Comments on: Back Online — The Comcast Experience.

By: Ward Gerlach

Ward Gerlach — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:43:32 +0000

Jim, one further suggestion – get one of those battery backup/surge suppressors for home theater systems. If your power fluctuates a lot, and with you living in Joisey I suspect your power is about as clean as it is here in SE Jawja, you may save yourself some grief.

You can get ‘em at Wally World.

By: DogsDontPurr

DogsDontPurr — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:58:35 +0000

You should call customer service and ask for compensation on your bill for the days you were without service. They will discount your bill. It’s obviously not a huge amount of money, but it is something.

By: Mike R.

Mike R. — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:33:44 +0000

Jimbo…

Come join the Collective, put your brown shirt on and get a Google account. I’ve had a Yahoo account (now used for ecommerce and the spam that it collects), hotmail, and others, and they’re good too, but I’ve dropped them all for my gmail account. I wuv it so much!

No kidding.

By: layzrydr

layzrydr — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:07:54 +0000

I’ve had FiOS for over a year & love it.

Only one problem when the router died & they had a replacement FedEx-ed in 48 hours – no issues plugging it in where the other one had been.

Good luck, love your blog.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:37:40 +0000

Oddy – it must depend on where you are. I know Fios is not, and probably won’t be, available out in rural areas. It’s just too expensive to lay fiber optics for so few people – so it’s not even an option. In cities, the prices are comparable with cable.

Remember – with any service you can have problems with the company. If you have big problems, you have the option to change to someone else. You may have issues with them too. It depends on how bad the service is from the current provider as to whether or not it’s worth the hassle of changing and taking the risk of other problems.

BTW – Comcast guy – Jimbo has Comcast come do this stuff so he doesn’t have to. I believe he pays extra to be stiffed in this manner. If he was easily able to do this himself – he very likely would not be having these problems. If a customer pays for service and doesn’t get service – what’s the point of sticking around as a customer?

By: Ernie Nilsen

Ernie Nilsen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:54:13 +0000

One of the most satisfying things my wife and I have ever done was to fire our cable company! We suffered for years with Mediacom cable because they had a monopoly in our area. Here in coastal NC, we were very late in getting DSL service. When we could finally change, we were ecstatic! We went with satellite TV and internet service through the phone company, saving about $40 a month as a package. I can’t even begin to relate how awful the cable service was and how many outages we had. After Hurricane Isabel in 2004, we had no internet for 6 weeks! Our service was slow because there was a problem on a pole about 1/4 mile away. I saw the home technician put in a work order for the pole guys to perform the repair. When I found out that the repair was not done 4 months later, we fired their asses! It still makes me smile when I think about it! The only outage we have had was my fault when I spilled a whole glass of water right into the modem. I called the service guy late at night, spoke to a real, live person, and he overnighted a new modem to me with instructions at NO Charge! What a difference! What a relief. I really think the cable company shortened our lives through blood pressure spikes and general aggravation. I advise anyone to fire the Cable guys!

By: oddybobo

oddybobo — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:15:13 +0000

You got a comcast guy to comment . . . is that for real? – Sorry bout the experience. I understand Fios is 3 times more expensive though. otherwise, I’d have switched long ago.

By: Comcastcares1

Comcastcares1 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:33:39 +0000

Jim,

I apologize for the experience.

You can also purchase your own modem.

If you decide to continue renting the equipment from us, you have the option to pick one up at the local office or we can schedule a service call for a tech to install it for you.

I believe that the technician suggested for you to pick it up as it might be more convenient for you rather than waiting for technician to install it.

Please let me know if you need further assistance on this. I will be more than happy to assist!

Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com

By: dudley1

dudley1 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:46:21 +0000

Jimbo……

I have Verizon ,recently my 1&1/2 year old modem went off the deep end. I called the Verizon help desk & got someone apparently home on leave from Al Queda who reluctantly went thru online testing to confirm that my modem was indeed finished. He then had me purchase a new one for about $40.00 which I could very easily hook up myself by just changing the four color – coded wires.

When the new modem arrived sporting the same model number as the deceased unit, it had only three wires.Well this required another call to Verizon service where it took about 30 minutes for them to discover this was an upgrade which neccessitated an on-line reprogramming. I did not have the Al Queda chap this time,I think it was his cousin who was filling in with Verizon Service in between Bomb Making orders,but 20 minutes into the re-programming the phone connection was lost.

This required yet one more phone call,this time I got an American dude apparently over there for a religious meeting with his guru who retraced everything previously done & completed the re-programming with my less then competent assistance after about 30 more minutes.

The whole experience was distressing to say the least but it worked & my Computer is now working fine.

I think I shall look for somebody local to do this job if it happens again.

By: John

John — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:44:42 +0000

My suggestion is to go out to Best Buy or your local computer store and buy a modem from them. You’ll have to wait for the morons at Comcast (yeah, I use them, too; they’re the only game in town for cable Internet here) to “provision” it, which can take anywhere from two to twelve hours depending on which “technician” you talk to (I was told two hours, and it ended up being 18, and then only because I called them and chewed them a new asshole), but at least you don’t have to wait for them to get around to finding a modem at the office and slowly make their way to your house. And if you decide to change providers, you have the equipment.