polywogsys

So since Thursday, my comcast cable box had been on some sort of TV-Infomercial channel. It seemed to be the default channel the cable box tunes to, when it doesn't have the privileges for decoding certain signals. (I wonder how much Comcast gets for that?!?) In any case, it didn't matter what channel I flipped to, it was always the same. It didn't even seem to try to tune to other channels.

So after a couple of days, I decided to call. Sunday 10am.. it shouldn't have been so busy, but it seems like I wasn't the only one with this issue, because I had to wait over 30 minutes on hold. When the operator came online, she didn't even ask what kind of service interruption I was experiencing. She immediately said that because I had an "old, really old, analog box" she could not send a signal to my box to reset it. She  mentioned that a technician would have to come out to fix it.

Now I KNOW that is not true because a) I am a technically knowledgeable person; b) they've sent a signal to my box before to b1) activate it; and b2) in another incident to activate the remote control.

I start to get ticked off because it's obvious that they are trying to use this as a underhanded rouse to get people to switch to digital cable. I have the cheapest analog cable service they provide. It's about $23 per month after taxes and fees ($14.99 before). To switch to digital cable, I would have an increased cost of $19.99 per month before taxes and fees - lord knows how much the Comcast digital box rental is. Further, I would NOT get all the channels I am getting now. I would be getting the basic air broadcast channels and nothing more. This means I wouldn't get CNN, Comedy Central, MSNBC, Food Network, TBS, etc... In order to get these additional channels, my before taxes and fees cost would rise from $19.99 per month, to $59.99 per month (after the promotional rate). There is NO intermediate rates. If you want CNN/Fox/MSNBC, it's all or nothing!

Honestly, if I have to pay that amount of money, I won't be giving it to comcast. I would get DirectTV, or use the government funded coupon for a $40 converter for over the air digital to analog converter and just stick to broadcast TV. I just don't watch enough TV to justify the costs.

I start to get upset with the operator on the phone, when she repeats her line about my having an old box. This time she annotates "according to what's on my screen." I retell my story about the number of times they've sent a signal to my box. I add the question of whether this is an underhanded ploy to switch me to digital cable, "which is a waste of money." This time, she relents and says "well I'll send you the signal, but I don't know if it will work." She doesn't even finish the second clause of her statement before my cable box starts working again.

At this point, she's the one with the attitude, and is very terse with me. I wonder if she was instructed to "press the button", as she called it, as little as possible.

I am a "strange" customer I guess. The only channels I watch are the news channels, CSPAN channels, some broadcast TV, and some sports. TV is not a very important component of my life. So I guess that's why I they're twisting the thumb screws on me. Now with Comcast posting the biggest loss ever (slightly offset with higher revenues) the pressure is going to increase. I'd rather cancel Comcast and get DirectTV (with BBC America) or catch over the air digital broadcasts!