Free cable is the ultimate aphrodisiac steven

I'm in upstate New York, too, but in a fairly dense area. When I moved into this apartment, I was shocked to find out that there was no coax. The building is 100 years old, but the apartments are recent. Fortunately, my landlady was great about it and there was a crew renovating the apartment downstairs, so the next day a drill bit comes up through my floor and suddenly, I have cable.

The moral of this story is that, regardless of density, you had better put this on your list of things to ask about before you sign your lease/mortgage.

In rural Massachusetts they use radio. Princeton put a transmitter on Wachusett Mountain.

It also could put Time Warner in a better competitive position when Verizon FiOS service does become available on Route 67.

It's not worth investing that much money on a single house. Let Verizon have the business.

dofus: "Internet service via satellite is impractical for complex reasons..."

Complex reasons? WTF? Unless you live at the bottom of a well, you're pretty much good to go anywhere.

Perhaps he thinks he has to launch his own satellite.

Have a neighbor who can get internet setup a couple Wireless access points as bridges, maybe use one in the middle to bridge the gap if needed, done! 2-3 households with Internet for the cost of one.

freewill: I'm in upstate New York, too, but in a fairly dense area. When I moved into this apartment, I was shocked to find out that there was no coax. The building is 100 years old, but the apartments are recent. Fortunately, my landlady was great about it and there was a crew renovating the apartment downstairs, so the next day a drill bit comes up through my floor and suddenly, I have cable.

Had almost the same scenario several years ago in Western Maryland. Except in that case, the local cable company happily sent an installer out to get everything set up free. It took him more than 2 hours, and he didn't even arrive there until after 5pm.

I guess they figured that maybe they'd recoup the costs of running a cable to a new customer over the course of my years of paying them. I guess Time-Warner's profit margins are so slim that they can't justify such expenses.

Ballston?

Heh heh.

Harv72b: Had almost the same scenario several years ago in Western Maryland. Except in that case, the local cable company happily sent an installer out to get everything set up free. It took him more than 2 hours, and he didn't even arrive there until after 5pm.

The issue here is that they have some rules about inside lines and outside lines on multi-unit buildings that prevent them from doing the work. It's the landlord's responsibility. If the construction crew hadn't had the ceiling open downstairs so that they could drop a line into the atrium wall, it would have been a much more disruptive project. (Of course, it'd be their own fault for not knowing that the apartment wasn't ready for cable.)

I guess they figured that maybe they'd recoup the costs of running a cable to a new customer over the course of my years of paying them. I guess Time-Warner's profit margins are so slim that they can't justify such expenses.

I think it's more that Time Warner is staffed entirely by sadistic misanthropes, though in this guy's case, I understand. If you were in a multi-unit, they probably figured the odds were high that they'd be getting paid almost every month, indefinitely. A rural home, it could be foreclosed on and empty for years, or sold to a family that doesn't need cable, and the level of effort to get it hooked up is much higher.

The only thing preventing me from telling Time Warner to come take the rest of their garbage out of my home (I already shut off the cable television and rely on an HTPC) is that Verizon would charge me a fee to set up DSL, and when I threatened Time Warner with Verizon's price, they matched the monthly rate for 12 months.

freewill: The moral of this story is that, regardless of density, you had better put this on your list of things to ask about before you sign your lease/mortgage.

I own a share in a house in the middle of nowhere that's being rented out. We made sure to mention internet availability in the ad.

Harv72b: I guess they figured that maybe they'd recoup the costs of running a cable to a new customer over the course of my years of paying them.

It's probably a regulatory requirement rather than a profitable investment. Left alone utilities would serve urban areas. State or local rules require them to use some profits from urban service to subsidize rural service.

In the other direction, Massachusetts requires rural car insurance to subsidize expensive car insurance. Because otherwise people wouldn't want to own cars in the city. Officially the state wants to discourage people from owning cars in the city, but the economic incentives are otherwise.

FTA: town officials told him there was nothing they could do to help as they negotiated a new franchise agreement with Time Warner.


THIS is the problem. Why does a town have a franchise agreement with Time Warner. Open the town up to new competition.