San Marcos Internet and Cable Users Forced to Keep Calm and Carry On

by Chauntel Seminerio

 

San Marcos residents are fed up with throttling bandwidths, service outages, and private contracts, inclusive only to Time Warner Cable and CenturyLink, keeping Grande Communications out of the area.

 

“CenturyLink is the only option where I live and have definitely noticed the speed drop significantly in the last month or two. I used to be able to watch streams on twitch.tv or source quality with no problems, and recently I can’t even watch on medium or low quality because it stops to buffer every 20 seconds; which is frustrating and even YouTube videos have to be paused to buffer before watching. Download times are ridiculous I can’t understand why anyone would have CenturyLink unless it is the only option.” -San Marcos Reddit Reviewer

 

Depending on where you live in San Marcos you are either a Time Warner Cable subscriber or a CenturyLink customer, with very few lucky locals privy to Grande’s products and services.

 

Time Warner’s internet packages promise ranges of 100 Mbps (Mega-bits-per-second) to 300 Mbps with the average customer receiving speed test results from 30-40 Mbps.

 

CenturyLink internet advertises 10- 100 Mbps. Open forum review sites such as Yelp and even Reddit, are riddled with frustrated and fed up customers for both providers, reading only one clear favorite.

 

The increasing need for speed and connectivity is driving high-speed internet growth nationwide. The higher penetration of smartphones and use of multiple devices are also aiding overall growth standards.

 

The general consensus is San Martians are waiting for Grande Communications to be an option for their home internet and cable service provider, as Google Fiber may be available in select areas of Austin now, with nowhere between Austin and San Antonio listed on their expansion plans.

 

 “I switched from TWC to Grande. TWC straight lied to us about our internet service. We were told that we were getting 50mbps download speed for $75. When we tried to cancel, because of constant lag/buffer issues, we found out that we were only getting 25mbps. Then they tried to get us to upgrade to 50mbps for an additional $25! Screw that! We finally switched to Grande and it’s been great ever since. Customer service is fantastic. I’m getting 75mbps for $54! Much cheaper, I don’t lag/buffer, and they’re super nice. Also, they’re in the process of providing 1gbps (or 1000mbps) download speeds. They already have it set up in Austin and Buda. Anyways, make the switch! Grande is awesome.” -San Marcos Reddit Review

 

Speaking of cheaper… Time Warner Cable, AT&T and DirecTV are among the providers bumping up prices this month, citing increased programming costs and expensive technology upgrades. The price increases vary by provider and service plans but could add a few dollars – or more – to many monthly cable and Internet bills.

 

Starting Jan. 16, Time Warner Cable is raising two surcharges that it adds to bills. The broadcast TV fee will increase $1 to $3.75 per month, and the sports programming surcharge goes up $2.25 to $5 per month.

 

In addition, customers who lease cable modems from the company will see the price increase $2 to $10 per month. Customers can avoid this fee by buying their own modem and routers.

 

The only catch to buying your own modem is hearing Time Warner customer service place blame for any service failure or poor performance on your personal modem instead of using prescribed equipment.

 

In addition to internet demands, cable providers have seen a substantial increase of customers abandoning traditional TV services for less expensive streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. This trend has aided in price increases for everything, from your DVR to DTA boxes.

 

Furthermore, whether Google Fiber poses a direct threat as a competitor in any particular area, it certainly does on Wall Street, thus contributing to industry wide upcharging.

 

“Cable providers have a big threat, and they’re not handling it well by raising prices, because that will chase more customers away,” said industry analyst Jeff Kagan.

 

Grande informed its customers of increases similar to its competitors Time Warner Cable and CenturyLink, and yet there are no complaints found on public forums due to customer satisfaction ratings.

 

You get what you pay for, seems to apply.

 

“Short version: Grande is WAY better. Like being on hold?  Like getting far below what you pay for even premium internet speeds?  Use the many internet testing services to make sure you’re getting full speed. Admittedly, sometimes internet speeds can be caused by issues with old wires, individual users misbehaving, and other problems, but that doesn’t absolve Time Warner.  Strong, survivable networks can handle those issues and TWC should invest in its infrastructure and clear that up.  And sitting on hold for 30-60 minutes during non-peak times is absolutely inexcusable.”- W F. Yelp Reviewer

 

“I’ve been on the phone with Time Warner customer service for 2 days and no one can get my internet to work.” – Amelia R. Yelp Reviewer

 

With limited options between cable and internet providers, on top of slow performance speeds and connectivity issues, complied by 2016 industry wide price increses, San Martians are forced to Keep Calm and Carry On as best they can while yelling at the buffering symbols on their screens and pulling their hair out on hold with customer service reps.