# Message from my cable provider **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910 "2015-04-30T17:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910/1 "2015-04-30T17:36:44Z")
Today, I got a letter from my cable provider. On the envelope it said: BEWARE OF UNBELLIEVABLE PROMISES. On the inside it said: DO FALSE PROMISES RING A BELL? BEWARE OF UNBELLIEVABLE PROMISES. The letter goes on to explain that while Bell (Canada) provides fiber to the street, it then is copper to the house while the cable company has fibre to the street and coax to the house. I’m not sure it makes that much difference, but I was surprised by the hardball campaign. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910/2 "2015-05-01T00:55:41Z")
I’m so sick of companies like this that think they’re punny. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910/3 "2015-05-01T01:03:18Z")
So electric digital signals travel faster in copper than in co-axial cable? I would call them and ask for a cite. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910/4 "2015-05-01T01:16:50Z")
were there actually is competition you get better prices and better customer service. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910/5 "2015-05-01T01:43:01Z")
They’re just pointing out how fibre is superior to fiber… But yes, that does sound a lot like the M$ Bing Scroogled campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910/6 "2015-05-01T15:23:59Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > were there actually is competition you get better prices and better customer service. Bell is an absolute disaster about customer service. The straw that had me leave them was when they took a week to replace a squirrel-gnawed cable to my house. Had they offered me a temporary cell phone for the week, I would probably still be using them. Their corporate mentality is still in the monopoly cloud. The cable company is probably a bit cheaper on price too, but that was not my reason. A couple months before the broken cable I couldn’t get to any web site, even Bell’s. I did know a couple of actual numeric addresses (including the Linux machine sitting on my desk) and those I could get too. So a problem with the name server, right? A telephone call got me a guy with a South Asian accent and I asked if there were any reported problem with their name server. Loooooooooong silence. “What is a name server?” This from Bell’s so-called technical support. When I explained, he said that no problems had been reported. It was working the next day. Think anything could convince me to move back to Bell? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/message-from-my-cable-provider/718910/7 "2015-05-01T15:45:45Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > So a problem with the name server, right? A telephone call got me a guy with a South Asian accent and I asked if there were any reported problem with their name server. Loooooooooong silence. “What is a name server?” This from Bell’s so-called technical support. When I explained, he said that no problems had been reported. It was working the next day. Think anything could convince me to move back to Bell? To be fair, if you asked me that I’d have to blink a couple of times before I said, “Oh! You mean a DNS server!”