Pine Tree Cablevision was granted the exclusive territory to provide cable tv service to a number of small towns in New Hampshire (and other states). We have used this service, for lack of any other option (other than no TV) for a number of years. While their channel choices have been adequate, their service issues have been problematic from the beginning. Over time certain channels will suddenly become unavailable, and the service response time is extremely poor. Explanations from the main office are usually vague, such as "some one put up something that is blocking our satellite for that station." Resumption of reception can be delayed for days to weeks, in the occasional case, even a month. We recently suddenly lost access to our only local channels - WMUR and "My TV" (used to be WNDS) It took them over a week to correct the issue, at first claiming that it was "probably a problem coming from the station (WMUR)itself", and then finally saying that they had "been getting a lot of calls on that and they were looking into it". Their operators, when you get through, are always polite on the phone, but usually unable to give any pertinent information on repair timelines or causes of service interruption. During the current crisis with the ice storm of 2008, we like thousands of others, lost service on Dec 12 for a legitimate weather related reason, but even though I accept that they must have at least one crew in the field working on this issue, the information coming from the service operator, when you can actually get through, is that "we don't have any information for you, but we are working on it" They are making no attempt to offer access to specific information on where each town might even be in the repair schedule, if consequently an actual schedule versus random working locations exists. The service and reliability issues have been so poor from the beginning that if the FCC would allow competition in this area from another cable provider there is no way that we would use this company. If you live in their territory and have enough open sky for a dish to work, I wouldn't recommend even giving a moment's consideration to this company's services. I could not possibly recommend this company to another consumer.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $45.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Develop a local repair team that is big enough and skilled enough to rapidly diagnose and repair the reception problems quickly when they occur. (Such as the loss of WMUR) Be organized enough during lengthy delays in service to inform the customers (the way PSNH does) of the repair work status (ie. "we have a reported problem here and here and have dispatched x number of teams. We are diagnosing the cause and estimate that service will resume sometime on this date in the morning.") Have a reliable protocol for checking the reception activity daily of the stations that are being provided so the loss of a major station (such as the local news station which is clearly not having broadcasting problems for anyone but Pine Tree) is not a surprise and is quickly repaired (which it was not).
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Check to see if you have enough open access to the sky and if so go straight to a dish service.