Comcast could have killed my husband tonight. I'm furious. [View all]

[DebJ]

If you know people with medical issues that means they MUST have
phone service for emergencies, and those people only have Comcast,
please pass this information on to them. It could save someone's life.


About an hour ago we experienced a total service outage: internet, TV, and phone.
Because my loving daughter provides me with a cell phone (I can't afford one),
I was able to call Comcast and inquire about the service outage.

After an extended wait on the phone, a Comcast rep advised that the service was
out due to SCHEDULED maintenance, and would be back on some time in the morning.
This was like at 1 am. I said, "WHAT time? 6 am? 10 am? She said that they had
no way of knowing, just that it would be 'fixed in the morning'.

Because of the late hour, it took a few minutes before what she said sunk in:
Comcast routinely schedules outages of our phone service for maintenance,
does not warn anyone that they will be without telephone service, and they can not determine
how long the service will be out when they do this. OMG.

At least the bums could give customers a heads up, so people in need could borrow
a cell phone or at least know they would not be able to reach 911 if needed.

Just a few weeks ago, I had to call an ambulance late at night for my husband, who suddenly
could not breathe properly, and has a medical history where this could be (will be?) a repeated need.
WHAT IF I WENT TO CALL 911 AND THE PHONE WAS OUT FOR 'PLANNED MAINTENANCE', FOR AN
UNDETERMINED AMOUNT OF TIME, AND I HAD NO IDEA WE WOULD NOT HAVE PHONE SERVICE
BECAUSE THEY DON'T EVEN LET YOU KNOW, and I didn't have access to another phone service?
Our Comcast service was actually out tonight for about 30-40 minutes. Yep, well long enough
for my husband to have died.

We live in Pennsylvania, land of more elderly than anything else, with needs to have access
to phone service in case of life and death emergencies. And I bet none of them with Comcast
Services is aware that their phone service will be unavailable for undetermined amounts of time,
that Comcast PLANS to take their service down, and that Comcast won't bother to let them know.
Of course, Comcast did this in the wee hours, because fewer customers should theoretically notice
during those hours. WELL GUESS WHEN MOST HEART ATTACKS OCCUR...IN THE WEE HOURS. Even a
20 minute outage of service could result in an unnecessary death.

No doubt this maintenance need is spelled out in microscopic print somewhere to avoid charges
of deception. But they certainly do not announce when the outages will happen, so you are
still screwed. Or dead.

I called Comcast back to complain about this lack of notice regarding SCHEDULED
maintenance outages and to state how dangerous this could be. The rep told me
every company has to do that. I said I had AT&T/Verizon for 38 years and they
never once cut my service for 'scheduled maintenance'. Never. He did not
dispute that.....but does Verizon now do this? If I switch to FIOS, is it the same
process as Comcast???

I was already steaming about Comcast's crappy service and ever-increasing prices.

Since I am currently seriously under-employed, I am online many hours a day. The internet
connection has been dropping repeatedly almost every single day.

The sound goes out in the middle of tv shows constantly...and I do mean constantly, every show, several times.
When you record a show and this happens, sometimes if you 're-wind'/back=up and then replay
you can access the sound....often you must attempt this 6-8 times to be succesful however. And
often, you just can't get the sound. Watching an hour long drama only to miss the climax of the
story because Comcast sound just screwed up AGAIN is infuriating, when this happens every day
every TV show. I have come to the point where the DVR isn't much use. Either I am able to sit
and watch the shows as they are broadcast, or I can't insure that I will get to enjoy them. And if
you are watching a current broadcast but pause the play so you can answer the phone or go to
the restroom....when you play again, the sound will go out. i mention this because if you are
watching the live broadcast at the moment the sound goes out, you can channel up and channel back
down to recover the sound, losing only a few seconds. But if you pause it for several minutes, you
will lose picture and sound for that several minutes if you channel up and down.

We have had to get a new DVR so many times in the past 4 years I have lost count...about once every
6 months....usually when we have had to record quite a few of our favorite shows, and then the DVR dies,
so we still don't get to see them. And we have new electrical wiring and a dedicated circuit breaker for
the relatively new tv and sound system; it isn't our end that is the problem. But of course, Comcast
has steadily increased the charges for the DVR.


A technician told me this is because Comcast was saving money by buying software
for the DVRs that does not really work with the old hardware...they didn't want to trash the contract
with the hardware maker. He said they are 'working on' getting software and hardware that will
sync better. Meanwhile (however long that is...years?? who knows...) screw the customer.
Cut service reliability, while simultaneously jacking up the rates.

I am hoping FIOS is available in our area. I will have to check it out ASAP. I just
can't stand this. And I think I need to write a letter to the editor in the local papers
so everyone will know that in an emergency, all they might get is no dial tone, at any
time, without warning, and without a breakdown.