Lope - 07/10/03 09:06 PM
I've been without home internet service since a thunderstorm came through about 30 hours ago. I've called Cox about a dozen times now. The first few calls they just blew me off saying they were a lot of outages in my area. This morning, I called from work (after I posted saying I was going to do such - see below) and the nice lady determined there were no more outages in my area, meaning I had a problem that required dispatched service. The earliest they have available is Saturday night between 6 and 8 pm. I explained if they'd taken my problem seriously the first few calls, I'd have a sooner appointment scheduled already. She was unmoved and told me *I Could Call Them* periodically to see if a cancellation had opened up an earlier spot.
I do not have landline phone service so without Cox's lousy service, I have no service at all. When I got home from work this evening, I called back in something of a controlled fury. I was made to step through resetting my modem for the umpteenth time. Long story short (too late, eh?) I wound up talking to a Supervisor who told me there was no earlier time available for dispatched service. I tried to impress upon him the nature of my problem: 200+ dollars a month for internet/digital TV/scads of premium channels/extra IP adresses and no back up internet.
He was unmoved. I will be down for 4 days. He did offer me a month's service credit and I can't tell you how grateful I am to know I'm not paying for nothing.
After I got off the phone with Cox, I decided to walk across the street to use my brother-in-law's internet. What do I find when I get here? He has Cox cable modem service and it's working GREAT! He's also a network guy so together we took his cable modem back to my place and tried it outside where the cable comes into the front of the house, bypassing two splitters. Still won't come online. Tried it in the backyard where the main cable line comes from the cable pedestal behind the yard. Still won't come online.
We know the node is working because his service is fine. This means the problem is in the pedestal behind our fence. (squarish green box about 2 feet high.) My brother-in-law told me my situation will only get worse and described this scenario: On Saturday evening, Cox will dispatch a contractor out to fix the problem and they will determine it is the pedestal (as we did). Then they will tell me they can't work on them and will have to schedule a COX EMPLOYEE who can work on it. This will take another couple of days. He said I can try calling Cox back to let them know it's the pedestal but they likely won't act on my information.
Now.. we all know the cable company is a pseudo-monopoly. Libertarians are okay with monoplies. (I know this from my youthful days flirting with libertarianism.) Someone tell me how the Libertarian solution will make all my problems go away. Or does the libertarian case have us so awash in cash from not paying taxes and so stoned on readily-available drugs that we spend our evenings target shooting with our automatic rifles and rampaging through the neighborhood in our Abrams' tanks not caring a whiff about internet service or who owns the cable company or even who owns America. Yah, its a cheap shot, but I've had a rough day.. and its going downhill quickly.
Category: Fall of Western Civilization
Comments (4) top link me
Libertarians are ok with monopolies? Where did you get that?
As a libertarian, I don't mind market driven monopolies. Microsoft for instance, is becoming a monopoly by being very good at what they do. (arguably) I'm still not completely happy, but I tolerate it.
Public utilities, are usually GOVERNMENT MANDATED monopolies. Telephone used to be that way. Your power company is likely still that way, and cable companies are that way because of the expense of infrastructure.
To be honest, your cable company is NOT a monopoly. You have other options such as satellite for both TV and internet. I absolutely loved DirecTV, (although I never had internet with them.)
Personally, if Cox had told me that, I would have offered them a challenge. I would have bet them that I could call Verizon (or whichever DSL telephone company you want) and set up an appointment for installation before Cox is able to get out there and look at it.
Then you get to have the pleasure of telling them, "Hey, the DSL people are coming on Friday, and if they get me up and running on DSL before you fix my cable modem, you guys are gone."
If that doesn't work, sign up for DirecTV. You can install the satellite dish yourself, and have it up and running within a few hours.
Posted by: Ravenwood at July 10, 2003 9:27 PMYou flirted with the wrong libertarian if you think we are ok with monopolies. I believe the Republicans and Democrats have done more to protect and create monopolies than anyone else in this country. I suppose you also think the Republicans believe in democracy and free and equal elections don't you?
So how would the Republicans handle this problem of yours? Take money from individual taxpayers and give it to a friend or campaign contributor so they could start a competing company and then continue to unnecessarily subsidize them for years so they keep on contributing to their campaigns.
The Democrats? Why they'd just take more individual taxpayers money and start a government run competitor.
Posted by: Trigger at July 11, 2003 1:27 AMUnfortunately, because we are moving at the beginning of August to the new house, I don't have the luxury of using another internet service provider.
And God didn't smite my internet connection.
The first poster was absolutely right; the problem you had with this certain corporation was caused by governmental interference. If it was not given its near-monopolistic status with the help of the government, you would have more options and this certain company would have more of an incentive for better quality service.
Posted by: Alex at May 22, 2004 4:57 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
