View Full Version : Tales of anger: Comcast edition
WickerBill
06-28-14, 09:45 AM
*deep breath*
I know this is a first-world problem.
*another deep breath*
I have had a teleworker account through Comcast for about seven years. For the duration of that time, I have had 25mb down and 4mb up for speed. About six weeks ago, I changed jobs and became a permanent home worker, and now I do a ton of video conferencing out of my house. Earlier this week, I noticed the quality had gotten very bad for video. Speed test revealed I was barely getting 1mb up.
Go plug laptop directly into modem to ensure it isn't my switches or wireless; same speed. Call Comcast, and they inform me I am on the 6mb down / 1mb up plan. Any additional speed I've been getting for the last SEVEN YEARS was "a mistake on Comcast's part."
Incredibly frustrating, and blatantly untrue; regardless, I call again to ask what a speed increase would cost. First, I call Comcast Business, who inform me this is a residential account. So I call Comcast Residential, who inform me they can't see the account because it's Comcast Business. Finally, another call to Comcast Business gets a non-Neanderthal on the phone who agrees to look at my account. Exact quote:
"Sir, unfortunately, you are locked in on your plan; there is no way for us to change your speed."
Me: "That seems unlikely. If I pay you more, you won't change my speed? I'm willing to pay more; I have to have faster speeds."
"In order for you to get faster speeds, you will have to cancel your account with Comcast, wait 48 hours, then call Comcast again to get new service set up."
...
I have exactly zero options to Comcast for internet in my area. I currently cannot do a big part of my job, and the only option I have is to be without internet for two business days. Comcast is literally the worst company I have ever dealt with. And I haven't even told you about, years ago, them billing me for my entire street's internet one month, then immediately dinging my credit report when I didn't pay the $8200 bill.
No idea why their business folks are giving you a hard time. I've had good service from their residential people both in Houston and Colorado Springs.
Do you need a static IP address? If so you will probably need to stay with business.
Perhaps try to escalate your call to supervisors? Or maybe call their business sales office.
Insomniac
06-28-14, 11:22 AM
CS at monopolies suck, I wonder why that it? Maybe order Comcast Residential and cancel Business once it's set up? I know you're still stuck with those idiots, but might at least save you down time? Alternatively, given their incompetence, if you do call to cancel they may inform you they can "upgrade" (restore?) your service. On the plus side, they usually staff retention with people who can actually do things,
After seven years you're still locked into a contract? Even with a contract commitment, I've never heard of not being able to upgrade. I would try to speak to someone further up the food chain.
Are there any other ISPs available to you?
The last time I called my provider (Cablevision) to talk about my bill they upped me to their 50MB down & 25MB up for free (well, at no additional charge)
Ugh. We're very fortunate to live in an area where there's at least some choice. WOW continues to be great. Unfortunately it appears that wired broadband buildouts have ground to a virtual standstill. Vast improvements in wireless broadband appear to be the only hope for the average residential broadband customer.
WickerBill
06-28-14, 07:19 PM
I'm not in a contract. Never was. That's the bizarre thing.
And no, I can't even get DSL at my house. Comcast is quite literally the only thing in my area.
As part of the agreement for them to buy Time Warner, they're supposed to give up the Indy market to Brighthouse. I can't decide which is worse -- but at least I'd get to start fresh.
Insomniac
06-28-14, 09:13 PM
I'm not in a contract. Never was. That's the bizarre thing.
And no, I can't even get DSL at my house. Comcast is quite literally the only thing in my area.
As part of the agreement for them to buy Time Warner, they're supposed to give up the Indy market to Brighthouse. I can't decide which is worse -- but at least I'd get to start fresh.
Stop exaggerating, I'm sure you have an AOL CD somewhere. :D
TravelGal
06-28-14, 09:27 PM
In a not really related but it reminded me story. We just upgraded our whole cable TV/phone/internet package. Blazing speeds they advertise. It's slower than before. But yes, I've always been pretty dang sure it was wrong before. Racermike once checked my speed for me and was astonished, given the package I was paying for. I can't go back to the mistake and I can't get anything faster without investing big bucks. Sigh.
WickerBill
06-30-14, 10:53 AM
Final answer is: I cannot keep my teleworker account unless I keep the speeds I have. In order to change, I have to:
A) Subscribe to a business account (super pricy) and cancel teleworker
or
B) Subscribe to a residential account 48 hours after I've cancelled teleworker.
Comcast: "We Hate You"
Camp out at your local library for two days?
I use Clear for my Internet. It's too bad they're no longer taking new accounts. I've been in "dead man walking" mode for a while now.
I got a flyer in the mail from CenturyLink (the local phone company) over the weekend promising speeds "Up to 25MB." Curious, I went to their website to see if anything had changed since I was their customer LONG ago.
The fastest speeds available to me? 1.5MB down, 896k up. In 2014.
The icing on the cake? For an extra $15/month, I can back up 50GB onto their servers. Which is funny, because that's about how long it would take to send them 50GB of data.
WickerBill
07-01-14, 06:41 AM
I cannot encourage highly enough taking advantage of / abusing companies' Twitter accounts. There's a @comcastcares account (which, on the face of it, sounds like it should be run by this guy:
660
)
And they did in just a few minutes what over a dozen phone calls and escalations to management could not: they changed my speed. Verbage: "we just want to get you back up and working, then we can figure out how to address the billing code". What?? What is this, "customer service"? "Customer comes first?" "Don't be evil?"
Anyway, I have my old speeds back, and am now discussing how to get my account moved/set up to make it viable for Comcast and me going forward. All because they gave some dude on Twitter some power.
chop456
07-01-14, 07:06 AM
Tactical strike. Well played. :thumbup:
opinionated ow
07-01-14, 10:26 AM
I've used the twitter savaging before to great effect. I had a 6AM flight out of Adelaide one day and had access to the lounge but was prevented from entering because they couldn't find me in the system. There was no way I was going to argue before sunrise so I had a go at them on twitter and had three phone calls before lunchtime to apologise and find a solution...
surely a sign of the apocalypse.
How does helping a customer benefit them? :confused:
The title "Boss Emeritus" gets you a lot of clout in the Twitterverse.
So, do you owe Ooma an apology now?
Ooma doesn't like your authoritative tone, mister.
Insomniac
07-02-14, 09:48 PM
Wow. Great news for you, sad statement on their normal CS.
http://bgr.com/2014/07/15/why-is-comcast-so-bad-4/
:laugh:
I'd guess that WB dreams of having the opportunity to try to cancel his Comcast. :)
TravelGal
07-17-14, 11:54 PM
This has given me a great idea of how to escalate a problem with a certain recalcitrant cruise line. Good work WB!
WickerBill
07-18-14, 12:07 PM
Oh there's more.
I was informed I needed to call to choose a speed package for my internet, because right now I'm in this weird state of suspension where I'm just propped up by the good people behind the @comcastcares twitter account. Roger that, I can do it.
Call in. Sorry sir, your account is showing as inactive. I can't do anything.
Get a hold of the senior guy who helped me last time. He calls me, then transfers in a CSR and explains what's going on, then hangs up.
CSR says "you can have Xfinity Standard, which is 25mb down and 5mb up, for $75.00 per month."
WB: That's pretty crazy since I had it last month for $43/mo.
CSR: Right. But there are no specials on internet-only at this time.
WB: It wasn't a special, I had it for seven years.
CSR: uh-huh.
- pause -
CSR: You can also get Xfinity Blast, which is 50mb down and 10mb up, for $85.00 per month!
WB: None of that is really acceptable.
CSR: Do you like to watch television, Mr. WickerBill?
WB: I very much enjoy watching my DirecTV, yes.
CSR: (suddenly decides he's going to come clean) Here's the story. We have a package that has Xfinity Standard for $29.99/mo for 12 months, then $39.99 per month after that, no contract, if you bundle television.
WB: But I don't want....
CSR: Wait - you don't have to actually watch the TV. All I have to do is ship you a Comcast digital box, you plug it in one time and activate it, then you can just put it away -- and you'll get the cheaper internet.
WB: So let me understand: Internet alone is $75. The same internet plus TV is $30. How long does that special last?
CSR: Yes. It lasts 12 months, and goes up $20 per month to $49.99 after that.
WB: I get the internet I want, the TV box I do not want, for $45 less than the internet alone, is that what you're saying?
CSR: Right!
WB: So you are giving me additional equipment and services to charge me a lot less money.
CSR: You got it, sir.
WB: Okay, can I please have that bundled package, but just don't send me the receiver. I won't use it. You'll save money.
CSR: I'm afraid you have to receive and install the digital receiver for at least an hour to get the deal.
WB: Can I throw it in the trash after activation?
CSR: Well no, that wouldn't be a good idea. You have to return it when you cancel your Comcast subscription.
WB: What if I give it to my neighbor? Can he watch the television that I'm paying negative dollars to have?
CSR: No, it is tied to your address.
WB: You do realize this is not intelligent business, right?
CSR: Hey man, I'm just trying to help you out.
Anyone want a Comcast digital box? It'll be available early next week and you can keep it until the very instant I have an option to leave Comcast.
that's awesome. :gomer:
Is it because they want more cable subscribers on the rolls that they're willing to give away the internet access?
It must make sense somewhere, right?
WickerBill
07-18-14, 01:34 PM
And just for fun, my internet speeds just jumped to 50/10 from 12/4 (which is what I was getting in my suspended state this last week).
Do I DARE tell them?
I've been paying less for Blast internet with the bundled basic TV package in Houston for years. The need for a box is new, I just got one a couple months ago but I haven't bothered to hook it up. I suspect they do this to increase their TV subscriber count.
TravelGal
07-18-14, 10:05 PM
I don't see the problem. :gomer: Want to fly from Barcelona to LAX on Turkish Airlines, approx $800. You fly from Barcelona to Istanbul (look at a map before you do it), then fly from Istanbul to LAX. Want to fly ONLY from Istanbul to LAX? About $1200.
Insomniac
07-20-14, 04:42 PM
All my bundles (Cox) cost more than Internet alone. It's stupid, but I'd take it.
Comcast profit beats estimates on internet subscriber growth (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-comcast-results-20140722,0,4630241.story)
Revenue at Comcast's high-speed internet business rose about 10 percent in the quarter, helped by 203,000 net customer additions.
That was above the 161,000 analysts were expecting, according to market research firm StreetAccount.
just sayin :gomer:
It's their job to make money is it not? :confused:
Andrew Longman
07-22-14, 02:42 PM
Slumlords, drug dealers, track owners, tobacco executives, all sorts of people make money -- even legally sometimes.
Sometimes they lose style points in the court of public opinion and lose sales with customers for HOW they make money.
And some very successful companies win points and profits for what they are NOT wiling to do to make money.
Insomniac
07-23-14, 06:30 PM
It's their job to make money is it not? :confused:
Yup, now if they had actual competition, maybe it would be another story...
Insomniac
07-23-14, 06:43 PM
We know your Internet speed was already crazy-fast. And we just got even crazier by doubling the speed of your Cox High Speed Internet Preferred up to 50 Mbps.
And guess what? You don't even have to do anything! We've already hooked you up. So just sit back, relax and enjoy seamless streaming and multi-tasking on more devices, all without interruption.
NO ACTION REQUIRED TO ENJOY
DOUBLE THE INTERNET SPEEDS.
Liars. Speed is exactly the same. (As far as I can tell, they left upstream and the usage cap the same.)
Don Quixote
08-14-14, 12:40 PM
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/08/13/video-customer-claims-comcast-kept-him-on-hold-for-over-3-hours-until-closing/
:laugh:
WickerBill
08-22-14, 08:28 AM
Went to pay bill for second month of Comcast today.
Went up 120%.
Charged me $30 shipping for the tv digital box I did not want.
Charged me $8 for the modem this month that they did not charge me last month.
And for giggles, took my $39.99 for 12 months rate and added $10. There were also a couple of other stray "one time" fees.
Needless to say, I'm disputing with them...
Wow. Never saw that coming. :gomer:
With your phone back on POTS how important is speed? I would probably move to something slower but bearable just to get rid of them.
WickerBill
08-23-14, 05:31 PM
Wow. Never saw that coming. :gomer:
With your phone back on POTS how important is speed? I would probably move to something slower but bearable just to get rid of them.
The next slowest option for me is dialup. No uVerse, no DSL, nothing.
If laptops still had modems....
Good news for me: CenturyLink is now advertising 1 Gigabit internet. Symmetrical speeds up to 1,000Mbps! Ads and billboards are everywhere. They even have a fancy URL: http://www.centurylink.com/gig
Bad news for me: The fastest connection available at my house remains 1.5Mbps.
The next slowest option for me is dialup. No uVerse, no DSL, nothing.
If laptops still had modems....
Does your wireless provider offer a 4G router for home? I think they claim up to 12Mbps for Verizon 4G LTE.
chop456
08-26-14, 01:44 AM
Went to pay bill for second month of Comcast today.
Went up 120%.
Charged me $30 shipping for the tv digital box I did not want.
Charged me $8 for the modem this month that they did not charge me last month.
And for giggles, took my $39.99 for 12 months rate and added $10. There were also a couple of other stray "one time" fees.
Needless to say, I'm disputing with them...
Going through much the same with Uverse right now. First bill - charged for all the equipment, activation and installation that was to be free. Called them and had things straightened out and paid the amount we actually owed.
Next month's bill - all the aforementioned incorrect "removed" charges were there again along with late fees for the payment we didn't make (that we actually did).
Wife was on the phone with them again for 30+ minutes to get it straightened out. I fully expect next month's bill to be a repeat of the same screw up, at which point we will drop them. Due to my proficiency in procrastination, I still haven't had Time Warner/RR disconnected, so the fallback will be painless.
Idiots.
Comcast changes customer name to A-hole on bill (http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/29/news/companies/comcast-*******-bill/index.html)
Comcast/Time Warner 'merger' may be denied. I saw this coming a mile away. It's been well over a year since the merger was announced. Comcast was actually praised for their customer service over Time Warner. :saywhat:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-17/u-s-antitrust-lawyers-said-to-be-leaning-against-comcast-merger
In other (good) news...Verizon has been hit with a clue stick...
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/will-verizon-s-bold-move-change-the-way-you-pay-for-cable--429943875853
Of course, U-Verse was marketing a-la-carte as an option when they moved into Cbus ~10 years ago. It only took them four years to provide service in our neighborhood (not cheap), and no a-la-carte channels. :mad: They were even running full-page ads in the Cbus Dispatch about the Pats 16-0 run run since TWC didn't carry NFLN then....or for 4 more years. Idiots. I'll be unbundling soon. Dropping phone, etc. Unfortunately I can't cord cut due to sports watching, tho. :(
Insomniac
04-18-15, 09:40 AM
I'll be unbundling soon. Dropping phone, etc. Unfortunately I can't cord cut due to sports watching, tho. :(
DISH has ESPN in their cord cutter package, Sling TV. Do you need any whole league sports packages?
DISH has ESPN in their cord cutter package, Sling TV. Do you need any whole league sports packages?
Nope. I watch all sports except for soccer, which I watch once every four years. But I need BTN, E$PN, NBCSN, etc. And then there are the psuedo sports channels like TNT, etc. that carry sports programming occasionally. Dish is not really an option now that I'm a renter. In a house, but not willing/wanting to go that route. It's just interesting that the cable cos. are finally waking up like the cell carriers (or un-carriers in the case of T-Mobile or Sprint). In the story by NBC I linked to, the average Joe watches ~17 channels out of the hundreds that are forced on us. It'll be interesting to watch the fallout on the likes of E$PN/Disney, who have been systematically screwing consumers for years now. And then the subsequent effect on the sports leagues (college included). E$PN specifically has been moving programming (like MNF) to E$PN from ABC so they can extract higher per subscriber revenues. What comes around goes around. :gomer: I personally haven't had a bad experience with TWC (except for my bill), but I hear horror stories about TWC from others in Texas and my mom in SC (TWC now, formerly Adelphia). Of course that being said, I was bug hunting a problem with my remote blaster yesterday, and found a crap load of unconncected coax cables behind the cabinet that contains the AV stack. Took me over an hour to unravel that mess. :irked: And that was just from three service calls in 8 mos. Problem with TWC is they were built on franchises (fiefdoms), so the user experience varied depending on location. And then add integration issues due to acquisitions, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Dish is not really an option now that I'm a renter. In a house, but not willing/wanting to go that route.
Sling TV is a new internet streaming service. No dish needed.
TravelGal
04-18-15, 06:43 PM
Blocking the merger will not be music to the ears of Dodger fans (of which I am not one so I don't care about that particular point).
As for the Skinny Bundling, isn't this what Time Warner does now? I have lots of bundles and omit quite a few also. NB, we also have had very good luck with TW. Excellent customer service, almost every time. Especially with technical issues. When the previously referenced hard drive was in its lunatic stage, the TW tech couldn't fix it because it wasn't a cable issue (we had called because we thought it might be the cable modem) but he did comment about what was wrong when he had something similar. In the end, we realized he was right about ours also.
Blocking the merger will not be music to the ears of Dodger fans (of which I am not one so I don't care about that particular point).
As for the Skinny Bundling, isn't this what Time Warner does now? I have lots of bundles and omit quite a few also. NB, we also have had very good luck with TW. Excellent customer service, almost every time. Especially with technical issues. When the previously referenced hard drive was in its lunatic stage, the TW tech couldn't fix it because it wasn't a cable issue (we had called because we thought it might be the cable modem) but he did comment about what was wrong when he had something similar. In the end, we realized he was right about ours also.
Dodgers fan here, yo. :gomer: Doesn't affect me, tho, since I'm not on the left coast. ;) Did TWC not resolve the carriage issues to broadcast the games? If not, wow. They pissed around with the NFL for almost 5 years before NFLN was available on TWC. :saywhat:
As far as skinny is concerned...not here. However, they tend to use test markets for pricing, etc. For some reason my mom in Hilton Head has updates for the channel guide, etc. (firmware updates) MONTHS before they roll out here. Note that Cbus was one of the original TWC franchises known as QUBE back then (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QUBE). They used to test all kinds of interractive TV stuff here back in the 80s. It was fun hacking their boxes by poking a paper clip into a certain spot on the box for free movies. :D
Sling TV is a new internet streaming service. No dish needed.
May need to look into it. I just dismissed it like all of the DirecTV commercials. Plus, I've been a bit distracted the past year. :\ Is it like Apple TV, ROKU, or Google Nexus?
Insomniac
04-19-15, 06:34 PM
May need to look into it. I just dismissed it like all of the DirecTV commercials. Plus, I've been a bit distracted the past year. :\ Is it like Apple TV, ROKU, or Google Nexus?
None of the above. It's cable TV over the Internet. Think NetFlix. You can watch on those devices, but don't have to have one. Bas package is $20/mo, and they have add-ons. https://www.sling.com/package
Insomniac
04-19-15, 06:45 PM
Nope. I watch all sports except for soccer, which I watch once every four years. But I need BTN, E$PN, NBCSN, etc. And then there are the psuedo sports channels like TNT, etc. that carry sports programming occasionally. Dish is not really an option now that I'm a renter. In a house, but not willing/wanting to go that route. It's just interesting that the cable cos. are finally waking up like the cell carriers (or un-carriers in the case of T-Mobile or Sprint). In the story by NBC I linked to, the average Joe watches ~17 channels out of the hundreds that are forced on us. It'll be interesting to watch the fallout on the likes of E$PN/Disney, who have been systematically screwing consumers for years now. And then the subsequent effect on the sports leagues (college included). E$PN specifically has been moving programming (like MNF) to E$PN from ABC so they can extract higher per subscriber revenues. What comes around goes around. :gomer: I personally haven't had a bad experience with TWC (except for my bill), but I hear horror stories about TWC from others in Texas and my mom in SC (TWC now, formerly Adelphia). Of course that being said, I was bug hunting a problem with my remote blaster yesterday, and found a crap load of unconncected coax cables behind the cabinet that contains the AV stack. Took me over an hour to unravel that mess. :irked: And that was just from three service calls in 8 mos. Problem with TWC is they were built on franchises (fiefdoms), so the user experience varied depending on location. And then add integration issues due to acquisitions, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Hate to dump on your rant, but the NFL did the MNF switch. They moved SNF to network with flex scheduling after ABC said MNF was too expensive. Then ESPN (I know, all Disney, but a very different business model) paid the most ever for a sports package.
ESPN is one of the firsts to see the shifting winds. And they're shifting fast. They see the death spiral of raising rates to compensate for lost subscribers, causing more subscribers to leave, raising rates, etc. The model of charge all cable subscribers is no longer going to work if the subscriber count doesn't at least stay level (it's falling, and they previously brushed it off). The content owners have managed to inadvertently drive us toward a la carte.
Hate to dump on your rant, but the NFL did the MNF switch. They moved SNF to network with flex scheduling after ABC said MNF was too expensive. Then ESPN (I know, all Disney, but a very different business model) paid the most ever for a sports package.
ESPN is one of the firsts to see the shifting winds. And they're shifting fast. They see the death spiral of raising rates to compensate for lost subscribers, causing more subscribers to leave, raising rates, etc. The model of charge all cable subscribers is no longer going to work if the subscriber count doesn't at least stay level (it's falling, and they previously brushed it off). The content owners have managed to inadvertently drive us toward a la carte.
Bunk. ABC/E$PN are the same under the Mouse House. And hey, I'm a HUGE Disney fan. Mickey earring, watch, and I bleed Walt, but I'm a realist. I'm also a DIS shareholder. :) But I see what they do at the parks, etc. I saw the figures when the BTN/TWC negotiations were happening, which took well well over a year here to settle here. It was quite clear that by shifting beans from one ledger to the other, it was a grab to increase per subscriber revenue. Moving from 'free' OTA to cable made $$$ sense. Also, keep in mind I was once under the TWX umbrella as an AOL employee. I have a bit more internal insight into the practices that happened in the ISP industry, happening now to cell carriers, and what will happen to cable/DBS. Look at what happened to CNN, etc. on Dish earlier this year. They went dark. Then the content providers fire back by promoting alternative services. It happens locally and nationally. Rinse and repeat as necessary. And yes, the winds are shifting quickly, and the cables cos., etc. are playing catchup. I've seen this game before.
I recently did an evaluation of TV services for a University and one of the options had everything available ala cart. In that model five ESPN networks cost as much as a 100 channel programming package without ESPN.
The reason for that is pretty obvious when you look at the content. 100 channels of low budget reality shows on endless repeat or five channels of sports content that they're paying hefty fees to carry.
TravelGal
04-20-15, 01:37 AM
Dodgers fan here, yo. :gomer: Doesn't affect me, tho, since I'm not on the left coast. ;) Did TWC not resolve the carriage issues to broadcast the games? If not, wow. They pissed around with the NFL for almost 5 years before NFLN was available on TWC. :saywhat:
Time Warner signed up immediately. We can watch the Bums all we want. It's the majority of LA with Comcast that can't catch their hometown Doggies. Comcast simply won't pay what the Dodgers demand to cover their games, as I understand it.
Insomniac
04-20-15, 11:29 AM
Bunk. ABC/E$PN are the same under the Mouse House. And hey, I'm a HUGE Disney fan. Mickey earring, watch, and I bleed Walt, but I'm a realist. I'm also a DIS shareholder. :) But I see what they do at the parks, etc. I saw the figures when the BTN/TWC negotiations were happening, which took well well over a year here to settle here. It was quite clear that by shifting beans from one ledger to the other, it was a grab to increase per subscriber revenue. Moving from 'free' OTA to cable made $$$ sense. Also, keep in mind I was once under the TWX umbrella as an AOL employee. I have a bit more internal insight into the practices that happened in the ISP industry, happening now to cell carriers, and what will happen to cable/DBS. Look at what happened to CNN, etc. on Dish earlier this year. They went dark. Then the content providers fire back by promoting alternative services. It happens locally and nationally. Rinse and repeat as necessary. And yes, the winds are shifting quickly, and the cables cos., etc. are playing catchup. I've seen this game before.
I already said the same company. But ABC was paying $550M/yr when they gave up MNF so ESPN could then pay $1.1B/yr to broadcast it instead. ABC let it go because it was costing them $150M/yr. Why would a company as smart as Disney take something that was costing them $150M and then go ahead and pay 2x as much? The business model for ESPN is completely different. On top of advertising, they get subscriber fees. The NFL knows this and that's why ESPN ($1.9B) pays more than CBS ($1.1B), NBC ($950M) or FOX ($1.1B) for the NFL. They get no flex scheduling, they don't get priority in picking games (when was the last time Brady-Manning was on MNF?) and they get no Super Bowl. They had to let SNF go to get MNF on ESPN. The NFL musical chaired their way into big money.
TravelGal
04-20-15, 12:22 PM
From dando's favorite (AOL scroll): NEW YORK (AP) -- ESPN is expressing concern that new television packages being offered by Verizon do not comply with its existing agreements.
Ya think? :rolleyes:
I referenced the obvious example with The Mouse House, but like I stated, it's occurring locally and nationally. Content providers are picking at the carcass trying to extract what they can from the consumer. Tides will turn. Also, as I stated previously, I've been there, seen that, done that. :saywhat:
From dando's favorite (AOL scroll): NEW YORK (AP) -- ESPN is expressing concern that new television packages being offered by Verizon do not comply with its existing agreements.
Ya think? :rolleyes:
Content providers will be dragged kicking and screaming into this upcoming mess.
cameraman
04-20-15, 02:24 PM
Content providers will be dragged kicking and screaming into this upcoming mess.
Well considering that I watch a grand total of 5 channels but have to subscribe to the largest package to get them:flaming: it can't happen too soon.
Insomniac
04-20-15, 04:25 PM
Content providers will be dragged kicking and screaming into this upcoming mess.
And the smarter ones are doing it before hand. HBO being the best example of the realization.
TravelGal
04-24-15, 02:08 PM
Time Warner // Comcast == DOA.
WickerBill
04-24-15, 02:35 PM
I can't decide whether to be happy or sad about this.
On one hand, hooray for not allowing The Worst Company In the United States to proliferate dramatically.
On the other hand, I was one of the lucky ones that Comcast was going to divest if the merger went through to appease the anti-monopoly laws. Now, I'm stuck with 'em.
I can't decide whether to be happy or sad about this.
On one hand, hooray for not allowing The Worst Company In the United States to proliferate dramatically.
On the other hand, I was one of the lucky ones that Comcast was going to divest if the merger went through to appease the anti-monopoly laws. Now, I'm stuck with 'em.
Comcastic == we suck less. :gomer:
Time Warner // Comcast == DOA.
Done.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/comcast-kills-time-warner-cable-deal-1429878881
WickerBill
05-24-16, 09:06 AM
I'm BACK, with my latest Comcast tribulation.
Friday, new neighbors moved in. At around noon, there was a Comcast truck in front of their house. At around 1:20pm, my daughter called me to state the internet was down. I did not immediately put 2 and 2 together, but I should have known....
After realizing it was the cable modem, not my router, with the issue, I swallowed hard and called Comcast. "Ralph" helped me through a tremendously rudimentary call script which included:
a) blaming my wireless router
b) telling me that everything looked fine from his end (more on this in a minute)
c) blaming me ("you did not reboot your computer as I asked!" - as if this is 1999 and I only have one device in my house)
Regardless, I politely asked if someone could come out immediately, since it was a work day and I work from home and therefore, I was not working. I was informed that the next available time for a tech was Sunday at 4pm.
So, I waited (and bxtched a bit on Twitter), and started to realize that something had probably been jarred loose in the street cable box that serves about 5 houses on my street. It can happen, but surely they would want to fix this immediately. No. Incorrect.
Get a call on Sunday afternoon... two days with no service... the guy is going to be four hours late. Whatever, just get here.
Repair guy arrives, asks if anything unusual happened when the outage occurred, and I mentioned the neighbor installation. He goes a little bug-eyed and heads to the street box. Comes back in 10 minutes and asks if I'm working now. I was. He's trying to wrap it up, but I told him I really need to know what happened.
Neighbor installer couldn't get a strong enough signal to the neighbor house, so he disconnected me... cut my line... spliced in the neighbor house... *spoofed my modem's ID at the neighbor's house* (which is why Comcast HQ thought I was online)... and left. JOB DONE.
Now I have my son's open house this weekend for HS graduation, and I have a nice bright orange cable strewn across my sidewalk, which will not be buried for a month. Tripping hazard (and yank-it-out-of-the-box hazard too) for 100+ people entering my house on Saturday.
So tell me OCers... what should I do?
If it wasn't for bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck with Crapcast. :saywhat: How 'bout getting some landscaping staples (like those used to hold down weed blocker fabric) to secure the cable and prevent tripping?
So tell me OCers... what should I do?
Cones. Lots of cones.
http://s33.postimg.org/fz54ie9mn/orange_cones_9.jpg
Also, post signs on the cones: "Comcast Cares This Much." "Make Comcast Great Again." "Comcast Hate Me." etc.
I'm sure Comcast will appreciate the publicity.
Tifosi24
05-24-16, 03:07 PM
If it wasn't for bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck with Crapcast. :saywhat: How 'bout getting some landscaping staples (like those used to hold down weed blocker fabric) to secure the cable and prevent tripping?
That might work, but I am not sure what it may do to your cable service in terms of possible interference. I work as a regulator, so maybe I am biased, but the recent story would be a classic illustration of why regulation of the cable companies would be appropriate.
Cable protector
http://s33.postimg.org/n72fdyocf/41ttq_S_p_TDL_SX355.jpg
WickerBill
05-24-16, 03:26 PM
Cable protector
http://s33.postimg.org/n72fdyocf/41ttq_S_p_TDL_SX355.jpg
Think Comcast will buy me one?
Think Comcast will buy me one?
Bend over and grab. :\
I can't believe a cable lying across a sidewalk is in compliance with code. However, if you bring that to their attention, they could just remove it until it can be buried.
I can't believe a cable lying across a sidewalk is in compliance with code. However, if you bring that to their attention, they could just remove it until it can be buried.
Uh, utilities have variances, yo. That includes cable cos.
TKGAngel
05-24-16, 08:05 PM
It might be worth having a chat with your new neighbors before you call Comcast and complain. It's worth seeing if the neighbors would be willing to complain as well, as their service would be screwed up if you ever cancelled or moved away. They may also have some info on the name of the employee that did the work which could confirm whether he was a Comcast employee or an independent contractor. Having a name might make your complaint be seen as more legit in the system.
It might also be worth an in-person visit to a local Comcast service center for a face-to-face complaint job. (Assuming you have the time and Comcast has service centers, of course. Just speaking from TWC experience…)
On a happy note, congratulations on your son's graduation!
chop456
05-25-16, 03:56 AM
Keep going at them hard on Twitter. That gets results.
I work from home on occasion and this is why I have the lowest tier cable internet as a backup to Uverse. Separate lines, separate modems and separate routers. I think it's $14/month. They both suck out loud, but usually not at the same time. :gomer:
chop456
05-31-16, 02:02 AM
WB - please check your messages.
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