Paul's Comments

There is an organization called "Truth" that is running ads pointing out the stupid statements of tobacco company executives either ignoring the health problems their product causes or claiming other products with clearly either no or low health hazards (such as milk) being more hazardous than their own (clearly lethal) products. The organization that puts out these ads uses the term "What the FX up" for their announcements, using the term "FX" for the more common four-letter profanity. (I'm trying to be more professional here, part of me says I should just say it, and part of me says not to.)

As part of my expense for living here, I signed up for Triple Play from Comcast (Phone, Television and High-Speed Internet). Well, first I had to wait to get my name shown as being on the lease because when the guy who is leasing the place ("housemate") tried to get service to replace that which was disconnected (his prior roommate didn't pay the bills and is now a guest of the Fairfax County Jail), he was told he had to have proof of this.

All I did was call Comcast and tell them I just moved in and wanted service. My housemate wanted to bang his head against the wall because there wasn't a big problem. I gave him a suggestion I learned. Don't tell them anything they don't need to know. If they don't ask for it, don't volunteer. It makes things easier if they aren't confused by facts. It works with a lot of companies; if it's a complicated issue to tell them what's happening, and not telling them will get the problem solved, it's better to not tell them.

Well, anyway, that's the first problem, Comcast saying one thing and doing another. Okay, so last thursday (Aug. 16), I'm told it will take a week before they can come out to put the service in. Because the third housemate works overnight, I asked for an early install (9 am to noon) so it wouldn't be during his prime sleeping hours. (My brother back at the house where I used to live had the same sort of schedule.)

I'm up early yesterday, and changing my usual practice, I decide to bathe before I eat^[1]. I'm ready, and it's 9. I presume to be ready just in case the installer does get here on time. But he isn't. So, come noon, I call Comcast - while it's an 800 number, I'm having to use cell phone minutes - and try to find out what's wrong. According to the operator, the installer has only 8 jobs that day, and I'm number 8. Also, the installer has supposedly finished number 7 and should be on the way, give him half an hour.

Now, I got lost twice trying to find this house the first time, once going home and once coming out here again. So, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Okay, 12:30 shows up, but the installer doesn't. Call Comcast, and the installer's supervisor will call me within 15 minutes or so (I get the general impression they're sending an e-mail or some sort of message to a supervisor or something like that.)

1:00 and I've heard nothing, so Comcast hears from me. So, the operator will put in a second escallation request and request for the supervisor to call me. 1:30, Comcast hears from me again because I'm not hearing from them, and the operator will try again. A little past 2, I try Comcast to speak to someone there (and as it turns out, it's an operator I had spoken to earlier that day), who suggests other than my having to wait, the only other option is to reschedule for another day. So, I guess I'll have to wait as I don't particularly want to reschedule, and by this time, at 2:12 as I'm finishing up with the operator, I get a call-waiting indication on my cell phone. So I take the call and it's a Comcast supervisor. The installer who was supposed to be here had his truck break down, and so they're sending another technician. So I pinned her down that I should expect someone in 15 minutes, by about 2:30, and she agrees.

About 20 minutes later, the guy from "Come last" shows up. Seems the order they gave him is for one outlet (I ordered 3), no high-definition service (housemate wants it for his TV), and no DVR for the high-definition service. I am also informed by my housemate that the guy who did the install messed a few things up, like moving the main TV out and not putting it back and disconnecting the DVD/VCR (which there was no reason to do so). I also discover - which they didn't tell me and had they done so I would have had - I'm supposed to have permission from the landlord if they have to do an install, and, I guess, potentially damage something like drill a hole in the drywall. So all we have is the one install in the Living Room.

But they did get the phone and the Internet installed (which is why I am able to post this message today.) The cable modem ("Comcast's box") that provides Internet and phone service sits in the kitchen, on the other side of the house from my room. Also, shortly after the phone was installed, we actually got a wrong number. We haven't had phone service more than 15 minutes and already we got a wrong number. Later, we would get a second wrong number. Remember this, I'll come back to it.^[2]

Well, anyway, we now have Internet. Sort of. Comcast only provides a connection, they do not provide a wireless router or any form of multi-computer capability.^[3] Unless I want to move my computer out to the kitchen (that's not really an option, obviously) I'm going to have to figure a way to put wireless capacity in place.

So I bring out my wireless router, and set it up. (Before, when I had DSL from Cavalier, I used it as a wired router.) I can talk to it, and see about programming it, but I can't get it to talk to Comcast's box. So in addition to calling Comcast to see about getting a reinstall to provide the missing items (two installs and the DVR), I want to find out what I need to do to get the router to work. I have the PDF of the manual from SMC, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I get an appointment for next Tuesday (oh wait, it apparently is the following Tuesday, which is September 4), and I get them to transfer me to the Internet help desk. After going through various voice mail options, I get a technician who informs me that Comcast doesn't support hooking up anything else on a connection, since I can get connectivity by hooking a computer directly to their box, that's it on their end. However, she did ask me which brand of router I'm using and gave me the manufacturer's 800 number. So I call them next.

After basically asking me a few questions such as my name and e-mail address (I knew why, I've done tech support before, you get the customer's history so that you can see what other suggestions have been made so you don't repeat the same failed ideas before), the guy at SMC had me change one thing I had potentially done wrong and set a configuration option. It was at this point I was able to get the router to work, and so I'm able to use my computer in my room to wireless network with the router in the kitchen.

When I have the opportunity to get to a store I am considering going to buy a reasonably good phone system - around $150 - similar to the one I had where we used to live, the type that has wireless phones that simply plug in for power and don't require phone jacks, plus provide intercom capability. Once you've had good phone service - especially at the residential area, where most people don't - you'll find it really makes a big improvement.

So, anyway, around 9pm I'm eating dinner out in the kitchen when I get a call, and I figure it's yet a third wrong number. Not exactly; it's a technician from Comcast, (and very apologetic about calling so late) who informs me that they issued the same phone number to another customer. So, I guess that customer has been giving that number out, and explains the wrong numbers. Anyway, he's basically finding out if we have a problem with perhaps changing numbers. Well, I'm willing to be flexible, I'm not married to the number and I can always inform the few people I told that the number had to be changed. (I followed an old recommendation that the number is not guaranteed until it's actually installed, so don't depend upon it; I never gave out any number but my cell phone until after the line was installed and we had dial tone.) So he's going to see if he can get the other customer to take a replacement number otherwise they'll change mine, and he asks if it's okay to call back in a few minutes. I say okay.

Turns out that the other customer is willing to take a different number, so mine doesn't have to be changed. But it still indicates yet another problem with Comcast. There seems to be something about these so-called communications companies, their field people are usually very good but their back-office sucks. I can - and probably will - tell a whole 'nother story about C&P Telephone / Bell Atlantic / Verizon and the troubles I've had with them.

But it just seems like getting things right isn't an important issue with a lot of companies. Perhaps they think they have to cut costs everywhere, and handling people's orders correctly is one way to do that. It's an abysmally stupid way to go about saving money, but it's an easy way to do so and isn't necessarily visible right away, so it makes the beancounters happy even if it disgusts the customers. Price isn't everything, and I suspect those who realize it will do better in the long run. Southwest Airlines is no longer the least expensive airline to many of the locations they serve. But, because they provide fewer hassles than some of their competitors, Southwest will have planes leaving full while some of their competitors, charging less, will have planes fly out with seats still unsold, because the customers get less hassles from Southwest than from their competitors.

So we will see what happens with Comcast's service and whether the fix it or FX up again, as they did more than five times just trying to get the service installed.

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[1] As I see it, it makes more sense to eat first before taking a bath, that way if you get your clothes dirty or whatever happens such as spills or errors, you're changing them after you eat so you don't get clean clothes dirty. Also, if I bathe first, I can always eat while the installer is here; it would be rather problematic to wash myself while the installer is here. :) Especially if it's a woman! (c.f. the movie The Italian Job.)

[2] Sometime I have to tell the story of the huge number of wrong numbers I was getting for "White's Texaco" only they weren't really wrong numbers, not exactly.

[3] It's sort of 50/50. When I first got DSL from Verizon, the DSL modem was also a wired and wireless router (same as the SMC I have), so I didn't have to buy one. When I later got DSL from Cavalier, they provided a different DSL modem (Verizon's wouldn't work with their DSL) and their DSL modem did not include a router. So Comcast provides Internet connectivity but their equipment does not include the means to run more than one device. This may be in line with Comcast's general practice of not liking it if you do much of anything to use more service than they think you should have. If it wasn't for Federal law requiring them to give you additional outlets at no charge, I'm sure they would, and probably did back before it was required.