The irritating Internet speed throttling

I pay Time Warner for 300 MBPs  Internet speed.

I rarely if at all get that kind of speed from them.

And my WiFi gets even less.

So I make the call.

The tech goes through his standard written response and then implies that it is on my side of things.

To which I then tell him to unthrottle my connection and quit traffic shaping me.

Then after a bit more back and forth dialoging my connection mysteriously goes over the 300MBPs level.

There are speed test on the internet, but most of them are not realistic.

There is one test that can tell if your internet is being subjected to traffic shaping as it is called in the industry.

 http://www.measurementlab.net/

Vikas Bajaj writes in the NYT that the results are in and the American Customer Satisfaction Index shows that customer satisfaction with cable TV, Internet and phone service providers have declined to a seven-year low.

 Of the 43 industries on which the survey solicits opinions, TV and Internet companies tied for last place in customer satisfaction.

 "Internet and TV have always been among the lowest scoring," says David VanAmburg, director of the Index.

 "But this year they're at the very bottom." 

The study, which is based on more than 14,000 consumer surveys, gives companies a rating from 0 to 100. The ACSI reports huge drops in customer satisfaction for Comcast and Time Warner Cable, following their failed merger. 

Already one of the lowest-scoring companies in the ACSI, Comcast sheds 10 percent to a customer satisfaction score of 54. Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable earns the distinction as least-satisfying company in the Index after falling 9 percent to 51.Already one of the lowest-scoring companies in the ACSI, Comcast sheds 10 percent to a customer

 Joining Time Warner Cable in the basement is ACSI newcomer Mediacom Communications (51), which serves smaller markets in the Midwest and South. 

"Customer service in these industries has long been bad," says VanAmburg of Internet and TV providers. 

"They don't have a good business model for handling inquiries with efficiency and respect. It goes back a decade plus."

Even though those complaints are longstanding, customer frustration has risen along with the ever-rising prices. 

"You compound all that with the prices customers are paying, and that's the final straw," says VanAmburg. 

"They're opening bills each month and saying 'I'm paying how much?'" 

In an age of over-the-top viewing options like Hulu and Netflix, customer dissatisfaction may increasingly translate to companies' bottom lines.

 "There was a time when pay TV could get away with discontented users without being penalized by revenue losses from defecting customers," says Claes Fornell, chairman and founder of the Index. "But those days are over."

Cut the cord!

Figure it out here.