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Blacklisted by Comcast (a Story)

lanpartynw.com — Story about a customer of Comcast's who was blacklisted as a spammer. The funny thing is about this story is that Comcast insisted that he install an anti-virus program for his e-mail client and download McAffee. He was on a Mac.....

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SirChaos 1 year 229 days ago, made popular 1 year 229 days ago

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pinesol101, on 10/12/2007, -4/+67Comcast Customer Service is the worse.
Remember that time when a comcast employee went to a customers house and called Customer Service because he needed help and was waiting for over an hour for a responce so the employee eventually fell asleep on the Sofa?
- MAVIC, on 10/12/2007, -2/+49SC has background knowledge that I don't have a gaming PC. I do have several "PC" machines here, two run Windows. They run very specific tasks, are locked down fairly well, have no outside access, were recently tested, one was reformatted... but all that aside, the time from when I got the new IP until I got the email from Comcast, none of my PCs were connected to my network so they were physically incapable of blasting out emails from the IP Comcast locked down on.
  
  When I started trying to debug the problem with the first time I turned on a Windows machine to test. My wireless network certainly isn't open :)
  
  Also, installing the anti-virus software was only one step. The second was a link which explained nothing to me other than I needed to use IE. When I tried it on a PC, it was an ActiveX control for one of their one-click utilities. All this does is reconfigure Outlook (or OE) to use a different SMTP port.
  
  Comcast admitted the problem with spam occurred with the IP before I received it.
  
  I hope that clears things up. I wrote that to vent my frustrations, not so much as a detailed explanation that could be gone over with a fine tooth comb.
  
  (doh! first post to digg and I replied to the wrong one :(
- Jpantoga, on 10/12/2007, -32/+14I'm quite happy with my Comcast service...
- NICU, on 10/12/2007, -5/+26I worked for an ISP tracking spammers, and 90% of the time it is a person with viruses on their computer. Another 9% is someone with an open 802.11 network and their neighbor is 'borrowing' their internet access and the friendly neighbor has viruses on their PC which are trying to send thousands of e-mails per day. And the last 1% is someone running a business out of their house using residential service instead of business class and that person was sending over 1000 emails per day - which was the trigger for spam (home users don't send that much e-mail).
- MrRockabilly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+117Years ago when Xbox was only a week old at the most, Comcast came out to install cable in my house. The technician and I played Halo and NFL Fever for a good 3 hours, he even stayed long enough to have pizza with myself and friends. Best install day ever . . .
- WankerWeasel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I agree with NICU, I use to work for Time Warner Cable (my division later became Comcast for about 1 month before I left) and processed abuse complaints. Most of what we saw was related to spam proxy issues where customers computers are used as a mail relay for spammers. We were much more thorough in investigating (in fact we ran classes for Comcast on a national level as they are WAY behind the game) and had a much better response time and were much more accurate in identifying the issue and helping customers resolve it then Comcast was.
- MaxPayne3476, on 10/12/2007, -19/+22I'm not gonna lie, I love Comcast's Service.
  
  They are available 24/7 and I've never gotten a foreigner to answer the phone... unless you count the South as foreign. I have had trouble with my service, a broken modem, and they had a tech out within two hours. Amazing!
  
  I also had a guy come out to my house another time and he had to call two times to find my house (not uncommon, it happens all the time) and so in return, Comcast gave me 2 free months of HBO. It actually ended up that I still have the channels :)
- ironrex, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18I hate Comcast more than any other company, by far. They have the worst customer service on the planet, everyone who works there seems to be a complete idiot. They are so high on monopolistic power that they really don't care if they screw over a few hundred people a month or so.
  
  I was once charged $63 for one month of renting a cable modem, and $21 for another third of a month of renting a cable modem. The charge should be $3. After talking the people on the phone about this, who said it was "Strange" and that I'd have to go to an office in person, I finally had to take the time out of my day to go stand in line at the comcast office, and determine how the hell this company was going to explain this. Finally I get through the meatshield of a "customer service representative" and talk to a manager. She determines that when the sales representative was keying in my bill, she typed 11 instead of 1, or something like that. She offered to credit it back to me of course. Asked if I had not noticed this myself, and paid it, would they ever have noticed it for me and paid me back - She admitted that NO, they definitely would not have.
  
  Right now I have a HD-DVR which I had to wait for two weeks to get, and It's been recording programs without me even telling it to. Calling the customer service line led to the conclusion that the box I was given and activated has the same codes on it as someone else's box, so we're both recording whatever he happens to like (There's a lot of jerry springer...). So they say I have to bring that one back and get a new one, which they don't have right now, because they're constantly out of them.
  
  The way I got this one in the first place was because the one nice lady there said she'd hold one for me after I was told on the phone they had some, raced down there using my lunch hour early to do so, and they had none when I arrived saying "The call center people don't really know what we have, and we don't have any right now".
  
  Now I'm looking at another bill I just got that looks fraudulent, so I'm looking forward to having to waste another lunch hour to go down there and figure out what comcast is doing wrong THIS time.
  
  I hate comcast with every fiber of my being, but if I want cable tv and internet where I live, I have no choice! And you can be damn sure they know it.
- dezmd, on 10/12/2007, -20/+5@MAVIC
  
  No offense but you do sound like a noob or a mac user with enough experience to be dangerous. Linux/BSD servers get hacked all the time and turned into zombies for spammers, so its a possibility, however remote, that your mac was compromised. More than likely, it was someone connecting to your WIFI, unless you have WPA (*NOT WEP) encryption enabled and change the key regularly.
  
  Cheers.
- kakwakas, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11@MaxPayne
  
  Free HBO from Comcast is easy. All you have to do is open up your cable box outside and take off the filter with the white sticker on it...
  Not that I condone that sort of thing or suggest that everyone do it.
- docdoak, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22Comcast killed TechTV, correct?
- MaxPayne3476, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0haha huzzah! is there a way too hook up free showtime and encore?
  
  Ironex, just to point out, I don't personally have HDTV - but everything I've read says that currently Comcasts HDTV offerings blow DirectTVs out of the water.
  
  Also, go buy your own cable modem via ebay or something. They're inexpensive. I actually got a SurfBoard for $12 from a yard sale. The fact that they did overcharge you is beat though.
- LiquidPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10@ironrex
  
  I don't hate Comcast quite like you do, but it's pretty damn close.
  
  I had originally signed up with @Home which was sold(?) to Comcast, then to AT&T, then back to Comcast. Everytime I was forced into Comcast's service, it was always a painful ordeal. I've written about their crappy service often here on Digg, so here's a new story.
  
  Because of the Christmas holiday cluster ***** and a triple birthday that same month, I was tapped out for December and ran up a $1800 credit bill. So I delayed paying some bills for that month, including Comcast. On a side note, Comcast decided to screw me when I moved, forced me to pay on Dec. 1st for Nov. and Dec. 26th for Dec.! So yeah, their bill was going to be delayed until Jan.
  
  When I decided to pay the bill in Jan. I wanted to pay the full amount of $123.74 for both the months of Dec and Jan. So I called their automated phone line and procedeed through the process. This is the same process I've done for years. After I completed the transaction, the automated voice told me that I only paid half or $61.87 and that I still owed $61.87. Went I went back through, it wanted to charge me $123.74. ***** that, I called a human being and explained what happened and that I wanted to pay a TOTAL of $123.74. She charged me $123.74 + $61.87 for a TOTAL of $185.61. After catching the mistake, I had her back out the $123.74 and charge me the correct amount.
  
  According to my online statement, $185.61 has been charged and still pending(?!) and I see no price adjustment.
  
  When I called back and asked where the hell my price adjustment is, they tell me I have to FAX the bill to them before they'll refund me the amount. WTF? Don't they have the ***** records on file? Yes, they apparently do, but they want to do a, "verification," that something is wrong.
  
  @HOME ***** rocked. AT&T was OK, albeit stingy with their U/D speeds. The new Comcast sucks so much Donkey ass, their faces are covered in *****. I can't wait until FIOS moves in.
- HaxityHaxHaxed, on 10/12/2007, -18/+10This guy is a douche. First of all he's a cocky mac elitist. Second of all if he's so ***** smart he could spoof his mac address and get a new IP in 10 seconds.
- LoganKriete, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0@docdoak
  
  That's all one really needs right there as a reason to hat Comcast... ;-)
- JackyTreehorn, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Audio of Comcast employee saying $0.002 = 0.002 cents or it didn't happen.
- Mirag3, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1sorry, wrong thread, digg down
- pokjob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Comcastic customer service:
  
  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0612150324dec15,0,6224668.story
- selectodude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Jackie: That was Verizon Wireless.
- Phantom784, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Not the worst experience, but still a pain. Comcast bought out our Adelphia service a few months, and when they were switching the internet service over, they screwed up and it thought all the transfered cutomers were new customers. Therefore, every webpage was caught and brought you to a site where you had to download this windows-only program to activate your account. Turns out, this program requires your Comcast bililng number, which, being an Adelphia customer, I didn't have. They eventually fixed it, but it took about all day.
- m4rty, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0not true at all, i've been a loyal comcast customer for over 2 years now with digital cable and broadband internet. and we just recently had the digital voice system installed. 2 very nice men came and had everything up in working in no time. also if you do live chats on their help site, they are so nice and help out all the time. you can't judge the whole company from one bad person!
- 4tygames, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Used to have Comcast which had some great cable Internet speed (advertised @ 4mbps, it was a little slower than that). Time Warner moves in and it is now very very slow (advertised @ 1.5 mbps and feels worse than that).
  
  @Home was the best high speed Internet service I ever had.
- xxrazor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1actually, it isn't that bad all the time. my parents called and said we were getting DSL, so the comcast guy freaked out and gave us 20 bucks a month for six months instead of the usual 50+.
- tarmithius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@MaxPayne3476
  
  I agree with you, I have had Comcast service for a few years now and cannot complain once about teh service or speed of my connection, the price is a different ball of wax though.
  
  In this day and age you are bound to find more bad complaints about companies online that out-weigh the good comments, and that includes most, if not all companies out there.
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Comcast is known for handing over IP's to the RIAA and MPAA without so much as contesting why they want them. They are also known for destroying TechTV, which was a fantastic TV station and should have been preserved not mutilated.
  
  If you live in an area with DSL and can afford a bit of a better service then check out Speakeasy for reliable service and EXCELLENT customer service.
  http://www.speakeasy.net/
  
  Fortunately for me I live in Time Warner territory now but before that I paid the extra for Speakeasy because I need the internet to work in my home and I don't have time to play games with these people.
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Comcast is known for handing over IP's to the RIAA and MPAA without so much as contesting why they want them. They are also known for destroying TechTV, which was a fantastic TV station and should have been preserved not mutilated.
  
  If you live in an area with DSL and can afford a bit of a better service then check out Speakeasy for reliable service and EXCELLENT customer service.
  http://www.speakeasy.net/
  
  Fortunately for me I live in Time Warner territory now but before that I paid the extra for Speakeasy because I need the internet to work in my home and I don't have time to play games with these people.
deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -10/+15I don't get it. He says:

"Unable to send email, I reread the email and tried step #2. When I did that, it said I needed IE. I tried it on my PC and it was clear it needed IE & Windows. "

So he has a PC as well? He's saying he can't install the AV software because he has a Mac but he clearly states he also has a PC. Isn't it kind of obvious that he could install the AV software on the PC? I deal with this type of stuff at work all the time and I have to say 99.9% of the time these spam reports are correct. It turns out to be an open wireless network, virus, or simply a legit spammer abusing the system.
- SirChaos, on 10/12/2007, -14/+8No he does not have a PC....
  
  He said....I tried it on my PC (referring to his Mac) and it was clear it needed IE & WINDOWS. He doesn't have a Windows based Personal Computer. That's why he states he does not have Windows.
- krawkula, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Sir, please read the forum posts more accurately. He does have a pc but gave an excuse as to why it wouldnt have caused the problem.
  "Edit: Also, I can prove it wasn't my PCs because: I was gone for several days after the power went out. I did plugin my modem..."
- thespiff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8And on that note, regardless of whether his PC was the source of any problem, he probably could have just humored the first tech support idiot, installed McAfee on the PC, and then told the guy to remove the block on his e-mail.
  
  Hell, he probably could have just lied and said that he just installed anti-virus when really he hadn't. The tech guy doesn't know. If you know what you want, just tell tech support what they want to hear and they'll usually give you what you want.
- victordavion, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7It's already been confirmed that the spamming came from a PC using that IP address before he ever received it in his home. IP cycling gets a lot of innocents in trouble, because when the IP cycles the company doesn't care enough to notice and reset any kind of settings they have on that particular IP. Stop insulting the victim here. He's a victim, get over it, and corporations are always wrong. Customers come first, get a clue.
- Nuhaus, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8For a dude without a gaming PC he sure has a lot of hours on the BF2 demo.
- iJump, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1@Nuhaus
  
  Ever heard of "Boot Camp"?
  
  http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/
  
  Do some research before you start trolling around, okay?
- Nuhaus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@iJump
  
  My point precisely, he's been running Windows and playing BF2 for at least 196 hours.
  
  In my opinion, that's a hell of a lot of time to be spending on the demo, but whatever floats your boat.
krawkula, on 10/12/2007, -71/+9"I said I have a Mac and there are no known viruses for Macs"
Thats an uninformed statement. Its simply stupid. While there may be much less for mac as compared to windows(because it is less popular, not more secure. As macs become more popular we will see a surge in viruses such as email spammers for mac OS), saying there is no known viruses sounds like someone fed you that lie(or he saw the get a mac ad and like everyone else thought they were implying that macs didnt have viruses).
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here saying that if he was telling the whole truth, he states he recently reformatted his computer. If that is true then I doubt he has a virus. I just had to point out what he said(twice).
- aristotle0dude, on 10/12/2007, -6/+35Name one virus out in the wild. Stop spreading FUD.
  
  Popularity do not cause bugs/flaws to appear. If the OS is secure to begin with, no amount of users poking it will change that situation.
  
  Exploits for discovered holes can increase but not flaws.
- blinkcowz182, on 10/12/2007, -5/+25I'd be interested in seeing a Mac virus! Please provide links since you are so very well informed.
  
  And how is Windows equally or more secure that Mac OS? Man all these lies I've been told all these years!
- Petronski, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16***Thats an uninformed statement. Its simply stupid.
  
  You could prove that claim by providing evidence of an OSX virus in the wild.
- AndrewJC, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20Speaking of uninformed comments... You do realize that Macs are Unix-based, right? While it is POSSIBLE to hack a unix box, it's not very easy to do with something as simple and unattended as a virus or worm.
  
  There just isn't a very high likelihood that many viruses will come out for Mac OS. Period, end of story. This has nothing to do with how popular the system is. Windows has so many viruses because it's simply easier to write viruses for windows.
- spiritamx79, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17care to back it up with some proof?
  
  im not saying OS X is perfect, but if you compare it to windows, well, i really dont care about marketshare. there were lots of virii for mac (OS 7-8 even 9 days)
  
  but when you have an OS that needs a root password for installing stuff, its not like they can be installed without the user knowing it. besides, isnt that a prerequisite of a virus? to be installed without the end user aware of the problem until its too late?
  
  and all the 'proof of concept' virii are jokes. they still require the sender of the virus to have a user account on the client computer to install it. not much of a virus if you ask me.
  
  you'd think there would be lots of virus writers out there trying to bust up OS X just for that reason, to show everyone it can be done. but so far... nothing.
- anti_hax0r, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5There are viruses on Mac, look at goat2's link below. The fact is that there are fewer of them and they are better.
- jamesthejust, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5How come there were viruses for OS9 then? It had an even smaller market-share in its day.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Most "viruses" are actually worms, requiring some action be taken by the unsuspecting victim in order to work. They are not self-replicating in and of themselves; the end user action is the lynchpin.
  
  Last time I checked, Mac users and Windows users are all human beings, susceptible to social engineering.
- bitgeist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9There are cases where Macs have been turned into spam zombies. Search google for sendeb.pl. It is not a virus in the sense that it spreads automatically, but this code does run on OSX.
  Here is a typical example of a hacked OSX machine sending spam:
  http://rixstep.com/1/20051004,00.shtml
- j0hnc0ry, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@bitgeist
  The reference you provide does not show proof of a virus or worm. The link shows a guy who left his mac unsecured, which was subsequently penetrated by a cracker. He also found the scripts the cracker/spammer used on his mac. The guy allowed a service to run to the outside world without any thought to security. He learned his lesson, and nobody got hurt.
- j0hnc0ry, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@bitgeist
  Nevermind, I agree with you. I just re-read what you posted. I think the biggest threat to OSX is OSX users. People see the MAC commercials and think that they aren't vulnerable are simply misinformed. OSX is a robust operating system with several safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized execution of malicious code. However, if OSX users allow or are otherwise indifferent to basic computer security, somebody will exploit them.
- Mirag3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@bitgeist
  "It is not a virus in the sense it spreads automatically..."
  
  Wikipedia: "a true virus must do these two things:
  * replicate itself
  * execute itself"
  
  So, basically, its not a virus in the sense that its not a virus. Also, the insecurity was because a hacker guessed his bad password. That's not bad code or an operating system vulnerability - the problem lies between the keyboard and the chair. You can't blame the OS for that.
galupo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+29Comcast blows
- noseeme, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Yes. Don't use Cockmast if at all possible.
MistressRoninS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11The Comcast guy was clearly reading a script and poorly trained on how to deviate from it. He should be reprimanded and trained on the way to properly assist a customer when he obviously cannot provide service himself. This is one of many bad situations with Comcast support that continue to flourish.
I think he did the right thing by writing to complain about it. If more people took the time to address authorities at the company about their poor service, MAYBE this would be taken care of.

There is no excuse for a company providing internet service to be incapable of allowing support for Mac users as well as Pc. If they cannot provide appropriate service for Mac users, they should stipulate that in their service contracts so that Mac users are informed and can make a decision to benefit their use of a better service other than Comcast.

Good luck to him.
gasmanic, on 10/12/2007, -14/+4Krawkula who is spreading uninformed statements? Show me a Mac OS X virus. Mac OS X is not more secure than windows - ROFLMAO!
- goat2, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/02/macosxleap.html
- dig412, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Popularity does affect the spread of viruses, not because the writers target the most popular systems, but because of the amount of systems it can spread to.
  I have 42 people on my MSN Messenger contact list, only 2 of them use Macs. If I got a virus that spread through MSN, thats 40 systems that it could infect.
  Both of those Mac users know maybe a couple of other Mac users at most, massively slowing the spread of a potential virus.
- kurtu5, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2That's a trojan and not a virus. IMHO, the article is wrong about insisting its not a trojan, but a worm or virus.
  
  It requires user interaction to "install" it. It seems to be a legit application feature, but in fact it is not. Once its in place, it acts like a worm, but only after it trojaned its way in.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus - says -
  A computer virus is a computer program written to alter the way a computer operates, without the permission or knowledge of the user, by hiding in other program files. Though the term is commonly used to refer to a range of malware, a true virus must do these two things:
  * replicate itself
  * execute itself
  
  So does this fulfill the criterion for being a true virus? Does it execute it self? No it doesn't so therefore its not a virus. With out user intervention, it can't do squat.
  
  Now the legacy Windows "application", often called an OS is not a virus, but due to its crappy security could be called an trojan. A trojan that enables viruses. OS X and the iChat application are secure until a trojan is installed in it, then that trojan can spread like a virus, so one could argue that iChat trojans are vulnerable to viruses, just like many argue that legacy Windows is vulnerable to viruses, be case the user installed the trojan, "OS".
  
  Now I am not a MCSE, so I don't know how one would view MS vista. Is vista a trojan? Or is it like OS X, which requires one to install trojans before one is vulnerable to viruses?
  
  Feel free to rip my argument apart. :)
- goat2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2"That's a trojan and not a virus. "
  
  it says specifically, in the article, at the end, that it is NOT a trojan and it is a virus.
- kurtu5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@goat2
  
  Well I see you read the article. Did you at least read my second sentance? "IMHO, the article is wrong about insisting its not a trojan, but a worm or virus."
  
  There is an argument underneath it. Can you think for one second that the opinion in the article is not accurate? Any huge flaw in my reasoning?
- goat2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nope
DocWhoWho, on 10/12/2007, -8/+11I don't feel sorry for mac users.
webdevil, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Maybe it was the same guy I had for tech support a week ago. I'm also running a Mac and told him this multiple times. He still told me to go to "start" -> "run" and type in ipconfig
superKduper, on 10/12/2007, -10/+9Oh! Those poor oppressed Mac users! This is just like Apartheid! Only worse!
- pixelguru, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15Oppressed? Hardly! We just don't appreciate being unnecessarily drug down to the security nightmare of the average PC. We also don't appreciate techs who just assume you're running windows, and blabber uninformed (and possibly destructive) drivel instead of transfering you to someone knowledgeable.
- RedDogPaPi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@pixelguru
  
  Well why don't you just tell them upfront that you have the almighty Mac? Instead of going through the motions each time. I think the snotty Mac people like it...
  
  CSR: okay sir, goto->Start then ->Run
  
  Cust: (in condescending voice) Uhg, I have a Mac. :tsk: :tsk:
  
  Just as bad as the people who will call and say "I'm a Network Engineer" but don't know how to check their IP address.
- fuzzynyanko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"Just as bad as the people who will call and say "I'm a Network Engineer" but don't know how to check their IP address."
  
  Oh man. That reminds me of one time when I first got a cable router (also around the time when they just started to get popular as well). I was trying to host a game but couldn't. So, I tried a chatroom asking "er, any way to host a game" etc etc. What I got what "WHAT YOU HAVE IS PAT, NOT NAT" lecture for a long time. I was patient because I wanted to host a game and etc. He sounded all high and mighty when I was trying to get a simple "yes" or "no". I simply said something like "Look, I don't care about how it works. Can I or can't I host the game" and he got all mad. "I GET PAID $30 AN HOUR YOU IDIOT. I'M CERTIFIED! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" I gave up on him, found a room with a few kids, and one dude was like "Oh, see if you have DMZ on your router." Got my answer.
Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4I haven't had trouble with my Comcast service, once installed. Comcast administrative and support services do indeed suck. The guy who wrote that post sounds like a self-important prig.
- MaxPayne3476, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Huh?
  
  "I haven't had trouble with my Comcast service, once installed. Comcast administrative and support services do indeed suck. "
  
  First you state that you haven't had trouble with your service?
  Then you say that the support sucks?
  
  If you haven't had any trouble, then why would you ever call support.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I had Comcast service - internet, digital phone (not VoIP) and TV at one house. I moved to another house. They ***** it all up, but once installed, no problems. I've had to call tech support on rare occasions in the past, and gotten the same, "Okay, you'll need to uninstall and reinstall TCP/IP" thing I used to get from Packard Bell - when it's obviously a problem on their end.
omniomi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Comcast is absolutely clueless when it comes to Mac's and MAC OS X... Constantly Comcast refers customers to apple technical support when the issue is with their servers and setting simply because they do not want to use their KBase and locate the information to assist THEIR customers.

Comcast needs to stop advertising that they provide Mac support if they are going to continue to treat their Mac OS X customers in this fashion.
- Cronus6, on 10/12/2007, -16/+6You are correct, they should stop saying they support Macs.
  
  In fact Macs should ONLY receive support equal to their market share... so only 3-5% of ISP's should support Macs.
- LiquidPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6They wouldn't even have to provide support for Macs if Comcast would get their ***** together between server and modem. I have a Windows to non-Windows ratio of 1 to 3 in my house. As long as they get the signal to my modem, then everything is works beautifully. When they updated my modem and bricked it, they tried to blame it on a variety of things _other_ than their damn modem. Then the stupid technician wants to get his fingers on my PC to, "ensure everything works." I told him to ***** off and do his job. As soon as he swapped the modem out, I was online again.
- 16x9, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1How do things look from under that bridge, Cronus6, ya troll?
- MaxPayne3476, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5LiquidPenguion... you told a technician to ***** off? My what an outstanding citizen and customer you must be.
- 200iso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I used to do comcast tech support for about 2 years, about 2 years ago.
  The Mac OS isn't really supported. In order to do my job properly the only troubleshooting I was required to do (after determining that the modem connection was working) was check for a valid IP on the mac, and power cycle the machine. If that did not resolve the issue then I was allowed (and encouraged) to transfer to Apple tech support.
- LiquidPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ MaxPayne3476
  
  "LiquidPenguion... you told a technician to ***** off? My what an outstanding citizen and customer you must be."
  
  If some stranger walks into my house, whose only job is to replace my modem, insists he needs to put his fingers on my keyboard(s) to, "do his job," gets a, "***** off." The technician doesn't need to fiddle with any PC except the laptop they bring onsite to do tests.
  
  Now, if I ask for assistance, that's different. But Comcast people tend to insist on fiddling with your PC, as if they know anything about non-Windows OSes.
  
  The one time I was naive enough to let a Comcast technician touch my PC, he removed some critical network drivers, tried to install an older version, and trashed the HOSTS file. I spent two hours unraveling what that idiot did.
jcaino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15comcast loves blocking IP addresses

i work for a webhosting company - often, if a user has mail forwarded to their comcast address and receives a high amount of mail (ie: online forms, orders, etc) comcast is quick to block the server's IP.

and they are a pain in the ass to deal with when it comes to removing blocks.
- bevans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I completely agree. Even if the server isn't spamming, but a lot of email gets sent from that server to comcast (like in virtual host environments) they block the server. Then it is a pain in the ass to get the server removed.
  And don't get me started on godaddy's BOGUS HELO server blocking *****.
theotherrogue, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1http://duggmirror.com/apple/Blacklisted_by_Comcast_a_Story/
artsd, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3The Comcast alternate port instructions just tell you how to configure you email program to use a different SMTP port than the default port 25. These instructions may be written for Outlook Express but they are easily applicable to a different email reader.
dickybrown, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Probably not the right forum for this but since people are complaining about Comcast.....does anyone else hate the advertising bar Comcast put on the bottom of the guide?

I've called to complain a few times - they don't care.

I'd love to drop their service, but there just aren't any real alternatives
- webdevil, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Drop Cable........bittorrent
- spdorsey, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I've been comcast free for over 10 years (were they even called Comcast 10 years ago?). I use DirecTV, and I love it. They really take care of me. Also, their systems work well with my Tivo (both Tivo brand and home brew) boxes, and it's relatively cheap. Combine that with DSL, and you're ready to roll!
  
  The only caveat is HD programming. From what I know, the HD channels are better (more of them) on Comcast. I'm willing to wait for DirecTV to make a move in this direction.
  
  -------------S
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@spdorsey:
  
  What were they called? Depends on the market. In Chicago, they bought AT&T Broadband, who had bought Centel Cable shortly before, who had bought Jones Intercable before that.
- 16x9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5> dickybrown wrote: "I'd love to drop their service, but there just aren't any real alternatives."
  
  I'm in the same boat. In my area, when Comcast bought out (or took over) AT&T's cable broadband service, they really improved things. But it's been a bumpy ride down a steep hill ever since.
  
  I've had intermittent up-channel issues for nearly two years now and trying to get Comcast to repair this ongoing and very frustrating situation with my connection has been an exercise in frustration.
  
  I get promises of call-backs and help from several Comcast supervisors but then never hear from them again. And the Comcast reps aren't "authorized" to put me in tough with then even though I already have their names. Arrrrgggghhhh!
  
  The problem? About every five or ten minutes, I suddenly start getting much greater than 50% packet loss on anything I send out. This usually lasts about 30 seconds or more. Down-channel seems fine, however. This problem screws up everything of course but as you might imagine, it makes playing online games damned near impossible. During certain parts of the day the problem gets so bad that it is pretty much constant and sometimes lasts for hours. Trying to access the net using Comcast during those times is worse than using 300 baud dial-up (and no, that's not an exaggeration).
42PhoeniX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8 Comcast isn't very Mac friendly as the "installer" software puts IE on your Mac and it's PowerPC only.
- nicc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Comcast doesnt use a installer cd anymore.
  plug in the modem and turn it on. wait a couple of minutes then plugin your comp.
  if you get online, everything is working fine.
  
  at least, thats how the Comcast internet install at my house went this past spring on my Powerbook
spdorsey, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I'm a big fan of DSL for reasons just like that. Also, I like having a static IP.
MaxPayne3476, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9"It appeared my new IP had been used by a spammer and my old IP had gone to a new home. One forum poster stated he did not think Comcast could block ports based on user, just IP. So if I released my external IP I should be fine. In the middle of file transfers I didn't want to restart my router, nor did I want to shut off the rest of my internet access for a half hour+."

So, he had a simple fix, but didn't want to do it because (from the way that I took the statement), he didn't want to lose his illegal files that he was downloading. Not to mention, 30 minutes is nothing. Hell, he could have just taken a nap, gone outside, or sat his fat ass on a couch for 30 minutes.

I think this guy is pointing the finger in the wrong direction. Why blame Comcast? They were just trying to keep their systems secure, safe, and spam-free. Instead, blame the ass-hat who actually was the spammer. Was the guys network open? I wouldn't be surprised if your little neighbor in room 203 was choking off your internet and decided to put your bandwidth to the test.

I will agree, the man you talked to over LiveChat was a bit of a moron, but he does just work for a computer tech line. You read off a script... no knowledge required!
- Macskeeball, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yes, because all downloads are inherently illegal. *rollseyes*
- bevans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The simple fix should be on the comcast side. If they are going to block IP addresses, then they need a quick and easy way for support to either release the IP, or even better, unblock it.
  Personally, I would have done the 30 minute thing, but it is the responsibility of Comcast to fix an issue they created.
Burmask, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5The reason Comcast "fails" to support the Mac is purely economic. Most people use windows and those people are more likely to call support. Mac and Linux users are more savvy and figure out things for themselves.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You're right about it being purely economic - most users are going to be on Windows, so that's where they're going to put the most effort into support. You lost me with the "Windows users will call support, Mac and Linux users are more savvy" crap. Linux users, maybe, as there's a certain technical knowledge barrier to entry into using Linux. Mac - the only barrier is economic; Macs cost more than Windows machines. You saying people who spend more money on their computers are more knowledgeable about them?
- orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2LOL! Someone who spends thou$sands on a mac that can't even be upgraded is savvy? If you really "need" a mac, wait one year then buy it on ebay for a quarter of the original sale price.
- dr-steve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think he's saying that people who spend either more (Mac) or less (Linux) money are more saavy. Go figure.
- madrona, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@orbit
  
  re buying a Mac on eBay for the quarter of its original price after a year: uh uh. Macs hold their value to an insane degree for quite a while. For example, right now I see a 17" IMac G5, probably 12-18 mo. old, with six hours left on the auction, already at 75% of original cost...
- Macskeeball, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Mac users are more likely to have examined their options, because they decided to get something different from the norm. Granted, this is more true with Linux at this point.
- kaiwai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I worked at an ISP in Australia; don't blame the staff; I used to get told off for providing technical support for *NIX and Mac users, because apparently it wasn't join our 'support agreement'.
scottc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I don't know about sending mail from a Comcast account, but I do know that you should not rely on them for receiving mail. They run their own private blacklist which is apparently based on faulty software, judging by the numerous complaints we receive from web hosting clients. Our clients expect us to solve the problem, but when the server is secure and the domain and IP are clear on all major blacklists there is nothing we can do to help. Comcast won't even provide documentation to verify their claim that the client was spamming.
Boulevard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"Using only Macs and not having an email client configured on my PCs, plus them having been recently formatted, cleaned and external access blocked behind a firewall and NAT, I knew I didn't have a virus. So I ignored it."

WTF does not having an email client on his PC have to do with his PC (or his LAN) being virus free? The PC runs Windows right? It's networked in his LAN right? Talk about false sense of security...

He was probably the open relay spamming Techcrunch, causing their spam filters to hit that magic 1 million mark, so they could in turn spam Digg with stupid stories about their spam-blocking Akismet plugin accomplishments. Grr.
colifis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If ISPs like Comcast can so effectively shut down emailers by monitoring their email output and subsequently blocking IP address, wouldn't the number of infected trojan PCs used for spamming soon dwindle? Or are there so many infected machines out there, that there is no way to keep up?
ciaziraphale, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Comcast acts like a monopoly with poor service and a bad attitude. I've had problems with them whether I've used Windows machines or Macs. Finally, after raising their prices for no good reason for the 3rd time in a row and tired of putting up with their lousy service, I just canceled my account and went to DSL. We'll see how that goes.
senseigmg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Comcast screwed me in the exact same way. It took months for them to remove the flag on my account, and I had to transfer between many departments.
Modred189, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My experience with Comcast customer service has been either awesome or terrible.
First of all, when I called to sign up, I got three different quotes from three different people. Not cool.
Second, when I did sign up, my first bill was wrong. When I called, I asked what a certain code meant, and the woman on teh other side simply said, "I don't know and no one here does." Odd...
When my installer came out, he was awesome. Courteous and fast, and even on time. My install window was 12pn-3pm, and he was there at 12:15, gone by 1.
My service has been nearly flawless.
The one time I had interrupted service, I called at noon, and they didn't get to calling me back until 7:30pm. The lady immediately picked up the line and said, without talking to me first, "Yours is a known issue and we are working on it." And promptly hung up. Strange considering that she had NO IDEA what my issue was.

Too bad Comcast is the only TV and internet provider available to me.... :-(
dr-steve, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9The quick and dirty way to get a new IP address, no waiting:

Comcast bases its IP assignments on the MAC address of the device plugged in to the modem. New MAC address, recycle the modem, get a new IP address.

The expensive solution: buy a new router. (Or use a buy-return at your computer store; I view this as unethical, though).

The less expensive solution: Most modern routers have IP spoofiing. Find a NIC you aren't using, grab its MAC address, and hand-enter it into your router. The router will use that (new) MAC address; cycle the router and modem, you'll have a new IP addr.

Good luck,

Steve
- dr-steve, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Oops, meant MAC addr spoofing in para 4...
  
  -s
kd1s, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I recall back when @home was still around and Cox was peddling that I had someone hijack my IP address. That was amusing.

Sounds like Comcast never did network upgrades.
- fangorious, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0cox @home ... are you sure you're talking about internet service?
Lax32, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Comcast customer service is the worst.

Earlier this year I was off at school and my sister couldnt load certain sites on her computer. She called up comcast. First it started out simple... he gets her to try to ping the websites.... then it moves onto him telling her that she needs 35 dollar spyware removing software... an hour and a half later he tells her to reformat her harddrive and reinstall windows. No joke.

I tell her not to do anything, come to my house. 5 minutes later I leave with a diagnosis of "your firewall blocked those sites".
SimpleZ, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Gotta add my voice to the "this is an really uninformed story" crowd.

For one thing, there are many ways to catch a virus, and only some of them have to do with your operating system. There are existing viruses that can affect the Mac community, though there are admittedly significantly fewer than those affecting the Windows community. Some of these viruses affect the OS. Some get it through Java. Some get in through document viewers.

The other point that the writer seems to miss is that you don't need an email client to send email. You can do it quite easily over telnet or you can just send the right strings over straight sockets. Sending mail requires very little code.
Tourney3p0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The writer seems to be trying to suggest that Macs cannot be used to send spam.

I won't say that it was common, but at my old PC repair job we had to clean up a couple of compromised OS X machines. I don't recall any of them ever being used to spam, but one of them was being used as a German warez server.

It's probably reasonable to assume a lot of people here have worked tech support at some point. The guy in the article is the worst kind of call. The entire article is about how there are no viruses for a Mac, with extra time being wasted showing the tech support guy a link to Sophos. What the hell does it matter? Is the tech support guy going to say, "Oh, okay.. I didn't know there were no viruses. I'll go ahead and take care of this right now."? No. He's going to say, "Yeah, but our multi-million dollar software still says your IP address was spamming." And it's not like it's very difficult to detect excess port 25 traffic.

Anyone ever get any calls like this? "I'm not going to check my DNS settings. It worked yesterday, so it must be something on your end. I refuse to even attempt to help you out on this, even though it will be beneficial to both of us to just take the 10 seconds to check."
- ReaperUnreal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You get a digg just because the "German Warez Server" made me laugh. Mostly because I used to run a hotline warez server off my mac. Just to add more to the incriminating evidence. I know that there were a few MacOS viruses back in the OS8/9 days, I used to have a bit of fun with them at LAN parties I went to.
aragami, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i have yet to speak to a competent ISP customer support person,

but its kinda obvious that a customer support guy who is probably earning minimum wage and knows next to nothing about computers isn't going to be experienced using mac or know much about mac osx when the os with the biggest market share and the OS they've done all their training on is going to be windows
protogenxl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I said I have a Mac and there are no known viruses for Macs"
That kind of Hubris always get's punished.

Anyway what kind of router was this guy using? I have heard a few stories of evil programs being installed on WRT54G's because the user did not even bother to change the default password.
bigstinky, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3What's with all the Comcast hate? I've been using Comcast for years and there's never been a problem. Granted, I'm one of those PC using fools. (I just love it when Mac people have issues.) I've never lost my cable/internet due to storms, never had a problem with service/installs or upgrades, cripes, I'm averaging just about 12 meg/sec down lately. And, when I called to (falsely) threaten to switch to Dish, I got a price cut to $19.95 a month -locked for a year, plus HBO (all 10) for $4.95/mo. (BTW, this threat really works, but you need to reach a tier 2 rep to get the deal- just be adamant about switching.) As I mentioned earlier, I pay for 6 meg, and average almost 12 meg, I'm talking almost 1400 k per second downloads! No problems here. It stinks that that fellow with the issue had to go through that Hell, but I would imagine his situation is a rarity.
- bigstinky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I can back this too:
  :::.. Download Stats ..:::
  Download Connection is:: 11244 Kbps about 11.2 Mbps (tested with 12160 kB)
  Download Speed is:: 1373 kB/s
  Tested From:: http://testmy.net/ (Server 1)
  Test Time:: 2007/01/05 - 2:40pm
  Bottom Line:: 196X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 0.75 sec
  Tested from a 12160 kB file and took 8.859 seconds to complete
  Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 103.33 % faster than the average for host (comcast.net)
rotielover, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3My comcast experience was also a nightmare. I complained that my high-speed was slower than dialup (pings of 1000 to 12,000 at the first hop from my house). After calling many many times, I went to the office to complain. Got techs out to the house who decided the problem was a "leecher" on my same node. They gave me 6 months credit and the problem was fixed for about 2 weeks. I cancelled their service and now have Verizon Fios. Let me tell you, Fios is the best!
quaffapint, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3My email address was also flagged - actually the way comcast does it is by IP instead of name - so the entire server of my webhost was flagged. Idiotic.

Luckily my webhost pestered them enough that they got the IP removed, but people were sending us email all the time and having it bounced back - really sucked.
- theohuxtable, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0they dont block your IP address. they send your modem a new bootfile that blocks port 25. just use port 587 instead.
orbit1979, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I always find it funny that more often than not, tech support people have no f'n clue what their talking about. Whats more, when you question them, they often get real cocky about it.
PabloMac, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I run Macs on Comcast internet, but I have a good friend who works as a tech for the company...and I converted him to Mac a couple of years ago. I'm good to go. Mac evangelism pays off.
emehrkay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Comcast just bought adelphia in my area. My speeds went from 800KB/s downloads to 3MB/s downloads.....what this has to to with their customer service i dont know. But my net is faster than yours now
bozo99999, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2You can get all kinds of viruses on your Mac. All you have to do is install this handy program:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

(Before you all reply - yeah, I know the original poster didn't likely do this and forget to mention it...)
trunk8, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I called Comcast for support one time, I had internet connectivity but Comcast's DNS servers weren't routing properly. When I called, I was informed that it was because my IP address started with "192.168....." and that such addresses usually can't use the internet. Needless to say, I switched to another provider's DNS servers and I've never called their support again.
theohuxtable, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0How come no one is talking about the EASY FIX for this issue. change the port number for outgoing mail from 25 to 587. simple fix. at comcast if you cant send mail its only cause they sent your modem a new bootfile that blocks port 25. before you could call them and tell them to take the block off, but now you cant. now they tell everyone to change the port number. 587 is alot more secure because it requires your username and password to send an email.
czimmerman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Yeah, I have a similar story.

I was getting a crapton of spam once, and none of them had an unsubscribe link and I tried to bounce them back, but still got them. I called Comcast, and the tech answered the phone, and he asked me what OS, I was on, and I said, "Mac OS X." The tech then told me to go to the on-line help desk or whatever they call it and download the McAffee Internet Security Suite or whatever it is. I explained to him that I was on a Mac, and he said "Yeah, it works on Windows." I explained to him again that, you know, Mac's don't have start buttons. He said that it was either I install it or I get no service. So I was like, "yeah, let me talk to your supervisor just so I can let him know you have zero clue how to troubleshoot." Got the supervisor, and she told me to do the same thing. I told her I couldn't because I was on Mac OS X. She asked me what web browser I was using and I said, "Safari." She was like "Well, that's not the officially supported web browser. We would like you to use Internet Explorer 6." I then explained that even if I were to download IE 6, it wouldn't work on OS X because its a Windows application, following it up with the newest version of IE for Mac is IE 5, which would take be back to about the year 2003. Eventually, I gave up, and said that my other machine was Linux, to which she said "Sir, we don't support Linux, and we recommend you don't use it with our service." I said, "Verizon does," and I hung up. It was good times.
noseeme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Macs can't get viruses? That's news to me!
foxmajik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1>Remember that time when a comcast employee went to a customers house and called Customer Service because he needed help and was waiting for over an hour for a responce so the employee eventually fell asleep on the Sofa?

I used to work for Comcast customer service.

The install techs call the customer care line to talk to agents who have access to tools they don't have in the field.

Sometimes you can't solve every issue in the field, and sometimes you can't resolve every issue right away. It doesn't make that install tech's work inferior nor does it indicate a lack of knowledge nor experience.

The fact that he stayed there long enough for the customer to fall asleep on the couch, working on their issue, speaks more of dedication to providing quality of service.
- himay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@foxmajik
  
  You're kidding, right?
  
  Falling asleep at a customer location is evidence of dedication? I beg to differ. Me personally, I'd prefer if a rep showed his dedication to his job by STAYING AWAKE.
  
  Or maybe, following your line of thought, I can advance my own career by showing my boss how dedicated I am, falling asleep at my desk. Or maybe show my fierce loyalty by quitting?
silentdud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Comcast admitted the problem with spam occurred with the IP before I received it."

you see that is why john doe lawsuits over filesharing are also bad.
astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Comcast is clueless of their technology and how it works, they just know it makes them money.

I picked up the Sega Channel decade ago, and when it was on the fritz, they said it would take two weeks
for a tech to come out. When I asked them about a compensation for this downtime, they said no, so
when I took it back the same day, they asked me why, and I told them, and they said the support for that
was outsourced and they didn't provide it.

Decades later, when getting hooked up for broadband, they told me I could not use my cable modem with
their service, because they did never heard of the store I purchased them from.... and that was CompUSA.
dygitaljoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Another whiny user about how [ISP of *their* choice] Sucks ...

Users want less spam and abuse, it's a two way street. Obviously, his issue is resolved, and he is just one user who mentioned this problem. Quite obviously it is not all of Comcast that sucks.
jonester, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Comast sucks... cable does period. Satellite is so much more cheaper for what you get. What $50 for like 80 channels. I can get 150 for the same price. With a actual channel guide and DVR to. Cable guides are that stupid TV Guide channel that shows whats on.... yea, their customer service sucks to.
lordkenthegreat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Hehe...

http://www.gooogIe.co.uk/?gid=17648&hl=en&meta=o&q=Comcast%20Cable
nlinux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Now, I have to laugh at someone who is crazy enough to post this and obviously not technical enough to know that his computer was probably open to the whole world to use for sending email and he didn't even know it. If comcast locked him out for spam it just means that SMTP was wide open on his machine and that a spammer's relay bot found the open port and immediately flooded the world with spam from his unknowingly open server. I would not be surprised if his IP was not also blacklisted by Spamhaus or others after this occurence. Lesson learned....just because it's a mac doesn't mean you don't need to firewall those ports and for sure don't allow relaying!
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Blacklisted by Comcast (a Story)

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