TW Cable promises new cheap, fast plans
Time Warner Cable, trying to answer improvements from competing services, has launched “SignatureHome,” a new bundle that delivers some pretty powerful features.
For $179.99 per month (plus tax) for the first 12 months, customers will get unlimited nationwide calling and voice mail, cable TV services plus a whole house DVR. The DVR will allow customers to record or watch a show in one room and finish in another. The base plan includes two HD DVRs, each one allowing you to store a massive 150 hours of HD content. You can record four HD shows at once using the two supplied HD DVRs. Add more and your recording options — and storage capacity — grow.
Of course, if you have more than two TVs, those extra boxes are $7.34 per box. More good news? The boxes appear to be higher quality than the standard issue TWC DVRs that have caused customers fits.
There’s even a feature that allows customers to go backwards on the guide for up to three days to see shows you missed. I had to read that one twice, and then I had to call.
But it’s true.
If it’s Thursday and you missed American Idol on Tuesday and forgot to tape it, well, just click back a few days on the guide, and boom, you’ve got Ryan Seacrest.
But the best feature here is TWC’s new “Wideband” internet that provides download speeds up to 50 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 5 megabits per second. That’s more than five times as fast as TWC’s current speed king, Road Runner With Turbo Boost. A quick check of the local website shows 10 megabits download and 5 kbps up for that.
With so many new products and services being introduced that will use the internet, this kind of speed would be amazing.
Of course, the entry price goes up to $266 per month after 12 months, but the nice salesperson I talked to said you could sign up for another 12 months and get the original price.
Of course, real world pricing, by the time you added some extra boxes and movie services would probably top $200, but how many of you are paying that now for cable, phone and internet and not getting this much? Time Warner also promises priority customer services for Signature Home customers, including a two-hour technician window and 24/7 phone service.
TWC may have a winner here.
