If you live in NY, please recommend me an electric company, internet provider, etc. If you don’t have anyone you are particularly pleased with but you do have a story about a company you would never again do business with I would like to hear about that too!
Er, as far as I know there are localized monopolies. I can only have cable through Time Warner, for example… although there are other companies that serve NYC metro, they do not serve my neighborood (and my building doesn’t allow Dish).
And Con Ed does the electricity for the whole city, so far as I know.
However, I will say that Verizon is the only cell service worth having in NYC. Sprint & Cingular… both complete worthless disasters.
Verizon costs the most, but, since everyone has it, practically everyone you call locally is “in.” ( “in” = calls free to other Verizon customers).
I’d have to disagree with Hello Again. I have AT&T (formerly Cingular), and I’ve no complaints. Verizon is the telephone company.
Time Warner Cable is the standard, although Cablevision has some areas within its grip. If you are in Manhattan, forget satellite.
Toss up between Road Runner Cable and Verizon DSL for high-speed access.
Con Ed is electricity, but I heard stories and rumors about being able to buy electricity from other providers. Never looked into it.
Verizon and Time Warner do have a competitor: RCN (www.rcn.com). I considered switching to them once, but they were 50% more than the competing services. That was ~12-13 years ago, and I haven’t looked at them since.
Time Warner is actually not bad (especially when compared to Ghetto CableVision/iO of Hudson County, NJ). They have a service center in the 20s where you can just walk in and get service if you don’t want to wait a whole day for the cable guy.
Time Warner Cable for cable TV/Internet. You may consider them for IP Phone service as well. I’d just go with Verizon for a POTS line if that’s what you want.
Verizon has the best mobile coverage, but I’ve found their customer service to be unsatisfactory. I’d suggest T-Mobile, particularly if you need data in addition to voice.
I don’t know anyone in NYC who has a power company other than Con Ed. I never had a problem with them.
Oh, and Mekong on York Avenue between 85th and 86th Streets has kick-ass pickup/delivery dry cleaning and laundry service. (You didn’t ask, but I thought I’d mention anyway.)
I second the likelihood that you won’t have a choice in cable TV or electric/gas provider, they’re all local monopolies.
I’m perfectly happy with Time/Warner cable and internet, but if/when Verizon FiOS becomes available in my neighborhood I’d be all over it in a heartbeat. You could opt to go with an IP phone through Time/Warner as well, if they are also your internet provider, though some phone services still require a POTS land line (like ADT type home security systems).
Depending on where you live, you may be able to get satellite TV as well.
I also agree that Verizon is far and away the best cell carrier in the NYC Metro area. I used to have AT&T (now Cingular) and it totally sucked in coverage. That was 8 years ago, though, so maybe they’ve improved/caught up. But when I switched to Verizon back then the quality difference was very great.
When I lived in Brooklyn Heights I had Brooklyn Union, which I think is now Keyspan. But Con Edison definitely covers most of the city (including where I now live in Northeastern Queens).
I had a week from hell with my Verizon land/DSL line. I switched to Time Warner Cable for phone and internet, and have yet to regret it.
Cell phone is still Verizon, though.
I use Cablevision for phone, internet and cable TV service. I would stay away from them if possible as my service gets inexplicably disconnected from time to time.
If you call them over they will fix it, but I would rather not have to call every six months or so. I don’t like them, but I don’t think it is possible for me to switch to Time Warner in my neighborhood.
Thanks guys! I’m moving from TX and we have a lot of choices for everything including electric so when I couldn’t find a list of providers I got all confused. I will definately keep Verizon in mind when I switch over phone companies. Now for the difficult questions…what is your favorite place to eat? Do you have a favorite grocery chain/laundry mat/movie theater/etc?
How about telling us what neighborhood you are moving into?
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but there’s something adorably “not-New York” about this question.
New Yorkers shop where ever is local to them, in their own neighborhod. Few own cars and those that do wouldn’t waste a good parking spot just to go get groceries. Since storage is limited for most people, they don’t shop for months at a time. Most people own a folding cart for groceries/laundry/other things that need to be schlepped. Supermarkets tend to be smaller, and small retail is very popular – I buy my fruit from a Korean fruit stand on my corner, they are da bomb, yo. Butcher shops, fruit stands, delis and bakeries are alive and well in NYC.
Many people feel that www.freshdirect.com is worth the money… you make the call. FYI, 90% of restaurant and food establishments and services of every stripe deliver in Manhattan, maybe 70% in the outer boroughs.