Comcast HDTV Adventure

jrpt · 08-12-2005, 12:25 PM

Hi all-

First post here. Just bought a Sony 42" WEGA HDTV-Ready so obviously I was in gear to get all of the high-def capabilities that I could. Comcast is our local cable provider although we do have options for DirectTV and DishNetwork. Problem here is Comcast Cable-Modem is very very good and I can't pull myself away from using their high speed internet--I got them down in price too so that helps. Anyway,,,

Originally they installed a standard cable box and I really didn't know any better. So I fool around w/ the TV for hours and after much deliberation determine that my 'HD' channel pictures were no better than the standard channels. I call Comcast and of course they are clueless as well (nice to have such knowledgeable personnel). I finally ask if they have a specific cable box for HD and she says 'Yeah, I think so. ' She checks and sure enough tells me that they do, but it would cost a $15 service charge for a technician to bring it out. Nice. So I drive 30 mins to the HQ to pick it up myself and they also give me a DVI cable(didn't know what this was at the time). So I get home and lo and behold, the SONY TV set input is an HDMI input, not DVI. I call up Radio Shack and the guy there knows nothing about HD sets either. Drove over to the Shack and looked at their cables. The guy tries to sell me another cable which is DVI to HDMI for $50 but I spot just a converter piece I can stick on the original cable for $20. I go home, install the cable to the new box to the TV. Turn on the TV and....same picture. What the?? I call up Comcast again and get another troll who probably has gone through 3 bags of Fritos in the past hour. She has no clue and has me change settings...no avail. FINALLY, I have them send out a technician and this guy happens to have the same TV. Now why the hell can't this guy be called in for all of these HD issues?? Its insane. He shows me that I have to change the Video Input to VIDEO 7 on the tv to get the HD channels and sure enough....got it! True HD pictures...well worth it.

HOWEVER, it pained me to no end that I couldn't get PIP while using the Cable Box. The TV has 2 internal tuners and the box makes them useless. So I do a little research and find out more about the cable cards. And to my liking, determine that if I can get my hands on one of thes suckers I would get the HD signals and be able to use the PIP. Fantastic!! So I call up CONcast again and they inform me that they don't deal with the cards. What? I argue with 3-4 different agents on different calls before I finally get to a manager who knows what he's talking about. He says YES, they do have them but its a new thing and he 'wouldn't suggest' getting one because I can't do ONDEMAND or PPV. Well, I have never done either so I told him to set up a cable card install. So he does.

Comcast uses outside installers for most of their customers so on the day of the install the guy calls me and says he's coming over 'to install the box' that I requested. I stop him and say 'Not a box, a cable card'. Nope, on his work order it says a box and plus, he tells me they've been out of the cards for weeks! Ahh!!!! So I call up his boss and bitch and amazingly, the boss tells me they 'Just got 5 cards in'. Amazing 'luck'. So the next day the guy (his first week on the job--my luck) has never done a cable card install before. Perfect. So he has typed instructions on the install--seemed pretty simple. Seemed. We could not get any channels to work. He was on the phone with the Comcast guys for 1.5 hours to no avail. It was pathetic. I didn't want this guy to be sleeping in my family room so I told him to just leave the card and the box in case the card didn't work I could still use the box. He leaves, I pop the card out of the TV and realize that he never gave the serial # on the card to the Comcast operator. So I call up Comcast, tell the guy the above and 15 minutes later, with the Serial # entered, I get channels!!! Finally. No box!!!
BUT, it doesn't end here. I realize that I only get the local HD channels plus a few others but don't get esPNHD, hbohd or ShoHD like I did with the box. Again, I can't figure it out. Call up comcast and um....do I need to say it. No answers. So I scoured the High Def Forums and after piecing together some posts, determine that currently the only way to get those HD channels is with the box. Crazy but true. Well, no way am I going to give up my PIP capabilities but I want no NEED the ESPNHD channel. So I read some more posts and determne if I buy a splitter I can split the cable line, with one going to the box and from the box I can use the DVI/HDMI input and the other going straight to the tv. So, my current setup is that I use the TV only with every channel except for the premium HD channels, where I just flip on the box and use it for those channels. This way I have my PIP capabilities because of the 2 tuners in the TV and high def capabilities for all channels.

As a caveat, I called up Comcast to make sure they were not charging me for both the box and cable card. Sure enough THEY WERE! The guy fixed it quickly though.

So this has been a frustrating tale of a CONcast experience. They are just a terrible company in terms of customer service and technical knowledge. If it takes sending these jobs over to India to get solid answers to my basic questions, I'm all for it. Having idiots answering phones who give you attitude because they can't answer basic questions is unacceptable. Can't wait until DirectTV gets a good high-speed internet service which can rival Comcast in quality and price.

Happy HDing to everyone.

dels28 · 08-12-2005, 12:49 PM

[BUT, it doesn't end here. I realize that I only get the local HD channels plus a few others but don't get esPNHD, hbohd or ShoHD like I did with the box. Again, I can't figure it out. Call up comcast and um....do I need to say it. No answers. So I scoured the High Def Forums and after piecing together some posts, determine that currently the only way to get those HD channels is with the box.

When I first had the card installed, I was told the same thing, but they were wrong. It clearly states on Comcasts' website that you'll will get the same service with the card that you receive with the box. except the ppv, which you can call in to receive, vod, and on-screen guide. If you were receiving only basic analog service, you will only get HD local broadcast, but if you were receiving digital cable, any tier, like classic, you will receive, at least in my area, all of the HD channels except the premiums, HBO, STARZ, SHOWTIME, CINEMAX ETC. EspnHD, tntHd, INHD1&2 should be a part of your service, if you have a digital subscription. You DON'T need to pay the extra five dollars a month to receive these channels.

TheKorn · 08-12-2005, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrpt

So this has been a frustrating tale of a CONcast experience. They are just a terrible company in terms of customer service and technical knowledge. If it takes sending these jobs over to India to get solid answers to my basic questions, I'm all for it. Having idiots answering phones who give you attitude because they can't answer basic questions is unacceptable.

Hate to say it, but my experience with offshore tech support is even worse. If it's not on the script, they know absolutely nothing about it. Go ahead... Next time ask an offshore support person something that would require just a little bit of thought.

In fact, you can try it right now! Seriously! Call Comcast at 11 PM, and your call goes over somewhere in asia. Sounded Indian to me, but who knows. Here was the conversation:

"My cable is out. Both set tops are blank and the directly connected TV has no signal."
'What's your phone number?' (or maybe she asked my address)
(my address/phone number)
'I'm not able to connect to either of your set top boxes.'
"Well that makes sense because MY CABLE IS OUT."
'Did you unhook them?'

"........ You're seriously asking me if I unhooked BOTH my cable boxes and _then_ called in?"

(five minutes go by with similar absolutely BRAIN DEAD 'troubleshooting' going on)

'Well I'm sorry, but unless anyone else calls in the outage to your area, I'll have to schedule a technician appointment. Would you like to buy internet service from us?'

"Wait, so while I'm having a service interruption, and now know that you have absolutely NO way to tell if a piece of your network is down, you want me to switch my data services to you?"

The conversation went downhill from there. I started asking her "what would YOU do" questions, and I heard a small brain implosion happen on the other end of the line.

So be careful what you wish for!

ja2935 · 08-12-2005, 01:00 PM

jrpt - frankly I am amazed that you can live without either the on-screen guide or, more importantly, a twin tuner DVR!

gtken23 · 08-12-2005, 02:14 PM

I love my hd and can't live without dvr...but please comcast bring tivo in soon...your dvr sucks so so badly

kdog044 · 08-13-2005, 07:46 AM

I actually have both the DVR and the cable card. In regards to the guide most integrated TV's have TVGOS through Gemstar so I only miss the PPV and OnDemand with the cable card. Just for the record, any channel you get with the STB you can get with the cable card. The problem is many of the displays need to have firmware upgrades due to the range of frequencies that Comcast and other providers are using which were beyond what the specifications from cable labs were when designing the cable cards. Once I upgraded the firmware in the TV my cable card worked flawlessly. In Comcast's defense, the technology is relatively new so there isn't a lot of experience to draw from. I'm sure when the STB's were first introduced there were some of the same growing pains. Even though Comcast didn't have a lot of experience with installing cable cards they were more than cooperative in trying to get mine to work.

Mike Wolf · 08-13-2005, 03:35 PM

First of all, bleep you for calling the employee's trolls, thats very inapropriate for your lack of education. You are a fool not to know that there are DVR boxes with two tuners, ie picture in picture. You really should have done your homework before you desided to jump into this "adventure". This is simply a streak of bad luck for you and you really need to take it down a few notches, sit back and have a drink. As what kdog said Comcast is new to the CableCARD service and as with all new technology it will take them a little while for them to get into the swing of things. I work in association with Comcast and i find it very disrespectful for you to call them childish names. I know that if i had my way, i would ban you from technology. By the way, your the idiot, just with bad luck and no knowlege of technology. Quite frankly the only sane posts in here is mine, kdog, and ja2935.

Comcast has signed a contract with TiVo for them to provide units with the service by middle to end of 2006, so just wait for goodness sakes gtken23!

RSawdey · 08-15-2005, 03:02 PM

jrpt -

Your problems are at least partly brought on by your own lack of understanding. You need to read your TV's manual. For starters, your Wega is NOT HD-ready (meaning no digital tuner) but is a full blown HDTV. Reading the manual would have saved the service charge to tell you how to change inputs.

PIP requires 2 independant tuners to supply 2 independant signals. If you are only using a single tuner cable STB it can't perform PIP internally. Dual tuner cable DVRs can PIP internallly. You could PIP with the cable STB and ANOTHER signal source, like from your internal digital tuner or a DVD player. This uses the PIP in your TV instead of in the cable STB. Your TV manual will also describe how to select the 2 sources to be used for PIP. Your cablebox isn't making your TV's tuner useless - it's your method of operation that is using the cablebox INSTEAD of the internal tuner.

One reason there are problems for installers with CableCard, is that each brand of TV has a different initialization procedure BEFORE it can be introduced to the headend by it's unique ID. Best to read your manual BEFORE the installer gets there, so you know the particulars. This init can take as long as 20 minutes, worst case, don't be impatient & quit in the middle. Once introduced, the headend needs to 'provision' your card for your subscribed channels. The slang is 'hitting' your card. Sometimes a card may need 'hit' more than once before all your channels stick.

Mike Wolf · 08-16-2005, 10:18 AM

Well said. By the way, nerves are high since i just was diagnosed with a broken toe

gtken23 · 08-16-2005, 11:01 AM

got to stop kicking those moto stb's mike

Mike Wolf · 08-16-2005, 11:38 AM

oh go dance somewhere else, lol. If you gotta say something to me, dont do it in a post, do it in a PM.

gtken23 · 08-16-2005, 01:32 PM

take it easy mike not like you haven't done it.

RSawdey · 08-17-2005, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtken23

got to stop kicking those moto stb's mike

hahaha good one! hahaha

Sympathy on the broken toe... had a broken baby toe that took 9 months to heal... not fun. Still remember the sound like a breaking breadstick when it went, CRUNCH!

Rkfdspeed · 01-08-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Wolf

First of all, bleep you for calling the employee's trolls, thats very inapropriate for your lack of education. You are a fool not to know that there are DVR boxes with two tuners, ie picture in picture. You really should have done your homework before you desided to jump into this "adventure". This is simply a streak of bad luck for you and you really need to take it down a few notches, sit back and have a drink. As what kdog said Comcast is new to the CableCARD service and as with all new technology it will take them a little while for them to get into the swing of things. I work in association with Comcast and i find it very disrespectful for you to call them childish names. I know that if i had my way, i would ban you from technology. By the way, your the idiot, just with bad luck and no knowlege of technology. Quite frankly the only sane posts in here is mine, kdog, and ja2935.

Comcast has signed a contract with TiVo for them to provide units with the service by middle to end of 2006, so just wait for goodness sakes gtken23!

I would think if you were an "installer" or "customer service rep" knowing your field would be a pre-requisite.

Although calling-names is never a positive approach -You sound like a pompous arrogant a@@hole.

The failure to train-educate-and produce technical literate falls entirely on the vendors of this technology. Why do you give a pass and blame the customer ?

The evidetuary fact that you "work in association" with Concast only reinforces who should be "banned from technology".

by the way I was only reading this post to get educated-I guess I learned more than I thought I would.

Grendel · 01-11-2008, 12:52 PM

I have had similar experiences with Comcast employees. Had a service install when I first moved into this apt, the technician was friendly, experienced and knowledgeable. Did a great, professional installation in an amazingly short amount of time. Eventually closed the account and reordered service (which I do periodically in order to take advantage of their many time limited offers), this time it was two technicians (wtf?) who didn't know ****. Took them FOREVER to install and they ended up leaving without having been able to finish the activation of my internet service (supposedly something was down and out of their hands, I had the net connected within 15 minutes of their leaving). I couldn't believe the difference in the level of service between the two installs, it was night and day. Same with dealing with them over the phone, I have actually talked to persons with actual knowledge and great customer service skills, and also with people who had NO business doing that kind of work. I'm moving again in a couple weeks and will be rolling my service yet again. Here's to hoping I get a REAL technician and not some jackass.

08-12-2005, 12:25 PM	#1
jrpt What is HD? Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2	Comcast HDTV Adventure Hi all- First post here. Just bought a Sony 42" WEGA HDTV-Ready so obviously I was in gear to get all of the high-def capabilities that I could. Comcast is our local cable provider although we do have options for DirectTV and DishNetwork. Problem here is Comcast Cable-Modem is very very good and I can't pull myself away from using their high speed internet--I got them down in price too so that helps. Anyway,,, Originally they installed a standard cable box and I really didn't know any better. So I fool around w/ the TV for hours and after much deliberation determine that my 'HD' channel pictures were no better than the standard channels. I call Comcast and of course they are clueless as well (nice to have such knowledgeable personnel). I finally ask if they have a specific cable box for HD and she says 'Yeah, I think so. ' She checks and sure enough tells me that they do, but it would cost a $15 service charge for a technician to bring it out. Nice. So I drive 30 mins to the HQ to pick it up myself and they also give me a DVI cable(didn't know what this was at the time). So I get home and lo and behold, the SONY TV set input is an HDMI input, not DVI. I call up Radio Shack and the guy there knows nothing about HD sets either. Drove over to the Shack and looked at their cables. The guy tries to sell me another cable which is DVI to HDMI for $50 but I spot just a converter piece I can stick on the original cable for $20. I go home, install the cable to the new box to the TV. Turn on the TV and....same picture. What the?? I call up Comcast again and get another troll who probably has gone through 3 bags of Fritos in the past hour. She has no clue and has me change settings...no avail. FINALLY, I have them send out a technician and this guy happens to have the same TV. Now why the hell can't this guy be called in for all of these HD issues?? Its insane. He shows me that I have to change the Video Input to VIDEO 7 on the tv to get the HD channels and sure enough....got it! True HD pictures...well worth it. HOWEVER, it pained me to no end that I couldn't get PIP while using the Cable Box. The TV has 2 internal tuners and the box makes them useless. So I do a little research and find out more about the cable cards. And to my liking, determine that if I can get my hands on one of thes suckers I would get the HD signals and be able to use the PIP. Fantastic!! So I call up CONcast again and they inform me that they don't deal with the cards. What? I argue with 3-4 different agents on different calls before I finally get to a manager who knows what he's talking about. He says YES, they do have them but its a new thing and he 'wouldn't suggest' getting one because I can't do ONDEMAND or PPV. Well, I have never done either so I told him to set up a cable card install. So he does. Comcast uses outside installers for most of their customers so on the day of the install the guy calls me and says he's coming over 'to install the box' that I requested. I stop him and say 'Not a box, a cable card'. Nope, on his work order it says a box and plus, he tells me they've been out of the cards for weeks! Ahh!!!! So I call up his boss and bitch and amazingly, the boss tells me they 'Just got 5 cards in'. Amazing 'luck'. So the next day the guy (his first week on the job--my luck) has never done a cable card install before. Perfect. So he has typed instructions on the install--seemed pretty simple. Seemed. We could not get any channels to work. He was on the phone with the Comcast guys for 1.5 hours to no avail. It was pathetic. I didn't want this guy to be sleeping in my family room so I told him to just leave the card and the box in case the card didn't work I could still use the box. He leaves, I pop the card out of the TV and realize that he never gave the serial # on the card to the Comcast operator. So I call up Comcast, tell the guy the above and 15 minutes later, with the Serial # entered, I get channels!!! Finally. No box!!! BUT, it doesn't end here. I realize that I only get the local HD channels plus a few others but don't get esPNHD, hbohd or ShoHD like I did with the box. Again, I can't figure it out. Call up comcast and um....do I need to say it. No answers. So I scoured the High Def Forums and after piecing together some posts, determine that currently the only way to get those HD channels is with the box. Crazy but true. Well, no way am I going to give up my PIP capabilities but I want no NEED the ESPNHD channel. So I read some more posts and determne if I buy a splitter I can split the cable line, with one going to the box and from the box I can use the DVI/HDMI input and the other going straight to the tv. So, my current setup is that I use the TV only with every channel except for the premium HD channels, where I just flip on the box and use it for those channels. This way I have my PIP capabilities because of the 2 tuners in the TV and high def capabilities for all channels. As a caveat, I called up Comcast to make sure they were not charging me for both the box and cable card. Sure enough THEY WERE! The guy fixed it quickly though. So this has been a frustrating tale of a CONcast experience. They are just a terrible company in terms of customer service and technical knowledge. If it takes sending these jobs over to India to get solid answers to my basic questions, I'm all for it. Having idiots answering phones who give you attitude because they can't answer basic questions is unacceptable. Can't wait until DirectTV gets a good high-speed internet service which can rival Comcast in quality and price. Happy HDing to everyone.

08-12-2005, 01:00 PM	#4
ja2935 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,034	jrpt - frankly I am amazed that you can live without either the on-screen guide or, more importantly, a twin tuner DVR! __________________ Toshiba 34HF84 Comcast Motorola DCT 3416 (all digital), Component/Fiber Optic Toshiba SD4900 (Region Free), Component/Digital Coax Toshiba HD-A2, HDMI/Fiber Optic Yamaha YHT-160 Home Theater System

08-13-2005, 07:46 AM	#6
kdog044 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 437	I actually have both the DVR and the cable card. In regards to the guide most integrated TV's have TVGOS through Gemstar so I only miss the PPV and OnDemand with the cable card. Just for the record, any channel you get with the STB you can get with the cable card. The problem is many of the displays need to have firmware upgrades due to the range of frequencies that Comcast and other providers are using which were beyond what the specifications from cable labs were when designing the cable cards. Once I upgraded the firmware in the TV my cable card worked flawlessly. In Comcast's defense, the technology is relatively new so there isn't a lot of experience to draw from. I'm sure when the STB's were first introduced there were some of the same growing pains. Even though Comcast didn't have a lot of experience with installing cable cards they were more than cooperative in trying to get mine to work. __________________ Toshiba 62HMX94 Motorola DCT6412 and Motorola Cable Card Sony DVP-NS975V DVD Player Sony STR-DE935 Receiver

08-13-2005, 03:35 PM	#7
Mike Wolf Associate Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Toms River, New Jersey Posts: 309	First of all, bleep you for calling the employee's trolls, thats very inapropriate for your lack of education. You are a fool not to know that there are DVR boxes with two tuners, ie picture in picture. You really should have done your homework before you desided to jump into this "adventure". This is simply a streak of bad luck for you and you really need to take it down a few notches, sit back and have a drink. As what kdog said Comcast is new to the CableCARD service and as with all new technology it will take them a little while for them to get into the swing of things. I work in association with Comcast and i find it very disrespectful for you to call them childish names. I know that if i had my way, i would ban you from technology. By the way, your the idiot, just with bad luck and no knowlege of technology. Quite frankly the only sane posts in here is mine, kdog, and ja2935. Comcast has signed a contract with TiVo for them to provide units with the service by middle to end of 2006, so just wait for goodness sakes gtken23! __________________ Panasonic CT-27HL15 Direct view Tau HDTV Monitor Kenwood VR-715 A/V Surround Receiver Kenwood SW-07HT Subwoofer Kenwood KS- 207HT Speaker System Panasonic DMR-E30S DVD Video Recorder Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR via Comcast Opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or its associate companies.

08-16-2005, 10:18 AM	#9
Mike Wolf Associate Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Toms River, New Jersey Posts: 309	Well said. By the way, nerves are high since i just was diagnosed with a broken toe __________________ Panasonic CT-27HL15 Direct view Tau HDTV Monitor Kenwood VR-715 A/V Surround Receiver Kenwood SW-07HT Subwoofer Kenwood KS- 207HT Speaker System Panasonic DMR-E30S DVD Video Recorder Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR via Comcast Opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or its associate companies.

08-12-2005, 12:49 PM	#2
dels28 Hoosier Man Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 687	[BUT, it doesn't end here. I realize that I only get the local HD channels plus a few others but don't get esPNHD, hbohd or ShoHD like I did with the box. Again, I can't figure it out. Call up comcast and um....do I need to say it. No answers. So I scoured the High Def Forums and after piecing together some posts, determine that currently the only way to get those HD channels is with the box. When I first had the card installed, I was told the same thing, but they were wrong. It clearly states on Comcasts' website that you'll will get the same service with the card that you receive with the box. except the ppv, which you can call in to receive, vod, and on-screen guide. If you were receiving only basic analog service, you will only get HD local broadcast, but if you were receiving digital cable, any tier, like classic, you will receive, at least in my area, all of the HD channels except the premiums, HBO, STARZ, SHOWTIME, CINEMAX ETC. EspnHD, tntHd, INHD1&2 should be a part of your service, if you have a digital subscription. You DON'T need to pay the extra five dollars a month to receive these channels.

08-12-2005, 02:14 PM	#5
gtken23 DLP is great Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Boston Age: 42 Posts: 144	I love my hd and can't live without dvr...but please comcast bring tivo in soon...your dvr sucks so so badly

08-15-2005, 03:02 PM	#8
RSawdey Mr. Wizard Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ferndale, Michigan Age: 61 Posts: 5,981	jrpt - Your problems are at least partly brought on by your own lack of understanding. You need to read your TV's manual. For starters, your Wega is NOT HD-ready (meaning no digital tuner) but is a full blown HDTV. Reading the manual would have saved the service charge to tell you how to change inputs. PIP requires 2 independant tuners to supply 2 independant signals. If you are only using a single tuner cable STB it can't perform PIP internally. Dual tuner cable DVRs can PIP internallly. You could PIP with the cable STB and ANOTHER signal source, like from your internal digital tuner or a DVD player. This uses the PIP in your TV instead of in the cable STB. Your TV manual will also describe how to select the 2 sources to be used for PIP. Your cablebox isn't making your TV's tuner useless - it's your method of operation that is using the cablebox INSTEAD of the internal tuner. One reason there are problems for installers with CableCard, is that each brand of TV has a different initialization procedure BEFORE it can be introduced to the headend by it's unique ID. Best to read your manual BEFORE the installer gets there, so you know the particulars. This init can take as long as 20 minutes, worst case, don't be impatient & quit in the middle. Once introduced, the headend needs to 'provision' your card for your subscribed channels. The slang is 'hitting' your card. Sometimes a card may need 'hit' more than once before all your channels stick.

08-16-2005, 11:01 AM	#10
gtken23 DLP is great Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Boston Age: 42 Posts: 144	got to stop kicking those moto stb's mike

08-16-2005, 11:38 AM	#11
Mike Wolf Associate Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Toms River, New Jersey Posts: 309	oh go dance somewhere else, lol. If you gotta say something to me, dont do it in a post, do it in a PM. __________________ Panasonic CT-27HL15 Direct view Tau HDTV Monitor Kenwood VR-715 A/V Surround Receiver Kenwood SW-07HT Subwoofer Kenwood KS- 207HT Speaker System Panasonic DMR-E30S DVD Video Recorder Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR via Comcast Opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or its associate companies.

08-16-2005, 01:32 PM	#12
gtken23 DLP is great Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Boston Age: 42 Posts: 144	take it easy mike not like you haven't done it.

01-11-2008, 12:52 PM	#15
Grendel HD bound... Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 11	I have had similar experiences with Comcast employees. Had a service install when I first moved into this apt, the technician was friendly, experienced and knowledgeable. Did a great, professional installation in an amazingly short amount of time. Eventually closed the account and reordered service (which I do periodically in order to take advantage of their many time limited offers), this time it was two technicians (wtf?) who didn't know ****. Took them FOREVER to install and they ended up leaving without having been able to finish the activation of my internet service (supposedly something was down and out of their hands, I had the net connected within 15 minutes of their leaving). I couldn't believe the difference in the level of service between the two installs, it was night and day. Same with dealing with them over the phone, I have actually talked to persons with actual knowledge and great customer service skills, and also with people who had NO business doing that kind of work. I'm moving again in a couple weeks and will be rolling my service yet again. Here's to hoping I get a REAL technician and not some jackass.