The lesser of two evils: Charter v. AT&T

Tek7 (Legacy)

Tek7 (Legacy)

CGA & ToJ President
We all know that telecommunication companies are prime examples of the dangers of legislation heavily favoring corporations at the expense of the consumer. More than a few of us have had frustrating experiences with long wait times, absurdly high charges (especially in regards to cable Internet and television service), hidden charges (e.g. installation), and less than competent customer support.

Still, the question remains: Which is the lesser of two evils, cable or DSL? In this specific case, which corporation is more evil: Charter Communications or AT&T?

AT&T recently merged with SBC to help re-create a monster monopoly eerily similar to the "Ma Bell" monolith that inspired legal action during the 1980s (someone please correct me if I'm misremembering my history).

Charter, on the other hand, is a cable company, which, by definition, means outrageous rates and charge increases that outpace inflation each year.

So, let the debate begin. Here's a little food for thought: Better Business Bureau reports for AT&T and for Charter.
 
I'm not a big fan of AT&T at all ... however, with that said, I worked for many years in the audio-video field (home theater, satellite, etc), and I have a driving passion about how horrible the cable companies are. I would love to find an alternate to both, because I would love to cancel my phone service and live with just my cell phone. But until I find that third option, I'm DSL all the way.
 
My wife and I use the cell phone only route, but mostly because it's subsidized by my company.

As for the cable vs AT&T DSL debate, you're gonna end up paying too much money either way, but I've always preferred cable. When I built my house, I bought the lot (purposefully) with the cable access point for the entire neighborhood in my front yard. That means I get crazy bandwidth (download normally at about 2-3 Mb/s unless I can find a host that can keep up with my peak of 50-60 Mb/s). My folks have DSL out where they live and I find myself doing more to maintain their network than mine.

I agree, either one is evil, and the third option, satellite, is slow and unsuitable for gaming. There is a local company where I live that is using Microwave transmission for home internet, I'm waiting for them to reach where I live so I can switch over. There's always a way.
 
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