Comcast Upgrade
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 11:55 amA really weird experience with Comcast ...
A couple of weeks ago, a Comcast representative came by the house and said he could upgrade our service and save us money. Being wary of such things, we said send us an email with the details, rather than invite him in. Well, the details were inescapably positive: upgrade the DVR to their latest box, upgrade the internet service to 300 Mbps, upgrade the two cable boxes on our other small TVs to HD, no contract and save about $30/month. No downside at all. So we said yes and he set us up with a service appointment but then said he wanted to drop by after the service to see if everything was working properly and to explain the new equipment. Wary again, we nevertheless said sure, come on by.
So, the technician comes by, changes out the DVR and the two other boxes. He does not replace the modem with the new X3 model the field rep said we'd get. In fact, the tech said he didn't think Comcast was delivering 300 M signals yet and that we already had the best modem Comcast offers. OK, fine. I'll take that up with the field rep when he gets here. I then mention the crappy internet signal we get and he delivers the same old bullshit about bad wires and my horrible splitter (which was installed by Comcast). He replaces the splitter, declares the signal to be much better and unbelievably starts to crow about how he loves his job because he's so good at it. We go up to my computer and run a speed test. Oops, I guess it's not 'much better'. In fact it's still crappy. He left shortly afterwards, leaving us with a better (I guess) DVR and not much else. After he left, i notice he failed to leave us one of the new remotes for the smaller TV boxes.
Field rep drops by and I explain what happened. He shakes his head and says something about how he knew that might be the case which is why he wanted to follow up. Huh? You know your technician was going to fuck up?
He goes out to his car and comes back with the new X3 modem, which is clearly different than our present modem. It will deliver the 300 Mbps and will put out both 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz wi-fi. The old one just did 2.4. He installs it, we run the speed test and the meter pegs out above 300 Mbps. Awesome.
This guy then spends two hours with us explaining how to get the best from our service, including the two desktops, our laptops, the TV boxes, everything. He replaces the Cat 5 cable on my computer with a 5e to take advantage of the new speed capability. He explains to us how my wife's super-powerful but somewhat dated Mac can easily be upgraded to receive the 5 Mhz wi-fi using a Firewire port adaptor. He looks at one of the 'new' small TV boxes the tech just gave us and replaces it with a better one more suited to the TV and provides the remote for it. He's awesome. I want him to move in as a roommate.
So, we have much better Comcast service for less money. And we get more premium channels - we just had HBO before.
The weirdness? Maybe it's obvious, but how are those two people working for the same company? What the fuck is going on with Comcast where the field representatives have to come after the technicians to fix everything they did? How does the technician not know they offer 300 Mbps modems in this area? It's specified on the order! While I'm super-impressed with the field rep, I am even more dumbfounded as to how fucked up Comcast is as a service provider if they know their techs are incompetent.
A couple of weeks ago, a Comcast representative came by the house and said he could upgrade our service and save us money. Being wary of such things, we said send us an email with the details, rather than invite him in. Well, the details were inescapably positive: upgrade the DVR to their latest box, upgrade the internet service to 300 Mbps, upgrade the two cable boxes on our other small TVs to HD, no contract and save about $30/month. No downside at all. So we said yes and he set us up with a service appointment but then said he wanted to drop by after the service to see if everything was working properly and to explain the new equipment. Wary again, we nevertheless said sure, come on by.
So, the technician comes by, changes out the DVR and the two other boxes. He does not replace the modem with the new X3 model the field rep said we'd get. In fact, the tech said he didn't think Comcast was delivering 300 M signals yet and that we already had the best modem Comcast offers. OK, fine. I'll take that up with the field rep when he gets here. I then mention the crappy internet signal we get and he delivers the same old bullshit about bad wires and my horrible splitter (which was installed by Comcast). He replaces the splitter, declares the signal to be much better and unbelievably starts to crow about how he loves his job because he's so good at it. We go up to my computer and run a speed test. Oops, I guess it's not 'much better'. In fact it's still crappy. He left shortly afterwards, leaving us with a better (I guess) DVR and not much else. After he left, i notice he failed to leave us one of the new remotes for the smaller TV boxes.
Field rep drops by and I explain what happened. He shakes his head and says something about how he knew that might be the case which is why he wanted to follow up. Huh? You know your technician was going to fuck up?
He goes out to his car and comes back with the new X3 modem, which is clearly different than our present modem. It will deliver the 300 Mbps and will put out both 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz wi-fi. The old one just did 2.4. He installs it, we run the speed test and the meter pegs out above 300 Mbps. Awesome.
This guy then spends two hours with us explaining how to get the best from our service, including the two desktops, our laptops, the TV boxes, everything. He replaces the Cat 5 cable on my computer with a 5e to take advantage of the new speed capability. He explains to us how my wife's super-powerful but somewhat dated Mac can easily be upgraded to receive the 5 Mhz wi-fi using a Firewire port adaptor. He looks at one of the 'new' small TV boxes the tech just gave us and replaces it with a better one more suited to the TV and provides the remote for it. He's awesome. I want him to move in as a roommate.
So, we have much better Comcast service for less money. And we get more premium channels - we just had HBO before.
The weirdness? Maybe it's obvious, but how are those two people working for the same company? What the fuck is going on with Comcast where the field representatives have to come after the technicians to fix everything they did? How does the technician not know they offer 300 Mbps modems in this area? It's specified on the order! While I'm super-impressed with the field rep, I am even more dumbfounded as to how fucked up Comcast is as a service provider if they know their techs are incompetent.
