"Customer Care" -- An Oxymoron to Cable Companies

Forrester Analyst Charlene Li recently posted about a customer support horror story -- she spend 9+ hours on the phone with TimeWarner Cable trying to get her shut-off internet service back on.

And the kicker -- TimeWarner announced that a merger might result in screwy service... via SNAIL MAIL.

I've had much less severe, but similarly disdainful experiences with Comcast over here on the East coast. Their service is sub par. I pay $100+ for internet and cable, but probably have internet service only 50% time. The other 50% I spend pillaging bandwidth from neighbors' wireless.

Hopefully Verizon will jump into the cable/home internet arena -- and healthy competition (as opposed to the near monopolization there is now) will result in some solid service follow-through.