Man arrested after police reponse to Charter cable TV building in Duluth
July 10, 2012 at 6:31 am in Duluth News Tribune
A man was taken into custody after a police response to the Charter Communications building at 640 Garfield Avenue in Duluth this morning. Continue Reading
LOL! That’s great. People start jonesing when they can get a decent internet signal. Don’t mess with a man’s internet.
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The picture raises the question of why we don’t let female soldiers into combat when our policewomen are on the front lines.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Cohabitation issues, extra-curricular (both legal & non) activities, plus physical demands, gender biases are just a few.
Don’t get me wrong, copping ain’t easy, but you get to go home at the end of your shift. You’re not stuck in a third world hell-hole for weeks on end getting funkier than James Brown. Remember too they’re also not humping 75, 100, 100+ pounds of equipment as well.
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I can’t remember her name right now, but she is a member of congress and she lost both legs and the use of one arm when her attack helicoptor was shot down in Iraq.
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I’m not sure of all the details but she does exist. I think she’s a lt. col.
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Probably the only way to get a decent response or price out of the charter monopoly.
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Why the thumbs down? What I’ve said is true, for each service Charter has, there are at least 2 competitors for it in this market. So calling a monopoly is simply a wrong use of the term.
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Chet, ch. 6 (KBJR) runs CBS, NBC,My 9 and I don’t know how many more they have control on. Why are they complaining about Charter dropping my 9 when you get get it free off-air?
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ok its an oligopoly but that works the same way as a monopoly, not enough competition to drive down prices and the few firms actually can engage in price fixing/gauging.
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It is just like any other city. You can only get cable service from only on company. Pretty much like you can only get water, gas, electricity from one company. Why don’t you complain about those real utilities and the monopolies they are.
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Duluth has Charter, Directv, Dish, and off air (antenna) Theres four choices.
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So, do the thumbs down mean that’s not the truth or you just don’t like me? I’m on pins and needles waiting for your reply.
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If you read the article you would know it was about internet service. DirectTV and Dish don’t do internet.
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Jim, then why are people talking about cable tv?
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Charter could give a better price if they didn’t send 2 or 3 offers to my mother every week. After about 3 years you’d think they’d get it shes not interested in Cable TV.
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Look at the picture. Those aren’t cops, they’re “the Cable Gals”…….just don’t be late on payin’ yer bill. (You ought to see their collection specialists)
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I am sure that these telecommunications companies have plans for these situations. He is not the first person that they have pissed off and pushed over the edge with crappy service.
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I wonder when he was going to do it?
I’ll bet he said it would be sometime between 8am and 8pm.
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C’mon, let the guy go, he’s Saari.
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He called them? I wonder why he didn’t just e-mail or facebook them? LOL
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Sadly, he’ll have better Internet service in prison.
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I wonder what number he had to press to talk to someone in management..
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Today on the news they reported a cable had been cut and internet service in Carlton co. was out. The next thing they said was if you wanted more info. about your internet service log on to their website.
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Cable TV in the twin cities has mediacom, charter, and Comcast. So yes, it is a monopoly, by definition.
Perhaps he should have tried to place the call from his charter phone…….it would have never got through, and would have saved him a lot of trouble.
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MediaCom, Charter and Comcast all serve separate zones in the Twins Cities DMA. They are not competeing for or serving the same households.
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No it not a monopoly. In Golden Valley, you might be able to only get Comcast. In Eagan, you might only be able to get Comcast. In Cloquet, you might only be able to get Mediacom. In only one market, you only get one cable provider, just like you only get one water provider, one gas provider, one electricity provider.
Again, where is your outrage about those utility monopolies, their rates, and their fees.
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The only difference between cable and sat is the way the signal gets to your tv. Either the signal comes over a wire or you got a dish on your house. They both get their feeds from orbiting sats.
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My cable does not go out during bad weather. My experience with dish is quite the opposite. So, there is a difference.
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You could drill your own well, you could go solar or get a generator, you could burn wood, coal, corn for heat, you could have a tank to store sewage and have it pumped. there are always options.
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Do you work for charter? I’ll blow up your…….Well nevermind.
Dish is not cable, neither are my rabbit ears.
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Why is dish and direct not cable? It offers the exact same networks as any cable company, in fact if you listen to their ads, they are better becasue they have more HD channels. So again, that does not fit the definition of a monopoly. If you are talking about phone or internet, there are many more options in Mpls than here in Duluth. You even have a city fed wifi that runs about $15 a month. Century Link offers phone and internet, TA offers phone and internet, Hughs, Wild Blue are also there. So, where’s the monopoly?
And as you said, you always have rabbit ears for free.
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DISH just announced they were dropping 15 of their more popular channels kind of like Charter drop all of their popular channels but I see they have put a whole group of spanish language channels, yes I know they aren’t including them in the basic pacakage (yet for a forced extra charge wether you want them or not-but that is coming)
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In the TC’s without cable there are Spanish channels. We can pick them up with an antenna. And to my surprise the stations come in clear with just rabbit ears. We are away from home right now and don’t have cable in our room.
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They use an unreliable satellite dish, not a fixed cable feed. Cable is flat out better that satellite here in Duluth where the wind blows and the snow accumulates.
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Why is dish not cable? Because it isn’t. It is a different method of delivery. When it snows really hard, my cable is unaffected. Duh
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So you’re saying that there is a difference in the quality of the service? Still, not a monopoly. Holiday may have a better pop and snack selection than SA and their gas may be 2 cents cheaper, but becasue there is a difference in the two choices doesn’t mean the better one has a monopoly. In fact, quite the opposite, if their services were exactly the same, they would be colluding to create a monopoly. Let’s say I think MN power is gouging me and I want to go to another company to get my electricity, but of course I can’t. That is a monopoly.
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Get a windmill for cryin’ out loud already.
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In Roseville, all 3 are available and competing. I think I would know, I lived there and switched carriers from Mediacom to Comcast.
Why is a taco not a cheeseburger? They both have beef and cheese.
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Can you please prove that?
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Anyways, it’s semantics anyways. The point is Charter sucks.
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Perfect, then don’t get it. Get the competition. Becasue there is some.
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So charter sucks, but I bet you still pay them for internet access.
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I don’t mind MP&L, but dealing with XCEL is like getting a tooth pulled.
And yes I have Charter TV & internet. Which is why I would love to do what this guy did.
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So, because you don’t like the service or fees a company charges, you would “love” to threaten the lives of the people who work there? Nice. If your frustration level is that high, just get a different provider. Seems kinda like a no brainer.
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If all you have for cable availability, there is a monopoly. I would complain to the city as often they need to approve licensing or allowances for such companies to operate in their city.
Sattelite availability is not the same at all. Cable companies offer faster speeds, more service (Phone/internet/tv all on the same line), site specific service (i.e. you aren’t sharing the signal with others along the path like you are with DSL) and more.
Furthermore, whether they are or not, they are allowed to offer service on a long term contract basis. Charter does this routinely. Saari could not just drop his service before the time ran up without paying a stiff penalty for doing so.
It would be interesting to hear more about the specifics of this as it moves through the courts. High interest I would suspect as SOOOOOOOO many Hate–absolutely Hate–Charters service!
Usually the local office staff are pretty good, but if you call for help you get someone with a strong accent well outside of our contintental borders reading from pre-defined menu they are incapable of getting out of. If you have already tried x y and z when you call they are incapable of helping you unless you try each one again while they are on the phone with you. They do not ever publish or allow local phone numbers. You can’t even walk into the local office with a problem anymore, they force you to call singapore or india or wherever the call center you happen to reach is located.
Their whole service business model is one designed to create angry, frustrated customers!
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What I don’t understand why how you can all complain about this monopoly. These monopolies exist in every town in the United States. Cable companies, Charter, Comcast, Mediacom, Time Warner, Bright House, only one of them is allowed to serve a single address. When I lived in Ohio, I only had Time Warner cable, than AT&T started offering their IPTV service, which is delivered via fiber. The end result is the same.
Tim, you are clumping too many things into one statement. If you are looking for television service, satellite is practically the same.
Contracts are offered to offset the costs of providing services. Direct TV, Dish Network, others also do this. You can pay 29.99 for 2 years, or pay 54.99 for however long you want to. Cell phone companies have been operating under this model for many many many years, where they charge you less for a phone, to lock you in for the two years, so they can recoup the cost of the device. Perhaps Mr. Saari should have read the contract before signing his life away and acting like a complete fool when the services rendered weren’t what he signed up for.
With so much hatred for Charter, I bet many of you still pay for it. When I have a service I hate, I do patronize that company. I had Charter for internet, and the service was solid, switched to Century Link, and the speeds were awful and inconsistent. I went back to Charter and have been satisfied. What do you people expect.
No, their whole business model is to make money; you know, capitalism, the supposed American way.
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Actually the prices for groups of channels are set by the owners of those channels. Viacom owns tvland and spike which are being dropped by Directv because of a price increase. There are many different owners of channels.I think it’s AMC was dropped by Dish but you can get it(AMC) on Directv. Then they (cable/sat co. replace those channels with crap channel so their ads are correct. 125 channels for yada yada. and on and on.
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Also with sat/cable, if those companys have an agreement to offer local channels you cannot purchase network tv such as ABC L.A. or NBC NEW YORK which I think would be interesting to check out their local news for contrast.
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Ness is right about Century Link. Enough said….the story is too long to tell. The flashbacks will keep me awake for days if I think about it.
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sorry not sure what happened–intended to write “if all you have for cable is Charter”
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This guy’s actions might give Charter a not so subtle hint…your customer service…well, cough, needs a little work.
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Ever talk to one of their reps in Asia..? Talked to one asked for English got Wisc, she called another companies rep a liar. Ended my days with them..
Terrorist threat, so broad based now if you fart in an elevator you could end up with swat team at your door. Freedom of speech is becoming a thing of the past in our police state.. 1984
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