NYC Monopolies

One thing I've hated about moving to the city is the choice of 2 things, #1 the cable company and #2 the phone company.

Time Warner is pretty much the only option I have as far as Cable TV goes. I see now why some people venture into satellite tv, if only to not give Time Warner any more money. In Westchester, I had Cablevision and they were great. I could buy "basic" cable and watch tv anywhere in my house where I had a tv. Here, you need a digital decoder box, so basically I can only watch tv in my living room. In my bedroom I can either spend another $5 a month for another box, or I can watch the prime time channels (2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11) TBS and the Food Network, that's it (why I also get TBS and Food Channel? I have no idea). So everynight, the Iron Chef's serenade me to sleep. The internet sucks, as they keep changing the IP address forcing me to constantly reset my router. This is because they want me to buy their router and wi-fi service, rather then setup my own. I have my own digital video recorder on my laptop (basically a Tivo), only it doesn't work here, as I have to manual change the channel on the decoder box. Again, because TWC would rather you subscribe to their DVR service. Fuck you Time Warner.

Verizon is a nickle and diming, blood sucking, corporate vampire. They will do anything to woo over a new customer, but once you're on their service that's it, they are sucking you for what your worth. "but they have great customer service" is what most people will say. What that means is that they are really polite and smile alot as they fuck you in the ass. Hand over the vaseline please. Some examples you may not even realize - If you have a phone or a device that supports bluetooth (wireless technology in newer devices), you're supposed to be able to take pictures on your phone then use the bluetooth to transfer them to your computer. Verizon has 'crippled' the bluetooth on all their phones, making you use their service to transfer pics (charging 25cents a pic). Music is the same way, think about it, itunes charges you $1 per song. Now they have these new phones that support music, but Verizon charges you $2.50 a song! Also, I pay for the internet on my cellphone, so I should be able to use my cellphone as a modem and access the internet with my laptop hooked up to my cellphone, but again no can do with verizon. Maybe I'll switch to T-mobile (once my 2 year contract finally expires), after all Katherine Zeta-Jones is much easier on the eyes then that "can you hear me now" dude.