For months now...mainly since the transition to HD/Digital mandated by government and the television manufacturers association retirement fund...our nightly viewings of the local CBS affiliate from Lincoln have been an exercise in frustration at times.
It seems...more often than with the other local networks...the Demon Pixel Pixies come to life and dump their disruptive pixelation dust on our TV's. Last night the screen pixelated then went black on all our sets with only audio...the straw that broke the camel's back. When this first began I thought the problem was mine...had the cable guys out...they checked the signal...upgraded what needed upgraded to where our home was "optimally tweeked" to receive a good signal.
I called our provider the Evil Charter Communications and got nowhere with a nice lady but did find out that this was a "network problem"...not theirs...where have I heard that line before? Obviously I have not been the only one that has complained. I then asked to speak to a supervisor or maybe even the corporate President. She said the highest I could go up in the Charter phone tree was her supervisor...too bad the CP doesn't take calls.
Joe said he would notify the network and gave me a ticket number and said that the problem will be investigated and repaired within 24 to 48 hours. I am visualizing Ken Siemek with his electronic analyzer looking for bugs in his weather machine right now.
4 comments:
Good afternoon my name is Robert I work in the social media department with Charter Communications.
I do apologize about the problem you are having and we would like to help.
Please email us at umatter2charter@chartercom.com with your issue along with your account information (acct #, telephone and address) we will escalate this immediately.
Please include in the title of your email the link from blog
Sure...
I will even include my social security number...all of my checking account numbers and investment information for verification. Just kidding Robert. I would much prefer Charter have people that fix problems rather than someone who trys to understand the social implicatons of why my television signal sucks. Maybe I can get you a copy of my last psych eval or Briggs-Myers.
Charter's tech just left...checked all the in-house...amplifier...cable types and connections...checked everything outside and finished with a signal check. His comment was everything works great and the installers that originally did the work last summer did an outstanding job. He was nice but didn't tell me anything I already knew.
He said it's 10/11...everyone is having problems with them. He did suggest adding a DVR...that it helps since it is HD. If it helps...Charter should throw it in instead of the giant digital box. The tech was top notch...too bad the rest of the company and 10/11 lag.
OOITT:
Charter is the devil ... pure digital satanism. I tied a rock on 'em over two years ago - called up the Dish/Direct TV folks and have never been sorry. Plus which I'm saving about 25% on my cable TV bill.
Charter brought me years of essentially uninterrupted viewing heartache ... when called, they would automatically blame everyone else, up to and including sunspots, UFO's, network signal providers and Al Quaeda.
Oh, and did I mention that their rates went up as often and as regularly as Bill Clinton's libido?
I got six words for you ... dump 'em, dump 'em, dump 'em.
UW
Unc...
I have been researching the alternatives...I upgraded a year ago and still have a year left on our "agreement" with Charter. I figure I will make the switch when the 46 inch HD goes up in the living room.
Speaking of which...I read an article yesterday that says only 33 to 50 percent of Americans have gone HD. I would have guessed the number was higher. It does make sense though...there are a lot of analog TV's out there that still have a lot of life left in them. No need to haul them off to the land fill yet.
We have a small HD in the kitchen but our family room set is about 15 years old and hasn't been used all that much in the last 10. We pretty much closed off the family room after our youngest went off to her freshman year at UNL and announced the following summer she wasn't coming back to Grand Island. I didn't think we were that bad of parents. Our son did the same thing so I guess she thought she should too. The set sits unused and in excellent shape.
For years there is a little stone cottage on the south side of Highway 30 west of Kearney near the 1733 that catches my attention. Everytime I drive by it I tell myself it would be the perfect retirement villa. I figure all a guy needs is a 19-inch black and white and a place to eat and sleep. To be honest I would probably swap the 19-inch for a good fishing pole.
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