Comcast Says No One Has Complained About Its New Traffic Slowing Efforts

from the no-one-has-complained...-yet dept

Mon, Sep 22nd 2008 10:39pm — Mike Masnick

Last month, Comcast, in addition to finally revealing the broadband caps it had always had, admitted that it was going to test a system where it slowed down traffic for heavy users in congested areas -- effectively, sending their internet traffic to the back of the line. The company is now claiming that this plan is a success because in five trials there were no complaints about slower traffic. Of course, what the company means is that there were no direct complaints to the company. They don't know if people were pissed off and off shopping for competitive services (if any actually exist), or were complaining to friends or in online forums. Having dealt with Comcast customer service, and after seeing how Comcast (falsely) denied its traffic shaping efforts for months, perhaps customers impacted by this new system simply realized that it wasn't worth the hassle of complaining directly to Comcast.

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Filed Under: bandwidth hogs, slow speed, traffic shaping
Companies: comcast

58 Comments

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Rick, 22 Sep 2008 @ 11:24pm

Slow speed
I didn't know that Comcast cared if we were unhappy with our network speed. They have trouble troubleshooting regional outages and always blame it on my computers/equipment... I doubt they would do any better if I claimed my connection was slow.
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wasnt me!, 22 Sep 2008 @ 11:25pm

im pretty sure comcast customers will strongly disagree, to said statement.

im also sure that the majority of comcast's customers didnt even hear or read that statement.
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- wasnt me!, 22 Sep 2008 @ 11:27pm
  
  Re:
  there we go Rick proved my point, and from his statement i can imagine were how the complaints concerning there traffic shaping (thats what it is after all) were dealt with.
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Griffon, 22 Sep 2008 @ 11:41pm

I complained
As usual they are full of BS. I complained directly to comcast about the slow downs. The problem is it's all regional franchise operators and they generally deny any problems just as fervently as the mother ship. I would fire them but sadly as is the case most places there is no real competition (thanks FCC).
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- JL, 23 Sep 2008 @ 1:49pm
  
  Re: I complained
  Griffon -
  
  What city are you located in?
  
  Jason
  Comcast
  National Engineering & Technical Operations
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jon, 22 Sep 2008 @ 11:43pm

thats funny
thats funny they say that. cause i was shopping around for dif ISP. i really got tired of their lies. have you guys read the one where they admit they check and violate privacy rights by checking traffic and protocols of what we download "bitorrent and so on" i might be going to att since this is not working for me as a customer. so if they havent heard the complaint well i made sure the ppl at their cust service knew i was pissed and thats WHY i switched providers.
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Rahywal, 23 Sep 2008 @ 12:31am

Hmm
So that's why Netflix Video-On-Demand isn't working right.
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- James (profile), 23 Sep 2008 @ 1:33pm
  
  Re: Hmm
  Exactly, I fired Comcast and hired AT&T. I pay for the ten meg package and my netflix on demand loads in about two seconds and never stops to buffer, unlike comcast where it would have to buffer several times during the same movie.
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- JL, 23 Sep 2008 @ 1:51pm
  
  Re: Hmm
  Rahywal -
  
  NetFlix appears to be having problems with either their CDN or their network. See http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21106177-Comcast-throttling-Netflixs-Instant-Watch-Answer-No
  
  Jas on
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  - Rahywal, 23 Sep 2008 @ 2:53pm
    
    Re: Re: Hmm
    On the computer, the network works well until I get 25mb. Then it throttles down? Is this the throttling technique being used? If so, it explains why Netflix is choppy.
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    - JL, 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:40pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Hmm
      NetFlix is not using P2P, so the existing/old network mgmt technique does nothing. At BBR other users are reporting NetFlix problems - so you may want to contact them. I do not know if this is related to the system problems they had a couple of months ago that made the papers.
      
      Jason
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What Next ???, 23 Sep 2008 @ 12:32am

Comcast is full of it's self (again)
That's funny, I complained several times to Comcast that I was not receiving the advertised speeds that I was paying for, they gave me the usual B.S.. I finally switched ISPs, and gave Comcast the reason I was dumping them was because of their slow connection...............
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Blatant Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 12:46am

Of course they never get complaints about throttling:
"You are having issues with your P2P connection being slow? One moment while I get an engineer on the line! *hits button for tier one in wherethefrakeveristan* Transferrring call about slow browsing."

Any ISP you go to slow connection 99.5% of the time the issue IS either viral laden pc, open wireless being used by neighbors/interference, or someone using a "off of our network" speed test with funky routing, or even just site overload. (The Victoria's Secret webcast during that NFL trademark fest a few years back comes to mind...)

So it's the mindset of the tech support staff of this fact for the ones that care, and the way the flowchart is laid out for the ones punching the clock. They just have no way at the local level to get information to the headend guys about these problems, and if they did, the headend guys would say "Did you follow your flowchart? you did? then why are you calling me? *click*"

Throttling is a management nonproblem. Since management has the statistics to show slowness is a tech problem, they will always toss you back into the phone bucket.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 12:59am

I care and I would complain if I had a way to. But I don't want to risk them shutting me off for complaining.

My problem with Comcast is that they are NOT throttling bandwidth or traffic shaping. They are simply terminating and banning your account if you use too much bandwidth once or twice. What if I used ten zillion terabytes of bandwidth -- but I only did it during time periods when the current traffic in our area was about 5%? Rather than control my total monthly bandwidth, how about you just shape everyone's traffic and throttle it back DURING HECTIC PERIODS. If I use my fully allotted bandwidth, but I do it all during peak customer usage times, how has this new "limit" helped you AT ALL?!
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DR Strangelove, 23 Sep 2008 @ 1:47am

I work for ISPS and see it all the time
What ever, The laws are enforced through our gov. So that means they can change the rules anytime.
I see it as- I live in a town with only one place to buy food. I have no other choice then to order from them.
I decide on a Double cheese burger with Fries- and am charged 3.50 but all I get is a single burger with no cheese and no fries. I complain after years of this, and finally it is decided that was wrong, but now they can short me the cheese and fries if they are low on stock and i get no refund for the years it was wrong. Once this town gets popular and people want to watch TV too while eating- the rules will change to- buy every bite you eat.
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- Nismoto, 23 Sep 2008 @ 9:00am
  
  Re: I work for ISPS and see it all the time
  Lame ass analogy. Lame.
  
  We, aka internet service customers, already pay for every bite. The way I see it is:
  
  You're hungry, real hungry. So you go to your local All-You-Can-Eat crap buffet and pay $7.99+tax for,... you guessed it: all you can eat.
  You commence to stuffing your face, plate after plate, and eat more than any other customer around you. Two big ass dudes in suits show up at your table and tell you "No mas. You have eaten enough and can't have any more". They escort you out of the restaurant and tell you you're not welcome back until next month.
  You have done nothing wrong at all. The amount of food you ate cost more that $7.99+tax but that's not your fault. And it really doesn't hurt the restaurant since most people don't consume more than $4.00 worth of food. But the restaurant is a greedy, money-grubbing bastard and can't have this because they need to make a 100% profit on EVERY single customer.
  The "All-You-Can-Eat" part was just to get you in the doors.
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Nat Car, 23 Sep 2008 @ 2:23am

I am leaving comcast over its policies
I am switching to ATT DSL. I have had comcast ever since it was @home. I can't take their heavy handed control over the content that I want to download. Forget using any bit torrent. I am not happy and they have heard about it.
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jon, 23 Sep 2008 @ 3:31am

there is no method for complaints
Like so many companies these days, the reason they get no complaints is because there is no procedure in place to take complaints, or if there is a method the folks on the phones either are told not to use it or do not know about it.

Call Comcast (or anybody else) and just tell them you would like to lodge a consumer complaint. They will be totally lost. They do not have a script or flowchart for that. Not even the supervisors know what to do. Most places if you ask for the phone number to the corporate headquarters they say they do not know it.

The only company that has ever said "sure, I can take care of that" and actually did (the complaint was followed up on) was Direct TV. Not that I am a big fan of theirs.

If Comcast had a system in place, and the training to go with it, to take complaints then they might actually get some.
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- JL, 23 Sep 2008 @ 1:55pm
  
  Re: there is no method for complaints
  We actually monitored the affected markets' local customer care very closely, and watched relevant web forums - so it was probably a lot more than you might expect
  
  Jason
  Comcast
  National Engineering & Technical Operations
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 3:48am

Comcast support doesn't know what a reverse DNS PTR record is. so they wouldn't know if someone was complaining about speed or access in general.
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- "support", 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:10am
  
  Re:
  Why are you setting up a mail server on their residential service?
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Michial, 23 Sep 2008 @ 4:52am

Comcast soon to be gone
I have been seeing signs in my neighborhood that Verizon is overbuilding their FIOS network into my neighborhood. All I have to say is that if it would speed things up to be able to kick Comcast out I would personally be out there drilling fiber lines day and night 24x7 to get them to my house.

U-Verse was installed and promptly kicked out of my house when they did not deliver what they promised, I have seen a number of my neighbors with U-Verse's little return to sender box for their hardware so I have to believe I am not the only one to kick them out.

So now I sit holding my breath waiting the moment I can give Comcast the old one finger salute as I kick them to the side of the road. The only thing that can make it better is for it to be on my birthday this year so I can kick them and bobble head bush to the curb with one single salute! That is if Bobble head doesn't manage to kill the country financially and leave me sleeping under a bridge by then.
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- Greg, 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:13am
  
  Re: Comcast soon to be gone
  With a name like Michial, you sound French. And with comments like the last 2 sentences, that also makes you an idiot.
  
  A French idiot. Sounds right to me.
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TPBer, 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:05am

Limits
I guess they would not like my 3-5 gigs/day downloading. I 30 days I would hit their limit 20 times over.
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Michial, 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:26am

Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
Greg;

Guess from where your sitting everything is roses? Economy is moving along firmly, and the world is a safer place, and everyone is secure in the knowlege that they'll be able to pay their morgage next month.

OH, don't worry Bobble Head has a plan!!!!
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- Chris, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:27am
  
  Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
  You do realize that the US is a free market economy and that WE the people wrecked the economy and not the government? Sure the government could of stepped in and stopped it before it continued to spiral further downward like it has, but the real people to blame are the fools who tried to live beyond their means and the corporations that loaned them money to do so. People need to stop blaming one man for their stupidity, if your one of the people who had your home foreclosed because you couldn't afford the payments... shame on you, purchase a house you can actually afford WHILE paying for all your other expenses...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Michial, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:45am
    
    Re: Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
    Chris;
    
    *IF* the mortgage crisis was caused by Americans buying houses they could not afford then you would be correct. *BUT* the source of our problems is the rapid rise in Oil Prices, and that rapid rise is DIRECTLY related to Bobble heads international policies, and warmongering mentality.
    
    If Bobble head would for once shut the fuck up and keep his nose out of other countries business instead of playing world police and world bully we would not have been in this situation.
    
    WHY are we bailing out the Banking Industry, and AIG? Why not simply fix the source of the problem and let private industry settle where it falls?
    
    Instead of $700 BILLION to bail out the banking industry why not $700 BILLION to stabilize gas prices so Americans can afford to get to/from work. Why not %700 BILLION to improve mass transit so that it is available to more Americans as an alternative to driving, how about $700 BILLION going toward prosecuting corrupt politicians?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Chris, 23 Sep 2008 @ 9:39am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
      No doubt Bush's policy has effected oil prices to some extent, but his policy is not the only reason oil prices have risen. Oil prices directly effect everything in our society and does have an effect on people being able to pay their bills I completely agree. But again, people need to learn to control their spending and stop trying to live beyond their means. If these people wouldn't of Unfortunately we live in a society where image is everything no matter the cost.
      
      Now, for $700 billion dollar bailout... it really doesn't matter what it goes to, whether it be an oil or wallstreet bailout... WE are still paying for it. You can't stablize gas prices by dumping $700 billion in tax payers dollars because you are still taking the money from the people regardless. So in other words, your prices might look lower at the pump, but the government is going to recoupe that money with a new tax and/or raise taxes already in place. If they actually don't try to recoupe the money then we are going to see major buget cuts in other sectors which could potentially drive up costs in those areas.
      
      The problem with letting the private industry settle where it falls would be a terrible thing to do, because they obviously couldn't handle their own affairs up to this point and would make a bad situation even worse.
      
      I DO agree in using the $700 billion to oust the corrupt politicians in congress however! But unfortunately that would never happen because they are the ones who vote on it... damnit!
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  - CastorTroy-Libertarian, Lover, General Annoyance f, 23 Sep 2008 @ 10:10am
    
    Re: Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
    Chris,
    90% of the time I would agree 100% with your statement. This time i have to ask though, how much do we blame the government? I know in my area State Property Taxes are driving people out of their homes (and im not talking about new home people). Most people around here have seen their property taxes increase by 40% or more. I am holding on to my home buy many of my friends (and most make 3 times there home mortage payment) are not.. they are selling out to Flippers or lossing the home altogether.
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- Mike, 23 Sep 2008 @ 7:48am
  
  Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
  lol and he's about as bright as a republican... I don't know how he thinks Michial looks french...
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  - Michial, 23 Sep 2008 @ 7:56am
    
    Re: Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
    The spelling of my name has people accusing me of being French, Mexican, German, Russian, and even Sweedish...
    
    Maybe my Father or Grandfather will see one of these debates and post the truth behind the name? I'd love to know myself.
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- James (profile), 23 Sep 2008 @ 1:39pm
  
  Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
  World is fine as far as I can see. I will make my mortgage no problem because I live within my means. My world is safer with my Glock on board. Economy is moving along fine with my ten percent pay raise and my corvette gets 38 mpg on the highway. To bad you whiney butt borderline EMOs don;t like this country. Why don't you leave?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 3:28pm
    
    Re: Re: Ahhh We have a Bobble Head fan
    "Economy is moving along fine with my ten percent pay raise"
    
    So your in just line with the measure of inflation, in fact, your pay increased 2%! But if we consider mortgage-backed securities as money (like Wallstreet has) then, uh, you took a 13% paycut this year. Confused? Look at the historical figures of Gold and Oil. But keep up the good work. What keeps me going is the fact that millions of bankers on government welfare depend on me.
    
    Vote for Rove 2008 because He was Bush's Brain!
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Dave, 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:27am

Comcast is by far the worst company I have ever used for anything. I call and complain at least twice a month for outages and demand a credit. They have been slowing me down for years but not only when I was using P2P. Jsut the built in craptastic nature of too many people in my area pilled on the same pipe so that any intensive service used between 9 am and 7 pm slows to a crawl.

No amount of complaining has does anything more than have send a tech out who is sure it is either my router or my cables. Right ... the cables in my house only work right 14 hours a day.

And no there is no competition. No att, no verizon, no wow, nothing.

Don't even get me started on their overcompressed HD feeds.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:34am

Well, between the slowing/stopping downloads and the new caps, I'm off to Verizon. Asta la vista, baby.
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skintrepid, 23 Sep 2008 @ 5:46am

Comcast
I just canceled my account with Comcast and switched to a ISP that does not set caps. The only option we have to make ourselves heard is to STOP doing business with Comcast.
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Casey Billups, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:02am

WTB Competition
I check the FIOS page like once a month to see if I am hit yet, but until then I simply have no other alternatives to comcast.

It's rediculous. However the feasibility of me finding 8 gigs worth of download material daily to reach their 250 gig cap, in time to be able to Download it on their crappy connection... well. If I hit a fast server and speedboost kicks in, I could, but thats idealistic for finding a server to feed me a daily 8 gigs worth of content.

I'm an avid torrent player with 3 TB's on my file server, but with torrent's (or atleast any responsible torrent user) your basically limited to your Upload more than your download. Yeah, I can grab a 4 gig DVD from a private tracker in 30 minutes. At 30kb's a second upload though, it's going to take me a few days to replace my ratio.

I average 5 gigs daily. The cap is rediculous, but it won't affect the average person.
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Michial, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:15am

WTB Competition
Casey;

I think for most of us it's not necessarily that they have Caps on their service, or even that they slow bandwidth hogs. I think it's that they lied to us non-stop for years about doing these things.

I had a friend that received a letter in 2006 stating that he was using an excessive amount of bandwidth, and that if the usage at those levels continued it would result in his services being terminated.

I had an actual copy of the letter when I confronted a Comcast rep about this, and the insisted that they did not monitor usage. I showed them the letter and they insisted that it was a forged letter...

Today I download 17g per week + my normal daily usage, the 17g is incremental backups. This is expected to tripple in the next 90-120 days for me, if this is the case we will see what Comcast does about it.
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- Casey, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:29am
  
  Re: WTB Competition
  Michial,
  
  Oh I know, I have plenty of personal customer service horror stories from Comcast. I also know it's the principle of the thing and I agree completely. I certainly wouldn't be with comcast if there was an alternative.
  
  However in my apartment, I can't have a dish. Verizon (non-Fios) I would need a dish to get TV + internet through. Clearwire... well right... and thats about it as far as Richmond VA providers.
  
  What are you backing up at 17 gigs a week? Thats a little rough if it triples.
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From Philly with love, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:16am

comcast resentment
If you want your complaints to be heard, make it known to your local cable franchise board, email the BBB (better business bureau), contact the FCC, start an online (or offline) petition, get a lawyer, etc. You have more options that are effective than complaining on a forum.

The more people lodge formal complaints in a decisive manner, the more the 'authorities' will hear and do something about it. Here's a link to the FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/complaint_tips.html

Your local cable franchise board needs to know that Comcast is the only broadband service in your area and by default there are no other high-speed options available.
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Casey, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:32am

Lawyer?
Philly with love~

"get a lawyer,"

And pay that lawyer to do what? Cancel your service for you? They are no longer doing it underground. It's fully disclosed and they are making the customers aware. Legally, I don't think you would have much ground other than maybe... suing for install fee's now that the service has changed?
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John, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:40am

Please give me an alternative !!!! I would gladly change, but as long as there are no other viable choices they can do anything whether their customers complain or not. It's like the a quote from Caddyshack "You'll have nothing and like it" Comcast will continue to abuse their customer base with impunity.
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Dave, 23 Sep 2008 @ 6:52am

More of the same
Cable, Oil and Wall Street the list goes on and on of Americans treating Americans poorly. Set an example and do something nice for someone today. I bought lunch for 2 service men yesterday without them knowing and I feel like I just won the Lottery.
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lee, 23 Sep 2008 @ 7:01am

They are lying
We did complain about sudden horrible slowdowns for no apparent reason. We are not big downloaders of movies and such, but do use our service all the time. At the time they insisted that they were not doing anything. After the first couple of times seeing as it did not good, we did not call every time.
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warpsix, 23 Sep 2008 @ 7:33am

comcast
Comcast doesn't have any real competition where i live but the minute they do I am out! Comcast has the rudest people and the phone tech people never listen to what you say .
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Mike, 23 Sep 2008 @ 7:39am

FYI
For those that think that their ISP's are doing this because of congestion: In the last 4 years, the growth of internet users has peaked, the ISP's however have mostly not updated their networks for about 6. They are not suffering from a frenzy of new users eating up their bandwidth, they are just trying to make more money without spending any. Call your ISP and complain about your caps, and complain about this money grab. I have Rogers, and NO caps and 10M connection for the price of 7 because I yelled at several customer support agents and let them know that I was onto their game. Unless you call them and let them know your not fooled, they will keep on screwing you.
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Joe, 23 Sep 2008 @ 7:40am

I doubt they actually checked with customer complaints
I am not a comcast customer, I was fed up enough after 1 run around with them when I lived in Tallahassee, FL. I go out of my way wherever I may live not to use Comcast due to how slow my connection was at that time and how horrible their customer service was.

I was being charged full price to surf the net at a speed slower then a 28Kbps connection. Talk about crap.

FYI I did complain A LOT, and eventually went to the BBB to get a refund, granted i only recieved 1 month discounted service with no fix to the problem or actual compensation for my issue.
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Mark, 23 Sep 2008 @ 8:15am

I call BS
Comcast is so full of crap it's not even funny. I can personally verify that I called them and explained exactly why I was canceling my service. I explained to their CSR that the traffic shaping, frequent down times, and the new bandwidth caps going into effect in Oct were all part of why I was dropping them and switching to At&t U-verse.

Then two weeks later I explained it all to them again when one of their people called me up to ask why we had canceled our service and what they could do to get us back.
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- JL, 23 Sep 2008 @ 1:58pm
  
  Re: I call BS
  Mark -
  
  What market / city are you located in?
  
  Jason
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Steven Leach, 23 Sep 2008 @ 8:58am

Comcast is the only game in my town
If I want Broadband, I have NO choice, it's Comcast. There is no other cable provider, there is no DSL since AT&T and the other telcos have decided this section of the country is not worth it, will not provide a return on investment in less than 5 years. So how is my government choosing to help, by charging me another 2,000 to bailout failed banking cronies, and companies. I wish we as citizens would just vote all the payed for politicians. I can proudly say that I have not voted for an incumbant in 4 elections how about you. i can proudly say that I did not vote for G.W. Bush, I voted for Al Gore. I can say that I did not vote for Nancy Pelosi, or Diane Feinstein, how about you? Who are you going to vote for now ?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 9:21am

kinda hard to complain about it since I dropped them losers years ago!
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 9:59am

Wow, I hate Comcast so much. I've had so many bad experiences with their service and customer support. The second an alternative is offered in my area, I'm canceling Comcast!
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Paul, 23 Sep 2008 @ 10:20am

Does comcast count people who quit there service?
I quit comcast about 2 months ago, went with DSL in my area till Fiber becomes real. DSL for all its problems with range actully gives me the 1.5 Mbps it says it will at all times.

Comcast on the other hand I would watch bandwith spike and drop.
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Mariska Hargitay, 23 Sep 2008 @ 12:28pm

I'd complain to Comcast, but I'm afraid they'll start charging me for all the cable channels I get. As soon as FIOS shows up, I'm bailing on those clowns anyway. The analog cable channels have been dropping like flies, and dish's HD package and FIOS should run around what Comcast has been bilking me every month, with better speed and quality.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 12:33pm

lol
"...the broadband caps it had always had.."
(As opposed to: "...the broadband caps it always had..."
I love this.
Two of the same helping verb...
Still, better than the crap on CNN.

Now someone will reply with the "grammar Nazi" phrase as an excuse to the above retardation. I guess, if someone wrote 2+2=5, would that be a "math Nazi"?
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Dan, 24 Sep 2008 @ 12:52am

That would be pretty much like complaining to the White House about the war or to AT&T about wiretapping. Or about lying politicians, thats their job man.
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Brent, 1 Oct 2008 @ 12:14am

bad servce
comcast will not servive, do not give them credit, they are not honest. you will go down, not the right people
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illogical.reasons, 29 Dec 2008 @ 8:36am

I can't wait to find an other internet provider. I live in MI. In my area the only high speed internet provider is comcast. I have called AT&T, Verizon... they don't have any other services in my area. I will have to move to be able to work with verizon, AT& T or other inernet provider. I have the dfeeling that this company is keeping in hostage. I thought America was the contry of competition not of monopole. I am sick of this BS. Comcast is like micfrosoft. Basically I have to pay this outrageous payment every month $60 just for internet. I am sick of paying these bastards. I am really sick of this company
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