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Bogus Consumer Group Hands Out iPods
If you help them bash the cable industry
by Karl Bode Friday 30-Dec-2005 tags: dsl · competition · business · cable
One of the bells' best weapons in both the war on cable and the war on public opinion is the use of front-groups. One of the more clever campaigns is by Consumers for Cable Choice, a bell funded group that has been handing out iPods to people who share their cable-related gripes via My Cable Nightmare, a website setup to slam the cable industry. Visitors to Consumers for Cable Choice probably aren't aware the group was launched thanks to a $75,000 startup grant from Verizon.

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wwdubbia

join:2002-06-03
Clinton, NY

1 edit

edit

capitalize 'Bell'. Better yet, use the acronym 'RBOC'... Regional Bell Operated Companies.

Geronimo
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Newark, DE

Re: edit

Kinda obvious some of these types hang out on out in our cable forums daily.
wethackrey

join:2001-09-30
Redondo Beach, CA
Well actually Verizon is neither a 'Bell" nor a "RBOC". They are the renamed GTE, which never was a Bell, baby or otherwise. GTE (nee General Telephone) was at one point the major competitor of Bell's.

aztecnology
O Rly?
Premium
join:2003-02-12
Murrieta, CA

Re: edit

said by wethackrey:

Well actually Verizon is neither a 'Bell" nor a "RBOC". They are the renamed GTE, which never was a Bell, baby or otherwise. GTE (nee General Telephone) was at one point the major competitor of Bell's.
Mostly wrong.

"Verizon Communications is a New York City-based local exchange telephone company formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic, a former Bell Operating Company, and GTE, which was the largest independent local-exchange telephone company in the U.S., with presence in most all of the continental United States and Hawaii. Prior to its transformation into Verizon, Bell Atlantic previously merged with another Bell Operating Company, NYNEX, in 1996".

»www.answers.com/topic/verizon-co···ations-1
--
.:|:.Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch it to be sure. .:|:.

elbm

join:2000-08-03
Reisterstown, MD

2 edits
EDIT- What he ^ said-- beat me to it by that much!

Verizon is a combination of Bell Atlantic, Nynex and GTE. BA bought Nynex and stayed named BA and then the new BA bought GTE and took on the new name of Verizon. So Verizon is very much a Bell or RBOC if you prefer.

voiplover
Premium
join:2004-05-28
Portsmouth, NH

Re: edit

Same - What ^He^ also.

Ty Auchter

@31.dynamic.de
When Verizon first started they were buying up all the small locally owned cell-phone services in my area. The lowest price tag was $1.5M -- not bad for the guys that started those business' considering it was the right time for them to get into and get out of it.

Linklist
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Longport, NJ
kudos:5

3 edits

Make up a good story and win an iPod

Hey, who cares who is giving them out. If you can make up a good enough tale of woe, you can get a free iPod. Besides who actually believes these web sites anyway. The only ones who will care are the cable companies, and their staffs and marketing budgets are big enough to counter the press from the telcos.

Anyway, all the front group is pushing for are state franchise laws so that national companies don't have to go town by town bribing local politicians in order to offer their TV service. They just want to bribe the politicians one time in each state.;)
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packetscan
Premium
join:2004-10-19
Bridgeport, CT

Re: Make up a good story and win an iPod

Sadly many will believe those sites.

Especially after the Tv and Print comes out.

We should seek legislation from disallowing this type of activity.

I fail to see how this will benefit the consumer.
--
This is the Curse of Being a college graduate.

sadowski
I Am My Own Doppelganger
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-14
Buffalo, NY

Re: Make up a good story and win an iPod

Sorry but consumer protections went out of fashion in the Reagan years. Next you'll start expecting the Fools and Drug Administration to start doing something too.

Welcome to Corporation America!
--
Air America Radio | The Brights | Left, Right & Center

packetscan
Premium
join:2004-10-19
Bridgeport, CT

Re: Make up a good story and win an iPod

That doesn't mean we can't demand them back from our representatives.
--
This is the Curse of Being a college graduate.

sadowski
I Am My Own Doppelganger
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-14
Buffalo, NY

So...

Yeah, so what? AdHELLphia was running the stupidest anti-DSL radio commercials here for ages. Lies and wild exaggerations.

RadioDoc
Yeah, like it matters.
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL
kudos:2
Reviews:
·AT&T Midwest

Re: So...

Comcast is still doing the same absurd radio and TV claims here.

About the only thing the FTC requires these days is that you not pull the trigger on the gun you shove down your customer's throats while you take their money. To hell with actually providing the product you advertise...
--
Toolmaster of La Grange.
moonpuppy

join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

Re: So...

I have Comcast. Where's my iPod?
shashinka

join:2000-09-16
West Boylston, MA

Re: So...

I think comcast is better than charter, yech, 4 of my family members have it but i am stuck with the other cable company, blech

guitarzan
Premium
join:2004-05-04
Skytop, PA
Radio Doc thank you for the laughs, Your extremely honest and truthful post provided.A round of applause and tip of the hat to you.

ProofPlease

@208.17.x.x

1 edit

Re: So...

Guitarzan, how about some examples of these ads? The only ones I've seen just say they are x times faster than DSL. How is that the same?

I see Verizon ads bashing cable all the time. Cable snake,cable pig...etc...etc. Verizon is like a mud-slinging politician around election time. Who's more desperate?

guitarzan
Premium
join:2004-05-04
Skytop, PA

Re: So...

said by ProofPlease :

Guitarzan, how about some examples of these ads? The only ones I've seen just say they are x times faster than DSL. How is that the same?

I see Verizon ads bashing cable all the time. Cable snake,cable pig...etc...etc. Verizon is like a mud-slinging politician around election time. Who's more desperate?
Both corporations like to bash each other, whenever the opportunity presents itself. What i found truthfully funny in Radio Docs reply is.
quote:
About the only thing the FTC requires these days is that you not pull the trigger on the gun you shove down your customer's throats while you take their money. To hell with actually providing the product you advertise...
That in general is the modious operandi of most corporations today.
--
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shashinka

join:2000-09-16
West Boylston, MA
Exactly has anyone heard the new Charter ads for the Digital phone service? Ridiculous. I can't believe they are selling phone service, they can't even get their HSI products stable and clean. They say goodbye unreliability, high prices, etc and say hello to reliability and low prices? First are they dumb enough to say that Verizon is unreliable and people should switch? They are charging $45 a month I think, expensive! Verizon now has a $35 package, vonage $25, sunrocket $17 a month!

MEvoipGeek

@rr.com

Not quite that simple...

Though I'm a user of voicepulse, I have to admit that for many the local cable company offered voip has the advantage of using "out of band" data transfer so it doesn't impact -- and isn't impacted by -- your neighborhood porn geek downloading every night.
Skyrunner8

join:2002-01-10
San Francisco, CA

I got a gripe..

I got a gripe, Where can i get my free iPod?
--
-Jeff
shapiro44

join:2004-03-01
Highland, NY

that story is true

That story is true. I wrote about it in this site
»[TWC] [TWC] wants wants to charge me $25,000 for RR
In fact, a person at this site, gave me advice
that got Cablevision interested in persuing a franchise
building in the Time Warner area
(which TWC deemed "unservicable"),
which worked, I eventually got Cablevision
(and high speed internet).
Go ahead. Search my DSL reports postings. They're all
stuck on dialup stories.

That thread was long closed. I open'd an update earlier
today at
»[TWC] TWC wanted to charge me $25,000 for cable-[UPDATE]

guitarzan
Premium
join:2004-05-04
Skytop, PA

Re: that story is true

shapiro44 I'm happy to hear you finally got broadband.

batageek
Slave To The Duopoly
Premium
join:2003-01-25

1 edit

B!tch Dog Returns?

Check this out...

Look who's a "Coalition Board Member"

»www.consumers4choice.org/site/Pa···dmembers

The infamous "b!tch dog" of Comcast

»Comcast Responds to 'Bitch Dog' Episode
or
»72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:mP2···an&hl=en

Do you think she realizes she's now someone else's b!tch?
--
»www.tricitybroadband.com
Slacker44

join:2001-05-10
Gilbert, AZ

Re: B!tch Dog Returns?

I don't understand how this is legal. And if it is legal it's a shame.

MrWhippit
You Big Dummy Gimmie Back My Bandwith
Premium
join:2002-04-04
Marlton, NJ
American Corn Growers Association??

Wow must be a slow season...
--
Its all BALL-BEARINGS these days!

Octopussy2
Premium
join:2003-03-30
Batavia, IL

Re: B!tch Dog Returns?

OMG!!! I can't believe no one else has caught on to this! The B!TCH DOG woman is on the board of the Consumers For Choice!? WOW!!!

I don't even know what to say. She is now being used by Verizon...She was being abused by Comcast before. Unreal.
--
It's muni-licious! »www.tricitybroadband.com

cob_
1310nm Of Goodness
Premium
join:2003-07-08
Tulsa, OK
The contact, Jim Conran (executive director of Consumers for Cable Choice) has a Googleable history:

»www.abanet.org/cpr/conran.html

Could be legit, but "executive director" isn't the top of the food chain. Would be interested in seeing a full disclosure of the executive org chart.
lawrence171
Evilly Yours - Evilness

join:2001-12-24
Canada

Well...

Well... as long as its against cable

ilikeme
I live in a van down by the river.
Premium
join:2002-08-27
Denton, TX
kudos:1

Cable is a Ripoff!

At our house we have Dish Network, but we decided to get my Grandma the standard analog cable package as a gift quite a few years ago. We would have got her satellite but we did not want her to have to deal with a box. We still pay her cable bill and over the past few years Time Warner has increased the rates enough to where it is now $50.00 a month. That is a ripoff. We pay about $56-60 for Dish Network and that includes 3 receivers, the AT120 package, and local channels. With our satellite it is also all digital. Cable is a ripoff around here.
--
Fiber Optics is the future of high-speed internet access. Stop by the BBR Fiber Optic Forum

Galler

@insightBB.com

Re: Cable is a Ripoff!

I quiet like my cable (insight), service is great (free install, free tech support), latency is good and downtime is around 1-2 hours every 6 months. Really the only that's changed is the speed which they up every now and then (for free), it started at 2mbit/128kbit and well

2005-12-30 21:39:50 EST: 3633 / 358
Your download speed : 3633 kbps or 454.2 KB/sec.
Your upload speed : 358 kbps or 44.8 KB/sec. (That's actually a little slow, I usually get 480KB/sec)

$45 a month, the only other option here is adsl which is $40 a month for 1mbit/128kbit with a $200 install fee and the router (that they force you to buy) has all the ports locked by default with no way to unlock any of them.

Guess it all depends on where you live.

packetscan
Premium
join:2004-10-19
Bridgeport, CT
Your going to be forced to a box soon..

Dumb then and get here a Sat Box

that's over 600 a year savings.
--
This is the Curse of Being a college graduate.

ilikeme
I live in a van down by the river.
Premium
join:2002-08-27
Denton, TX
kudos:1

Re: Cable is a Ripoff!

said by packetscan:

Your going to be forced to a box soon..

Dumb then and get here a Sat Box

that's over 600 a year savings.
I have heard about that and we probably will switch her then to Sat.
--
Fiber Optics is the future of high-speed internet access. Stop by the BBR Fiber Optic Forum
russotto

join:2000-10-05
West Orange, NJ

So, where's my iPod

If Verizon wants to give me an iPod to gripe about Comcast, I'd be glad to oblige. Same goes the other way around too.
extreme50
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

Custom engraved?

They should custom engrave each iPod with

"I'm a Verizon Whore!"

FWIW, I've got Comcast and the service is absolutely positively perfect!

cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27

Re: Custom engraved?

Don't you mean, "I'm a Comcast Whore!"


I have Comcast. I've been dealing with them to repair the poor internet service for the last 2 months. They have logs and several techs have been out to verify that , yep, there is a problem. Its outside my house. But they have yet to fix it.

Do they compensate me for my time off work? (We'll have someone there, on such-such date, between the hours of 9am and 5pm..) That's 8 hours by my clock. Give me a year's free cable for that waste of time if your tech is late or no show. And it's happened (Oh, gee, one free month...that is equal to one hour of my time). Even less if you count my consulting rates.

I'm getting 1Mb/s download and 356Kb/s up. Some days, I see 800Kb/s down! And no, there is no other user of my line. I even used BBR tools to find QoS of my system and speed tests.

Something is wrong outside, from the splitter (comcast installed) to their headend.

(Did I mention that this all started when Verizon contractor put in an interduct for a neighbor? I told this to Comcast but they just went hmmmm.)

Fios...1/10/06...
extreme50
Premium
join:2002-06-07
Coloma, MI

Re: Custom engraved?

said by cableties:

Don't you mean, "I'm a Comcast Whore!"
LOL! Sounds like your story is a good candidate for the Verizon prize.

WahhWahhh

@208.17.x.x
What are your signal levels? Usually if there is an issue outside it causes the modem to lose connection, not get slow speeds. Can you ping your IP from someone else's computer? Have you swapped the mdm? Tried another PC? I love people that think they are worth something. You want the service, you make the time. Simple as that. If you don't like it, Cancel.

cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27

Re: Custom engraved?

WTF?
First, I feel I have to respond to this (unregistered) WahhWahh. Likely a comcast troll. BTW, I'm pasting these texts together to get a free ipod Nano!

I've replaced my MDM with same model Motorola Surfboard. At my expense. And for docis upgrade. I am on third Moto Surfboard now. Has comcast offered to reimburse me when its NOT the MDM? (Comcast has what, five flavours of modems..mostly RCA junk? I recall my first MDM from Comcast was the RCA one that if you so much as breathed on it, it would power cycle. Nice...)

What part of "The technicians have a log of my valid issues.." didn't you understand? I've had 32-40dB range in SN ratio. My power level runs from -9dBmV to 6dBmV (down).
My up levels are anywhere from 40dBmV to 52dBmV.
My MDM logs have many issues with timeouts, sync timing, DHCP and unicast. Critical to Warning.

I have approximately 10 feet of NEW RG6 Quad Shielded coax, from Comcast, installed by Comcast into my home from their outside box. Connectors were "compressed on" not crimped, by the tech (who was also late by 2 hours...but apologized and got me comp'd free month of TV/service). Techs did sweeps twice at my home. From MDM, from splitter (outside box) and found issues outside. What part of OUTSIDE didn't you get?
(and the cable is buried..not on pole).

I've neighbors that have had lower channel problems with their digital comcast. This is indicative of a line problem as those channels are near freq of cable modem signal.

I've done a ping test from BBR.

You mean your time isn't worth anything? I have to reschedule appointments around for service I expect to get and have issues remediated that I pay for. If the service was free, I wouldn't complain. But since I spend $100/month for the same speeds a $19/month Dialup user gets..we have a problem. And time is money, you misunderstood troll. If I can support a client for $80/hr and have to waste an entire day (do the math) waiting for some tech that is late (and can't call the office to have them call me that they are behind because of some unforseen issue at previous scheduled customer) I should be compensated. It is my time. I pay for this service. I expect results. Thus, I am soon to be FIOS.

Thank you for your post, wahhwahhh. I enjoyed venting at your trolldom. Maybe if you spent your time doing the job right and not criticizing customers...

HardwareGeek

join:2003-11-15
Brooklyn, NY

I want an iPod

I just complained about my cable provider Now give me my iPod.

Why should sites like these be illegal, because their backed by Phone companies?

It's lobbying.
--
Email/MSN: Michael at hardwaregeeks.comAIM: MikeR35292

EL_TB

join:2003-05-03
Fairfax, VA

1 edit

Re: I want an iPod

Do you actually get one? If you do I wouldnt mind.

Actually I wish there was cable competition. Maybe then the prices wouldnt rise every year.

LeftOfSanity
People Suck.

join:2005-11-06
Dover, DE

Re: I want an iPod

Nice to know you can be bought out for $149. You must be proud.

DuhDuhDuh

@208.17.x.x
there is. Its called satellite.

Rogue Wolf
Really Ties The Room Together

join:2003-08-12
Troy, NY

Win a free iPod!

We want to hear the truth* from you!

*so long as it coincides with our marketing objectives

The real trouble here is that many people can't differentiate between legitimate complaint sites and telco/cableco/insertnamehereco marketing fronts. And what are the odds that the people who run this new site are going to fact-check the entries?
--
Non impediti ratione cogitationis.
Infinite77

join:2003-06-08
Newark, NJ

Re: Win a free iPod!

I'll give you the truth, I've had OOL for years now and it was always great. In the past there was nothing you could do to get me to switch but now, their speeds suck and I'm honestly considering vz is I can just get past the people who take the orders and don't have a clue.

machater

join:2003-04-30
Turlock, CA

But it's all true

Cable is horrible. They keep charging higher prices, their service gets worse monthly and they have a very apathetic approach to customer service. After 6 months of on again off again service with Charter for $60 a month, i switched to SBC and have the same speeds for $25 month. Plus DSL has lower latency.
--
Read the ENTIRE message before you spew troll slobber all over it!

Geronimo
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Newark, DE

1 edit

Re: But it's all true

keep it up hope you enjoy your new toy

»/postlist/8057···tart&p=1
hurfy
Premium
join:2002-08-06
Spokane, WA

The big question

Will the cable comapnies give me an iTunes credit for griping about the telcos?

Pianoman857

@71.225.x.x

Comcast

I have comcast.......can I have my free ipod now?

Anonymous_
Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1
kudos:2
Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable

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My Highest Overclock for dual core is 2.8GHz 280FSB HTT 1680FSB

lookunderneath

@nycmny.fios.verizon.

Play to the audience

Well, if you look underneath the covers, its a pure play to buy the hearts and minds of FIOS subscribers to encourage the roadblocks to deployment, franchise wrangling, and unfavorable pricing to disolve. Also poor resell agreements have Verizon competing at a relatively 'un-fair' balance, all other things being equal (which they are not, nowhere near equal)

Verizon is more an OMNIPRESENT BOC than an 'oldschool' RBOC.
With that being said, I'd like a free IPOD, but reality exists where Verzion will have a tough time convincing subscribers (which is really the most important once youre deployed in a town) to switch over video. Not sure a widget will help convince me (I happen to be on satellite w/ dtv). Some will make much light of the fact that POTS still costs too much, and they need to get their bundling 'house in order first'

In all reality, this is but one of the many tactics BOC's will take which amount to pot-shots from afar, and relatively undeployed in video sofar (and then, once deployed will take 8-10 years to manage reasonable marketshare)

statecop
Premium
join:2002-09-16
Heflin, AL

Free Ipod?

Hell I have been talking trash about charter here for free for years. Show me the IPOD I got them a story!
--
»www.SRTunderground.us

KungfuBeer

@adelphia.net

Re: Free Ipod?

I had DSL - thats why I went to cable. Can I still get an IPOD?

Brown2

@rr.com

If you read the site...

You would see that you only get a chance to win an iPod if you give a story. There is nothing on there that says everyone gets an iPod for sharing their story.

If your sucker and fall for it, then you know what? You deserve the spam that will follow. Lots of companies do this scam to get your email address and to prove they have a business relationship with you so they can communicate with you.

As for me, I will stick with my creative zen touch. And leave the spam for someone else.
soundbyte123

join:2005-11-07
Libertyville, IA

Re: If you read the site...

says i should be gettim my ipod in 3-4 weeks.i have directv.who cares.suckas!!

AssMole

@optonline.net
If its spam your worried about use a seperate "junk" email address to sign up for things like this. And as for the prizes, you're right. Not everyone who submits their story gets a prize. They award one per month based on the story with the most "votes" as stated in the terms:

11. Winner: The winner will be chosen based upon the highest number of votes they receive for their story during the month in which it was submitted.

returnoftheyeti

@mtmors01.mi.comcast.

Crappy service

As much as you all are bitching about customer service, here is my cable story..

Comcast has the routing table wrong at on of my customers sites. After talking to tech support for over an hour the 2nd level tech was convinced that I had the wrong DNS servers set up on my firewall. The problem is that the static IP that I have assigned to my firewall is not whats reported when I connect to another server. This causes all sorts of problems in regards to VPNs and web services. The only way I can see to get this resolved is to pay to have a tech come out and show him what the problem is. Absolutly a pain in the ass.
Richard09

join:2004-09-30
Washington, DC

2 edits

Re: Crappy service

I meant to respond to this here:

I can understand why some people might be suspicious, but since they're pretty upfront about their funding, it makes me a bit less skeptical. At least they're being honest about it.

I saw where their last cable nightmare contest winner was a
guy that dumped his telephone for cable service. I doubt if their funders totally ruled them he would have won the contest. It really seems like they have the best interests of the consumer in mind, with regards to increased competition.

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