Why are there still monopolies?

I need to let off some steam, so bear with me: I moved into my apartment July 1st of this year and had Charter High Speed hooked up. Their internet service has never worked properly in the 2+ months that I've had it. I've battled with them for a month to fix my service but nothing has been accomplished. I've complained via the Better Business Bureau and all I got from that was a lousy $10 and a crappy internet. To make a long story short, on the rare occasion that the internet does in fact work, I get speeds comparable to a lowly 56k service. The Charter tech put the blame on bad wiring in the apartment and told me to have the complex owner to fix it. There's no way the owner would ever fix it, not in a million years, unless it gave him some monitary gains.

The real delimma is that I want to cancel the service, but I basically have no other viable internet options. No DSL service exists where I live, I can't afford any form of sattelite connection, and I do not want to get dial-up as that would mean I would have to get a phone line as well (basically I'd have a bill twice what I am paying now). This is such a crappy situation, and there's basically nothing I can do about it.

 

Such is apartment life. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Technically, its not a monopoly though.

 

Sounds like your trouble is your apartment, not your service provider. It wouldn't matter who your provider is, inside wiring is the owner's responsibility, and you're right; the landlord isn't likely to have it fixed.

So the only cure is to move somewhere else. Bummer, but that's where you're at.

 

Or get a cellphone that is capable of receiving internet access. But, don't ask me the costs on that one.