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Comcast accused of cutting competitor’s wires to put it out of business
- jamroom 9y agoWow - if true I really hope Comcast gets taken to the cleaners over this. We REALLY need more ISP competition in the US- this is just ridiculous.
- r00fus 9y agoCompetition will not exist due to natural monopolies for the last-mile wiring issues. What is required is effective regulation. Which the new FCC head just gutted.
- notyourwork 9y agoI guess we should all go home and get off the internet.
- greggyb 9y agoThose monopolies have been explicitly granted by municipalities for decades.
- Spivak 9y agoOr you need the last mile wires to be owned by some entity that isn't an ISP.
- SwellJoe 9y ago"Which the new FCC head just gutted." This implies the previous FCC head was effectively regulating the telco and cable companies before, which is not accurate. It's gotten worse, but it's never been good. The telco/cable industry is basically a crime syndicate that operates in their own world of murky legality. Somehow, they keep getting away with atrocious behavior that hurts consumers and keeps competitors out. So many things they do as standard practice ought to be illegal, but they're really good at lobbying. They may not be good at providing customer service or competent at providing internet but they're very good at manipulating the law to suit their interests. And, even given the incredibly favorable legal climate they exist in, they push past the law and do shit like this. And, that's why the US is so far down the list in terms of internet speed and quality. The operators aren't in the business of providing good service, they're in the business of making it impossible for anyone to effectively compete with them via any means available (regardless of legality or ethicality).
- Paul-ish 9y agoIf we want laws to fix this, penalizing large companies that damage others wires due to gross negligence sounds like a good start.
- logicchains 9y ago>Citation needed. Eastern Europe has demonstrated that absent restrictions it's possible for the market to develop last-mile wiring superior to that in the US: https://medium.com/juice-romanian-vitamins/10-years-later-diy-romanian-kids-are-today-s-network-expert-ccb25cd1967 https://medium.com/juice-romanian-vitamins/10-years-later-di... https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/jp5aa3/why-romanias-internet-is-so-much-faster-than-americas https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/jp5aa3/why-romani...
- BearGoesChirp 9y agoBehavior like this should end in a multi year ban of the corporation existing. Only with such extreme penalties that far out weigh any possible profit will corporate behavior change.
- tajen 9y agoBuildings could allow competition several operators and impose a no-access ban to operators who mangle cables. The game is for a set of buildings to associate together, so one Comcast error in one results in a ban in the chain of buildings. This is actually very easy to organize.
- throwanem 9y ago...in the relatively rare case where a credible competitor exists. If you're renting, you also need the leasing office onside, and it's not rare that they'll have an arrangement with Comcast such that new tenants obtaining first-time service get a short initial discount period, the better to acquire them as customers.
- ajmurmann 9y agoYes! Law enforcement used to freak out when someone was taking photos of public infrastructure like bridges etc. Meanwhile we have companies go around and destroy infrastructure like this. I actually would prefer any nearby bridge be closed for a while over not having internet for that time.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- 5ilv3r 9y agoMom and pop shops have so little recourse against this kind of abuse. I grew up in one that was killed by verizon, and this stuff still stings.
- kodt 9y agoThis does not surprise me, in fact a Comcast technician told me they do this (on a much smaller scale) by disconnecting or cutting competitors' cable runs to buildings they are working on (and also sometimes their own). I lived in a multi-unit apartment building and one day noticed my internet was down (I was a Comcast subscriber). I was suspicious because a Comcast technician was just out earlier in the day installing internet for a new tenant in the building. After going through the phone support steps they scheduled a technician to come out and check the line. A couple days later, when the technician arrives, he checks the line only to confirm no signal. Then he goes out back to the cable box outside. I was unable to check this myself since it was mounted high on the building and required a ladder to access. Within a few minutes it was working again. The Comcast technician then told me my line was just disconnected. I asked him if the previous technician made a mistake during the install. He said something along the lines of: "No, often in these multi-unit buildings we will disconnect people at random in case they are trying to steal cable. If they are a paying customer they will call and get it turned back on". He then went on about how they would have fun disconnecting competitors, and that competitors did it back to them etc.. all very nonchalantly and candidly. I then called Comcast and got a 3 day credit for the outage they created "intentionally" to prove I am a customer.
- jajern 9y agoTypically all that is in those boxes is a coupler. A guy I used to know still had service running to his line. He was actually stealing it though. He just kept hooking it back up after they would come remove it.
- matt_wulfeck 9y agoDoes that still work on the day and age of encrypted cable boxes and modems that require 802.whatever certs?
- jajern 9y agoThis was before full-digital so probably not.
- pwerner2 9y agoFormer Comcast cable technician here. I was an in-house tech, and corporate has ludicrous quality standards and nitpicky, white-glove QC's after an in-house tech leaves a job. However, the company obviously employs a TON of _independent contractors_. Some of these contractors are excellent at their jobs, but a lot of them aren't, and as they're not subject to any real oversight by the corporation, you really don't know what you're going to get. At least, this was the case at the office I worked out of. Based on my experience (and I worked at the company for a while), this is almost definitely 100% true, but it's probably a contractor or an individual corporate tech being lazy, instead of malicious action on the part of Comcast.
- packetslave 9y agoThis is why I "happily" pay extra for Comcast Business Internet. Completely separate call center and 100% in-house techs. It also probably helps that a Comcast field supervisor lives in my building (now if he'd just stop blocking the %$#@ driveway with his van...)
- Bill_Dimm 9y agoI don't think "100% in-house techs" is right. I have Comcast Business and my line was recently cut (probably an accident by apartment maintenance). The tech who came out and put in a temporary line was from Comcast, but he said a contractor would come out at some point in the future to put in a permanent one (hence, he could not guarantee that I could get a notification when it would happen).
- packetslave 9y agoInteresting. I've had techs out several times in Santa Clara, both for installs and for repairs/troubleshooting, and it's always been a Comcast employee in a Comcast Business van.
- monocasa 9y agoI've had contractors come in vans with official Comcast insignia on the side.
- bitlax 9y agoI've had Comcast employees call me posing as my current cable provider in order to verify my monthly payment.
- noonespecial 9y agoEven if this was accidental and overblown (as lawsuits often are: one side of the story etc...), Comcast has a steep hill to climb because of their terrible reputation. I think they're going to get completely hosed in court over this. Being assholes to everyone you deal with can have surprising hidden costs.
- wand3r 9y ago> being assholes to everyone you deal with can have surprising [effects] Becoming a US president.
- booleandilemma 9y ago"You can't achieve anything without getting in someone's way." Abba Eban
- londons_explore 9y agoDoubt they have enough evidence... Knowing if something was accidental or deliberate is super hard.
- Paul-ish 9y agoAt some point does it cross into negligence and come with steep civil penalties? That would be the best way to stop this kind of thing at the moment.
- noonespecial 9y agoI would bet that if it ever gets to a jury phase the very first thing Comcast defense will do is try to use the jury selection process to dismiss jurors that have ever had Comcast service. That will tell you everything you need to know about what's about to go down.
- distantsounds 9y agoIn a shared-housing unit, a Comcast tech once cut the coax wires going to my FiOS box when installing internet for new tenants. Why he felt the need to touch my wiring is beyond me. The tech had to come back (albeit hours later) to undo the damage he did. A minor annoyance, but just adds onto the anecdotes of stories about the techs not knowing what they are doing.
- 0x00000000 9y agoI was surprised the other day when someone told me the fios technician intentionally clipped the comcast line at their house during an install Probably an extremely common practice by any big company in areas where people have a choice.
- cakedoggie 9y agoHe gets money for each callout.
- lfnoise 9y agoThe Comcast installer ripped out the AT&T lines and the lines to my aerial antenna along the side of my house when he installed cable. At a previous house I rented, the Comcast guy cut the AT&T line from the pole and left it hanging two feet off the ground from a branch in a tree. Comcast didn't want to come out to fix it because it wasn't their wire.
- DamnInteresting 9y agoWhen we purchased a house a few years back, Comcast was our only broadband option, so we reluctantly called them. The previous owners had a Dish Network receiver on the roof, and the when the Comcast technician arrived he enthusiastically offered to remove it and haul it away for us at no charge, even though it was in no way interfering with Comcast's cabling. I doubt I will ever have interest in subscribing to Dish Network, but I declined, not wanting to be party to such anti-competitive behavior. I can't imagine the tech would offer to remove it unless such is standard practice. He'd be doing extra work for no extra pay (unless Comcast offers a head hunting bounty).
- throwanem 9y agoI've known small IT contractors to act similarly, in order to obtain free hardware which they could then resell on the used market or repurpose for their own use. Dish Network dishes apparently [1] having something of a used market as well, it wouldn't surprise me if your technician were simply an enterprising fellow with an eBay seller account. [1] http://www.ebay.com/bhp/dish-network-satellite-dish http://www.ebay.com/bhp/dish-network-satellite-dish
- pitaa 9y agoI agree; this offer doesn't seem malicious. At the very least the guy could have been scrapping them for beer money.
- DamnInteresting 9y agoFair point, that is possible. If that were his motive and he had stated it outright, I would have agreed. It felt shady at the time, but intuition is an imperfect instrument.
- throwanem 9y agoI wouldn't state that intention either, because then you'd be liable to try to sell it to me. Presenting it as a courtesy service rarely elicits such a result.
- dangjc 9y agoThe regulators need to crack down on this. If Comcast controls the regulators, they need to be broken up. No one company should have that much political power.
- doctorshady 9y agoHave you not been paying attention to what the FCC has been up to recently?
- djrogers 9y agoRecently? How about the last 20+ years?
- ozaark 9y agoAt least they would listen to the public and revert rather than continue on sidelining stolen identity en masse for ISP support. Today it's people vs corporate lobbyist paid accounts/bots and the ability to spam conversation.
- doctorshady 9y agoThe more I think about it, the more a legal solution like the ones these guys are advocating more makes sense: http://irregulators.org/ http://irregulators.org/ .
- dangjc 9y agoYou mean Ajit Pai's FCC or Tom Wheeler's FCC? Because under Pai, they seem to be rolling back all the regulations meant to control the industry and seem to be very much under their influence.
- droopybuns 9y agoHave to wonder if this is union related & that tiny ISP hired non-union workers.
- droopybuns 9y agoHave to wonder if this is union related & that tiny ISP hired non-union workers.
- tolien 9y agoSimilar things have happened in the UK, with BT contractors plugging phones in and calling the speaking clock [1] to work out if a copper pair is free for them to use for a new customer, or just unplugging them and hoping for the best. [1] http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/11/phantom-calls-to-the-123-speaking-clock-on-bt-openreach-phone-lines.html http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/11/phantom-calls-t...
- LoonyBalloony 9y agoCompetitors? tisk tisk Comcast... you've been slacking.
- omdeezy 9y agoSame thing happened to our apartment last summer. Technician came in to install a neighbor's internet and disconnected ours during the process. Shit is unbelievable.
- Paul-ish 9y agoThe cable operator should have been able to seek an injunction after they cut his cable the second time. Clearly Comcast didn't know what they were doing, and were just barreling forward. That behavior should not be rewarded.
- ndespres 9y agoI don't doubt that the linked story is true, but I know that individually this can happen all the time inadvertently. I worked for an ISP which provided "dry loop DSL" (DSL without dialtone service on the phone line) in the mid-2000s and as a consequence of having internet service from a 3rd party over telco pairs with no phone numbers attached, the local phone companies would regularly re-use our customers' lines for new phone installations. Since they were not tagged with phone numbers in the exchange building, and had no dialtone, the phone company techs had no way to tell the lines were in use.
- ubernostrum 9y agoOld joke: an interview program has a standard question they ask everyone, "If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and could only bring one thing with you, what would it be?" One day they're interviewing a network engineer, who says "I'd bring a piece of fiber optic cable. I'll bury it in the sand, wait a bit, and then when the bulldozer comes along and breaks it, I'll ask the man in the bulldozer how to get off the island."
- paul7986 9y agoComcast customer service is terrible and will always remain terrible until they bring ALL of their customer service and technicians in house and pay them handsomely. Until then they will always remain at the bottom of the barrel and as the most hated company in the country due to horrid customer service. I worked at Comcast for too many years answering their phones and getting yelled out because 80% of the time due to the contracted technicians and the companies they work for.
- Karunamon 9y agoI can vouch for this. Not only are the contracted techs horrible, the internal billing system is this byzantine fuckfest of terse codes and multiple, poorly-documented applications. I spent 6 months putting up with angry phone calls from a small ISP that Comcast absorbed before I had to quit for my own mental health.
- nameisu 9y agocomcast probably has a secret nazi division which will gas you
- equalarrow 9y agoOh we can dream..
- kevin_thibedeau 9y agoThe Verizon FiOS installer did this in my apartment when I wanted to get cable IP service set up. What should have been a simple self install required a service call to have a tech come out and crawl through the attic to splice the cable back together.
- pishpash 9y agoSo is this more or less evil than Uber's various unethical actions? Comcast CEO sure won't be stepping down. Corporations gonna corp.
- eriknstr 9y agoCutting competitor's wires feels like mafia tactics.
- madcaptenor 9y agoComcast once cut the wire that led to my apartment because someone else in my building didn't pay their bill, and their records were poor enough (I blame this on the fact that they had grown by acquisition of a company that I know didn't have it together) that they didn't know which wire went where. And then it took multiple technicians coming out to get it set back up. I work for a competitor now and I tell this story to illustrate How Things Can Go Wrong.
- dabber 9y agoI've never heard a good thing said about Comcast. It's a shame they are the only option in so many places.
- CKMo 9y agoNot surprised Comcast did this. Also wouldn't be surprised if Comcast got off scott-free.