A public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to give residents of the city the opportunity to comment on the quality of the cable service they receive from Charter Communications.

City officials are considering pulling the company’s Suffolk franchise because of what they claim to be a failure to comply with an agreed upon timeline for upgrades, and what could best be described as customer service nightmares with which some folks have had to contend – the most notorious of which is being left on hold for 30 minutes.

If indeed true – and all we have heard are the stories – then there’s no excuse for it.

City Council has threatened before to revoke Charter’s franchise

and Council members, by and large, say they are going to base their decision on comment from the hearing, but it would appear the handwriting is on the wall for Charter.

Thus far, the company has amassed nearly $400,000 in fines for failing to meet goals and deadlines.

That’s ridiculous. The cable issue has been a distraction and an irritant for far too long. It’s time for the city to select a course of action and stick to it. Either accept what Charter is saying and get off their backs, or look elsewhere. We imagine with a market growing like Suffolk, there would be other cable providers anxious to service it, hopefully ones that are more responsive to the needs of their customers.