Comments on: Investment Advice: Short Comcast

By: Josh Simons

Josh Simons — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:08:47 +0000

Mike, here is the link to my comment. Sorry it took me two years to notice.
I think you will “enjoy” the Comcast story…

http://blogs.sun.com/simons/entry/cablecard

Josh

By: mike

mike — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 14:07:11 +0000

Sorry to hear that Josh…As I said in the entry, early days, but DirecTV seems pretty responsive (yesterday I swapped one of their standard boxes for a combo DirecTivo with minimum hassle) and the quality of the product seems good.

I’m even more concerned about Comcast’s long term future when I see comments like these (and especially Kevin Chu’s above with the strong arm tactics…)

Good luck.

Josh, BTW, the url for the link in your comment didn’t come through, if you drop it to me in an email I’ll amend your comment to reflect the right link.

By: Josh Simons

Josh Simons — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 12:49:22 +0000

I’ve had similar experiences with Comcast and made some
similar observations about the root cause. I have no other
option currently for cable service.

By: mike

mike — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 02:57:35 +0000

Good tip Patrick, I’ll see if that’s offered here too. I do like the high speed of cable internet access despite the hassle with Comcast. Thanks!

By: patrick giagnocavo

patrick giagnocavo — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 02:54:32 +0000

Just a note, Comcast pulls that crap here in PA as well. However, I have found that they have an el-cheapo cable package for about $12 per month, which is what I buy in order to be able to get the fast internet over cable.

By: mike

mike — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 21:33:11 +0000

Well said Kevin. Encouraging DTV did that with you HD package. I’m about to call them to get them to activate a DirecTivo Series 2 I just picked up second-hand. I’m completely unimpressed with the R15-100 DVR that came standard with the installation.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 21:27:01 +0000

We both know that in the big leagues, service wins the battle. The satellite companies know this, but the cable companies still operate under the monopolistic policies of the past.

When DirecTV upgraded their systems to better support HDTV, they gave me a new HDTV tuner and an brand new dish, all free, and with free installation. The tuner is better than the $500 tuner I bought for myself years ago. They even threw in 4 months of free “top tier” programming (they obviously want me to get hooked).

Comcast, on the other hand, still sends thugs to my house asking to physically verify that the cable connection has been disconnected. Here’s an snippet from a 2005 email from the City of Cupertino:

“We are getting reports from residents about Comcast employee’s aggressive behavior regarding access to residential properties. This morning a resident was told by a Comcast representative that the police would be called to require access.”

The full email is here, but you might have to join the Yahoo group to read it.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CupertinoECAP/message/68

Having worked in service, we know when we’re getting a company’s best effort, and when we’re not.