Dish 'Pauses' All Service for Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands Dish has announced that the company is suspending all TV services to both Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as both try to recover from the utter devastation from Hurricane Maria. In a statement, Dish said the company would be suspending all services to ensure that customers on the island are not being billed for services they can't receive. The lion's share of Puerto Rico still doesn't have power or in many instances drinkable water, and the majority of areas still lack access to working cellular towers.

"The damage from Hurricane Maria has been unimaginable, and we want to make it clear to our customers that they will not be charged for service they can't receive during this time," said Reynaldo Pagani, General Manager of DISH Puerto Rico. "Right now, our top priority is ensuring our customers, employees and retail partners are safe and cared for, while helping deliver satellite internet to crucial relief sites." It's a fairly interesting decision, given that for years ISPs and cable companies -- already ranked among the worst in any industry at customer service -- have penalized consumers for simply having had their homes destroyed. We've tracked story after story where disaster victims are informed by their cable company or ISP that they must stop everything they're doing and pony up the cash for destroyed cable boxes, or face further penalties. This kind of tone deafness has traditionally been the rule, not the exception. Dish says that customers who don't want their service paused or want it resumed before Dish lifts the temporary pause can contact the company at 1-888-213-5727 or e-mail connect@dish.com. AT&T's DirecTV is taking a slightly different approach, announcing AT&T's DirecTV is taking a slightly different approach, announcing last week that it will be doling out one month of credits to both TV and wireless customers in Pureto Rico and the Virgin Islands. However, some reports indicate that the lion's share of telecom infrastructure may not be repaired until sometime next year







News Jump California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more Cogeco Rejects Altice USA's Atlantic Broadband Bid; AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump Attack; + more news ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 40 comments



cralt

join:2011-01-07

CT 5 recommendations cralt Member This is going to backfire quote: If a customer would like to prevent their service from being paused, or if they want to resume their TV service before DISH lifts the temporary pause, customers can call DISH at 1-888-213-5727 for support in Spanish or English, or they can email connect@dish.com. What a slap in the face. "Hey I have no internet and cant call anyone because all cell and POTS liness are down but at least I can get a few hours of TV a night when I fire up the generator or inverter"What a slap in the face.

buzz_4_20

join:2003-09-20

Biddeford, ME 2 recommendations buzz_4_20 Member Good to See Nice to see that they're just doing it. Not making a hoop for people who have too much on their plates to deal with.