


What a crop of crap comcast is

[dtcarson]

That's Strange, i have TWC Roadrunner here in Greensboro with no TV service (I have D*) and they DON'T charge me the $10.

Guess I should keep quiet to TWC

I think it's a local franchise decision; I'm in Raleigh area, and about a year or a little more back they changed their price structure so that you didn't have to pay extra if you didn't have cable. [Time Warner Cable North Carolina.] They didn't make a big deal about it, so it might have snuck by you. They do, however, offer a 'special' where you can get digital cable and RR for 89 or 94 or something, basically a little off--so there is still an incentive there, it's just stuck on the high end rather than front-loaded.
Check your local providers, there seems to be inconsistency with this. I would think the trend would be away from the higher cost without cable, instead having the savings linked to digital cable to try to push that.

[dtcarson]

*snip*

A question for those of you with cable internet. Centurytel DSL includes 20 hours per month of a tol-free dial-up service that subs can use when out of town, does cable internet offer this same service?

Depends on the provider and the local franchise--with RR here in Triangle area NC, they do have dial up--you have to download a client and pre-register with a credit card. They don't have a whole lot of POPs; it's currently free, but after the 'trial period' [which has been extended at least twice], it'll be 10 hours free a month, with add'l hours .99/hour. Also they're not toll free, you have to find a local POP from the dialer program. It's not great, but personally, I've only used it once [on a business trip], and I could have used either the hotel's broadband or my company's dial up, but I didn't feel like testing my expense account approvals.