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Have a question for Time Warner Cable?
October 23rd, 2009, 8:26 am · 147 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
Many of us have a love-hate relationship with the cable TV provider. Sometimes, it’s just due to a lack of communication. Here’s your chance to get questions answered by Time Warner Cable.
I’ll be meeting with the top brass of the company’s Orange County and Los Angeles regions — Debi Picciolo, president of residential services for the West Region, and Clarence Caldwell, president of network operations and engineering – in November. It’s an opportunity for me and readers to get some unresolved questions answered. A few for starters:
- When, if ever, will we see a la carte cable TV service?
- When will we get that multi-room DVR?
- And why does cable service cost so darn much?
Time Warner is willing to hear all questions readers have, so I’m offering you a chance to ask. Simply leave a comment below. That way, others can see what’s been asked and/or offer their own 2 cents on the topic. The company has promised to work with me to get questions answered so let’s give them some good ones.
I’ll be collecting questions until Nov. 2. Of course, if you leave one after this deadline, I’ll still try to get it answered at some point.
The 10 most recent Time Warner stories:
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When are you going to add the Mountain West Conference Channel (MWC)?
Thank you for posting this!! Cox carries the Mountain why does TWC not???
I have gone around and around with your people and to no avail when I e-mail them they just go around my question but no honest answer we have had nothing but trouble in this neighborhood be ause every thing is underground and old. when it was only cable it could handle it but now that there is phone and internet and it is not able to handle. our cable is always breaking up sometimes the voice goes just a real pain and my internet cuts off if i am not using it then the phone sometimes acts like a cell and i loose my party. this is very upsetting when the bill is going up. all they want to do is send a man out i have had them here time and time again they have gone thru my house checked all the wiring changed the box 3 or 4 times and never found anything wrong here. a lot of my neighbors have left time warner and i guess you don’t seen to care that much thats the message i get. i would like to know if it will ever get better or do i have to find a new carrier
Why do other providers have HD versions of all of their movie channels (HBO, HBO signature, etc.) whereas only has HD version of one channel each of HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz?
Why do other providers (FIOS for example) supply twice as many HD channels as TW?
Since TW does not provide as many HD channels as other providers, shouldn’t TW rates be lower to take this fact into account?
One answer: Time Warner’s cable pipes have room for a limited number of TV channels and my assumption is that Time Warner is at its max (Cox OC has told me it is maxed out). A few solutions: Cut out all analog channels and roll out switched digital video technology. The latter would take existing channels and turn them into on-demand only. That opens up space in the pipe for more HD channels. … Now FiOS has a huge fiber-optic pipe going to a customer’s house. It too has limits but the company is nowhere near reaching that even while offering 130ish HD channels, 50 mbps Internet and all sorts of cool features. … On your last point, Time Warner is cheaper, albeit you get less for the money.
Why not have a channel listing the TV programs that are listed for the day and time; ie. a TV guide.
You mean like the TV Guide channel on channel 37?
It seems that I have the same problems as others. Mainly with the HD DVR. It continually messes up recordings, and sometime requires rebooting the entire system. This is not my cable box because I have been though, count ‘em, 3 boxes. Unfortunately, it is not consistent so I can never just pull it up and show somebody, but it randomly fast forwards 45 minutes. Here are my questions:
Is there a fix coming for HD DVR’s? It is obviously a common problem with the system. The system continually “stutters” when fast forwarding or rewinding.
I’ve had 2 shows recording at the same time, with another show scheduled to record after. If one of the first shows is scheduled 1 minute late, the show after does not get recorded. The cable box believes that 3 shows are recording at the same time, so it cancels one of the shows. TiVo is smart enough to not do this. It just starts the later show when the other 2 shows stop. Will the DVR ever be fixed to manage this simple task?
Same question as others, can we please get the NFL Network?
Also, and this is not really a question for Time Warner, but an observation that maybe someone can help me with. My wife and I live in an apartment that does not face the right way for satellite, so we are forced to get Time Warner. Doesn’t that constitute a monopoly? I have no other option then Time Warner. Since I have no option to choose my provider, isn’t that illegal?
For the record, I would choose ANYTHING other then Time Warner if I had a choice, but I don’t. I feel like I should have another option for cable/internet. I have had nothing but problems with Time Warner in the couple years we’ve lived here, and would love to have something else. I hate giving them my money every month for bad service.
Good questions.. Will ask!
Time-Warner has made a gradual and consistent effort to wipe out public access opportunties for citizens in its service areas. For example, Time-Warner used to provide periodic classes for people interested in learning how to produce public access programs. Today, those classes are no longer offered. Why so many obstacles to public access?
FYI: Time Warner has a bunch of stuff on demand (Channels 1000 to 1100). There’s some local community stuff, local news, etc. But it’s not very well organized and channels, especially the local ones, seem to come and go.
My questions for TM:
We recently asked for a second DVR and have learned that Time Warner has discontinued the MOXI box for this Motorola thing. I understand the MOXI box has had hardware issues but we love the MOXI box and its features. Any plans to bring back MOXI? Or at least give us a decent replacement box, the Motorola stinks! Also, we live in a 3 story condo, and have 2 computers on different levels so wireless isnt really an option. Even though we have purchased cable modems previously, I’ve been told by customer service (which have been very polite) its $39 per connection. So we are spending $78 a month just on cable internet, which is painful and makes searching for other options of service much more attractive. I don’t understand why TM cant work with us on the price point on this one. Perhaps offer a discount for multiple internet cable boxes?
wireless will work…i had my wireless router on the second floor and i set up another computer inside the garage and it is working flawlessly…
Yeah but thats only 2 floors. Want to go from the first floor to the third floor.
if you have a wireless g, it might not work but i don’t see any reason why…you probably need to upgrade to a wireless n router…
or you can have some electrician/phone technician to run the cat5 cable through the attic/wall all the way to 3rd floor. Just like how the phone line run to your 3rd floor. It cost you one time fee but save you in the long run.
When will Time Warner actually lower their costs, instead of adding more to the bundle to justify the high cost? They could get many more customers by being cheaper.
When will time warner catch up on providing more HD programming? Why does Time Warner’s equipment stink?
I am a former TWC customer and the two reasons I left TWC is because their service is problematic. I had issues with the picture getting blocky, sound skipping, and channels would freeze for hours on end. Of course that leads to my second problem with TWC. TWC has the worst customer service ever. Instead of listening to the customer’s problem and taking a proactive approach to problem solving they just give freebies and say the problem will be fixed sometime.
So my questions are
1) Will the service ever improve in quality and reliability?
2) Will the customer service ever improve and take a proactive problem solving approach instead of putting band-aids on all the problems the customers have?
Has TW ever considered ever venturing into providing internet services for cell phones?
Yes. In fact, Time Warner is about to launch 4G wireless data service in North Carolina on Dec. 1. Here’s the press release: TIME WARNER CABLE BRINGS 4G WIRELESS TO NORTH CAROLINA WITH FASTEST WIRELESS SPEEDS AVAILABLE.
I enjoy the feature of renting a movie through Time Cable as opposed to driving to Blockbuster to rent a movie. However, one of the cons of doing this is that I am not able to view the movie extras, bloopers, etc, that you would normally be able to view if you rent the actual DVD. Why is that so?
Will the price ever come down? I had TW for awhile but the price seemed to keep getting higher and higher so I changed to satelite which I am not crazy about either. I don’t know what to do, I cannot afford TW and I hate satelite, I hear this from other people also but it sounds like TW can afford to loose customers.
ABC on demand?When?
That’s probably up to Disney, which owns ABC.
Question:
- When can you offer what such a new upstart *FiOS* is offering in HD Channels, you have the bandwidth????
Question:
- Why do you rate your Road Runner at 5mbps, when 90% of people only get 3mbps MAX…? False advertisement, or do you over promise and under deliver?
Comment: I had the Turbo RR and maxed out at 10.5mbps down & 768kbps up, Yet you state it is 15/2? This was slower than a neighbors FiOS…? Time Warner Cable should have had many class action law suits, yet we all stick by them or forced to stick with this company who isn’t customer oriented. They focus on adding “TIERS” to your service rather than a amazing experience of HD quality boxes and picture.
Please get a confirmation of my first question, and if you can ask the second that would be great.
Why are we stuck paying for QVC & All the spanish channels we don’t
want !!!!!!!!
Agreed. The whole tier thing stinks. They put 1 good channel in with 30 ones I never watch but if I want that 1 channel I have to buy the tier.
Why are we subjected to 20 questions whenever we tried to cancel service yet you guys can’t even provide us an honest and thorough answer to just ONE question when we call you for customer support?
Good customer service. What few issues I’ve had have been resolved quickly. Happy custormer here………
Why can’t they charge on a per use basis. I’m certain the majority of the subscribers are working during the day, and yet we pay $160 a month for watching from let say 5pm to midnight.
TWC:
1) Why do your tech support call centers in the US & Canada have different access to customer accounts than the call centers in the Philippines (and elsewhere) it makes it very difficult to get transferred to a call center that can handle problems.
2) When TWC rolled out an update to your DVR service did you remove features from the guide? It is not possible to “flip” through the “favorites” without changing channels anymore.
3) The amount of information given about the shows has been significantly reduced. Why?
4) TWC supplies an anti-virus (CA) to its internet customers, but why is it not compatible with Vista?
5) Why does it take 2-3 days to get tech support from your anti-virus vender (CA)? It is very frustrating to wait for a call from them.
These are questions I have asked TWC, and not received an answer
Just read COX is aiming to get multi-room DVR service up in 2 months. Tell me you guys have similar plans and at no to low cost.
I have been a loyal customer, for many years. I don’t want a dish on my roof . My question is ” Why does the signal cut in and out during commercials, on the HD channels”? Altough I don’t watch them, I do find it irritating.
I was shocked by the amount of personal information the clerk who answered the phone had about us when I called Time Warner Cable. Why do you share the social security numbers of your customers with so many of your employees?
not happy with that lady in the diamond bar office…she is gestapo-like rude…by the way, your ad said home of the free hd…but why do i have to shell out an extra $5 for four hd channels…got a new modem which they said is a motorola…i could not find the name or the logo of motorola on the modem…let’s go for the tiered channels…we don’t need those channels where we could not understand what they are saying…
my bad…it’s not tiered but a la carte…
‘Free’ is obviously a marketing term. As long as you pay for the basic digital TV package of $50 or so a month, dozens of HD channels are included with that price — I just counted up 37. The $5/month HD tier has only 4 channels (whether that is worth the price is a personal opinion). … Maybe it’s not a Motorola. Any other brands on the modem? … A la carte is the big question of the decade, and tops on my list …
could not find one…it’s probably just a generic one…
maybe we should just be charged on an hourly basis…start charging by the time we turn on our box and stop it when we turn it off…
Let me just say, thank goodness for free TV sites like Hulu, which certainly kicked Time Warner into action.
Still waiting for an answer my e-mail, Debi
.
Something needs to be done about the rude, abusive “customer service” reps in Ontario. I am ready to switch to ATT-Uverse.
i have had a bad experience with this person named linda in the diamond bar office about two years ago…i made a complaint to tw about this…i went there about two months ago….and lo and behold, she’s still there wreaking havoc to tw customers…she is probably the one of the rudest person i had ever dealt with…we called tw to complain again and they recommended that we go to the brea office…thank god we did that…the person over there is great and a great asset to tw…but if linda is still at the diamond bar office, tw is just showing us customers the kind of company they are…rude!!! why, because they don’t listen to what their customers are saying…
I would like to know why Time Warner disables the ports (e-sata, firewire) on the DVR so we can’t connect an external hard drive and increase the storage beyond the 20 hours of HD programming the internal hard drive provides. DVR’s provided by the satelite companies allow this connection. I’m using the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HDC. Thank you ,RDL
Me too! Question is on my list!
Why are you guys so expensive!
I picked up a new Tru2Way Motorola box (DCX-3400) and it still has the crappy iGuide software TWC uses for its Motorola boxes.
My question is: since I have a Tru2Way Moto box, will TWC install Navigator or some other new guide that will give me Start Over and Caller ID on TV.
Also, when are we going to get BBC America HD and G4 HD like NYC subscribers do now?
And finally, will we get DOCSIS 3.0 here and some sort of uber-high-speed connection like TWC Wideband in Manhattan?
I picked up a new Tru2Way Motorola box (DCX-3400) and it still has the crappy iGuide software TWC uses for its Motorola boxes.
My question is: since I have a Tru2Way Moto box, will TWC install Navigator or some other new guide that will give me Start Over and Caller ID on TV.
Also, when are we going to get BBC America HD and G4 HD like NYC subscribers do now? Please correct me if I am wrong.
And finally, will we get DOCSIS 3.0 and some sort of uber-high-speed connection here in OC?
Yeah here’s my question for, probably the worst cable tv provider in existence, but my HD/DVR cancels my recordings ON ITS OWN which defeats the purpose of having a DVR. Gone through 3 boxes and they all do the same thing. I’ve had a tech out here once a week almost every week and not a single one of them knows what’s going on. The response I get every time is “we’ll look into it and get back with you” and I never get a call back. This has been going on for almost 2 months and I’m so unbelievably frustrated and I have no other options but TWC due to my location and lack of home ownership in order to install a satellite company. Is anyone else having similar problems or know what could be going on????
Will TWC ever offer the NFL Network?