Sunday, November 25, 2012

Time Warner Cable out

Again. Guess I'll go hog a few tables somewhere for free WiFi for the afternoon. Hope that you don't mind!

So what's your Time Warner Internet alternative? Time to change.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Works fine at 9th and 2nd. Besides the Sandy outage, it's TW has been surprisingly good here the last few years. Maybe an outage or two each year

Anonymous said...

Same here.Time warner iInternet and cable both out on 8th st between B/C. God I hate Time Warner. After having no service for 3 of the past 4 weeks, im officially ready to move on. Screw those assclowns.

Anonymous said...

either TWC is out or bills are insanely HIGH. whats taking FIOS so long?!?! i literally check every week. once it hits our area, GOODBYE TWC.

Anonymous said...

But for the T-W haters, be aware that a woman in my building was so frustrated post-Sandy by Verizon's lack of response to her continued outage that she called T-W, got a tech here in one day, and switched over. Fact is, they both suck, but we have no other options.

Brian Van said...

You're obviously not the first person to ask this question, specifically about the East Village.

Verizon DSL is an option, perhaps a poor one overall. It's noticeably slower for sure, and not necessarily more reliable.

The two significant small-time 4G providers in NYC are CLEAR and Virgin Mobile. You could get a 4G modem/hotspot from them for a monthly cost close to the same as a cable modem. I think they both provide unlimited data / no quotas, but you'll have to check to be sure, go into it assuming it's a 5GB cap. It's not as fast as a cable modem alone, but it's a lot faster than shared WiFi cafe speeds. I hear decent things about them, and no glaring complaints.

Obviously Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile + Sprint have their own 4G offerings, but they come off as usurious in comparison. I received one of the AT&T units for a work project, and it blew through its 5GB data allowance in a week (It continued to work but at an expensive metered rate).

Finally... bizarrely, Time Warner Cable offers a portable 4G hotspot too! I guess you could trade in your cable modem for that instead, and it'd probably be more reliable on a day-to-day basis wherever the reception is normally good.

All of the wireless options are, of course, heavily reliant on having a good signal with the nearest cell tower in whatever place you intend to mainly use it. That might require some testing. It might require that you return a device after a week if it's not working, taking advantage of the often-granted privilege to get a 100% refund up to 2 weeks after purchase on mobile telephony equipment.

And do remember that very few of the 4G devices are going to work at 4G speeds outside of the city, if at all, but that usually doesn't matter to anyone.

THE NOTORIOUS L.I.B.E.R.A.T.I.O.N. said...

I have a Clear hub. I opened the box, plugged it in, entered the PW into my computer, done. 50 clams a month. No contract, no drilling, cables, etc.

Anonymous said...

My T-W went out a couple weeks ago for almost 4 days in addition to the Sandy outage. So no big surprise to me you guys are having issues.
What I also find outrageous is that my land line is STILL not working (AT&T) since Sandy. Unfucking believable.

Uncle Waltie said...

I have never had a problem with Verizon. I use them for phone and Internet. I live on 5th between 2nd & 3rd. Had a dial-tone throughout Sandy. And NO, they don't pay me...but maybe they should. PS: I always root for the little guy. But when a big company delivers, my sense of fairness dictates that I would acknowledge that.

Bowery Boogie said...

As everyone else mentioned, Clear is a great alternative, but it's a bit pricier than TWC. The mobile hotspot for multiple users is dope.

Jeremiah Moss said...

my land line was out for two weeks, and no break on the bill from AT&T.

my internet was out, and TW actually took some money off the bill, saying "you were in an area hard hit by Sandy." so something slightly redeeming there.

BT said...

The all suck. AND they definitely collude on pricing.

FIOS, where available, is offering the best year long pricing/service. RCN/TW.. .there's pretty much no difference. IF you have TW or RCN, you will magically see your bills go down OR your service speeds go UP when FIOS becomes available in your area.

Their prices continue to go UP, while technology prices should DEFINITELY be coming down.

It'll take a few years, but when GOOGLE expands the service they are now rolling out in Kansas City you'll finally see improvements.

Alyssa said...

I'm on 11th between A and B and haven't had a problem with TWC internet (knock on wood). I've been seeing Verizon trucks parked on B around 12th and 13th every weekend since Sandy, with technicians seemingly working on something...

Laura Goggin Photography said...

Got a credit from TW for Sandy, which was nice. Never had a problem except the cable seems to go out every year when the UN meets for a joint session. Had such a horrible nightmare with Verizon previously, I've vowed to never do business with them ever again.

Anonymous said...

called ATT to get my sandy credit today. he immediately gave me half-off my bill, even though i was out for 5days. time warner gave the standard 5day outage credit.

Shawn said...

I wish RCN would extend out more from their Ave C limit. They'd be another option. I know none of them are any good, but more options can't hurt.

Clear is cool, I had that for a while but its no where near the speeds of Time Warner Turbo. It's a cellular card.

With Time Warner I'm getting 2.1MBS down, it's lighting fast. I can rent and download an iTunes movie in a few minutes. To me that's worth a few hassles.

Does anyone use this? https://wifiny.net/

Sheila Reveala said...

I will PERFORM if I don't get a month free service from TWC, and I have for far less than Sandy. We lost service from Oct.29th until last Monday, 11/19. However, one of our TVs still doesn't get sservice. We'll see how TWC compensates me when I phone in for my credit after the technician visits tomorrow. A friend let us use his Verizon jetpack over Thanksgiving, and I'm intrigued, so I may check out Clear, etc.

~evilsugar25 said...

I'm on 6th bet B&C. Verizon landline is STILL out.

TWC was out for three weeks (back for a day and out again, now back solidly since 11/19). They gave automatic credit for the first week and then I had to call. In the past when I've had any cable/internet issues, they were very quick with the tech visits and fixed it right away.

I've had bad experiences w/Verizon in the past, and my mom has FiOS up in Westchester. I don't like their slow TV guide interface, and no NY 1. They seem to have expanded their on-demand selections (I discovered at Thanksgiving), but it's almost too much to go through; it takes an hour to look at what movie to watch. I dunno, they probably all do suck, but TWC is the devil I know, and the Customer Service has been pretty reasonable. Although they are super-expensive! I'm gonna stay with TWC for now.