City's new digital cable service terrible

To the Editor,

Since I live in one of the first areas of Poplar Bluff to convert to the new Digital Cable, I'd like to provide you with some feedback. It is TERRIBLE! The digital channels lose the video or freeze constantly. The selection of the channels require a dash between the numbers such as 50-50 therefore attempting to enter a channel that you would like to jump to is virtually impossible. The sound varies tremendously between channels. Flipping through channels, one station will be almost impossible to hear at very high volume yet the next station may be blaring high so you must constantly be adjusting the volume. Multiple channels have just been off the air for hours.

Absolutely no effort was made by City Cable to warn of difficulties and migration issues prior or during this transition via mail or newspaper article. Even their own information channel on the cable has been out of service and has had virtually no information regarding the horrible performance. Obviously they were 6+ months late in delivery for good reason. The system doesn't work!

I switched to AT&T DSL for Internet service over two years ago because of costs and poor performance of City Cable Internet. I got $15/month for the first year and now pay $36/month for higher speed service with less blocking and better performance. Now, I'll be changing to Direct TV because of the poor television service. City Cable is obviously overwhelmed by the technology and business requirements associated with this business. They do not even provide on-line account management and bill payments. I would suggest they get out of the business by attempting to sell it to a Cable Company that has the abilities to manage such a complex offering.

For comparison, Comcast in Cape Girardeau offers:

80+ Digital Channels with 20 Mbs Internet for $69.99/month

160+ Digital Channels with 20 Mbs Internet for $79.99/month

200+ Digital Channels (including Starz, Showtime, Cinemax and HBO) with 20 Mbs Internet for $119.99/month

Equivalent service from City Cable would be:

75 Channels with 5 Mbs Internet (5+ channels less and 25% of the speed of Comcast) for $51.75 + $49.95 = $101.70…45% higher than Comcast for poorer service

122 Channels with 5 Mbs Internet (38+ channels less and 25% of the speed of Comcast) for $62.75 + $49.95 = $112.70…41% higher than Comcast for poorer service

153 Channels with 5 Mbs Internet (47+ channels less and 25% of the speed of Comcast) for $108.29 + $49.95 = $158.24…32% higher than Comcast for poorer service

Obviously, we are getting far less and poorer service because the City is trying to run Cable and Internet without the expertise and buying power of major Cable Providers. The "Digital Deployment" is just another disaster for this misguided local utility.

Terry E. Simmons

Poplar Bluff, Mo.