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| Screen shot of Time Warner KC “promotional” rates on 10.28.2015 |
We finally got our chance to ditch Time Warner, in favor of Google, and are so happy to finally be out from underneath their heel. I must admit that the speed Time Warner provided near the end was quite sufficient for our needs, but it was the long-term relationship with the firm that caused the irreconcilable differences.
I wish I had kept a log the entire 20 years or so, having been a customer with them since the introduction of broadband. The most recent example occurred when just a few months ago our bill increased yet again, with them citing “the end of a promotion.” That in itself is not uncommon or terrible. However, this sort of activity had been going on for the entire length of our experience with them. They always provided a bit different “promotion,” of course. Sometimes, it was better. More often than not, we ended up paying more. One can never really get a straight answer out of them about their actual rates, either.
Working with their representative at the time of this recent example, we negotiated another “promotion” to the Ultimate 300 package. She was actually a bit rude about it, when we expressed that it did not really matter, since we were going to switch Google as soon as they came to install sometime in March. Overall though, it was good speed and fairly consistent; that is, if it were not for the other set of usual problems with them and their service.
Already a concern, we were only averaging of 10 Mbps download speed. After the upgrade, we were supposed to be getting up to 300 Mbps. Contacting them again, apparently we did not have the right modem. They shipped a new modem, and we were getting close finally at 100 Mbps. Again, we contacted them. It seems they forgot to pair up the service with what we were paying for. They did whatever magic they do on their end, and we were instantly over 200 Mbps. We only broke that barrier a few times though (see table below).
With Time Warner, it was always this way. On top of all of that, the in between periods were filled with generally poor customer service. They did start to get their act together in the last six months. Customer service and the reliability of their service started to improve. It was too little, too late, for us though. When Google contacted us to install Fiber, we nearly threw a party.
So far, Google Fiber has been fantastic. On install, we clocked at 984 Mbps, and we continue to hover between 900 and 1000 on every check. Time will tell though. It is the ultimate test. Will Google become that same demon? Let’s hope not.
