Comcast, like someone on house arrest who can’t stop talking about how much he loves just staying at home, can’t shut up about its alleged “support” of net neutrality — a support that was forced upon it as a condition of its 2010 acquisition of NBC. Now the nation’s largest Internet service provider is publicly stating that it “agrees” with President Obama’s feelings on neutrality, just not the ones that actually matter. [More]
dispatches from kabletown
Senator Asks Comcast To Stick With Net Neutrality Beyond Its Legal Obligation
By 10.20.14
While its counterparts (we can’t call them competition, since that doesn’t exist) at other cable and Internet service providers have been drooling over proposed “net neutrality” rules that would allow ISPs to charge content companies for “fast lane” access to end-users, Comcast has consistently maintained that it is the only ISP to hold to the since-gutted 2010 version of neutrality (without mentioning that it’s legally obliged to follow those rules for a few more years). Now the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is asking Comcast to stick to those rules even after it no longer has to. [More]
Comcast Sued By Customer Who Says Cable Company Had Him Fired From Job
By 10.17.14
Last week, we brought you the story of former Comcast customer Conal O’Rourke, who lost his job at renowned accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers after someone from Comcast called his employer with details of Mr. O’Rourke’s numerous — and valid — complaints about his cable service. Comcast has subsequently apologized for the myriad billing and service problems but maintains it did not intend to have O’Rourke fired, but that has not satisfied Conal, who has filed a lawsuit against the nation’s largest cable company, alleging violations of, among other claims, a federal law prohibiting cable companies from sharing personal information without customers’ consent. [More]
Comcast Sat By As ID Thieves Set Up Multiple Accounts, Ran Up Thousands In Charges
By 10.16.14
A local news report in Nashville about a local man whose ID was stolen and used to open up two bogus Comcast accounts hundreds of miles away in Louisiana has uncovered numerous additional complaints from consumers in the area who say they have also been sent to collections for fake Comcast accounts opened in the same city. [More]
Comcast Apologizes For Customer’s Bad Service But Not For Role In Getting Him Fired
By 10.8.14
The story continues for Conal the Comcast customer who lost his job after the cable company called his employer (which happens to make a lot of money off consulting for Comcast) and provided details about his customer service complaints. Comcast’s new Mr. Fix-It has issued an apology for the year-plus of horrendous service and over-billing that Conal experienced, but still maintains that it didn’t mean to get him fired. [More]
Former Employer Of Man Fired For Complaining To Comcast Speaks Out (But Doesn’t Say Much)
By 10.8.14
3 Myths Comcast Is Telling The FCC About TWC Merger
By 8.15.14
Comcast has been justifiably criticized for blatantly trying to curry favor with the FCC by trying to spend $110,000 to sponsor a fundraiser honoring FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, but while the Kabletown Krew shrugged off those allegations, Comcast EVP David “The Merger Whisperer” Cohen was meeting with the FCC to push the company’s slate of semi-truths about its pending acquisition of Time Warner Cable. [More]
Comcast Memo: Rep From “Painful” Retention Call Was Doing “What We Trained Him To Do”
By 7.21.14
A week after the posting of the neediest customer-retention call in Comcast history, the fallout continues, with the company’s Chief Operating Officer telling Comcast employees in a memo leaked to Consumerist that the incident was “painful to listen to,” but that the rep “did a lot of what we trained him…to do.” [More]
Internal Comcast Memo Says Consumerist Is All About “Headlines,” So Here’s One For Them
By 4.30.14
Earlier this month, Consumerist readers voted to hand Comcast its second Worst Company In America title, the results undoubtedly tied to the cable company’s ill-advised decision to acquire equally cruddy pay-TV provider Time Warner Cable. But rather than own up to — or even ignore — its WCIA tournament victory, the company chose to send out a memo to thousands of employees name-checking Consumerist and accusing us of being all about making headlines. [More]
Apple, Comcast Chatting About Streaming TV Service That Would Make End-Run Around Net Neutrality
By 3.24.14
One of the biggest roadblocks for non-cable TV companies looking to get into the business of offering live TV service over the Internet is that these cable companies often control that “last mile” of Internet service to customers’ homes. Since the FCC’s net neutrality rules have been gutted — and ISPs now realizing they can charge tolls to content providers even if those rules were in place — the end-user might just get a TV screen full of blocky, stuttering visuals and intermittent audio. Apple is reportedly chatting with Comcast about a set-top box that would get around this concern by treating Apple’s stream differently than regular Internet traffic. [More]
Not A Joke: Comcast Says No One Is More Dedicated To Net Neutrality Than It Is
By 3.20.14
A month ago, Comcast and Netflix seemed to be buddy-buddy when the streaming video service agreed to pay a price to end Comcast’s passive-aggressive efforts to make sure its customers had cruddy access to Netflix. Then today, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings had a not-so-nice word or two about his new paid-peering partner. [More]
Comcast To Flip Off Philadelphia Skyline With 1,121-Foot Skyscraper
By 1.15.14
The conversion of Philadelphia to Kabletown continues. Comcast’s relatively new headquarters already dominates the city’s skyline, pointing into the clouds like a giant USB drive. Now comes news that the Lords of Xfinity are set to erect an even taller middle finger to all the people of Philadelphia (myself included) who would much rather have another cable and Internet provider. [More]
Comcast Tests Data Overage Fees In Additional Markets
By 8.9.13
In May 2012, Comcast announced it would eventually do away with its policy of throttling data speeds for home Internet users who routinely went over 250GB a month, and that it would instead start charging overage fees for customers who passed the 300GB threshold. The boys from Kabletown had been testing that model out in Nashville for quite some time, and now that test is expanding to at least three other markets. [More]
Comcast Now Testing Prepaid Cable Service, But With No Sports Channels Or HD
By 8.2.13
Earlier this year, Comcast started testing prepaid Internet service for consumers in the Philadelphia area. Now the nation’s cable provider is trying out a prepaid (non-HD) TV service that offers a few dozen channels (but no ESPNs, Nickelodeon, or MTV) and costs anywhere from $15/week to $45/month. [More]
Will The Strings Attached To Comcast/NBC Deal Be Effective?
By 1.19.11
Both the FCC and the Justice Department have effectively cleared the way for Comcast (aka, that cable company from Philadelphia) to own a majority of NBC Universal, but the regulators did so with several strings attached to the deal. But the question remains: Will these rules do anything to protect consumers? [More]
