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Does Comcast Hate Firefox?
destinyland writes "Comcast is the largest ISP in America. And they're requiring Internet Explorer for installations — even if you're using a Mac. The Comcast homepage even specifies that the page is optimized for IE 5.5 (which was released in 2000), and 'is not optimized for Firefox browsers and Macs.' With 13 million subscribers, you'd think they could spring for a web developer who could handle multiple browsers. (From the last line of the article: 'I'm afraid to ask how Comcast handles Linux...')"
I ran Linux when I last had Comcast installed. They asked "do you have *any* computer here with Windows? We can't do this without Windows." Of course, this was when they were using those stupid install CDs.
They also offer no support. If you call with a trouble report you'd better pretend you are using a Windows machine when they give you their step by step connection test instructions. If they say "click Start -> Control Panel" and you say "I have neither", the problem is obviously on your end.
This is also true if you have only Macs and Linux, which I did at both my home and my studio when I first set those up. Luckily the guy who handled them had his Windows laptop.
By the way, Wild Blue satellite, same thing. They have independent installers, but Wild Blue tech support can't help them if they run into a problem on and only Linux machines are on the customer's end.
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
Two months ago I was forced to call Comcast support for a dead modem. Now, at the time, I was running Fedora 7. The technician (I use that word loosely) was insistent I tell her the time, displayed on the lower right corner of my screen. My attempts to inform her that the time of my computer was irrelevant to a modem that is not syncing. After then giving in and telling her that on my desktop, the time is on the top right of the screen, not the bottom due to me being in Linux. "Ohh well, we don't support Linux" was the answer.
It then took another 12 minutes to explain that the OS of my choice has nothing to do with a modem that is failed. I was finally booted to a real technician after asking for a MAC address reassignment (tip: start using tech words and asking for things you can't actually do over the phone) I was able to get someone who at least understood what happened and send out a new modem.
What does this have to do with the topic? Well, I was asked to check a page at Comcast for terms, during the time I had told the "tech" that my cable was out, as they flat out said they would not support any issues with Firefox, especially under Linux, neither of which had anything to do with the problem.
Next time, I'll tell them I'm in BeOS or V2.
Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
Your company just got a huge helping dose of bad publicity from an influential market sector, all because you were too lazy to update a simple webpage. Granted, as of now there isn't much choice when it comes to choosing an isp or cable company, just as ten years ago there wasn't much of a choice other than AOL. Well, time and technology change fast, don't be too surprised when we have a choice we'll head for the exits in droves. Right now, I'm actively looking at a place to live that will allow me to use a decent ISP other than Comcast, because of your insane policies.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I used to work for Comcast in the tech-support area, (I just couldn't find a job out of college and a couple of my HS drop-out buddies worked there) The whole company is retarded, they don't let qualified people advance, and reward not those who truely help the customers or find problems but those with short call times, and brown-nosers. It's really sad that I almost got into trouble for spending 30 minutes helping an elderly man figure out how to use his computer and install his internet properly when I was supposed to "Refer him to the company he bought the computer from and tell him to call back." When I was working there I found some problems with some of the software they were using and a few security loopholes in the subscriber web pages, I reported it to my supervisor and was thanked with a "I'm sure they are aware of it..." Thank god I got out of there, and if I hadn't worked there and still had friends who could give me some insanely cheap deals for a long time, I would have dropped their service all together, and don't let me get started on the tech's that end up going to your houses, it's like they just don't care who they hire
I have Comcast, and I run a Mac and a box that for a long time was Ubuntu/XP (now it is the Windows Home Server Release Candidate). At least with our service, after any power outage or reset of our modem I would have to boot up Windows and connect to the internet directly through the modem with IE before it would start working again (for some reason I couldn't figure out it wouldn't go through the router (a Buffalo flashed with DD-WRT and set to clone the desktops MAC address) and it wouldn't connect with Firefox, Opera, or with anything on Ubuntu). After the initial connection with Windows/IE then everything would work great, but it was still a pain to do that every time we had a minor outage or a problem with tech support (it seems one of their first things to do is remotely reset your modem).
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
Unfortunately, even their in-house people have issues with computing.
Businesses like ComCast will eventually die off. The world of Microsoft is a world that the sun is soon to set on; companies that do not see this coming will get left behind... including Comcast and many other places that seem to think that antiquated, non-standards compliant, user-restricting technology is what's good for this world. If Comcast weren't the only provider of 8 Mbit access in my area, I wouldn't use them, that is for sure: I would use something else. But they are the only broadband option here (no DSL, either), and so I am kinda stuck (and no, I am not using dialup. I wouldn't even think of it).
As for what they do about Linux? I tell them that I have Windows. I lie my ass off to them. Why? If I tell them that I have a Linux router, a FreeBSD server, and four Linux workstations, they assume that the problem is with me. If I am calling because the modem has block sync, and is connected just fine, and that I can ping everything up to their gateway, which is (maybe) responding to one ping packet every *minute* or so, they still say "Well, it must be your problem." They know *nothing* about networking, which is something that you would think would be required for someone that, well, supports a network.
On the other hand, if I call back and tell them that I have Windows and say "I can't get online," they seem to know what to do with that. My theory? They just can't handle it when people smarter than them call in. Most technical support places can't.
I went through this frustrating bit recently, and it looks like it may be the "wizard" which is just a bunch of web pages viewed through the browser - in part from CD I think, and in part from the web. It's possible the web stuff uses old-skool IE-specific code. It was rather amusing seeing IE 5 being installed on OS X just to set up my connection.