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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...')"
They hate their customers.
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.
The guys who come to wire your house need to be able to configure your computer. Just ask the guy for the DNS servers if it doesn't just work when you hook it up. After this you should be on your way (atleast that is all that I remember I needed from him). You don't actually need to run the software - It's just that the well intentioned installer guys (who 'forget' to lock the TV signal for a nominal fee) can't really be expected to be networking gurus. or even novices.
Cheers!
Atheist: Buddhist in a Prius
1) No, I'm a Systems Engineer, not an Installer.
2) A majority of us use Firefox. Internally, it's the browser of choice.
3) The web page is probably something that hasn't been updated. There are tons of internal projects for that kind of thing. But of course it's done by committee, which takes time.
It's a non-issue, really.
The Rogers website works very poorly with Firefox [especially without flash], and the PDFs they send out don't render with xpdf, gs, or evince. It's also as if they go out of their way to break things on non-Windows platforms. The Canadian government is going the same way sadly. CRA, MOT and a few others don't render at all in Firefox, or when they do select elements fail and make the pages useless.
... :-(
And the worse part is though they have to go out of their way to break things. I mean there is enough HTML/CSS/etc in common between the two [IE and Netscape/Moz] that every website should at least be functional on both, if not presentable.
Pizza Pizza also doesn't work in Linux which means I have to boot my Windows laptop to get some chow
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
What has happened to Slashdot?
Comcast doesn't hate Firefox. They probably don't see a need to support it. I remember 5+ years ago, running my linux boxes on Charter. They didn't support it, but that didn't mean they had a problem with me doing it.
Here's a hint to the idiot who posted this: DON'T INSTALL THEIR SOFTWARE. YOU DON'T NEED IT. Plug your router/linux box into the cable modem, DHCP, viola, internet connection. Easy as that.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
What is this species, I have yet to hear about it? Is it endangered? Should be call PETA or Greenpeace or what?
Seriously though -- this seems like corporate laziness to the nth degree.
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
You don't need their disk. I've hooked them up for about 6-10 people and the first thing I do is trash that. Just set up the basic DHCP way for single machines and if you're routered, DHCP your WAN side and it's all gravy - takes 2 minutes tops.
This story is inaccurate. When I signed up for Comcast a few years ago, I had the following problem: I had only Linux installed on my computer and the CD that came with the installer only supported Windows and Mac.
I called their tech support line and explained the problem. The first person I got didn't know how to handle it, so they passed me on to their supervisor. The supervisor recognized the problem and knew how to solve it. He asked me for the serial number of my cable modem, the MAC address of the network card connecting to it and a few other minor bits of data. He entered it manually into their systems and told me to reboot the cable modem. It came up perfectly.
Admittedly, needing to call tech support for your "self-install" is a hassle, but it's still a far cry from "not supporting".
You may treat all information submitted above as wild speculation.
Verizon does something similar. When you sign up for their DSL service they ship a self-install CD that "brands" IE, installs a bunch of bloat and requires Windows to work.
If you call them up to ask for help and actively tell them you don't want to install the software, they'll grumble for a while but eventually cave and step you through how to manually connect to and configure the DSL Bridge/Router they ship you.
Yeah. That must be it. Comcast are doing something which requires their users to use a web browser that has been the dominant browser for the better part of ten years, a practice that was common on many websites for years and unfortunately is still quite regular even today. Obviously this is Microsoft's doing. It couldn't possibly be that the ISP in question are run by idiots, are willing to save any money any way they can by only supporting the most popular browser in their ignorance and greed. No this is Microsoft's doing, they bullied and bribed poor little Comcast who got confused by the fast talking businessmen and big bright lights of Redmond. Oh curse that Steve Ballmer and his minions for desecrating the virginal and well-intioned Comcast!
Or maybe Comcast is just another company, ignorant to the ways of the Internets and all too quick to save a buck based on their own ignorant assumptions about their user's choice of software. I know Slashdot is trolled by a ridiculous amount of anti-Microsoft sentiment but it's really getting to something when even a major ISP is gotten off the hook in favour of blaming it on Microsoft.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Using a Mac is often seized upon by support technicians or customer service squids as a one-size-fits-all scapegoat to excuse themselves from providing assistance.
If I call anyone's support about difficulties (cable modem troubles at home, network issues at work) they will frequently jump as soon as they realize (sometimes after a comically long time) that I'm using a Mac, and declare with infinite righteousness and authority that my problem is definitely "Mac-related." And then they're off the hook, as far as they're concerned.
It doesn't really matter if it's a router issue, or even a bad password -- for some reason, the cause is always "Mac-related." They wash their hands of it and skip away free, easy as pie.
For me, when a technician or supportist utters that phrase what I hear is, "I'm incompetent, and I'm hoping you don't know enough to see that. See the pretty icon? Clicky-clicky!"
It plays into the myth that Mac users are somehow rare -- somehow few and far between. You can bash about market-share voodoo until you're blue in the face, it won't change the fact that it isn't hard to find Mac users. There are definitely fewer Mac users than Windows users, but that smaller number isn't nearly as insignificant as some would have us believe.
"I'm sorry, but the vast majority of our users use Windows. I can't help you."
"As a Mac user, that's very disappointing."
"Yeah, I get that all the time."
These stories are free but worth money.
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?
The night before I got my Verizon FIOS internet installed I had nightmares that I was going to end up with Yahoo toolbar, Google Desktop, and Norton Antivirus on my pristine gaming PC. So right before they came I hid my gaming PC in my closet and had my Macbook sitting out. It was very obvious that I had a missing desktop since I had my 5.1 gaming speakers not connected to anything. I figured that I could undo whatever crap they did on OSX better than I could on Windows. They refused to touch my laptop, so I just had them leave the router and I configured it myself. I never found out what was on that CD they wanted to install, but I am sure it was something horrible and evil.
I think it's a lot simpler then that.
Comcast has trained their install techs with Windows/IE. Almost every ISP i ever had gave me the same answer "linux not supported" or before 2000 - "which version of Windows are you running" and when i would say "Linux" they would ask again "so, which version of linux is it"?
In reality most of the time you just setup you box with DHCP and why would you ever want to visit their website anyway?
The key to working with Comcast is to have some basic technical knowledge of cable internet. Once you show you know the lingo and you know the basic technical aspects, you'll either get the support person to "talk up" to your level immediately or switch you to someone that knows. Most support people have at least heard some of the terminology, usually enough to know if they're in over their head and need to route you to someone else.
For example, if you buy your own modem, NEVER say "I need my new modem INSTALLED." Say "I need my new modem PROVISIONED". 95% of the support people will know right away what you need and won't bother asking you about Windows and you'll be online 15 minutes later.
Know how to get to the status page of your modem (usually http://192.168.100.1/ but may vary depending on model). Know that your downstream signal needs to be between -10 and +10 dBmV. Know that your downstream SNR should be above 33. Know that your upstream power should be between +30 and +50 dBmV. When my signal dropped because of a splice in the line gone bad, I didn't tell Comcast "my internet don't work", I told them, "my downstream power is -16, which is out-of-spec, I need a tech to take a look at this". I had a tech out the very next morning and was back online by the afternoon.
Also, whenever you have a problem, BEFORE you call do the mantra of restarting your cable modem, router, and computer. Even if you know this will not fix the issue, do it. Then take the router out of the loop and do it all over again. Then when you call, tell them you did all this already. This will save time.
In all the times that I have had to call Comcast for technical issues, not once did the subject of Windows ever come up.
Karma: Frotzed (mostly due to the Frobozz Magic Karma Company)
Having actually worked tech support for Comcast, I can tell you exactly why they only support IE 5.5. No one wrote a guide for anything else.
Comcast outsources its tech support to a third party call center provider. 90% of the agents on the phone have no idea how to use a computer and can only troubleshoot according to the guides that are provided. And Comcast only provided IE 5.5 guides. They don't even have IE 6.0 guides. Firefox actually works quite well with Comcast's $hit, they just can't offer any technical support for it.
And don't even get me started on their service, or that email change over program. That POS service is provided by some other company, and it doesn't work worth crap.
Sorry, you must be new here.
Didn't you know that on slashdot, snide off-topic comments about America (the spelling "Amerika" is de rigueur here), Red States, Republicans, GWB, Christians, rural people or Global Warming Skeptics equals positive "karma?" Pretty much everything in the moderation scheme--editors having unlimited mod points, the meta-moderation system and the algorithm that determines who gets mod points--work to reinforce the hive mentality.
So, it's time get on board with the group think. Sit back, relax and rip ole Dick Cheney a new one in the next discussion about Linux v. Windows.
P.S. In the time it took me to type this, you got modded "Troll." See what I mean?
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.
OK you got me. Microsoft forced me to do it.
No money though. Ballmer just sent me a photo of a mannequin with a chair embedded in it's chest with the word "You" scrawled along the bottom.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
I've used comcast (previously known as AT&T) since 1997 as a home customer, and I've never "installed" anything. I have never used their portal. Why would you? What would be the point? I subscribe to them because they are simply my connection to the outside world, and they are (in my case) *very* reliable and *very* fast. All you have to do is plug your router into their modem, and turn on DHCP. oooo. Yeah, that's hard.
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.
Meh, I have Comcast and I think this is sort of a non-issue really.
To get their service going:
Call Comcast, deal with the stupid support people and get your account set up.
Throw whatever disks they give you in the trash.
Connect modem to router.
Enjoy pretty fast service (at least in my area).
What's the problem? I don't use their web portal (or at least very rarely) and the modem that I bought works fine with their service and my router.
SIGFAULT
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.
They know *nothing* about networking, which is something that you would think would be required for someone that, well, supports a network.
Try their TV people. I called up to try and get them to update the firmware on my cable box so I could control it via a serial cable with my MythTV box.
I lied and said I had a Tivo and the guy was all "What's Tivo"?