How bad is Comcast?

[Teleku]

My past experience using Verizon cable and cell phones has been good.  Can't really think of anything to complain about.

[Signe]

A couple of years after switching from Comcast to FIOS, I still have my Comcast email address.  Strange.  One thing I like about both, is they're willing to give me whatever deal is going on, even most of the ones for new customers.  The difference is, I don't have to ask FIOS.  Everytime I call, for whatever reason, they check to see if I have all the deals they offer.  I call every couple of months just so they can check.  I have yet to go a month without some sort of deal, whether it's three months free for some premium movie channels or a hunk off the internet or something.  The one thing is, though, I do have to call.  It doesn't seem to work via their website.

[Cheddar]

A couple of years after switching from Comcast to FIOS, I still have my Comcast email address.  Strange.  One thing I like about both, is they're willing to give me whatever deal is going on, even most of the ones for new customers.  The difference is, I don't have to ask FIOS.  Everytime I call, for whatever reason, they check to see if I have all the deals they offer.  I call every couple of months just so they can check.  I have yet to go a month without some sort of deal, whether it's three months free for some premium movie channels or a hunk off the internet or something.  The one thing is, though, I do have to call.  It doesn't seem to work via their website.

Its a tiered system.  Also, being friendly can do wonders!

[schild]

Also, being friendly can do wonders!

Absolutely, but the high school dropouts on the other end almost certainly need a lesson in understanding that if the customer is calling, they've already been inconvenienced so you don't get to be a dick EVER.

[jason]

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting on the Comcast/NBC stuff too. Link

If it happens, you can probably say goodbye to NBC content on Hulu.

GE and Comcast have come to an agreement about selling NBC to Comcast.  Next step is Congressional antitrust hearing...

[MahrinSkel]

[Insert obvious joke about the scheduling of the new season here.]

--Dave

[rattran]

Comcast has quietly jacked rates on me again. $141/mo for interweb and tv now. Fuckers.

Also, anyone have a reliable/definitive Verizon number/website about dsl service? My boss lives in SW Michigan, and can't get an answer from Verizon about dsl, his neighbor has it, but everytime he calls, they say they'll check and call back, but never do. And he lives right inbetween 2 Comcast franchises, that both claim the other will service him.

[HaemishM]

Our Comcast woes continue. Our Internet connection will drop for no reason at random times with no discernible pattern whatsoever. Our phone sometimes completely fucks up - sometimes calling in will send the caller straight to voicemail, sometimes it'll tell the caller that "The Cellular South customer is not available" (Cellular South is a cell phone carrier - yeah, figure that one out), sometimes you can't call out. We've had a tech out this past weekend, who offered no help other than claiming that "signal strength into the house was a little high, so I turned it down" (whatever the fuck that means) and to call immediately if it fucks up again so they can diagnose the problem when it's happening.

The good news is we have at least 3 months service free, maybe more.

[Cheddar]

Comcast has quietly jacked rates on me again. $141/mo for interweb and tv now. Fuckers.

Also, anyone have a reliable/definitive Verizon number/website about dsl service? My boss lives in SW Michigan, and can't get an answer from Verizon about dsl, his neighbor has it, but everytime he calls, they say they'll check and call back, but never do. And he lives right inbetween 2 Comcast franchises, that both claim the other will service him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Communications

You can check www.verizon.com, but Frontier is about to pwn the entire kit and kaboodle.  Good luck.

[Hammond]

Comcast has quietly jacked rates on me again. $141/mo for interweb and tv now. Fuckers.

Also, anyone have a reliable/definitive Verizon number/website about dsl service? My boss lives in SW Michigan, and can't get an answer from Verizon about dsl, his neighbor has it, but everytime he calls, they say they'll check and call back, but never do. And he lives right inbetween 2 Comcast franchises, that both claim the other will service him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Communications

You can check www.verizon.com, but Frontier is about to pwn the entire kit and kaboodle.  Good luck.

     Verizon doesn't seem to want to sell dsl in the areas that Frontier is buying.  I have talked to more than 1 person that has attempted to order dsl to their home with little or no luck.  Even better is when ordering for a business. On a side note it seems like they are not doing much work in rural areas and letting hardware get old and fail.  Al ot of customers in the North Idaho are have horror stories on getting Verizon to repair lines. (soon to be a Frontier area)  Originally they were going to upgrade equipment to support ADSL2 in many areas but that fell through.  They are following through with the fios builds but I have heard from Verizon personal that the build outs in Portland / Seattle area has slowed down to a crawl. The Verizon field personal are also scared to death of this deal and are afraid of losing all of their benefits and probably their jobs. 
     What cracks me up is they are going to dump the worst performing areas (rural) and keep the profitable ones which is California and the east coast.  The company will most likely fail and go bankrupt. During that time Verizon will turn around and gain a ton of customers that using cell phone cards to access the internet and to drop the home phone lines(people that cannot dsl in their area). Smart business tactic but consumers will again be the ones screwed.  Meh telecom sucks all the way around. Fun technology to work with but all the companies suck. Its just a matter of which one sucks less.

And oh yea apparently comcast is consistently at the top of the list of sucky companies. Number 2 behind AOL yea go team.
One of many articles.   http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/06/08/daily51.html

[Cheddar]

Random Rant

What?  Sorry?

[Hammond]

He asked why he coudln't get a call back from a verizon rep.  I replied because most likely they didn't care.  Then went off on a tangent why the verizon + frontier deal is a bad one.  Sorry to much telco information not enough on topic.

[Sky]

 

[jason]

So Comcast went digital in my area.  For me, I dumped them and have gone with internet sources (Hulu, Netflix, etc) for TV.  My father, on the other hand, was using a 6 tuner PVR I built him to watch/record TV, so we upgraded his analog tuners to digital, maps the QAM channels and kept on chugging.  Until last week.  Over the past few months of digital, Comcast has occasionally made line up changes, moved a channel, dropped one, added one, whatever.  When that happens we just rescan, remap and move on.  In the last week however, Comcast has moved all the networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, etc) from one channel to another (so like 80-201 becomes 84-201, etc) and then the next day they moved them all back (84-201 goes back to 80-201).  Of course, when they do the move, they push out a network update to fix all their set top boxes nearly instantly, but anyone using a PC with a digital tuner has to rescan and remap.  They do this change every day at about 7:30pm.

We call them up to ask what the hell is going on and they immediately offer to upgrade us (charge us more) for a DVR.  It goes like this:
Them: We can upgrade you for a nominal monthly fee to one of our DVRs and you'll never miss a show again!
Me: Can your DVR record 6 shows at once?
Them: Our state of the art DVRs can record two shows at once!
Me: Unfortunately, networks enjoy competing with each other and it is quite common for their to be anywhere from four to six shows on at the same time.  Can your DVR record 6 shows at once?  Or can I easily hook 3 DVRs to the same TV?
Them: In cases like that, I would recommend you check out our OnDemand service where you will find many of your favorite shows!
Me: Are they free?
Them: They are reasonably priced!
Me: So, you are telling me that you are intentionally messing with the channels to prevent my ability to use a digital TV tuner in a PC, and as an alternative you offer me the ability to record less shows and to pay per episode for any that I miss?
Them: When you say it like that, it sounds awful... which is why I didn't say it like that!
Me: How about I cancel instead?
Them: But if you cancel, you'll miss all your shows!
Me: ... you mean, the shows you are already preventing me from watching?
Them: Sir, please stop being logical.  If you would just pay us more money, all your problems will be solved!

After several levels of escalations I finally got a manager who assured me that there had been no channel switching done and even if there had, it would stop.  So, we'll see tonight at 7:30pm if all the local channels vanish again...

[rattran]

They've been doing a similar thing here, which also breaks the 'favorite channels' on their own dvr. I have about 20 channels set up, which every few days will be different channels at the old number. Then a few days later will be back. Mostly effecting the 'basic digital' stuff, the HD numbers remain constant.

[john4]

I've been with comcast for many years now living in Sacramento, CA.  Comcast has had decent service for both cable and internet.  I found customer service to be a slightly mix bag, but in general the repairmen are ok, its the phone op's you need to worry about.

[Signe]

So what do the people here who give up the major TV providers do about sports?  Or maybe you just have to give that up too?  I'm not entirely sure I could unless I was in some sort of extreme dire financial circumstance.

[rattran]

There's always the interweb.

But I do not watch sports. Used to catch some hockey and rugby, but don't anymore.

[jason]

So what do the people here who give up the major TV providers do about sports?  Or maybe you just have to give that up too?  I'm not entirely sure I could unless I was in some sort of extreme dire financial circumstance.

I like going to sporting events, but I hate watching sports on TV, so I don't really have that problem.  Anything really important, like the Superbowl or whatever, there are friends, family, or sports bars.

But you can find some stuff on the net.  I know there are a few sources for getting games, but I can't find them right now, but I did find ESPN360.

As a follow-up... Comcast didn't mess with the channels last night, but I have no confidence in that remaining the case, and fully expect the channels to change again before the weekend.

[Hoax]

So what do the people here who give up the major TV providers do about sports?  Or maybe you just have to give that up too?  I'm not entirely sure I could unless I was in some sort of extreme dire financial circumstance.

I miss MNF and that is about it, Sunday Night Football is on the internet, espn360 gives you NCAA basketball and football as well as a smattering of unamerican football.  Beyond that you can "acquire" any sporting event you want just for a little bit less quality and a little more effort then you might like.  For bigtime sporting events I usually want to watch with friend's or at a bar anyways so no loss there either.

[Fraeg]

I've been with comcast for many years now living in Sacramento, CA.  Comcast has had decent service for both cable and internet.  I found customer service to be a slightly mix bag, but in general the repairmen are ok, its the phone op's you need to worry about.

hmm well if you haven't had problems then kudos to you.   When I was living in Sack-o-tomatos  I had Sbc->At&t and my service for 6 years was flawless.  Comcast in NM has repeatedly drilled me sans lube.

[jason]

As a follow-up... Comcast didn't mess with the channels last night, but I have no confidence in that remaining the case, and fully expect the channels to change again before the weekend.

And tonight they moved the channels again... I called, "No sir, we've made no line up changes."  "But these channels were on different channels yesterday."  "Yes, but we haven't changed the line up, only moved the channels." *bangs head on desk*  He then offered to upgrade me to one of their HD DVRs that can record 2 channels at one, for a nominal monthly fee.