Even famous people can have trouble with Comcast

Well, he’s famous on the Web, at least. Dave Winer, one of the first bloggers and the man widely considered to be the creator of RSS and one the creators of podcasting, recently had some trouble with his Comcast service.

First I have to convince them it’s not the modem, because every time they’re absolutely sure it is my modem, even though the seven times before it wasn’t. I ask them to check the other customers in my building. It seems about four times out of five this really pisses them off, because I get a lecture about how I have to make an appointment, and give up a day of my time so they can have a repairman visit, why I don’t know. So I usually say goodbye at that point, and try again. More often than not the second person is sympathetic, and we test the other modems in the building and (surprise!) find out that either they all failed at exactly the same moment, or there’s some other problem that has nothing to do with the modems. Even so, before they’re willing to investigate, I have to make an appointment.

Yep, that’s sounds about right.