Brian - Cable companies don't have to be monopolies. In our township,
the powers-that-be just negotiated a deal for a second cable company to
come in, as the current, one and only one, has been casuing some grief
with poor service and rising prices. The local township officials say
we are the 81st municipality in the US to have dual (or dueling)
cable companies offering service.
BTW, I have been on the phone many times with PECO, for over a
year now. Unlike some of the other commenters, PECO has the
equipment to localize the problems, and they have in my case - a batch
of bad insulators about 1/2 mile away. But, they can't get the crew out
to fix it. I am just about ready to call my state representative, who
has helped with another local ham with a line noise problem.
On 22 Jun 99,
Brian Smithson <brian_smithson@vds.com> wrote:
>
> I don't know if this applies to electric companies, but
> I found a new way to deal with a cable company's lack of
> response. I had cable installed a few houses ago in MI
> and since it was winter they left the cable laying on
> the ground from the pole to the house. They have me a
> copy of a 'pending' work order for them to come back in
> the spring to bury it. Spring came, no bury-dudes.
> Repeated calls to the cable company resulted in nothing.
> I even pointed out that it was time to mow, so they had
> better either bring a trencher or a splicer!
>
> I learned that cable companies are granted monopolies
> by the city that are periodically renewed (in my case
> it was 5-10 years). I called the city clerk who referred
> me to the city planning office. I explained my problem.
> Cable dudes were out the very next day.
>
> Is there any similar leverage to apply to power co's?
>
> -Brian n8wrl
>
> --
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>
--
Barry Kutner, W2UP Internet: w2up@mindspring.com
Newtown, PA Frankford Radio Club
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