brighthouse does it again

ever since the move, just like the last time we moved a few years ago, brighthouse internet has been intermittent anywhere but in the same room as the router... it took several home visits and changing routers and changing the wall connection and changing the external connection to get the service to produce a strong enough signal to actually provide internet through the 1200 square foot space... way too much of my time was taken up by the crappy brighthouse fixes... and here we are again... i've got to set up a service call... the green light on the router that is supposed to stay on steady is constantly blinking... the internet connection is intermittent... and cable is down again...

brighthouse is terrible service... the cable continues to have the same problems over and over and over and over (and those are just some of the records of the complaints) ... we need the internet for our jobs and it will not work consistently... i so do not want to spend hours working for brighthouse for nothing like i did after the last move and other times... we shall see if the compensation for my time, inconvenience, and frustration is worth my time or if i finally give up on brighthouse and try a different cable and internet service...

brighthouse roadrunner broadband turbo internet (updated 3/18/13, trending downward):

working near perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

5% of the time 5% of the time 85% of the time 5% of the time

no problems slow downs intermittent connection, reboot requires a call to tech support or repair visit

brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 3/18/13, still trending downward):

working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

0% of the time 0% of the time 85% of the time 15% of the time

no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit

microsoft and so on

Adobe has yet another update it wants to install... and once again it failed... Java has yet another update it wants to install... and once again it failed too... Windows has thirteen, yes 13 "important" updates it wants to install... it's been trying to do that for five minutes... so far the software companies have oqned this computer for fifteen minutes... is it just windows vista that sucks or does adobe and java and all windows updates that suck, who knows (somebody must know, so feel free to suggest why updates fail and why they want to update so often and why they take so long to complete when they do update and yes, i turn everything off except for this notebook text box... and i am bored since i sat down here to use the computer but microsoft will not let me use this computer as i would like to... time to shut down the computer because microsoft wants me to...

so now forty minutes into this annoyance, update does not pop up again after the computer finally reboots... Adobe apparently succeeded once i went to the website after restart... so i open windows update and it tells me no important updates need to be installed... and yet, when i look at update history, four of the "important" updates failed... but there's no way to try to reinstall them... so i click on a few things and no help... i finally get to the microsoft website and it explains a "what if" scenario involving Office 2013 that i don't have and no help... so i send the error messages to microsoft and i am left with four failed "important" security updates... and an hour passed working for mocrosoft, adobe, and java... and adobe insists on installing google crome... and java insists on installing the ask toolbar... and microsoft, well, microsoft is in a category of inconvenience, annoyance, and intrusion all it's own... an hour of my life gone... i suppose that's my payment for their free software, but then, they should not get to advertise on software i pay for...

well, at least brighthouse is happy microsoft came along today (though the internet connection here continues to be more problemmatic than it was at the last location)... someday computers will actually work logically and reasonably like other products we own... wouldn't that be spacial...

brighthouse shut me down again

and once again i am in the middle of working on internet research and in the middle of watching something on tv and the crappy brighthouse service that i pay $130 a month for decides i can not do what i want to do and will i be compensated for my time?... the reboot started automatically about ten minutes ago and it continues... does brighthouse really care?... is brighthouse really a friend?... don't believe the bullshit commercials, they do not care and are not your friend... they continue to tell me that this should not be happening and continue to ask me for my time and my services without compensation - and they continue to provide a mediocre product with ineffective service...

and during the last service call, just two weeks ago, i told the tech what was going on and he suggested getting the new box... in other words, call for service again... and talking to two csrs on the phone to set up the service call (the first one was "disconnected" somehow), i explained all the issues and what happened?... nothing... the service tech had no clue...

so now this latest brighthouse-initiated reboot that interrupted my service took fifteen minutes and turned off my tv twice and now my tv will not go on... whatever signal was sent to the tv apparently rebooted my tv as well... and of course it turned off the cable box so the channel was reset... so now, twenty minutes later the tv is trying to connect to the but and on comes what?... not the channel i was watching (not that i want to watch a show after brighthouse forced me to miss 20 minutes of it), but the first-on channel and, of course, without sound... worst of all, the internet service has gone downhill since the move and it was the internet that was keeping me... the neighbor's dishes are looking more attractive once again...

brighthouse is amazing

after waking to no internet again and giving my unpaid time and service to brighthouse, i decided to ignore the meaningless complain it might have been and just mention it as i mention most everything in my daily blog where i mention most everything just to mention most everything for whatever reasons i might have at the time (and brighthouse will not alter my good mood this time)... but now, just a couple of hours later, the cable box decides it's time for yet another reboot - as if it doesn't matter that i pay for the box and the service, it and brighthouse arrogantly believe it is ok to control it in my home... no respect... no is it ok if we interrupt your activities in your home right now and shove yet another reboot up your ... tv?)... ... the lack of customer consideration remains amazing... astounding...

ridiculous...

to brighthouse techs, csrs, and management: click here and read this before you comment if you are not just SPAM commenting... simply, if you want more of my time and energy, pay me...

most consistent complaint: no sound at start up... random re-boots...

only acceptable solutions: service that works... pay me for my time...

brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 2/5/13):

working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

0% of the time 0% of the time 95% of the time 5% of the time

no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit

the tech who installed our service here last week suggested getting the other brand of cable box, samsung again... other techs have suggested this sysco cable box when we had the other brand... their answer is always just give us more of your time (without compensation) and try something else (that won't work)... we watched the superbowl at a friends on century link and it worked fine... most neighbors here in our new place have satellite dishes so we'll be talking to them about service and reception as we meet them... brighthouse just does not seem to get the message...

brighthouse continues to suck

so after a wonderful day out playing softball with friends and a wonderful evening home enjoying dinner with friends i decide to give up sleep tonight to watch something i was looking forward to for weeks, a 10 year reunion show for firefly and five minutes into the show for reasons only the intrusive people and computers at brighthouse know, the cable box turns off and goes into some sort of countdown followed by another countdown followed by a reboot and twenty minutes later i am still wondering why i don't just cancel this crap brighthouse service because the show will not go on...

so i will not get back the time or sleep i gave up tonight and i still do not get to watch the show i wanted to watch and brigthouse still charges more than they charged last year for service that gets worse every month... yes, besides exploring alternbative tv services and in spite of offers to help which do nothing to stop the deteriorating service and continuing service interruptions... in fact just it continues to get worse... i started keeping track and the current stats are:

brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 12/14/12, still trending downward):

working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

0% of the time 0% of the time 90% of the time 10% of the time

no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit

cable and internet search

the box once again is acting up, flicking the picture and sound on and off and preventing the signal from reaching the tv... shutting it off a few times and waiting did not help this time... a manual reboot is next... and since the brighthouse service will not work and not allow me to watch tv, it is time to invest some time in research for better service - so let's see what else is available at my address...

comcast... $40 cable and $30 internet from road runner (same company brighthouse uses)... the $30 internet is without taxes and without internet speed boosts... and is a time-limited offer, 6 months and then it goes to $50... a package for $80 sounds very similar to what i am currently getting from brighthouse for at least $20 more, so there is a draw for comcast... the site does not make comparison shopping easy and does not offer any comparison to brighthouse... a prime example can be found here on this page where they have the starter tv and the internet package for $30 each and then the combo of those two services for $70... simple math suggests this company has some serious math problems (and i should trust their tech knowledge?)...

even more unfortunately, it looks like a 2 year commitment is required, which is a big turn off for me as i might find major flaws in the service in the first few months and be stuck for two years... the lack of required commitments still keeps brighthouse ahead in spite of the horrible service lately...

still, saving $20-$30 a month is a major draw so i will explore comcast further... reviews show just as many complaints about comcast as there are for brighthouse, so the switch would have to be based on the details of costs, channels, internet speed, and the roll of the dice that the service may be a bit better... sometimes, after continuous dissatisfaction, any change is better than continued poor service... ultimately, the comcast experience may be better or worse than the brighthouse experience, but i will not know unless i try it...

centurylink (orlando)... sounds similar in cost, though i have not explored the details of the services and packages offered yet...

cleartv offers a bundle of tv and internet for $65, almost half the price i currently pay per month plus one month free, so it's worth a look as i continue searching... the page, however, gives the feel of a scam (not suggesting it is, it just lacks depth and detailed information and requests contact info immediately, before providing any shopping experience)... also appears to be a 4G at best internet, much slower than high-speed cable...

att u-verse presented challenging to find in this internet search and appears to require $91 to get HDTV, which is unacceptable pricing... also, the complicated internet presence presents a lot of scam-like "authorized representatives" so finding the source provider is not easy... at&t also requires a log-in to shop "build-your own" bundles on their site, definitely marketing that borders on the spam sites...

so after jumping through a few hoops i found that max internet is $63 and 300 channels is $87 and after rebates or whatever promo offers, it's $115 a month including a dvr and an additional $100 rebate for signing up for a year... still, i do not believe this includes HDTV, so not acceptable... bundling wireless service reduces the monthly bill to $110... knowing att, there is some hoop-jumping involved, as their complicated website showed...

and ah, i believe (again, the site is not simple to navigate) i found HD and it is an extra $10 a month, so $120 now... this plan includes a movie package for $20... unfortunately, it does not appear possible to remove the movie package and still get HDTV as HDTV is not available with lower priced packages... the $100 rebate brings the monthly cost down about for the initial year, so $112 a month, about the same as the current brighthouse we pay without the two dvrs and more channels...

the catch may be that after the 12 month required contract, the $46 per month discount ends and the monthly cost is $166, are they nuts?... i'd have to speak with them before ordering, but the $112 for more channels, 2 dvr boxes (one wireless), and more sounds appealing...

directv... $40 cable for equivalent station lineup to what i have now and a dvr... regular price $70... requires a 2 year contract and goes up to $50 the second year... while the website makes comparing packages simpler than the cable providers sites, the discounts appear complicated as they are rebates requiring online submission and the risk of not getting the rebates if you do not do it correctly, typical pain-in-the-ass marketing technique)... also, auto-payment is required... again, road runner is the separate company that is bundled for high-speed internet access... the free nfl package makes directv a very serious draw in spite of the hoop-jumping required, however the time-sensitive rebate hoops make it a fourth choice for now behind the two cable providers bh and cc and att...

without the hoop-jumping, directv sounds pretty good... but the hoop-jumping suggest to me that dealing with this company will not be a simple or happy consumer experience...

brighthouse (central florida) currently charges us $120 for the cable internet (roadrunner) package (this includes taxes) for one cable box and this does not include a dvr... definitely the most expensive of the lot...

going to their bundles page i see an offer for $110 that includes phone... and $100 for the service i currently get (and why do i pay more for this, probably because i am not a new subscriber which adds to the price appeal of comcast and directv)... though the directv page makes it much easier to find prices, channel lineup details, and compare packages, the simplicity of no contract and no rebates makes this the simplest and most attractive front-end package i've found so far, yet the add-on packs can become confusing and the price difference combined with the actual experience of the poor quality of service brighthouse provides still leaves me a very dissatisfied customer looking for another provider...

it is interesting to note that brighthouse does not show up on the first search page doing a google search for "tv and internet costs orlando florida"... no charge for the marketing information, brighthouse...

wow, that was a long few hours to find all this information (and there are plenty of details i would dig deeper for before a final decision) and in fact, while this started out as a complaint, it may just be edited and become a consumer blog entry... but for this place, ultimately, i am leaning toward switching to providers unless brighthouse either improves service or meets a competitive monthly price... why pay $110+ a month for crap service when i can try an alternative with the same channels and internet speed and includes a dvr and more tvs for a lower price...

good question, aye?

not brighthouse

so once again i sit here with a lost internet connection and a lost tv cable connection in the middle of working and right at the beginning of a show so watching brighthouse cable tv is pointless and the job search i was in the middle of is not just pointless, but possibly a waste of the last hour or more since websites might not let me continue filling out their pages when the connection finally returns... how many ways can brighthouse suck...

and what will wasting more time on the phone with the tech department or wasting even more time rearranging my schedule for home visits really do that has not been done in the dozens of hours i've already wasted, really... as i said in a previous entry

there comes a time after speaking with a dozen different representatives and having a half dozen house calls over a couple of months that i run out of patience and more, i run out of belief that the brighthouse reps can fix the problem and need to take a break...

i have probably never been more ready for a sales pitch from dish or direct or u-verse or anyone but brighthouse...

... 18 MINUTES LATER... and now that the box FINALLY reset, i turn it back on (because it does not reset to the channel and show it interrupted, of course) and i return to the show i was watching and the box is blinking on and off, resetting every ten seconds or so... brighthouse decided i should not watch this show, obviously...

what kind of CRAP SERVICE is this - BRIGHTHOUSE SUCKS...

.... and now a few minutes later after turning off the box and tv and waiting and turning both on again, there is no sound... this happens at least 80% of the time we turn on the box and tv and the solution is switching stations, sometimes a few times, sometimes using the FAV button on the remote... this usually bring sound on most of the time...

i don't even mention the no sound and don't come here to record every box reset or glitch in service because this is just the kind of crap service brighthouse provides, but at least i found a fix for the no-sound problem... perhaps brighhouse sucks needs a blog all it's own because brighthouse is definitely spoiling the tongue-in-cheek tone this blog was intended to maintain because BRIGHTHOUSE SUCKS too much to laugh about it...

at least not all the time (though i should laugh at myself for capitalizations when i finally stop being angry at this latest brighthouse service failure...

sheesh...

brighthouse service, not

once again the cable box brighthouse provides is resetting itself every ten seconds... turns off, turns on, just for whatever reasons...

so fed up with this crap brighthouse sucks service i don't even feel like a proper venting...

and they want to talk about it?

brighthouse sucks, again

once again, in the middle of a program i am watching, the cable box is resetting on it's own... so i will miss ten or more minutes of the program i wanted to watch thanks to brighthouse sucks... they should just add the suck to their name... or put fail in their smiley face logo... i really do not want the horrible brighthouse service statistics i started keeping while waiting for service repairs to dominate this blog, in fact, i really don't want to be inspired to come to this blog in the first place, but i find that coming here and venting my immediate complaint, however meaningless, helps me deal with the frustration and anger i feel when my life and entertainment is interrupted or stopped by a corporate decision like right now... and it passes the time while i am waiting for the brighthouse service to return... i suppose it is just way too difficult (or simply a level of customer service that brighthouse does not wish to provide) to have a pop up on the screen ask me if this would be a good time to reboot the box or upgrade the software... especially since it also messes with my expensive plasma tv and the remote synch that is yet another frequent complaint... remotes could be so much more functional...

so the cable box is rebooting and the tv lost it's signal and is confused and thinks there was a power outage or hack attempt or virus or something as it went into emergency shut down mode... a smart tv knows when an unexpected shut down and signal change occurs, just like a computer does... but based on the poor service and products, it does not seem that the brighthouse people or software are up to speed with the latest tech... so the box is stuck on L-8 and has been since i started writing this comment... i mean, if the reboot reset upgrade or whatever is happening only took a minute, it would not be such a frustrating forget watching what you wanted to watch experience and probably wouldn't bring me to seek the distraction and venting of this complaint, but the box takes forever to do whatever it is doing without my consent... pathetic customer service...

almost any decent reliable software has a setting to "ask me before uploading updates" and "ask me before rebooting"... even microsoft in their all-powerful we-can-do-anything mindset finally understood that customer service... but not brighthouse...

not very bright, these people who make the big decisions at brighthouse...

and then of course when the box finally is rebooted, it defaults to off so i must turn it on which turns off the tv so i must get the tv remote to turn on the tv and of course the box returns to the start-up channel which comes on without sound as usual, just one more brighthouse fail i am ridiculously learning to live with... how much longer is getting shorter with each meaningless complaint (so maybe they are not as meaningless as they appear, aye?)...

and now i press the remote button to go to the next channel and i get a black screen partially burning into my plasma screen because it is a partial black screen and the box wants me to "please wait"... as if i have not waited enough...

no, i am not ready to spend a few hours and set up more appointments to try to fix things again... brighthouse wasted a lot of my time this year (and tonight( and giving them even more time just seems like getting screwed further... maybe next month...

UPDATE 3am = no, once was not enough tonight, another brighthouse interruption of service long enough to bring me here happens to ruin yet another hour of my viewing, that's three hours tonight of wasting my time paying for brighouse crappy service that is not providing what my contract says it will provide... and now the box decided to reboot yet again after another upgrade of some sort... so this is ridiculous... so yet another call to tech support to find out why my cable box is repeatingly rebooting tonight... one reboot ruining my viewing experience over two hours is not enough, another ruining a third show had to be done...

no warning, no prompt asking if this is a good time to shut down my tv enjoyment... just interrupt the shows and shut off the box after rebooting forcing me to deal with the crappy remote and the resetting of the sound because the box doesn't work right when it is turned on and resetting my tv and re-finding the channel i was watching... rub my nose in how crappy the brighthouse service really is...

it's ok, i can miss the first or last fifteen minutes of shows and still enjoy them... and adding insult to injury, the first thing i see is that bullshit brighthouse tv commercial... days are numbered for brighthouse getting my money if this keeps up...

brighthouse sucks, chapter whatever

yes, brighthouse brings me here again... let's do a quick status check:

brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 11/12/12, still trending downward):

working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

4% of the time 8% of the time 68% of the time 20% of the time

no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start, box resets/blinks every 60 seconds, aspect ratio and picture size are off box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit

brighthouse roadrunner broadband turbo internet (updated 9/5/12, trending upward):

working near perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

55% of the time 30% of the time 10% of the time 5% of the time

no problems slow downs modem requires a reboot requires a call to tech support or repair visit

and the vent as it was happening...

another hour and a half of my time working for brighthouse and i am paying them to work for them... i was working for myself on the net juggling a lot of tabs searching for tires and blogging and the modem decided to stop, blink, just stop... i rebooted four times and nothing... next came shutting down the computer and it took a half hour to save all the work i was in the middle of, but i saved everything and shut down the computer... turned it on, no change... local service only... we've been here before a few times and it ended up with blaming my computer and then service calls and then changing out the modem... i hope this isn't the start of yet another time consuming no-service cycle as i need to stay connected to continue job hunting...

i called brighthouse and was on hold a half hour listening to how easy it is to resolve modem issues by rebooting the modem... reboot, no change... reboot the modem again... no change... again, no change... reboot the computer again, no change...

after about an hour of rebooting the modem and the computer, suddenly there is a connection again... i was still on hold with brighthouse listening to the repetitive messages, so i hung up... thanks for the crappy service once again, brighthouse...

yeah, i know a brighthouse representative left a message here last month offering to help, but there comes a time after speaking with a dozen different representatives and having a half dozen house calls over a couple of months that i run out of patience and more, i run out of belief that the brighthouse reps can fix the problem and need to take a break...

the tv cable box still sucks too, but at least it's been working adequately most nights... sometimes it just starts blanking out every fifteen seconds or so and sometimes it works ok... sometimes the sound works when the box and tv go on, sometimes it doesn't... the channel needs to be changed to get the sound to work and that works about 75% of the time... the box needs rebooting at least once a week... it's a shame that i've gotten used to such poor service...

and the long term damage that i am going to have to remedy is that the box is definitely the wrong box for a plasma tv because the box does not resize the images like the other box does (a difference in software i am told, but can i believe the techs?) so some burning in of the images on the plasma screen has started... i just have not had the patience to call and set up yet another service call to change boxes again because this box at least works about 60-70% of the time and the last few boxes have not been nearly as mediocre ( in other words, they worked worse)...

one of these days i will just have to make the time to research the alternatives, direct tv, dish, u-verse, century link... friends have those others services and most seem to like them... there are drawbacks to all of them, but brighthouse is just becoming intolerable and they are the highest price service of them all...

i am so tired of wasting my time with them...

UPDATE 3:15AM... and about ten minutes later... this entry was uploaded and the brighthouse service went out again so i called brighthouse back... good news, this time i was actually connected to a tech support rep after about five minutes... this time the modem reset itself, all lights blinking off and then back on just before the rep came on the line... i shut down the computer again and when i turned it back on, it was connected again... the rep put me on hold and returned a few minutes later informing me that the tests he ran showed the modem was shutting down on it's own... well at least they see that on their end... now i am waiting for a level 1 support tech troubleshoot the problem... i hold we don't have to go to yet another visit from brighthouse to exchange modems again...

oh crap, i am listening to the annoying modem reset message again... i hope this does not mean i was reset in the queue and have an hour wait like last time... the more i listen to that stupid unplug your modem message, the more i want to hang up and unplug from brighthouse for good... i will be back later with an update...

UPDATE 3:34AM: waiting for the level 1 tech... they finally came on after 20 minutes and gave me the there is an outage in your area and technicians are working on it line... i had to wait 20 more minutes and give my telephone number and identification information and explain the problem again just to get that standard line... the previous tech could not say that... this tech chould not just say that without my repeating the ID info and problem again... they just wasted another half hour of my time... what is wrong with that picture?...

brighthouse - still poor equipment, poor technical service, and poor customer service... at least they are consistent...

cable services

maybe it's not as bad as brighthouse sucks, but maybe... three or four services calls in the past two weeks and still not right...

so the cable guy finally showed up and after asking what's wrong (why do i call in a service request giving details of what's wrong if the request is not documented for the tech?) and he played with the box a bit (my request was a replacement box due to the box repeatedly freezing)... he came and went twice bringing in two other replacement boxes until one seemed to work... jackson had to all him back in from his truck cuz the HD aspect ratio was off and he explained that the samsung software accounted for that but the sysco software did not and they've been having a lot of problems with the samsung box... so ok, i said i'd explore the features and he said call us anytime...

every cable guy has different answers and excuses and none have been proven right... worse yet, each cable guy set the features, remote, resolution, aspect ratio, and so on differently... they do not seem to know the best settings for a given HD tv... poor training, poor knowledge, poor service...

and i discover that this latest box (maybe the seventh or eight box this year) apparently does not convert to a 1080 signal so the max resolution is 720 and that is a downgrade from the previous box... yeah, it froze, but i want 1080 resolution (why buy a tv if you can't use the features, right?)... so i went online and wrote brighthouse support by email instead of calling... i am tired of calling... definitely not a satisfied customer...

they did give me the second discount for this year so the recognize the shoddy service, but saving $37 bucks is not fixing the problem... so the continuing saga of poor cable service drums up this meaningless complaint...