Thought Repository

Comcast is evil


Words cannot begin to describe how much I hate the Comcast cable provider. They have of course got a monopoly on the cable service in my area and a disturbingly large part of cable service nationwide. Their prices are absolutely outrageous. The lowest plan they have that includes any strictly cable stations (not broadcast) costs $42. I don't watch a lot of TV, not nearly the amount I would get for the $42, but some. $20-$30 seems reasonable to me for what I want, but to get it I must subscribe to their $42 plan. They make no attempt to serve their customers; it is one of the most blatenly self-serving businesses that I can think of. There's no way I can do anything about it. I feel I need to take some action, but the only action I can see is cancelling my subscription outright in protest. Unfortunately that wouldn't even be noticable to such a large company. Rather, it would hurt me by taking away the programs I want to see. I'm really mad because I'm addicted to the stories in the shows I like to watch. I need to see them, so I feel I must subscribe against my will. I don't even think I can afford it. In a way I blame MIT housing for getting me addicted to TV with their free cable (even as sparce as it was).

Comments

I just started reading your website. Comcast sucks! But so does TV! Thats why i only watch 24 and only on DVD.

Ray — 9/11/2004 09:37 pm

To add to this...Comcast does not support VPN. Therefore, I cannot access my work network...rendering me temporarily unemployed.

It's one thing to block illegal activity...but its another to restrct basic internet usage and prohibit individuals from doing work from home. Comcast will go down, just give it time.

David — 9/19/2004 12:20 pm

Luckily I don't have internet service though them. If I did I might not mind the incremental expense of cable. On the other hand I'd probably hate that internet. We've got super fast DSL, with 8 static IPs and lots of freedom.

Ben — 9/19/2004 12:25 pm

I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist, but it just seems odd. Overnight, they rose up as a monolpoly in my are and good chunk of the nation for cable. They have 68000 troops, err... employees so far and 21.5 million customers. That's 7% of the nation. I have jsut barely touched cable internet. Suddenly they boast service twice as fast as regular DSL for 25 a month. Why haven't any other services gotten ahold of this technology? It doesn't just stop at overcharging, lack of customer support and therefore false advertizing. They're fucking skynet.

Kip — 10/04/2004 02:38 am

here's something for a conspiracy...comcast currently owns 28% of time warner stock. They are negotiating a deal to either merge with Time-Warner and buy out Adelphia, or for Time to buy out adelphia and raise comcast stocks to up to 50%(effectively a merger, but it won't look like quite the monopoly). Time Warner Inc. owns AOL, CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. and a number of other major networks. Comcast already owns C8, a major news, sports, and entertainment network for the New England states. For an overview...Comcast owns AT&T, it is the largest cable/broadband provider in the nation, and it is working on buying Adelphia, Time Warner and Disney (although disney looks like it will fall through). Where do you get your news?

Dan — 11/03/2004 12:46 am

Comcast IS evil! When I first signed up for Comcast several years ago I specifically asked for whichever plan had Tech TV. All was good until a couple months later, then suddenly all I get is "NOT AUTHORIZED". They had moved it up to a more expensive package! (with no change in price to the current one) So like a sucker I ask them to upgrade so I can get TechTV again... many months pass but eventually "NOT AUTHORIZED" again! And once again they moved it to a more expensive package! This time I decide, screw it, it is not worth it, leave it as it is, and of course I still payed the same. Then recently I read that Comcast bought out TechTV and merged them with their trash G4 channel essentially killing TechTV and destroying anything good they had. Then just the other day I am flipping through my favorites and the Encore channels stop working and just give me a "SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE" message! Turns out they discontinued the package I was on and switched me to "Basic Digital" - which, of course, costs the same but with so few channels it makes the digital box useless except for the TV guide thing. Which, I might add, fails so often displaying no info other than "To Be Announced" it is rarely useful.

Nathan — 11/05/2004 03:01 pm

You know what I hate? It's a bunch of moaners who just bitch and complain when there are other alternatives. If you don't like something then GET RID OF IT and get Direct TV and/or DSL service and go on with your life.
Another thing that you folks complain about is the size of Comcast. Well guys, mega-corporations are part of the "American Way of Life". That is why we are the best country in the world.
Personally, I like Comcast because I get many channels and super fast Internet connectivity too. Sure I pay a lot for this service but that is something that I CHOSE to do. Nobody held a gun at my head and said I had to use their service so there it is in a nutshell.
Additionally, the guy who said he can't use VPN has no clue. His problem does not lie with Comcast but there must be some type of computer/router/firewall conflict. My fellow co-workers and I utilized VPN daily and we all use Comcast service. You may want to speak to your LAN administrator.

Kevin — 12/10/2004 08:06 pm

You know what I hate? People whining about people whining.

I *DONT* have a choice. DirectTV is *NOT* an option for me right now.

And I just got a flyer in the mail telling me that my cable bill is going up *AGAIN*!!!

Nathan — 2/02/2005 05:18 pm

Go Nathan!
If you don't have a choice, you don't have a choice.
In my personal expirience, as I deal with larger and larger companies, their services get worse (and their tech people don't have a clue.)

In response to Kevin:
America isn't the "best country in the world". Ask anyone who dosn't live here. It's really pretty hard to quantify "best"... would it be sacrelige to suggest, say, Sweden or Cuba? Both have better social services (free education) and significantly better civil rights records.

Duncan — 2/09/2005 09:20 pm

i ... HATE comcast ... even tho i may use it (thinks they can read this) even though they promised me 6.6mbit down and 768 up ... i get 4.6 mbit down and 712 up... thats a bunch of shit ...

garrett — 2/10/2005 11:11 pm

I have Comcast and have not noticed any problems with thier service. Every channel they have, I get. 3 meg download and 256 k upload. Soon to be 6 meg down and 784 up for 10.00 more. But I am probably bias due to the fact that I work for them. If you have a problem with services call and get it fixed. Thats what we are there for. As for rate increases yes they happen for cable. What does a rate increse get us but upset subscribers and loss of customers. Comcast as a company posted a 75 million profit last quarter. How much is that? 1.00 per customer per month. I dont think we are really taking our customers for that much of a ride....
Have a great day!

Joel — 2/17/2005 04:07 pm

Indeed! I use Comcast internet, and, at least once every 2 months, we have an unexplained service outage. So, for about 2 or 3 weeks, I can't get onto the internet! Do I pay any less? No. I'm along with the rest of you!

--Tommy Brock, aka TheBlue

Tommy Brock — 5/25/2005 10:54 pm

I have no complaints about Comcast's TV service, but I'm getting really fed up with their internet service, most notably the poor quality of their DNS servers and the occasional unexplained outage. Sometimes, I'll get a fine connection, but more often then not, it's very spotty. When I download files in my web browser, the progress bar often shoots up about halfway, then stalls for a while, and then slowly creeps to a finish. I don't know what's going on, but I'm getting tired of it.

Ian — 7/14/2005 10:27 am

I'm a cableguy, i work for CableOne...they have service through out the country. I will aggree that comcast is evil...if only because the would be competition. most Cable internet problems are drop related(from the cablebox to the residents) most likely unadiqute cableing loose connectors and dog chews.. Cable internet is like the millenium Falcon..super fast but..tempormental. for example if you pay for 3 mb service and are only getting 15kb then something is wrong....let them know rather then sitting complaning...that what i find happens quite often. When i get to someones house to fix there cable they tell me thats its been this way for months and are sick and tired of it...well if they would have told us sooner ...we could have fixed the problem right away. Anywhays that my 2 cents on the subject.

I'm a good Cable Guy — 7/25/2005 12:38 am

Comcast cable boxes don't have an AUX channel.
I can't play my GCN or my X-BOX on it. I tried playing Sonic Heroes on the comcast box but it didn't work! Why would a cable box have AV jacks if you can't play your games on it? That's stupid.

Alex Bellegarde — 7/26/2005 10:26 pm
well

for me, comcast has been better then most of the junk we had.

Take Verizon and its DSL service, our phone lines in this house were not installed by verizon and when we had problems with our lines Verizon clearly stated that if they did not install our phone lines it was not thier responcibility...

bullcrap!

However Comcast did give us new lines and everything we needed...

Verizons DSL service was also terrible, very unreliable.
cable service?
well I like On demand, dont see that on the dish...
too bad our channels are iffy sometimes, but I think thats an area thing

Tara — 8/24/2005 06:02 am
Comcast

I have comcast in the house with a 7mb connection also I have there Digital Cable which in a year has had its share of issues, but no more then Dish.... Had dish and there phone support was none to be found... Or you did the hold and pause thing. Now my Connection goes down every so offten, But hell was anyone here ever on "Dial Up" how often did that crash LOL. So I have seen all types of connections fail, its a realtime issue of enviroment, instulation error, user error.

So in conclusion, Shit happens... I hate Yahoo AOL dsl. Been looking at getting a 10mb connection thats up and down on a DLS link but thats envolving a 400.00 bone set up fee. OUCH

ZeBos — 9/14/2005 09:50 am
comcast sucks

comcast is so screwed up it is hard to believe it.but I have no choice if I want TV I need to use comcast
and there billing is so outrageous I just feel like going to the comcast corporation and sticking my foot up there dumb fat-ass...

jason — 1/07/2006 09:55 pm
hay

great website now

jimmy — 1/07/2006 09:58 pm
comcast is the epitome of corporate greed

I dislike Comcast for their outrageous pricing and decided to explore other alternatives. Turns out directv and dish network is not viable for me as i have huge trees around my house that obstruct the path to the satellite. So I am pretty much stuck with Comcast against my will if I want channels such as TBS, TNT etc. I feel hostage to a greedy corporation in a country that prides itself for freedom...and dont even get me started on Comcast customer service...

Sam — 1/30/2006 09:05 am
their Biggest fears

when you disconnect your account
when you complain to the city
when you ask for a customer service manager

Sam — 3/05/2006 11:13 am
subject:A

COMCAST SLEPT WITH MY WIFE.
AND THEY RAPED MY KIDS
JUST KIDDING

BOB — 3/27/2006 12:59 am
Great solution!

I know the solution! I don't watch TV. lol.
We're with TPG for internet, but I think that's an Australia thing.
TPG, however, is still prettey botchey. We have wireless, which gets to be a pain because my brother steals all the bandwidth by downloading stuff.

We're thinking of swithching to iinet which claims to be really fast and reliable. Fat chance...

I'm not sure if iinet is just Australia-based or trans-national.

Brendan — 4/08/2006 07:32 pm
bill

If u get HBO does the movies you watch on it show up on your cable bill

Kathleen — 4/22/2006 01:28 pm