[GRLUG] Comcast and net neutrality

[Bob Kline]

On 10/24/07, Michael Mol <mikemol at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 10/24/07, Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 10/24/07, Greg Folkert <greg at gregfolkert.net> wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2007-10-24 at 10:21 -0400, Judith Alta wrote:
> > > I've spent about 25 hours chasing down a Operation Phone Number, its
> > > invalid, I got another one, its the "long distance" number for the
> toll
> > > free support line. Which then gives me the first invalid number.
> > >
> > > Sending to Comcast is a serious PITA. Getting REAL people on the phone
> > > to resolve these issue are IMPOSSIBLE.
> >
> >
> >
> >  Typical monopoly behavior.  Big companies
> > with monopolies usually don't care whether
> > people live or die on an individual basis.  If
> > they detect they are losing business by,  say,
> > the thousands of customers,  they might
> > wake up and see what's going on.  Otherwise
> > they just accept a certain amount of churn,
> > and seem to assume that if you're calling
> > you're a trouble maker anyway.
> >
> > I've gotten Comcast people on the phone
> > now and then,  and they are often snotty has
> > hell.  And you'll rarely get beyond "power cycle
> > your machine."  Say that's not the problem and
> > you'll get "well,  if you don't want us to help you
> > we have other calls waiting."
> >
> > Just make sure you get your bill paid on time.
> >
> >     -Bob
>
> Another gem: A friend of mine was dropped by Comcast last week for
> excess usage. (He had been seeding a large number of popular
> torrents.)  When someone else in the family called Comcast (and
> reportedly spoke to them very calmly), the Comcast abuse rep quickly
> raised his voice and began shouting.
>
> I'd heard of rude, sarcastic and obnoxious reps on tech support lines,
> but to have a rep shout at the customer goes beyond anything I'd heard
> of before.
>
> Incidentally, Comcast is losing a $170/mo+ account as a result.


In a way one can look at this as
Comcast imposing byte  limits.

Here again,  Comcast could just
spell it out.  What is the point at
which they chuck you for being an
abuser?  Is the limit averaged over
a day,  a week,  or a month?

But here too,  a company is free
to turn down business.  But being
a near monopoly,  you'd think they'd
be required to inform people first
about what rules are.

Am I correct in saying the person
above was warned at least once,
or was he just cut off?

     -Bob
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