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...

news and weather

i am beginning to feel enough dislike (i really hate the word hate ya know) the news and weather media in the usa... it is madness and so very unhealthy, which is why i stay away from watching or reading it quite often... the fear-driven culture we live in has produced a society of adrenaline junkies afraid of everything and worse, unable to think for themselves... a clear sign of a failing culture...

what brings this meaningless complaint out today is the tropical storm isaac reports that have been pounding into millions of people's heads over the past week, especially the last few days as the news people are begging for the national weather service to call this storm a hurricane (in fact, the weather people have mistakenly called it a hurricane more than a few times, on the weather channel no less, where they are supposed to know what they are doing - and don't they?... they know scaring people gets more people to watch and rating and selling products is their first priority, not protecting people or providing fair and accurate reporting of the news... journalism is such a dead profession these days in the usa)...

and after hours of telling us that the 11am national weather service report should upgrade the storm to a hurricane (note, that's an upgrade - sick) again and again and the disappointment was obvious in the reporters voices and words, even questioning the national weather service making statements like "it would have been better if they upgraded to a hurricane"...

how shameful greed is so acceptable...

how irresponsible fear-mongering is so acceptable...

everybody be afraid, stop thinking, just be afraid and above all else - keep watching the news because we have very important commercial messages you need to see between all the fear-mongering reports we repeat over and over...

how ignorant will this culture get before it collapses?...

did i just fear-monger?

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?

education in the USA

It is sad that leaders in the USA do not understand how important education to national security. Comparison scores declined for decades last century. Some improvement can be seen this century, but USA scores still fall shamefully behind other countries.

1995 results: "...tests showed U.S. fourth-graders performing poorly, middle school students worse. and high school students are unable to compete. By the same criteria used to say we were "average" in elementary school, "we appear to be "near the bottom" at the high school level. source

2003 comparison of more than 250,000 15-year old students from 41 countries. USA Ranks: Math: 27th, Reading: 18th, Science: 22nd. source

2010 Ranks show minor improvement, but when considering the wealth and resources available in the USA, these scores still show a sad disregard for education in the USA: Math: 25th, Reading: 14th, Science: 17th.
source

This does not address the unavailability of higher education for the majority of Americans who cannot afford $100,000+ for a basic college education and double that for an advanced degree. Government loans and long-term debt or bankruptcy is not the answer, but the only alternative for many young people.

Until Education is as high a priority as Defense, no amount of bombs/guns will protect us from the defenselessness of technological and intellectual inferiority.