It’s nice to see a helping hand from corporate America in time of tragedy.  Showing once again how important it is to care for your fellow man, Time Warner Cable offers free calls to Japan to help connect friends, families and coworkers.

In a press release issued by Time Warner Cable on Friday, Glenn Britt, Chairman and CEO, acknowledges a surge in the number of calls being made to Japan.  Britt says, “We have seen an increase in the number of calls made by our customers to family, friends and colleagues in Japan who have been touched by the events that occurred earlier today. They are all in our thoughts and we hope that this program removes a small measure of worry from our customers.”

As of now, the free calls through Time Warner Cable are scheduled to run through April 15, 2011.  The press release clarifies the program by saying, “Digital Phone Customers who are making calls to Japan during the eligible period do not need to make any changes to their accounts in order to take advantage of this program. This program will cover any Time Warner Cable Digital Phone and Time Warner Cable Business Class Phone subscriber making a direct call to Japan. Calls to operators or directory assistance will continue to be charged at the usual rate.”  Read the full release at Business Wire.

In our globally connected communities, local natural disaster is a tragedy felt around the world.  Time Warner Cable is doing its part to help keep people connected.

The Allconnect scam advisory, or the Allconnect Consumer Scam Advisory as it’s more appropriately known, aims to keep you informed of potential scams.  More importantly, the advisory hopes to help you learn how to avoid the scams in the first place.  The most recent scam advisory revolves around the supposed “free phone service” being offered in Arkansas.

The story says the state Attorney General issued a consumer warning after the scam came across his desk.  He went on to add that, while there is help available for those in need of low cost phone service, beware of any advertisement claiming free phone service.

If you watch movies online using NetFlix you’ll be interested in what they have to say about speed and delivery.  The movie rental company recently released a chart showing cable Internet providers and phone companies and where they rank in terms of delivering HD titles using NetFlix online.  While it may seem like a risky move, it may be just the type of prodding our cable Internet providers and phone companies need to pick up the pace.

The chart illustrates online performance in kilobits per second over the last few months, since October 2010.  It looks like Charter, Comcast cable TV, Cox and Time Warner Cable are the consistent top performers.  So what does that tell you?  Well, it looks like cable Internet providers are consistently providing faster service to NetFlix online customers.  However, none of the US cable Internet providers can top the Canadian providers.  It looks like our neighbors to the North are delivering faster Internet speeds.

Ken Floreance, Director of Content Delivery at NetFlix, does a good job of putting the speeds into perspective.  Ken says the “top HD streams are about 4800 kilobits per second. Clients may switch through a number of bitrates as they ramp up to the highest stream, or shift down from the highest stream if they cannot sustain play at that rate due to throughput constraints. No client would sustain a 4800 [kbps] stream from start to finish (there would at least be a few smaller streams averaged in for startup) but the higher the sustained average, the greater the throughput the client can achieve, and the greater the image quality over the duration of the play.”

Sp you likely wouldn’t experience blistering speeds from start to finish, but the US could certainly stand to see a higher average throughout the industry.  Ken plans on updating monthly, so hopefully we’ll see a steady increase from sea to shining sea.

While satellite TV providers continue to make steady gains with the digital TV consumers, there seems to always be one complaint.  Why can’t I bundle satellite TV with phone and Internet?  Well, you can.  Not to toot our own horn, but Allconnect, in some areas, can already help you set up a satellite TV bundle along with your new TV and Internet service.  Of course, satellite TV providers also want to be able to provide you phone, TV Internet bundles and they continue to work toward that goal.

According to multiple sources, DIRECTV has conducted test with Verizon LTE to provide satellite TV and Internet bundles in the Pennsylvania area.  Multichannel News reports that the Verizon LTE wireless service is capable of  reaching millions of customers in 38 separate markets with  a speed of 5 to 12 mbps.  That’s not too shabby.  Coupled with DIRECTV satellite TV you home would be quite the entertainment powerhouse.

Of course DISH Network would also like to bundle satellite TV and Internet services.  The Sky Report claims DISH Network filed for approval from the FCC to allow Liberty Bell to accept investment capital from DISH.  That would obviously give Liberty Bell reason to offer up its Qwest based network for bundling options.

As our service provider reviews start to near the end of the alphabet, Qwest stands out.  Sure, Qwest is one of the few nationwide companies that starts with “Q”, but that’s not the only reason.  Homes from coast to coast can take advantage of Qwest bundles using the industry leading Qwest fiber-optic network.

Utilizing the power of their fiber-optic Internet, Qwest bundles come equipped with “Qwest® Heavy Duty™ Internet – Any Speed”.  You can even setup Qwest® Heavy Duty™ Internet as a standalone product with speeds from 7mbps all the way to a blazing fast 40mbps!  Even from their low end, Qwest high speed Internet allows you to download music, watch movies and upload pictures with ease.

You can also rely on 99.9% “up time”, so you have fewer interruptions, Qwest @Ease online backup for easy, off-site storage, and Norton™ AntiVirus Online to keep your computer disease free.  Qwest® Heavy Duty™ Internet also comes with a 30 Day, 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

To see if Qwest® Heavy Duty™ Internet or which Qwest bundles are available in your neighborhood, just enter your address in the “Find Savings” widget at the top of the page.

Continuing our closer look at our providers, today’s focus is on Mediacom.

While they may not be as well known as some of the larger cable companies, Mediacom is proud to focus its efforts on the smaller towns and cities across the country.  According to their own website, Mediacom has invested millions of dollars building a nationwide fiber optic network to deliver the Mediacom VIP pak to communities all over the country.  Areas typically viewed as “smaller” by some of the larger cable companies benefit from Medicaom’s efforts by enjoying the savings associated with phone, TV, Internet bundles.

Medicaom’s cable TV bundle is known as the VIP pak and, like most bundles, it offers phone, TV and Internet with savings for combined services and a single bill.  The draw is the combination of monthly savings and convenience.  Of course, you also get Mediacom cable TV, home phone and high speed Internet.

One of the highlights of Mediacom cable TV is known as “Family Cable”.  Family Cable, as the name implies, offers something for every member of the family. From educational TV for the kids, to a variety of sports, food and news channels Mediacom Family Cable even offers your favorite local shows.

In addition to Family Cable, Mediacom cable TV also offers up to 28 commercial free channels from Starz, Encore, Showtime and TMC, as well as Starz & Showtime On Demand.  You also get an interactive on-screen program guide and over 4,000 On Demand shows and movies every month.

If you sign up for the Mediacom VIP Pak  you could get an automatic upgrade to VIP Online with 15Mbps as well as Web Boost, which delivers short bursts of web browsing speed to load web pages at up to 30 Mbps.

Mediacom home phone service offers a variety of features, including unlimited local and long distance, three way calling, call waiting, call forwarding and more.  If you’re switching existing phone service from another phone or cable company, you can also keep your current phone number.  Plus, you know you’ll pay the same price each and every month.

Mediacom’s high speed Internet, known as Mediacom Online, is built for speed.  Mediacom Online users can see speeds up to 12 mbps.   That’s more than enough to stream online movies and TV episodes.  Uploading pictures to share with your family is a breeze.

Providing phone, TV, Internet packages to customers throughout Kentucky, and parts of Ohio and Indiana, Insight Communications has grown into its own since its 1985.

From its humble beginnings as a local cable operator, Insight now offers total telecommunications solutions, including money saving bundles.  Insight customers can take advantage of comnbined services with the Insight Double Play or the Insight Triple Play.  The Insight Triple Play, according to information on their website, can save you up to $575 per year (as of October 2010).  That’s a significant amount of money added back to your bottom line.

Along with saving money on cable TV, Insight also offers superfast high speed Internet.  Insight broadband comes in three tiers:

• Broadband 10.0 with top speeds up to 10 mbps
• Broadband 20.0 with top speeds up to 20 mbps
• Braodband 30.0 with top speeds up to 30 mbps (not available in all service areas)

Each tier represents quality high speed Internet download speeds.  Even the lower tier, Broadband 10.0 represents quite an improvement over dial-up or even DSL high speed Internet.  So why would you want the 20 or 30 mbp services?

Think of it this way.  If you stream video using Broadband 10.0, you should have no problems.  However, you’d get twice the performance and enhance your ability to multi task by using Broadband 20.0.

See which Insight bundles are available in your area.  Simply enter your address in the “savings Widget” at the top of the page.

After acquiring local phone services from Verizon, Frontier Communications now offers phone, TV, Internet packages to more than 4 million residential and business customers in 27 states.

Through a partnership with Dish Network, Frontier offers bundles services to compliment their existing unlimited calling and DSL high speed Internet.  Known as “Frontier Fast”, Frontier high speed Internet offers speeds up to 6mpbs that Frontier claims will not “bog down” during peak hours.   The high speed service also comes with anti-spyware software from CA, Inc and an online portal powered by Yahoo!.

To see if Frontier high speed Internet or digital phone is available in your area, just enter your address in the “Savings Widget” at the top of the page.

Moving right along in our review of service providers, we come to Cox Communications, a cable TV provider known for pioneering the now familiar “bundle” – phone, TV, Internet packages.

According to their website, Cox is the third-largest cable provider in the country.  Claiming excellence in customer care as a hallmark, Cox appears to be content in the number 3 spot as it continues its pursuit of excellence over enormity.  Still, Cox cable customers receive top tier services.

Coming in multiple forms, Cox cable bundles offer a variety of cable TV, home phone and high speed Internet services.  Currently, Cox high speed Internet customers can expect speeds up to 15 Mbps using PowerBoost® while enjoying hundreds of digital TV channels, On Demand video and unlimited calling plans.

While Cox doesn’t offer cable TV service in every city across the country (and who does?), Cox bundles are available in several states.   Enter your address in the “Savings Widget” at the top of the page to see which Cox bundles are available in your area.

Comcast bundles have been around for a while now.  Through products like the Comcast Triple Play, you could bundle your phone, TV, Internet services to take advantage of lower prices from a single provider.  Well, the next wave of Comcast bundles has arrived.  Say hello to the Xfinity™ Triple Play.

So what is Xfinity™y?  According to the Comcast website, the Xfinity™ Triple Play is phone, TV, Internet service brought to you through Comcast’s all digital network.  The benefit to you is faster high speed Internet, “triple the HD channels”, and thousands upon thousands of On Demand titles.  You can even watch some TV online, anytime, with Xfinity™.tv and Fancast.

You don’t even pay more for the “all digital network”, but there is a catch.  Xfinity™ is also not available in all areas just yet.  As of this writing, you can get Xfinity™ in Atlanta, Augusta, Baltimore, Boston, Chattanooga, Chicago, Denver, Harrisburg, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle.