According to an article in The Press Democrat, some residents in Santa Rosa, CA. are coming home to find large green Comcast utility boxes installed on their property, often in the middle of their lawns. The unsightly green plastic boxes are about the size of an air conditioner and have been popping up in Santa Rosa as Comcast upgrades its cable network. Naturally, the residents are upset.

“I came home to find Comcast had put a green utility box smack-dab in the middle of my lawn. You couldn’t miss it. My stomach just turned,” said Cheryl Davison. It was an eyesore for Davison since her old equipment was buried in her yard and covered with a plastic lid. She got nowhere calling customer service so she decided to call the contractor who installed the box. The contractor gave her the number for Comcast’s local network construction team and after 3 weeks got her box removed.

“No one is going to be happy to have the box in their yard, but Comcast could do a lot better with customer service and dealing with their customers,” said resident Jim Chilton. Chilton returned home one day and found a box so close to his driveway he couldn’t open his car door to help is 4-year-old son. He said, “It looked awful. The grass around the box disturbed and never replaced.”

Chilton said he finally got a hold of someone at Comcast who promised to help him. He said, “Just trying to get a hold of someone to talk to is a total pain. They would not have done squat if I hadn’t written their legal department.”

Comcast’s rival, AT&T, has also been getting in on the act by placing even larger boxes on residential properties. In both cases the companies say that the reason for the big boxes is that the new equipment runs hotter and therefore cannot be buried underground. “You don’t want this sensitive network equipment to overheat,” said Andrew Johnson, vice president of communications for Comcast.

Sorry Andrew, but if the above results are any indication, apparently you can put at least some of these equipment bundles underground. Although, doing the job right probably takes some extra time, effort and money which are all things you probably aren’t used to spending on your customers.

Boxed in by Comcast [The Press Democrat] (Thanks to Joe!)
(Photo: The Press Democrat)

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