OK, my problem is solved, or part of it is anyway. For $46/monthly, I get my same level of internet (7mbps). The speed problem will be taken another look at (for the 4th time).
Now as to how I got this low rate, I was on the phone with Time Warner, and they continued to BS me. To the point that I told them to come and get all of their equipment, and to bill me no more. They told me to bring the equipment to the local office, and the matter would be over. I was paid through Saturday (6/19), and as long as I had everything back by then, I wouldn't receive another bill.
About three hours later, my wife came outside to get me, someone from Warner has called for me, from the regional office. Turns out, he's an operations manager, and he reviewed my prior complaints and reason for leaving very carefully. First of all, he told me that he didn't call to shove anything down my throat, which I considered a refreshing attitude. He told me that I'd been a long time customer, and that prior to them being my ISP, there were no complaints on file and that apparently I'd been a happy customer. And that he wanted me to feel that way again. So he asked me what it was that I wanted, and that he'd see to it that it was done.
First of all, I thanked him for his call, and told him that I'd had enough of the riff-raff, the reps telling me that I had to have this and that to have what I wanted. He responded again by asking me what I wanted from Time Warner. I told him that I wanted the internet service that I pay for, and no other services. Period. He told me no problem, that as of the time our conversation ended, all other services would be terminated. And that a company professional would be coming by to check out my speed issues. I told him that I can see how I can't have wide open service 24/7, but after 11PM, speed shouldn't be an issue, he agreed. He mentioned something about placing a service monitor on the line, to narrow down the problem.
So, it at least appears that Warner doesn't want to lose business, and if you have legit issues, and mine were well documented, they will work with you. I thanked the man after the call, and he was good to his word on the first issue, terminating the services that I didn't want within minutes. A tech should be here this week to check everything out. In my opinion, there's way too many unused cables in this apartment, and they're not capped at the end or anything. Some are even joined by the center copper wires being trimmed back and twisted together tightly, followed by the outer layer simply being joined by trimming back and wrapping aluminum foil around them, and wrapped with duct tape. Although my connection is not like this, how many of these "patches", where a tenant simply didn't want to pay $2.50 for an extra line, exists here? I've done the same, splitting the cable to extend to another room, but with the proper parts. Radio Shack sells everything you need to join cable properly, for next to nothing. Anyway, these issues will be taken care of.
So as it turns out, I've saved a lot of cash by my earlier disconnection request, now, my speed has to get better. Not perfect, but at least close to what I'm paying for. Persistence does pay off, in the end, and I hope that it does with me, too. So far, it has.
