I thought monopolies were illegal in the US...

[KBlair]

...Apparently not.

My current ISP, Armstrong, has been servicing me since early 2005. I have been nothing but thrilled with them during that time (2005). However, 2006 and beyond, the service turned sour.

I used to ping 50 to Dallas from PA, which was fabulous. However, it has been increasing to ping such as 100. I thought this was a temporary thing, so I shrugged it off. It wasn't temporary.

Pings have been getting out of hand. Now everything in Dallas is 170+. Dial up ping, and I can have that for 4x less.

I call Comcast, thinking I can switch my ISP to a reliable company like them, but they tell me since Armstrong services here, that they can't do anything.

Ok, what about DSL? Well, after some searching, I found out a state law was passed that DSL would be outlawed in PA until 2011. Thanks a lot Santorum...

So pretty much what I have here is a Grade A monopoly. I tried talking it out with tech support, but they basically said that since I live so far away from the main hop center, my ping isn't going to get better, and to continue using their fabulous services.

I filed a complaint to the BBB, but I doubt it'll do anything.

Anybody else have a similar story?

 

[zmatt]

well not about anything local, but anyone look at AT&T lately? they are buying up smaller companies left and right and now they even have cingular. hopefully they will break it up before it gets ugly.

 

[TheEnd187]

you can get satellite internet but it's slow and cost a lot of $, still an option if you really hate that company. Also america is full and was uilt on monopolies, just look at mocroshaft

 

[Greg]

Psht, Comcast... Talk about a monopoly...

 

[superdave1984]

well not about anything local, but anyone look at AT&T lately? they are buying up smaller companies left and right and now they even have cingular. hopefully they will break it up before it gets ugly.

Remember a while back AT&T wanted to buy Cingular but it got rejected because of the wireless competition. Something about you can't buy out a competitor that is competing with one facet of your business or something. But you can buy a PART of said competitor. So Cingular buys AT&T's wireless then lo and behold AT&T buys Cingular. Yeah sounds fishy to me....

 

[KBlair]

The guy who was supposed to check the quality of the cables came over today, and I am 100% sure he had no idea what he was talking about.

After he checked the cables with an electronic tool that miraculously needs no buttons to be pressed, he said that since my hard drive is full of programs, the internet is slow. That's right, my Core 2 Duo E6600 with 2GB of RAM (reformatted last week), my Core Duo laptop with 512MB of RAM, and my XBox are all too slow for the internet. He said I should go into msconfig and remove startup programs, and that I should also delete programs from my hard drives.

When I pulled the BS card, and started talking about networks like SprintLink (My ISP's main backbone) and hops, he backed away, made an excuse for leaving, and drove off on his marry way.

At this point I can only pray an alternative comes along.

 

[Oreo]

You have anything like Tradeing Standards over there ??... Theyve been brilliant for me in the UK... They ALWAYS have got good results for me. If i beleive a service isnt as good as what it claims, i tell them, they got told off , i get the service i want. (I actually got a load of diggers and builders down my road sorting a problem out , specially for me , absolutely free .

Anyway my point is if you have anything like that use them, theyre usually great and will get y ou what you want.

 

[Oreo]

The guy who was supposed to check the quality of the cables came over today, and I am 100% sure he had no idea what he was talking about.

After he checked the cables with an electronic tool that miraculously needs no buttons to be pressed, he said that since my hard drive is full of programs, the internet is slow. That's right, my Core 2 Duo E6600 with 2GB of RAM (reformatted last week), my Core Duo laptop with 512MB of RAM, and my XBox are all too slow for the internet. He said I should go into msconfig and remove startup programs, and that I should also delete programs from my hard drives.

When I pulled the BS card, and started talking about networks like SprintLink (My ISP's main backbone) and hops, he backed away, made an excuse for leaving, and drove off on his marry way.

At this point I can only pray an alternative comes along.

ROFL !. Thats a load of rubbish. I get told that over here by 'Certain' companies AKA BT, They checked my line, told me the line fault was causes by SKY TV (WTF) And if i removed it from the premises (thats right, out of my house) my internet would return to its full glory. They didnt even know if i had sky TV...

Dont listen to them, just do ur own research, with another company, and then shove evidence in there face.

 

[funkywaggnelz]

Ok, what about DSL? Well, after some searching, I found out a state law was passed that DSL would be outlawed in PA until 2011. Thanks a lot Santorum...

Er, I live in PA and DSL is definitely not outlawed... considering thats what I use...

 

[Ste]

There are many many many many things/actions and doings that are illegal.

Doesn't mean they don't happen. Or that they will be imediately stoped when attention is brought upon it.