Brighthouse Seems to be Clueless

[skottey]

Please re-read my post about what BHN does to add channels and why its just as easy as flipping a switch.

The technical problems are BHN's problems, not mine. If they have to run completely new cable, fiber to my house like FIOS, than they should do whatever it takes to upgrade their network. So what if it would cost millions to upgrade. They are spinning their wheels getting nowhere by not upgrading. All they have to say is "we are currently doing a major infrastructure overhaul and your neighborhood will be able to handle another 70 HD channels come Spring 2008." Oh great.. now we are getting somewhere. But their canned response on everything is that they "haven't heard anything" about anything!

Why does it matter? Because thousands of us are already planning to jump ship when FIOS becomes available. That could easily change for BHN if they start living up to our expectations. I have no love for FIOS, I just want who offers me the better content, and looking at the channel lineup for FIOS in neighboring Tampa leaves a lot to be desired with BHN.

As for Internet, I have a totally separate 15/2 business RR account that I will keep unless Verizon offers a better price with Static IP. But as an IT person serving business customers and residential customers locally, as well as an RR reseller, I am fully aware of the Verizon DSL problems locally and can only imagine that they are not resolved when carried over into the Fiber world. Roadrunner on the other hand has given me and my customers very few problems, so I stand behind them.



You have to understand that not everybody wants a triple play bundle. I have different needs for different areas of my life. That is why BHN's Pivot phone BS is so annoying to me. They are dumping time and effort into cellphones while their core business (television) goes down the pot. I think these companies are getting carried away with trying to be the one stop shop for all things phone, TV, Internet, cell phone, alarms, hookers, etc... BHN could do a lot better with television. How can you not agree on that statement?

[jcarrera]

I don't understand why you rant about BHN's HD coverage so much. If they are screwing up, mismanaging, and will go down the tubes, as you allege will happen--and I agree, why do you care? You obviously don't like them, and you have alternatives...Dish, DirectTV, OTA Broadcast, OTA Satellite, FIOS when it comes, etc.

The market will take care of BHN; either they will improve--or they won't and will suffer the consequences. They don't have a captive market any more, but haven't realized that yet.

[skottey]

I don't understand why you rant about BHN's HD coverage so much.

I enjoy being vocal about things that piss me off. This forum is a great place to vent my frustrations about BHN. I give them credit when they do something good, and bash them when they screw up. They haven't done anything good in a long time and it is annoying they are putting time and effort into Pivot. I just praised them in another thread for On Demand. If they added 10 new channels (not shopping or religion, Spanish, but good ones) tomorrow I'd be the first person to praise them. But months and years go by without any real changes. I enjoy calling them out on their missteps.

[stevenl]

Do you not read the things I write or just skim through? As stated BHN IS doing alot to upgrade the network and are working as fast as possible. The CSR does not know what we are doing, Because if they start telling you "It will be upgraded by spring" Then it doesnt happen till winter you will be pissed, So either way you will be mad, Just because the CSR says she/he does not know something doesn't mean something is not happening. THey just simply are not aware of what we do in the field day in and day out.

Dish can increase its capcity in a day by sending up a new bird. It takes YEARS to upgrade thousands of miles of cable. Just this first half of the year we added over 550 miles of plant to our system. It doesnt just magically go down. Not to mention permits and those types of issues, that are dealt with. A road bore in the city of ocoee (they are the worst) can take about 4 weeks! (the job itself takes about 2 hours) but getting the permit is about 4 weeks!

So to say BHN is doing nothing is just wrong. They are working as fast as they can with the circumstances they have to work in.

[skottey]

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So to say BHN is doing nothing is just wrong. They are working as fast as they can with the circumstances they have to work in.

haha... I love it. You are so defensive of your employer. I only wish I had employees as loyal as you. I work hard to screen my technicians and hire the most reliable and trustworthy but I have yet to find anybody as loyal to my company as you are to yours. They (BHN) are lucky to have you, honestly. I have to give you that. You stand behind BHN through the rise and the fall (falling as of late). You are the kind of employee we business owners often only dream of. Keep up the good work company man. I'm serious.

[stevenl]

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ADVERTISING BOX

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Thanks for the kind words. But it has nothing to do with "being a company man" Its the truth, if people could only see what really goes on day to day to keep this machine we call a cable system operating youd be very surprised.

I know how dedicated the company appears to be to their employees, and any company who devotes as much time and offers their employees such wonderful benefits without being forced to by some union, if their willing to do that to their employees its a wonder what they are willing to do to their customers. We are constantly changing things adding new things to improve customer experience. I see the projects daily that we are doing to work on stabilizing the plant, and making it more efficient. And as I said just because we are not announcing things does not mean we are not working on things. The majority of work done to the cable plant goes unnoticed, because its usually seamless. We fix a majority of your problems before you know your having a problem. We constantly are upgrading and improving the system to make it better. Roadrunners speed was increased like 3 times in one year with NO cost increase. Their were 40 on-demand channels added, and several other regular channels added just a year ago, with no increase (other then the normal yearly ones). After the hurricanes, Bellsouth(att), Sprint(embarq) Progress energy, Florida power, and OUC all charged customers a surcharge "Hurricane recovery fee" I think one of those companies still charges it, to make up for all the money the companies lost because of the storms. Not only did BHN Not charge any such item, they also FROZE the annual increase for an extra 6 months, to keep our rates stable for our customers. This company may seem like a giant monster, but be it TimeWarner, Cable vision, TVC, or now brighthouse no matter what flag we are under we are still the same group of cable dogs we were 20 years ago when we had a 10 channel network, to the 40channels with the slide boxs, to the nowover 300 channels.