Tim Hermes, BGR CEO

The winter blues. Never had em so bad after the winter we have had here in DC. So last weekend I grabbed the wife, kid and pot-roast-with toenails we call our bulldog London and headed south to our little beach place that we had used our son’s college savings to afford. ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING to get away from the snow. If we didn’t, there may have been a few shallow graves in the backyard.

I had it all set up in my mind. Lots of running, sleep late, and watch the Olympics over the long weekend. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that my cable was out. After all I heard about the horrible luge incident and mercifully was spared the live broadcast. So I picked up the phone (cable triple play) to call my local provider and of course that was out too. Internet access? Toast.

The hell with it. I took the cable out of the STB, ran it into the TV and got a few channels  although the signal died completely intermittently. And I GOTTA watch my Spongebob! I have based my life on his teachings! Granted, this is a tough-weather area prone to hurricanes, salt corrosion, rain and wind. Gotta be a tough locale to run an op. However I remember the day we had the install done and the contractor had to leave for two hours because “he forgot his tools.” I saw at least four outdoor enclosures that had been struck by vehicles that were listing, exposing their protected equipment to the elements.

And when I got home? I had a letter from said provider saying my bill was over-due. Funny, I paid that a month ago by auto-pay from my bank, and they cashed the check. $80 bucks to pay a bill for a service I hadn’t used and when I needed it it didn’t work.

So for this cable-ista, the front end and the back end of this local op doesn’t get very high marks. My guess is that many local cable companies still have a way to go on reliability, service, and billing. But I take great confidence that cable’s willingness to improve, put the customer first, and deliver fast reliable service. I’m still a believer.

And we still had a great long weekend.

Tim Hermes is CEO at Broadband Gear Report. Email him at timhermes@comcast.net.