Friday, February 28, 2014

Adventures in Cord Cutting























"Good afternoon, Time Warner Cable.  How can I provide you with excellent service today?"

"Hi, I'm looking into turning off the cable, but I'd like to keep the internet."

"I'd be happy to assist you with that today.  First, can you tell me a bit about your viewing habits?  What kinds of things do you enjoy watching?"

"Well, I really don't watch much TV at all."

"So, do you prefer news channels, like CNN, or sports programming?"

"I actually just don't find myself watching anything."

"OK, well what we could do is boost you to a new level with our premium packaging.  That would provide you with a month of free HBO, plus 50 extra channels.  That might give you more things to watch."

"No thanks, I'm really just interested in keeping the internet.  Is it possible to do that?"

"You can do that, yes."

"How much would that be?"

"You currently pay $120.  For internet only, you would pay $61.00 monthly."

"Is that the same internet, or is it slower?"

"It's the same.  Actually, what I can offer to you, for $70, is our new turbo-charged enhanced internet, and with that, you would get access to local channels too.  You will notice a significant upgrade in speed."

"OK, let's go with that.  How do we do that?"

"All you need to do is unplug your modem, then plug it back in.  You will then notice the speed increase.  We'll have to send someone out to trap the cable line outside, but you don't need to be home for that."

"Great, let's go ahead and do that."

You may wonder if the internet speed increased following this.  It actually became much slower.  But good enough.






Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Happy New Year Expiration Date


Yesterday, February 11, somebody I hadn't seen since sometime in 2013 wished me a "Happy New Year."  

This got me wondering just how long one can reasonably wish someone a Happy New Year.  

Certainly if you bumped into someone in July, you wouldn't be expected to do so.

I suppose the ultimate would be to wish someone Happy New Year, for the current year, at 11:55 on New Year's Eve.   Then, 6 minutes later, do it again.  

For now, I can say my personal record for someone wishing me a Happy New Year is early February.  Impressive!