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Comcast Business Tier support had been decent. However, now they threaten a $99 service call charge if they can't replicate the issue or it goes away by the tim

Comcast Business Tier support had been decent. However, now they threaten a $99 service call charge if they can't replicate the issue or it goes away by the time the tech shows up. Response time is usually within a day but for something up the network a bit they'll just throw blame at the customer and bill them. Otherwise, I will say that lately their commitment to keeping equipment up on the east coast has been admirable. My house has been without power since Friday but they threw generators on all the fiber nodes' power supplies to keep things up. pic: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXjUdljXUAElsRX.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXjUdljXUAElsRX.jpg

jacobush 9y ago
That is incredible!
thinkloop 9y ago
Were you able to make use of it despite your house not having power?
- joecool1029 9y ago
  Yes, the cable wires are below power lines and even when they get ripped down from the poles they usually keep working. EDIT: I am guessing Comcast learned after Sandy took out power for a month. We had power for a few days until the batteries died out on the nodes when Sandy hit... even with all the lines ripped down everywhere.
lilbobbytables 9y ago
Interesting. Is a power supply required for cable based internet? If not, then they certainly would need to do that in order to maintain a level of feature parity. It would be pretty annoying to have a generator running at home, but no internet (although it certainly still happens with downed wires). Or worse, you have power, but the fiber box doesn't.
- joecool1029 9y ago
  So that magical box on the pole has batteries inside. Depending on how they have it set up, you get around 24-48 hours of battery power before the fiber node converting optical to coaxial goes dead. They often have a LED on the outside showing red or green depending on status of the node. A mini generator solves the issue of powering the node if your power utility is worthless and can't restore things after a few days.

jacobush 9y ago

That is incredible!

thinkloop 9y ago

Were you able to make use of it despite your house not having power?

joecool1029 9y ago
Yes, the cable wires are below power lines and even when they get ripped down from the poles they usually keep working. EDIT: I am guessing Comcast learned after Sandy took out power for a month. We had power for a few days until the batteries died out on the nodes when Sandy hit... even with all the lines ripped down everywhere.

lilbobbytables 9y ago

Interesting. Is a power supply required for cable based internet? If not, then they certainly would need to do that in order to maintain a level of feature parity. It would be pretty annoying to have a generator running at home, but no internet (although it certainly still happens with downed wires). Or worse, you have power, but the fiber box doesn't.

joecool1029 9y ago
So that magical box on the pole has batteries inside. Depending on how they have it set up, you get around 24-48 hours of battery power before the fiber node converting optical to coaxial goes dead. They often have a LED on the outside showing red or green depending on status of the node. A mini generator solves the issue of powering the node if your power utility is worthless and can't restore things after a few days.