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.

The sleeping Comcast guy video

I know it’s old news by now, but some probably haven’t seen it yet. Besides, what kind of Comcast blog would I have if I didn’t post it?

Here’s the link.

Sorry I didn’t embed the video. WordPress.com doesn’t seem to allow that. They claim to have a workaround, but I couldn’t get it to work.

Comcast takes over Adelphia services

Welcome Adelphia customers. I hear your relationship with your cable company wasn’t great. That’s too bad because I’m not sure that it’s going to get better. Sorry guys, welcome to Comcast.

New Jersey also looking to allow Verizon to compete with cable companies

Looks like it’s not just Pennsylvania, as New Jersey is also pushing through a bill that would open up cable competition to likes of Verizon.

When elephants fight it’s the grass that suffers

I don’t remember where I heard that phrase, but I was reminded of it when reading this story about the squabble between the cable and telephone companies in Pennsylvania. A bill was proposed in the state government to further open cable competition. Verizon, and the other phone companies, are in favor of that because they want to be that competition. Comcast, and the other cable companies, of course are against the bill.

I’m always in favor of more competition, though, in this case I find it hard to route for the same side as Verizon and the telcos. They are no better – often times, worse – than the cable companies. I’m so tired of big companies like the cable and telephone companies having monopolies on area services, allowing them to get away with charging whatever they want and not caring about customer service.

Check out ComcastWatch.com

Ran across a site called ComcastWatch today while doing a Google search for “Comcast sucks”. (Lots of entries behind that search.) The site lists all kinds of news and good information about our favorite service provider.

Sprint Nextel to Form Network With WiMax

According to an AP story today, Sprint is planning to launch high-speed wireless Internet service by the end of 2007. I’ll be curious to see whether they make this available everywhere or if they stay out of the way of the major Telcos. Hopefully they, along with others such as Google and Earthlink, will spread their wireless services all over the U.S. Thereby putting an end to local monopolies such as ComCast.

I’m no fan of Sprint, but more competition is always better for the consumer.