I Thought my Internet Seemed to go Faster
I moved to a new neighborhod in Los Angeles in July, and my Time Warner cable Internet seemed significantly faster. Perhaps the wiring wasn’t as old as it was in my old place?
I measured it with dslreports.com, just to double check. Then, I stumbled upon this Wired article that explains cable companies are actually upgrading a lot of customers without any marketing materials attached–no 30 sec. spots or lots of banner ads–so not many people realized it.
Their plan was to offer additional speed upgrades, like 6Mbps down/1Mbps up became 12Mbps/2Mbps for the same price. An extra $10 would bring you to a 16Mbps/2Mbps tier, etc. Bad idea during a recession, guys. We appreciate you attempting to catch us up with the rest of Europe and Asia in terms of bandwidth, but don’t base your revenue on upselling anyone now.
I tested my Internet speed now and I got a 12Mbps/1Mbps, which is somewhere between tiers. My wiring in the new apartment is from the early 1960s, though. Now that I think about it, I do remember them offering to do something with my Internet last time they called. It also cost $10 a month. Now wait a second…
