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...')"

Comments

My experience

[IL-CSIXTY4]

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.

Re:My experience

[Alchemar]

I have run into the same problem with DSL through various phone companies and Roadrunner through Time Warner. I found the easiest solution is to set up an old win98 computer and let them install all the spyware crap they want onto it, then go write down the settings that they said could not be installed manually, and had to be installed with a windows installation disk. Plug those into my XP and Linux machines. Once I have verfied everything is running and that I will not need to call them for technical support, I will format the win98 machine.

I don't know if it is an issue anymore, but I always made sure that I told the company I did not have a USB port. They still came in and plugged a USB Only, Windows only modem in. After that, I make sure the computer does not have any working USB ports so that when it doesn't work, they are forced to read the ticket, then go back and grab a modem with an ethernet port that can be installed on a linux system or a router.

Re:My experience

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

I had to recover my connection after the service was accidentally shut off. Everything was working fine before. I had a Linux box acting as my router, so that machine was the one connected to the cable modem. After the service was restored, I got the same Comcast redirection stating "My operating system is not supported". However, I could still surf the net from any computer routed through the Linux box. Very weird. I still couldn't surf directly from the Linux router. Knowing how much time I would waste on a tech support call, I found that if I set up a proxy on the Linux box, and set my browser to localhost for the proxy server, I was able to surf on that machine. I don't know the mechanism behind it, but it's still strange I can't surf from the Linux machine directly, but I can surf from that machine through a proxy server running on the same machine.

They Don't

[Hijacked Public]

I'm afraid to ask how Comcast handles Linux... They don't. If they come to your house to set up your account and you have only Linux machines, they either use their own laptop or your connection doesn't get connected.

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.

Comcast support

[gmerideth]

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.

Re:They don't hate Firefox

[m0ok1e]

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

Re:They don't hate Firefox

[c_forq]

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).