Best way to deal with poor cable service.

[speedracer211]

Well since moving to Florida it has been a non-stop battle with Brighthouse cable for the last 7 months. I have my digital cable, phone and internet through them. The only thing that always works is the cable t.v. The internet is hit and miss along with the phone service. I call almost weekly and they sent two service techs out in the past that got nothing accomplished. It would work most of the time for a week or two and then would barely work for the next month. The last one poked around in the wall for five minutes and left. My neighbor ended up fixing for me when he found about ten splitters in the wall that dropped the signal far too much to be useful. Well it was fine for 2 months, but is back on the ****ter again. I am actually using my neighbors wireless right now. He doesnt seem to have a problem with the service although I have read many complaints online about their service. So I had to use my cell to call in and spend another hour on the phone with them tonight. I have had it with their service. The guy tonight told me well life sucks so just deal with the service you do get every once in a while. Well as many of you know I am a teacher and have to routinely take online classes through my county. Well I cant take the tests at home anymore or update my website through the schools site since they use a stupid internet based system for our websites we have to update daily with homework and what not. I lose connection and then lose the test I was taking or all the work on my website for the students. My bill through them runs about $170 a month so it is not cheap. When they do send a service tech it takes ten days until they come out. So what do you guys think is my best course of action? Should I contact the BBB, or is there something else I could do? It is frustrating to say the least. I have never had to have a cable providers phone number on speed dial on my cell phone.

[Joeywhat]

I didn't read your whole post...but I doubt I need to. The term "reputable cable company" is an oxymoron. And something that just doesn't exist.

There isn't a whole lot you can do, unless you can get a large group of people to say something. Those companies really don't care about you. The best thing to do is to just cancel your service.

Do you absolutely need a landline phone? How about just using a cell? And in a lot of cases satellite TV is cheaper then cable. Dealing with sat companies isn't terribly better...but it is better. You typically get better clarity as well (assuming you can get your dish positioned correctly). You can also get either satellite internet, or mobile internet. I was using comcast, and switched to Sprint for internet service once the rates went up. It's slower (around 1 Mbps), but I can take it anywhere I want and it works just the same.

[adambrock]

Be careful about calling them too much...

Brighthouse: BrightHouse Cable Disconnects Your Service After Too Many "Unsubstantiated Complaints"

\\ACB

[speedracer211]

Originally Posted by adambrock

Be careful about calling them too much...

Brighthouse: BrightHouse Cable Disconnects Your Service After Too Many "Unsubstantiated Complaints"

\\ACB

Yeah I read a bunch about that and I tried to read some of the complaints about them I googled. General complaints are the same ones I have. The kicker is that my home owners association has a contract with bright house. Thankfully I rent so the owner pays the home owners fee, but the fee is passed to me indirectly because it is $300 a month for home owners which includes bright house basic cable. Well I added digital, phone and internet. Fios is not available in the area and the house is only 3 years old. I am moving back north in 3 months, but I hate paying $170 a month for service that works maybe half the time and is about as slow as dial up.

[Majk]

Is DSL and satellite an option for you in your area?

[gsx1138]

I switched from Cable to Direct TV and never looked back. I love it to death.

[jokeRus]

I was having the same problem with my cable service where my internet service would go in and out 20 times a day. I called them up and they say everything is working. They send out a tech and he said it was my spliter. BS I said!! He replaced that and it worked for a week and I was back where I started. Finally I talked to a friend of mine and he said that Cable modem box does go out after awhile(The box is on 24/7). So I did what he said, next thing you know 6 months later and it is still working. So I would try buying a new Cable modem. I would stick with brand name. Do not get anything cheap. I bought linksys and I love it. Have not crash or hang on me yet.

I don't know the setup for Digital phone, so I dont know how that works. Why do you need it? Thats what cell phones are for.

[Bill in San Jose]

Direct TV. Other than high winds causing an alignment problem, OK.

[Lazy R]

Years ago I saw a disgruntled customer trace down and start calling an executive with the cable system. A couple of calls bugging the exec, and soon the system manager got an angry phone call from the exec and was told to take care of the problem or else.

That said, switch to DirecTV with DVR. Only way to go.

[arizona98tj]

Sounds as though the most important issue for the OP is the internet service.

If so, why not try a wireless air card. I have a Verizon card for my laptop when I am portable. Here in the Phoenix metro area, I see connection speeds anywhere from 300Kb to just under 1Mb. Sure, it's not cable speed, but it always works and I don't drop connections like the OP does. At the house, I run a DSL connection which is rock solid.