Comcast Blows; Verizon FiOS Rules

First of all, it has been raining non-stop here in the DC Metro area for 2 days now. Rivers and creeks are cresting their banks. Roads are washing out. Underpasses are filling with water. The Beltway was temporarily closed due to weather. A 140 year old elm tree fell over at the White House.

And, predictably, during heavy rainstorms, there are rampant power outages, downed lines, cable TV outages, and the cloudy weather blocks satellite reception. I used to have comcast, and besides it being extremely expensive, the installation and service takes forever if there is a problem.

Case in point is a sensational new video up on YouTube this past week in which a Comcast repairman showed up at a Northern VA man’s home to fix his cable connection to get his broadband working. The repairman was filmed sleeping on the customer’s couch, and the customer uploaded the video to Youtube. The video became virulent and everyone saw it. Even Comcast HQ. Comcast fired the guy today. Click the photo below to see the YouTube video.

From the AP here:

Comcast employee sleeps during house call

PHILADELPHIA – Comcast Corp. has fired an employee for sleeping on a customer’s couch during a house call after video of the incident became a minor Internet sensation.

Customer Brian Finkelstein posted video of the sleeping technician and told this story on YouTube.com, a site that lets users share videos.

His Comcast Internet connection had worked only intermittently since he moved to a new apartment June 1. A Comcast employee who came to Finkelstein’s home June 14 to replace the modem called the company for help. Put on hold for more than an hour, he caught some shut-eye while he waited.

Finkelstein, a Georgetown University law student, picked up his video camera, added an Eels song with the lyrics “I need some sleep,” and sent it to YouTube.

This is not the first customer-service issue to embarrass Comcast. In August, the company said it had fired two employees in the Chicago area for changing a woman’s name on her bill to a derogatory term after she repeatedly complained about poor service.

I have FiOS from Verizon.

There were zero outages of my service yesterday, and even if the power had flickered, Verizon installs the fiber converter with an Uninterruptable Power Supply to keep the cable boxes on. If you are tired of Comcast, and I know you are, check with Verizon to see if it is in your area yet and sign up!