Posts Tagged ‘Digital Voice’

Comcast To Offer More Mail Space Than Google

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

This morning when I checked my email there was a message from Comcast stating that my email would soon be upgraded. Great, after all the only emails I get to that particular account are from Comcast. Usually they are emails about new services (speed boost), changes in the EULA or TOS, or info on new movies that have been added to Comcast OnDemand. Usually nothing that I read.

But for some reason I did read the email from Comcast this morning. Maybe because I’m still half asleep.

Anyway, the email stated that soon my account would be updated to Comcast SmartZone. Basically it’s an improved UI that puts Comcast Digital Voice, email, and contacts all in one place. Good, that’s something they should have done a long time ago.

From the looks of it, Comcast will be integrating Plaxo for the improvements to the contacts section. Upsetting many people, Comcast acquired Plaxo back in July. Plaxo is an interesting service that started out as a fantastic contact management service, and then evolved (identity crisis?) into something that more closely resembled Facebook.

Probably the nicest thing about Comcast, and maybe the only “good” thing they’ve done recently is they will be upgrading all mail accounts to 10G. So yes, they will be offering more storage than Google. Of course, Yahoo! Mail has offered unlimited storage for a few years now. Isn’t about time that everyone removed the storage cap? Space is cheap these days.

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Comcast E911 Works In Knox County TN

Monday, May 14th, 2007

A bit of piece of mind on my end, I just called 911 via my Comcast Digital Voice service and after a funky ring I was connected with a Knox County 911 Operator. I don’t think I’ve had to call 911 in the past 10 years, but it is nice to know that it works, especially after a story like this.

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Comcast E911 Fails

Monday, May 14th, 2007

Here is a story that you need to read if you have Comcast Digital Voice (VoIP) service. I’m posting this because I have CCDV, and I hope that maybe by some chance the “internet revolution” can help change Comcast so that no one else ever experiences this issue.

According to this blog entry, the guy’s son had a seizure and he tried to call 911 (via Comcast) twice and ended up with some odd noise rather than an emergency dispatcher. The guy ended up getting in touch with medical help by calling 911 on his cell. The problem of course, is that 911 via his home phone (with Comcast).

Thankfully the guy had a cell phone. Playing the what-if game, we could really change things… what-if he didn’t have a cell phone, or what-if the cell phone was dead… granted, if you have Comcast Digital Voice (or any VoIP service), you’ll probably own a cell phone… again, this is just a what if. What if the guy had been alone, hurt and couldn’t get to his cell? Better yet, what if it hadn’t been a medical situation… what if someone was breaking into the house.

Yes, things need to change. To be honest, I haven’t even tested the 911 service with Comcast. You better believe that this evening when I get home, I am going to test it out. — Important note here, if you plan on testing 911 with Comcast (or any other service), DO NOT JUST CALL AND HANG UP WHEN THE OPERATOR PICKS UP. You need to tell the operator that you were testing to make sure the service worked, if you hang up they will spend time and money trying to call you back and possibly dispatch police and medical to your residence.

Back to the original story…. after his son (along with his wife) had been taken via ambulance to the hospital, the guy (still at home with the other son) tried to call Comcast support and get some answers. Can’t blame him there, I would have. He was bounced around from person to person and center to center.

Now, I don’t know exactly what happened, or what was said, but I can guess some of the things I would have said. Truthfully, there probably wasn’t a thing that any minimum wage call center tech could have done for the guy, even the call center supervisors were probably helpless… add that to a rabid customer, and they probably were willing to do even less than they could.

I agree with the guy on the point that this is something that should go all the way up. If the 911 service does not work, it needs to. It has to work. It doesn’t matter what the cost is to Comcast, this service needs to be in place. They’re squeezing enough out of the millions of TV subscribers that they should be more than able to pay for any necessary changes that need to be made to make 911 work.

I encourage everyone to Digg the original blog entry (not mine) to help spread the word about this.

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Grrrr….. Comcast.

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007

Well, so far Comcast isn’t off to a great start. I had an install scheduled yesterday between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM to set up my Digital Cable, High Speed Internet, and Digital Voice (VoIP). So, silly me, I get there before 1:00 PM and wait… and wait… and wait.

Around 3:00 PM I get a call from someone at Comcast that tells me that the installer is on his way. Could have been good news, but she follows up by telling me that the installer had used his last Digital Box, and we’d have to schedule someone else to bring one back to me…. or I could go pick one up at the main office. No biggie I though. If he was out by 4:00 PM, I’d be able to get my other errands done and still swing by the Comcast office.

So the guy arrives, looks at a few jacks, and mumbles something about the wiring. Apparently the new house (20 year old hose that is) has what he called “old 45 wiring” which isn’t going to work to well. He tells me that they need to schedule someone to come back out and run all new wiring. Thankfully, they will be able to get someone out there this Saturday… again, between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM. There goes that day.

Thankfully, I was able to talk the guy into at least turning on the TV. With a little reluctance, he does so, but not before saying “I don’t know how well the reception will be”. So, after he leaves, I hook up TiVo and the TV. Crystal clear. Don’t know what the guy was smoking, but it works, and works just fine. I’d bet that the internet would have worked as well had the guy at least tried to turn it on.

Oh well… at least I was able to watch Heroes last night, and schedule TiVo to records the episodes of Battlestar Galactica and The Dresden Files that I missed.

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