Why wait for Comcast to set up your internet service when you can activate it yourself? That’s what Alex and his roommates thought when they activated their service in June, unaided by a tech. Comcast had scheduled a tech to install Alex’s service, but the tech didn’t show until several days after his appointment, when he was told his services were not needed. This greatly angered Comcast:

“because [Alex’s roommate] called Comcast himself to set it up (in effect doing exactly what the tech would have done, had he bothered to show up), no one was being billed for our internet! So, instead of notifying anyone, they flipped the switch and turned it off.”

Comcast explained to Alex that his modem’s MAC address was blocked, and would remain blocked until they spoke to the data warehouse, which was closed. When Alex finally got through to the warehouse, he was told that his MAC address could not be unblocked, and that he would need a new modem; but even with a new modem, Alex still could not get on the internet. He could, however, have another maddening conversation with Comcast.

I told them that because they apparently blocked the old MAC address, we are now using this modem. He says that they need to send us a new modem; I said no, you said yesterday we can use a different one, and this is a Motorola Surfboard (gnarly!) just like the old one. He says hold on, then came back and took the MAC address. Hold more, then takes the customer serial number from the modem. This time he forgets to put me on hold, and I can hear him talking with someone and laughing. I’m really hoping he calls me a name or something, but other than whatever lolocaust he’s having, it seems ok. Finally, he comes back and says the exact same thing they said two days ago: they need to add our MAC address to their database, which the guy can’t do from where he is.

Alex is still without internet service. It may be time to summon the indefatigable solution mavens of executive customer support to speed the internet’s safe return.

The Sisyphean Struggle of Trying to Get Internet from Comcast [WTF, Comcast]
(Photo: Steve Rhodes)

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