Dealing with Comcast

We recently lost our Internet connection. The experience was... Let's just say I need to vent. I didn't take notes throughout the process, so I might make some mistakes when it comes to details. I might even forget about one of the frustrations that emerged.

Usually, Internet outages aren't on our end. We didn't call immediately. After enough time passed, we decided that we didn't have much of a choice.

I'm not a social creature. I did not take the lead. Instead, I took more of a supportive role. Our primary phone is through the Internet, so that wasn't much of an option for us. We all have mobile devices, but they are primarily for emergencies. We have pay as you go plans, which means we are effectively paying by the minute. None of us have data plans.

The initial call led us to the standard troubleshooting. They reset our modem from their end. It didn't fix our problems, so we called back. It took some time, but we eventually managed to connect with an actual person. He texted us, but we didn't receive his texts. Even though we told him that we didn't have an Internet connection, he kept pushing us to use the Xfinity app. Eventually, he insisted that it was a wiring issue and that we needed an installer to come to our house. He never scheduled an installer. After enough time on our pay as you go plan passed, we gave up.

As it turned out, our phone through Comcast was working despite our Internet outage. Another family member tried to connect to support through that line. The whole time, I heard the same thing. "I want to talk to a real person." Apparently, when telling the automated voice system that we couldn't receive texts, they wanted to solve the problem by texting us.

That didn't work, so we headed to the library to use their Internet. We found out why we didn't receive their texts. They required data that we already said we didn't have. One text was a number code. The other was a link to a webpage that we couldn't have accessed anyway because, like I said, we didn't have the Internet. Because we had Internet at the library, we tried the link. It displayed an error message. If we wanted to complete our order, we needed to call a phone number. We tried the number. It was out of service.

I decided to download the Xfinity app, but I struggled to find what we needed. There wasn't an option to schedule an installer. We found a chat option on their website. We asked to schedule an installer. It asked us to try troubleshooting steps first. Since we were at the library, we didn't have access to our modem. The chat option would not allow us to bypass that step.

Still struggling, we decided to visit an Xfinity store. We asked them if they could schedule an installer. They kept getting messages that prevented them from doing anything. Eventually, they told us that we would have to contact their customer service line. This was the same number that was already giving us problems. Although they probably don't want this on my blog, they informed us that we could get a real person by lying and saying we are new customers. They also tried to put in our account number in hopes the system would prioritize our call.

We continued to ask about alternatives. The person we were working with went to a manager a couple times to help us. They informed us that our modem was no longer compatible with their system.

This brings me to the last time we had to deal with Comcast support. It was a year or two ago when we replaced our modem. For some reason, we couldn't get it to work. We had to work with an installer. We even had to send our first choice of a modem back and select a different model. Our modem wasn't very old. It should be compatible. Additionally, it seemed like we should have three modems registered, and they told us we showed two. We had our original and our replacement, but the modem we couldn't get to work was also registered.

If we wanted the Internet without having to wait on an installer that we couldn't seem to schedule, we would have to set up one they had in the store. This was one of the few times I actually bothered to involve myself in the conversation. I asked if we could set up the Internet if we didn't have Internet access. The worker assured us that we could set it up with a phone number provided with the modem.

The family member I was with was considering calling out of work. After what we had been through on the day, did she really want to deal with work? I brought up something she might have overlooked. Her employer isn't very good at answering phones, so she usually uses an app. We still didn't have an Internet connection. We stopped by the library on our way home. She actually wasn't 100% convinced that she would need the down time, but she was unsure if we would have Internet access if she needed it.

We returned home, and I set up the modem we got from the store. When I was ready to activate, I ran into a problem. There was no phone number. You have to use their app to activate the modem. I had already downloaded the app, but I couldn't get very far without an Internet connection.

It was back to the library. I made a little progress until it asked to scan a QR code or enter the MAC address. We tried to call home, but we admittedly overlooked something. Changing out the modems, our home phone number wouldn't work. We had to head back home.

I entered the MAC address but didn't try to progress. Ther MAC address vanished on me. I wrote it down. We also made sure a cell phone was available so we could actually call back for our next trip to the library.

When we got back to the Internet, I entered the MAC address and moved forward. We told it to activate, but an error message appeared. It pushed us back in the process, but it looked like I could try again to activate. It looked like it succeeded, so we called home. Did we have the Internet?

We were told that it still wasn't working. There were places in the app that made it look like it wasn't active. I didn't have many ideas. Perhaps we were going to have to call that support number again.

When we got home, we encountered our only positive surprise. When looking at a computer that we left on, a website had actually loaded. Perhaps the modem hadn't completed its startup process when we asked. How were we supposed to know? We didn't have access to the modem when we were activating it.

As I'm writing this, we still haven't updated all of our wireless devices. I checked the Xfinity website to look at our devices. We now have four modems showing. The modem that we were previously using shows as optimized for our current plan. It does not show as no longer being compatible as they claimed.

Although it's taken more time than I originally thought, fiber optic Internet providers are finally making a push for markets outside of larger cities and tech hubs. In fact, a representative from one of these providers visited our house the day we lost our connection. People are already cutting the cord to cable. Comcast needs to address their customer service problems. If not, they are going to be shedding customers.