
Comcast locks value customers out of Sochi streams - doctorshady
http://gigaom.com/2014/02/10/no-olympics-for-you-comcast-locks-value-customers-out-of-sochi-streams/
======
pivo
Here's how my interaction with Comcast went when someone called and got me to
sign up for the deal:

Comcast: You can have double your current internet speed plus HBO Go and some
other junk for only $4 more per month.

Me: <after a while> ok, but I don't need a cable box because I don't have a
TV. I'll just watch online. I can do that right?

C: Yes, but we need to ship you a cable box anyway.

Me: why?

C: because

Me: ok but I'm not at home much and packages left on my stoop get stolen.
Could you ship it to my office?

C: <after a while> oh all right we'll ship it to your office.

(Ships to my home anyway and the box gets stolen)

C: Sir, please check to see if your doorman accepted the package before we
charge you for the cable box.

Me: I don't have a doorman and I told you not to ship the box to my home. The
cable box that I didn't want was stolen like I said it would be.

C: We can only ship it to your home. We will ship you another one.

Me: I don't want another one, I just don't want to pay for the one that was
stolen.

C: Ok, we'll cancel your new package then.

Me: Can't I just pay for it and not have the cable box? I don't have a TV.

C: No. I will cancel your new package. Is there anything else I can help you
with?

It was like talking to a robot. I dearly hate monopolies.

~~~
10feet
You were talking to a low level employee, who doesn't know a great deal about
the company he works for, and is just following a script with a specific set
of rules.

I get confused when people try to reason with these guys, they can only do
what they are allowed to do. They aren't going to make an executive decision
and break the rules for you. You need to feel around what they can do, and
don't expect miracles.

~~~
frou_dh
The one time I got angry at customer service was when I cancelled a mobile
broadband contract and then several months later noticed I was still being
charged. Apparently there was no record of the cancellation or indeed my
original call at all (despite the original operator confirming that the
cancellation had went through on their system). All the latter operator would
do was simultaneously assert that their system was infallible and that, no,
they didn't believe I was lying or otherwise confused. An unstoppable force
was meeting an immovable object, both of the operator's own construction, and
they refused to acknowledge that. The frustrating conclusion was that it was
strictly impossible to refund me the money. Of course, they couldn't even keep
that straight: some time later and out of the blue, a full refund showed up in
the mail with no explanation attached.

~~~
Natsu
Did you deal with Megapath (formerly Speakeasy) too? I will never get internet
from the scumbags who bought out that once great service again.

They won't cancel you over the phone, only via the internet. And their
internet thing didn't work any of the three times I tried it until
(miraculously) it worked while I was telling the lady on the phone that I
wasn't about to give them my new credit card number because I had not
authorized the previous charges and their own cancellation page had "failed"
on multiple occasions. Yet, when on the phone yelling at a supervisor, I got a
confirmation that I had cancelled immediately.

I do have one possible explanation--after cancelling, it claimed that I would
receive a call. They never even attempted to call (per my phone logs), but I
have to think that some customer retention person somewhere had a quota that
was easier to fake if you simply didn't call the customer and claimed that
they had changed their mind about cancelling. I bet someone could figure out
the truth by examining how many people miraculously change their mind
regularly before finally cancelling....

It's been several years and I'm still mad at them. If you ever do have to
cancel that service, make sure you log the exact dates and times that you
cancel and document it.

~~~
frou_dh
It was a European outfit I was dealing with. You reminded me of another
frustrating aspect of it: I could give them the date and time down to the
minute of the original call that their infallible system was unaware of.

Towards the end, I asked if it was really worth losing all my potential future
custom over $SMALLISH_SUM and apparently the answer was yes. Complete cretins,
all!

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dangerlibrary
I'm one of these customers, and it's a minor pain in the ass.

Also, a small correction for anyone considering their "HBO Go" deal - you
don't actually get access to HBO Go, only to HBO Go content through Xfinity
streaming. That sounds like an academic distinction, but their Xfinity
streaming page doesn't integrate with Chromecast, so if that's how you planned
to watch the HBO Go content, you can't.

~~~
jonny_eh
That's not what I've experienced. I have the same deal and get proper HBO Go
access (including Chromecast).

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colinbartlett
We've been streaming the BBC's coverage via a VPN. It's been great. The iMac
is close enough proximity to the TV that a Thunderbolt to HDMI cable reaches.
With a full screen mode Chrome, the quality is great.

I've had a VPN for some time just for security reasons, but I suddenly get
even more value for my $40/year.

~~~
newman314
Which VPN provider?

~~~
pmorici
You can also just spin up a Linode in their UK zone and then use an SSH tunnel
through that. When the Olympics are over spin down the vm and you're done.

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iambateman
This feels like a big step in the wrong direction but here's the problem...If
content providers can't limit the consumption of their content (at all), they
essentially become "public good" providers. Their work is non-excludable
(anyone can access it) and non-rivalrous (my consumption doesn't affect your
consumption).

There are plenty of solutions* and limiting streaming via an internet provider
may actually be the right one. Big (expensive) streaming content like the
Olympics is paid for in the same way we pay for TV channels. Which is good, if
the alternative is that content not being provided at all.

Unfortunately, this is ultimately in everyone's worst interest because Comcast
can (and will) force Netflix/Hulu/NBC/ABC/CBS/YouTube/Vimeo/ComedyCentral/etc
to pay to be "carried" on their network. And they won't have a lot of
leverage.

We need _pay_ for high-quality content. It's just a matter of how.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#Possible_solutions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#Possible_solutions)

~~~
mikeash
I don't think anybody[0] is arguing that this stuff should be free. Rather,
people generally argue that they should be allowed to pay for it without it
being bundled with a bunch of other stuff. Why should I need a cable TV
subscription in order to stream certain kinds of video over the internet? Just
figure out how much money it should cost and then let me[1] pay it if I want
it.

[0] OK, I'm sure there are some people out there saying it should be free.
Just not that many, and not here.

[1] This is a hypothetical "me", as I don't personally care about these
particular streams at all. But I totally understand where people are coming
from when they want to watch something and don't want it to be tied to their
cable TV subscription which should be completely irrelevant.

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guelo
Capitalism ruins everything eventually. The Olympics used to be this shared
patriotic experience. But now that it's being packaged up and segmented for
maximum gain it will become less relevant to big parts of society. Which is
probably a good thing considering how patriotic fervor becomes increasingly
merged with giant corporations and the military.

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sliverstorm
I must be missing something here. Why would you expect the "Internet plus HBO"
package would also give you the Olympics? The Olympics aren't broadcast on
HBO, are they?

~~~
rgbrenner
because it says it includes nbc, which is broadcasting the olympics

[http://gigaom.com/2013/10/24/did-comcast-just-take-a-
first-s...](http://gigaom.com/2013/10/24/did-comcast-just-take-a-first-step-
towards-unbundling-hbo/)

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falcolas
Heh - that's nothing; at least they have the option of paying for access.
Charter customers on the east coast get access, but those of us on the west
coast do not (as per Charter's customer service reps, confirmed by our
inability to use our data to log into the Olympic coverage online).

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8ig8
Bug exploit to watch past 30 min. preview limit:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/1xjx5f/watch_the_ol...](http://www.reddit.com/r/hacking/comments/1xjx5f/watch_the_olympics_for_free_thanks_jquery/cfc5ski)

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outside1234
get a CactusVPN account for $5 and stream the olympics from the UK. Works
great.

~~~
UnoriginalGuy
And as an added bonus you don't have to listen to the constant commentary
about how Russia sucks, and how this Olympics is failing.

Literally the first words out of the mouth of the commentator before the
opening ceremonies on NBC were about the cost, "terrorism fears" (which
ironically are self-perpetuating, due to the American media both creating them
and then reporting on it), gay rights, weather, and some of the last minute
building issues.

The whole thing feels childish. Like the US media is going out of its way to
drag the Russian games through the mud for anything they can cling onto. I
mean how many times have they shown the faulty ring in the opening ceremonies?
I have seen it at least a dozen.

The US media certainly didn't treat the London summer games with such obvious
contempt and disrespect.

~~~
chc
Maybe because London doesn't lock up women's rights advocates and people who
suggest homosexuality might be OK. Russia gets hate because it doesn't bother
to try endearing itself to people. It's sort of like America only minus all
the stuff America puts out that people like.

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dobbsbob
I just use a cheap cinfu bitcoin paid VPS to stream BBC but you can also use
[https://hola.org/](https://hola.org/) (free) which people have claimed is
good enough for streaming BBC or CBC in Canada to watch events. I haven't
tried it.

Due to over the top DRM this year CBC can't stream any Linux compatible
streams because of fears somebody might actually record it. Never mind that
competent pirates already pvr and encode entire Sochi events and have them up
on torrents everywhere we must make your streaming as annoying and difficult
as possible.

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jscheel
Yep, we got hit by this as well. I still have hope that one day Comcast will
start to realize what the customer wants. Of course, it's not really necessary
for a monopoly to fulfill their customers wishes, so fat chance that will ever
happen. Cable franchising with municipal regulation is crazy.

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jonny_eh
Another thing to note with this "plus HBO" deal is that it's not just an extra
$5, you also have to pay an extra $6 or $7 for various "cable fees". As soon
as you add cable TV the hidden fees start appearing.

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founder4fun
Find a friend with an Aereo account and VPN into their account.

Aereo's not widely available, but if it is in your area it's well worth the 8
bucks!

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pasbesoin
Recently, two failures to follow up with promised service appointments /
reschedules.

Looking forward to the day I can tell them to shove it.

