Comcastic?!!!--- Puh-leeze!

Can I just tell you how much I hate Comcast? I don't know if it's really possible to despise a company, but honestly, I can't think of anything positive to say about it. Sad, huh? (For those of you not familiar with it, Comcast is the local cable company.)

Why do I hate them so? Well, let's see.

First, the cost. They nickle and dime you. We pay for basic cable in the basement and our bedroom, but have to pay separately for the HD hook-up in the family room. If we wanted HD in the other rooms, then it would be an additional $12 each (well, it might be more now). Oh, and the number of HD channels available? Not that impressive, especially compared to what we had with satellite (which was considerably cheaper than cable). And let's not mention the cost of the Internet. For high-speed Internet that's supposedly "so fast", I'm not impressed.

The cost wouldn't be such an issue if we actually got what we paid for. Which leads me to the second reason, inconsistencies with the technicians. If someone comes to our house to set-up HD for us, wouldn't it make sense for that person to know what he was doing? We've had two techs hook-up the HD two different ways. When we signed up for HD, the tech came out and set it up for us using the box. Well, recently, we'd been having problems with the reception (sound but no actual show, just a blue screen or an orange screen; then nothing on another occasion), even though we hadn't done anything to interfere with it. Scott called and talked to the customer support, but of course, they couldn't do anything, though the one agreed (with Scott) that it was probably a problem with the box itself. So enter tech number two. He came out just last week, but determined that the problem wasn't with the box, but with our setup. So, he changed a cord or two instead of replacing the box. Well, now when we turn on the (HD) TV, it doesn't immediately come in in HD. And some channels that were HD before now aren't! Sometimes, I can get a channel to come in as HD (1080 pix) if I switch channels several times first, but seriously, I shouldn't have to do that, especially since we have an HD TV and are paying for HD cable service. Argh!

And then there's reason number three, a dead phone. Yup, today Scott picked up the home phone to make a call and discovered that we don't have any service. None. Nada. Zilch. When he called customer service, he was told that the phone and cable (he also wanted to talk to somebody about the HD issue above) are handled by two separate areas, so he had to call two separate numbers. Anyway, today was too soon to get a phone service rep out here to look at the line, so we now have to wait until Friday. (I'm sure they could have sent someone out here sooner, but seeing as how I'm being induced tomorrow and will be at the hospital until Thursday, well, you get the idea.) So now we don't have phone service (translation: call us on our cell phones if you need to get in touch with us between now and Friday).

Scott and I had satellite at our other home, and we really, REALLY tried setting it up here. We had two satellite companies out here looking for signals, but due to our home's position and the trees in our backyard, neither company could establish a signal. Never once did we have the problems with satellite that we do with Comcast. Never.

Fios come quickly; we're suffering under Comcast's tyranny.