The Prisoner Of Comcast

SATURDAY. It's been nearly a week since my last blog post. The September 1 "dig date" has come and gone. Comcast never appeared, despite promises that continued through the day. Last evening, my third call to Comcast yielded yet another promise that a surveyor would be here today to assess the situation and determine if, how and when Comcast could connect us to their high-speed internet service. At 3 PM today I phoned Comcast to ask if someone was coming. We'd waited all day. "Blake" informed me that the surveyor was indeed planning to come today, and would arrive around 5. It's now 6:40 and no one's appeared.

If I had a dollar for every phone call I've made to Comcast since August 3, I'd have enough for a nice dinner, including dessert. To say this has been frustrating and challenging is an understatement, yet I know there is little I can do to change the situation. Mostly it leaves me feeling invisible and disempowered. The worst part of the last two days is being imprisoned in our home, unable to leave because of the scheduled (no-show) appointments with Albuquerque's only cable provider. Dealing with monopolies can be difficult. They know they're the only game in town, so we're at their mercy.

A month ago I ordered DSL from Qwest. The day before our scheduled installation, August 14, I cancelled the DSL portion of my phone order, since Comcast promised to hook us up only 4 days later. Qwest offered me a lower monthly price and introductory incentives to tempt me into withdrawing my cancellation, but I stood firm. They had even shipped me a DSL wireless modem. I refused the package when it arrived on the 14th.

The other day I called Qwest and sheepishly asked if they could please (please!) come back out and install the DSL that I'd originally ordered. To my amazement, I was told DSL is not available in this location.

"Do you mean you sold me DSL in early August, sent me a modem, scheduled the installation, and it was never available to begin with?"

"Yes, maam. It happens all the time. The technician would have found out when he got to your house to install it."

This morning Qwest phoned us to ask if we were satisfied with our phone service.

"I suppose so," M offered grumpily. "We would like to order DSL but were told it isn't available here. Can you tell me when DSL might be available?"

"Well, if it's not available, it's not available and you'll just have to wait until it's available."

Click.

Is it me, or was that the craziest response ever? M and I stood looking at one another, baffled and confused.

My work (and income) are suffering from the inconvenience of not having the high-speed connection essential to certain elements of my business. It's fine to grab my email using Flying Star's free wi-fi, but it's impossible to concentrate in a noisy cafe with music and kitchen clatters disrupting every thought. I've shelved a good deal of my web design work, promising clients I'd be fully connected and able to work on their websites after Labor Day, but it looks like this won't happen. In fact, I was told by one representative at Comcast last evening that we're probably looking at October before we're connected. Waiting 9 or 10 weeks seems unconscionable, immoral, and unbelievable. This is a simple hookup. Why has Comcast made it so complicated? This is a dirt road we're talking about. There's no pavement to dig up. Give me a shovel--I'll bury the cable myself!

I'm at a loss as to next steps. Short of borrowing a 20-foot ladder, climbing the utility pole across the road, and running my own coax to the house from the Comcast cable dangling atop the pole, I am out of clever ideas. Tuesday the world will be back to work again, so perhaps I can get through to the corporate office to see if an intervention from someone with clout is possible.

Then again, maybe these obstacles represent the Universe's way of gently prodding me away from computer work and into a job at Wal-Mart. Egads.

Are we having fun yet? Not really. I hope to have good news to report in my next post. This situation can't get any worse. It can only improve. Now THERE'S something to celebrate!

(Well, actually it could be worse...Comcast could tell me they can't connect us at all, in which case we'd probably have to move again to a more cable-friendly address. But I'm not even considering that possibility. It's unthinkable!)