I have made an appointment to reinstall Time Warner cable and internet to my home in Raleigh NC.

I am giving up on AT&T U-verse.

Why? Because when I signed up about a year  with AT&T, I was told my price would be about $95/month with 3 HD cable boxes and high-speed internet.

That was about 1/2 the price of what I was paying for Time Warner cable at the time. That’s a lot of money over the course of a year.

TWC was going to give me a good rate, but not as good as AT&T. One thing I learned was that it’s important to negotiate and the price is flexible if they really want to keep you.

However, the price of AT&T U-verse service kept jumping. I would call — I had a special “secret” number that has since been disconnected — and get some type of promotion.

But now the AT&T bill is over $180 a month — double what is was a few months ago. It’s what I was paying for Time Warner.

Now Time Warner is cheaper — so I am switching back.

If I ran my direct mail marketing business the way these two giant companies run their business, I would have failed many years ago.

First problem is being put on hold for an eternity.  The endless requests for more information. Being transferred from one operator to another. With AT&T, many of them were not native English/American speakers and could not process my requests.

With Time Warner, they wanted my social security number before giving me a price quote! I refused the first time, but called back and got the “real” Time Warner — not an authorized dealer — and did not have to give my SSN to get a price quote. (Though I did to get the appointment made!)

Can you imagine any other business that would require that information before doing business with you!

I can’t complain about the quality of the picture, service, or internet speed with either one. To me, cable is a commodity without any significant differences.

But I can’t stand the way my AT&T bill has varied over the last several months. Time Warner was expensive, but at least consistent.

I am not alone in my anger at the cable companies, according to this blog post which I just found.

Any comments out there? I still have time to keep AT&T and skip the re-installation hassle.