11 ms·

If what you're saying turns out to be true, it would be very disturbing. Disrupting your paying customer's access with unannounced 'tests' is a sure-fire way t

If what you're saying turns out to be true, it would be very disturbing. Disrupting your paying customer's access with unannounced 'tests' is a sure-fire way to torpedo your brand value and rating.

jedmeyers 8y ago
“Comcast” and “brand value” do not go together very well as it is.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  This is true. When your company name is so hated by the public that you have to re-brand your flagship product "Xfinity" to distance it from yourself, you know you're running a crappy company.
ajmurmann 8y ago
Yeah and then most Customers still have no alternative.
- abhiminator 8y ago
  As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is).
  - workinfunk 8y ago
    If the strong can't choose to shit on the weak, what's the point?
  - lovich 8y ago
    We place super high importance on access to choices for yourself, not for others. rich people and businesses are on a higher tier as well.
  - sbov 8y ago
    Not really. We place super high priority on freedom from government influence. It's OK for a company to fuck you over but not the government for <reasons>. Edit: I know the <reasons>, but the debate about that is not particularly relevant here.
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      but not the government for <reasons>. Here ya go, precious child. Edumacate yerself. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution
      - dang 8y ago
        Personal attacks will get you banned here. We've warned you about this before, so please don't do that again. Also, could you please not post unsubstantive comments or flamewar comments of any kind? We're trying for better than that here, and need everyone's help. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - trav4225 8y ago
      We cannot escape the government. We can choose to ignore any or all companies. If I want to, I can lock myself in my house, disconnect from society, and subsist on my backyard garden. But there is no escape from the state. Even if I go completely off-grid and never leave my property, the state still comes banging on my door, demanding a rent payment for property I (supposedly) own -- i.e., property tax.
      - maxsilver 8y ago
        > We can choose to ignore any or all companies. Except you can't actually do that. There's a huge list of companies you simply can not choose to ignore. That's sort of why monopoly/oligopoly is so evil, and why strong independent antitrust action is so critical for preserving freedom. Yes, you can escape all companies if you live like a hermit in a prepper dungeon on your property (that you somehow purchased while 'ignoring all companies' with money you got ahold of by 'ignoring all companies'), That is technically one form of freedom. But most people define Freedom a bit more broadly than that.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    >As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is). Distance. America has states and even counties larger than many countries. And even where there are lots of people, population density is typically less than most other nations. Distance is a killer in last-mile applications like internet. See also: Australia.
    - nxcho 8y ago
      Sweden is about the same size as California but with about one third of its population (and about 2/3 of the population density of US), still it is in the top 10 internet access list in about every metric you can think of (together with for example Norway and Iceland, neither especially densely populated) so I don't think the density argument holds.
      - ryandrake 8y ago
        Also, New Jersey is about as dense as many European countries that have great broadband and competition--yet New Jersey has crappy broadband. So, it's not due to USA's low population density.
        rayiner 8y ago
        If New Jersey were a country, its average internet speeds would be in the top 5, right after Sweden. And far ahead of comparably dense UK. https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-the-internet/q1-2017-state-of-the-internet-connectivity-report.pdf https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-t...
        briandear 8y ago
        6 years ago in Jersey City I had Fios, while across the river in Manhattan, it was very difficult to get. In my part of New Jersey in 2012, I had far better internet than I did in 2018 France — and much cheaper.
      - 8y ago
web007 8y ago
They have been consistently rated as the most-hated consumer brand in the US. There's nowhere to go but up. https://www.pcmag.com/news/350979/comcast-is-americas-most-hated-company https://www.pcmag.com/news/350979/comcast-is-americas-most-h...
lotsofpulp 8y ago
Doesn't really matter considering Comcast's customer's only option is to move.
olivermarks 8y ago
Comcast's brand image and reputation is largely irrelevant - they enjoy captive markets, little competition and are mostly defensive in their brand posturing. There is little choice in the markets they are in and they know it...

If what you're saying turns out to be true, it would be very disturbing. Disrupting your paying customer's access with unannounced 'tests' is a sure-fire way to torpedo your brand value and rating.

jedmeyers 8y ago

“Comcast” and “brand value” do not go together very well as it is.

reaperducer 8y ago
This is true. When your company name is so hated by the public that you have to re-brand your flagship product "Xfinity" to distance it from yourself, you know you're running a crappy company.

ajmurmann 8y ago

Yeah and then most Customers still have no alternative.

abhiminator 8y ago
As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is).
- workinfunk 8y ago
  If the strong can't choose to shit on the weak, what's the point?
- lovich 8y ago
  We place super high importance on access to choices for yourself, not for others. rich people and businesses are on a higher tier as well.
- sbov 8y ago
  Not really. We place super high priority on freedom from government influence. It's OK for a company to fuck you over but not the government for <reasons>. Edit: I know the <reasons>, but the debate about that is not particularly relevant here.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    but not the government for <reasons>. Here ya go, precious child. Edumacate yerself. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution
    - dang 8y ago
      Personal attacks will get you banned here. We've warned you about this before, so please don't do that again. Also, could you please not post unsubstantive comments or flamewar comments of any kind? We're trying for better than that here, and need everyone's help. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - trav4225 8y ago
    We cannot escape the government. We can choose to ignore any or all companies. If I want to, I can lock myself in my house, disconnect from society, and subsist on my backyard garden. But there is no escape from the state. Even if I go completely off-grid and never leave my property, the state still comes banging on my door, demanding a rent payment for property I (supposedly) own -- i.e., property tax.
    - maxsilver 8y ago
      > We can choose to ignore any or all companies. Except you can't actually do that. There's a huge list of companies you simply can not choose to ignore. That's sort of why monopoly/oligopoly is so evil, and why strong independent antitrust action is so critical for preserving freedom. Yes, you can escape all companies if you live like a hermit in a prepper dungeon on your property (that you somehow purchased while 'ignoring all companies' with money you got ahold of by 'ignoring all companies'), That is technically one form of freedom. But most people define Freedom a bit more broadly than that.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  >As a non-American, I find to hard to grasp how a country that places super high priority on access to choices and options can get stuck with just two major parties and just ONE ISP (in most places, that is). Distance. America has states and even counties larger than many countries. And even where there are lots of people, population density is typically less than most other nations. Distance is a killer in last-mile applications like internet. See also: Australia.
  - nxcho 8y ago
    Sweden is about the same size as California but with about one third of its population (and about 2/3 of the population density of US), still it is in the top 10 internet access list in about every metric you can think of (together with for example Norway and Iceland, neither especially densely populated) so I don't think the density argument holds.
    - ryandrake 8y ago
      Also, New Jersey is about as dense as many European countries that have great broadband and competition--yet New Jersey has crappy broadband. So, it's not due to USA's low population density.
      - rayiner 8y ago
        If New Jersey were a country, its average internet speeds would be in the top 5, right after Sweden. And far ahead of comparably dense UK. https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-the-internet/q1-2017-state-of-the-internet-connectivity-report.pdf https://www.akamai.com/fr/fr/multimedia/documents/state-of-t...
      - briandear 8y ago
        6 years ago in Jersey City I had Fios, while across the river in Manhattan, it was very difficult to get. In my part of New Jersey in 2012, I had far better internet than I did in 2018 France — and much cheaper.
    - 8y ago

web007 8y ago

They have been consistently rated as the most-hated consumer brand in the US. There's nowhere to go but up. https://www.pcmag.com/news/350979/comcast-is-americas-most-hated-company https://www.pcmag.com/news/350979/comcast-is-americas-most-h...

lotsofpulp 8y ago

Doesn't really matter considering Comcast's customer's only option is to move.

olivermarks 8y ago

Comcast's brand image and reputation is largely irrelevant - they enjoy captive markets, little competition and are mostly defensive in their brand posturing. There is little choice in the markets they are in and they know it...