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 | NetLarry
join:2007-03-18
Johnstown, PA
| Re: Go Private Atlantic Broadband is privately held, and in fact has some former Comcast areas in Miami. I've gotten the distinct impression that the plant was not well maintained, and that ABB has spent a ton of money trying to set things right. Smaller does have its advantages, and good employees at ABB are encouraged to remain.
(Disclosure: I work for ABB, and used to sell Verizon DSL - believe me, the VZ customers are FAR angrier....) | |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
1 edit |  Quit hiring murders and inept peeps
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| Re: Quit hiring murders and inept peeps said by ninjatutle  :and they'll have less lawsuits, happy customers and less churn. happy customers?? we *are* talking about cable aren't we?
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
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| | | jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | Re: Quit hiring murders and inept peeps Why did you bother to single out cable? From your point of view that's true of all corporations. | |
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| | | | | jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | Re: Quit hiring murders and inept peeps What, like Sprint? Verizon? 
You're full of hooey. | |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs: | Re: Quit hiring murders and inept peeps My experiences with both Sprint and Verizon (and every single other provider of any type of service I've ever purchased) is head and shoulders above Comcast. No comparison. Not even close. | |
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| | | | | | | nshulga
join:2002-06-06
Morrisville, PA | Re: Quit hiring murders and inept peeps Well, there's pre-91 Aeroflot.. and todays United. Other than that, I'd agree. | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
 ·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
| Exactly... no company 'cares' about you, regardless of what you think, or the impression that they try to give you.
What they do care about is being able to collect money from you for a service (or actual or perceived).
Comcast, in particular attempts to get more money from you by attempting to sell its product as a high end (Lexus vs. Hyundai).
That approach does work for those that are satisfied with their service, or can't justify the cost of switching.
The 'Walmart' approach of cheap service, in general, works well, but not always to the cable/internet industry, even though it is still valid.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs: | Re: Quit hiring murders and inept peeps What's your point? Surely I can't be the only BBR member who's here to discuss the industry and personal experience with it. | |
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sep45
@rit.edu | I have lost a lot of money in the market due to Comcast. Spending money on blocking P2P doesn't make investors happy. | |
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| | jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL
 ·surpasshosting
 ·ViaTalk
| Re: Quit hiring murders and inept peeps said by sep45 :
I have lost a lot of money in the market due to Comcast. Spending money on blocking P2P doesn't make investors happy. hehe... I doubt the pittance spent on Sandvine is the large capex dollars that are mentioned in the article. | |
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| | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| said by sep45 :
I have lost a lot of money in the market due to Comcast. Spending money on blocking P2P doesn't make investors happy.
Think again.
Bandwidth costs money... if anything, it should make investors happy at this time. You are thinking more from a consumer stand point.
To be honest, if the amount of bandwidth used is on a rise and it's costing more money on the P&L, then investors won't be happy with that. Tighter controls of expenses and greater amounts on income, shoring up the bottom line, IS what makes an investor happy.
In the end, it's all about numbers... | |
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| RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Roberts going nowhere; but mgt could modify corporate plans I'm sure the Regas clan thought the same thing about Adelphia...
It's never a good thing when the money starts complaining. With the economy tightening the investors want to see some real performance instead of hearing Roberts' mouth yapping about how good things are or will be "real soon now".
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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jmn1207
Premium
join:2000-07-19
Reston, VA
 ·Verizon FIOS
| $$$ CEO Change $$$ Kicking a CEO to the curb probably does more to hurt a corporation than just putting up with their ineptness.
By the time a package is put together for the departing CEO, the company will find itself in an even deeper hole.
I wonder how many millions of dollars and other benefits this CEO would get as a result of being fired? There has to be a more practical method for keeping these bosses on the straight and narrow path. Is there no integrity anymore? Is everyone available to run a corporation just a bunch of cheating, sleazy, scheming douche bags that have to be bought just to stifle perverse incentives? | |
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| vinnie5451
join:2001-12-16
Fords, NJ | Re: $$$ CEO Change $$$ sounds like comcast to me and made if they offered better cs and channels they would start makeing some cash | |
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joker5656
join:2006-06-23
Dallas, GA | Price Goes Up, You Loose More Customers when will they learn that economic rule. | |
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| veldy
join:1999-08-04
Minneapolis, MN
·VoicePulse
·Comcast
·callwithus
·ViaTalk
·Callcentric
·Vonage
1 edit | Re: Price Goes Up, You Loose More Customers said by joker5656 :when will they learn that economic rule. Bingo ... all their competition offers similar or better service at a lower price. In particular, I am referring to Verizon FIOS for Internet and DBS for television. HOWEVER, in many markets, such as Minneapolis/St. Paul, they have much less real competition on the HSI side. QWest is the largest ILEC here. QWest is old and stodgy, full of debt, and can't offer DSL to all of its customers, and those that it can range from 256Kbps/256Kbps to 7Mbps/896Kbps with the average customer only capable of getting 1.5Mbps/1024Kbps (yes, nice upload). My point is that Comcast relies on revenue in markets where they have less or no competition. I think that is why this shareholder is probably upset; competition IS growing, especially in markets with FTTH, and it will continue to grow. Comcast has not shown signs growth in my market because they have no HSI competition. Out in New England, many are getting 16Mbps or 20Mbps download speeds, here, we have a max of 8Mbps available to us. Hell, I would pay more for them to make the faster speed available as I have many opportunities to use it! Comcast has NOT bothered to lower prices on television in our area, and as such, there is a HUGE number of DBS users; I see a dish on at least half the homes around here, and I know that most of them are active [for the neighbors that I do know].
Comcast needs to compete with technology AND price and they are relying on a lack of competition to bolster price in markets that support it. That business model will eventually fail.
This is all my opinion and analysis of what I see. For reference, I am a Comcast HSI customer and a use DirecTV for television and a 3rd party VoIP service for phone. | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| How about... Lower prices ?
I think that you might be surprised to find that SOME people may actually purchase cable TV/HSI/VoIP if it were priced decently.
Why not have:
Basic digital TV (locals + a few cr@p channels) for $19.99/month
Basic HSI (1.5Mbps or less) for $19.99/month
Basic VoIP (ala Vonage/Skype) for $24.95
Total: $65/month
Instead there's:
Digital cable at +$50
VoIP at $40
HSI at $40
Total (plus fees/extras) = $130/month
AT&T Uverse is no better: Their VoIP is $30/month limited, or $40/month (and they don't advertise their Call Vantage VoIP $24.95 service!)
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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| jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | Re: How about... Would you rather get paid your current salary for doing your job, or 40% less?
Thanks for playing. | |
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| | Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| Re: How about... said by jester121 :Would you rather get paid your current salary for doing your job, or 40% less? Thanks for playing. Apples and oranges. Would seem more comparable to ask the question if you would rather get paid 40% less, or have no pay? | |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: How about... Yup
These companies can't expect to be making higher sales/profits while people aren't getting increases in pay.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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| joker5656
join:2006-06-23
Dallas, GA
·Charter Pipeline
| what ever you want to call it, its still lower prices. but give people something to watch and make it worth while. if not people are going to leave or not get service.
since i don't have Comcast i ain't complaining. i hear more stories about how Comcast sucks but Charter is still the worst. it boggles my mind thinking about the two when you compare them. Both have there faults by all means but at least i don't have to worry about caps, price increases every other month, crappy service. | |
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| | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
| Re: How about... I think , thanks to this writers strike , we americans will really see how useful tv really is.
I keep seeing numbers about how these shows in reruns are absolutely abysmal. And what is happening is that shows that had shows that they felt were not good , are running those episodes as new. When they were never really meant for tv yet.
I hope they keep raising rates. At this point the only reason I have tv is for Patriots games. Seeing as I work all the time. I hope more people come to the same point I am at , might save a lot of lives with the obesity epidemic.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
2 edits | said by en102 :Lower prices ? I think that you might be surprised to find that SOME people may actually purchase cable TV/HSI/VoIP if it were priced decently. Why not have: Basic digital TV (locals + a few cr@p channels) for $19.99/month Basic HSI (1.5Mbps or less) for $19.99/month Basic VoIP (ala Vonage/Skype) for $24.95 Total: $65/month The only thing worth that amount of money is the Basic HSI.
Even then, it's the same price as ATT 1.5 DSL with I would prefer.
I can get Basic analog with plenty of crap channels for $10.00 a mo.
24.95 for VOIP? What a joke, a land-line is $20 a mo.
If a company wants my business, they need to do better than that. I don't think our US company's understand volume business, they are stuck on this premium tier crap that most people don't need and cant afford.
And no, I wont be suckered into bait and switch again with their 3 mo, 6 mo, or even 1 year "deals" that revert to some outrageous price once the contract is over.
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‘Do ye, quieting in your bosoms your strong hearts,
Who of many good things have had your fill even to surfeit,
With what is moderate nourish your mighty desire; for neither will
We yield, nor shall you have all else as you wish.’
Solon | |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs: | LOL @ "Comcastrophe" I've never quite heard it put that way before.
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See 17 replies to this post |
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axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC
·Verizon Online DSL
| cost of doing nothing is higher Comcast has been doing very well with their voice service, right? You'd think that would count for something, but I guess the margins there are thin. They have some screwed up policies for network management, but that's worth maybe a 10% drop not a 40% drop. My understanding is that they are more reliable than they used to be, and are getting along better with local governments like Montgomery County.
I agree with the idea that Verizon's FiOS is the cause for the price drop. Comcast isn't investing money in new services for their cash cow, high speed internet. Verizon is, and will get a big return on their investment. Long-term thinking will win over short-term thinking when both companies have enough money.
Verizon's weakness is its phone system. The problem in New England is a good example of the morass they are in. I expect they spent more of the USF funds on executive bonuses instead of on infrastructure like they were supposed to. AT&T is going to have similar problems, but with "Uverse" instead of FiOS. Comcast can only hope that FiOS gets held up due to internal problems at Verizon, and that DOCSIS 3.0 is everything they promise. | |
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| RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
1 edit | Re: cost of doing nothing is higher One big problem is that, to use an overworked phrase, the low-hanging telephone fruit is close to being picked and growth there will inevitably slow. Roberts promised the moon so many times to so many people that it's getting tough to find cost-effective ways to distract investors. Some of them have seen behind the curtain and don't like the view. And it's not just Comcast...the cable industry as a whole has fluffed themselves way beyond reasonable expectation. Now the markets are starting to adjust to the reality.
DOCSIS 3.0 is going to take some serious investment to implement. Now is not the time to be dissing those who provide the money.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA
clubs:
·Comcast
| Re: cost of doing nothing is higher said by RadioDoc :One big problem is that, to use an overworked phrase, the low-hanging telephone fruit is close to being picked and growth there will inevitably slow. Roberts promised the moon so many times to so many people that it's getting tough to find cost-effective ways to distract investors. Some of them have seen behind the curtain and don't like the view. And it's not just Comcast...the cable industry as a whole has fluffed themselves way beyond reasonable expectation. Now the markets are starting to adjust to the reality. DOCSIS 3.0 is going to take some serious investment to implement. Now is not the time to be dissing those who provide the money. well as a subscriber, I don't want the moon. I just want a service that works, is not excessively overpriced.
Current rates are just way too much, customer service is all but non-existent, the service quality leaves a lot to be desired ..
It all comes down to Comcast's lack of expanding their inferstructure to keep up with both the demand and it's offerings. It will only get worse.
If a new CEO can 'fix' this, then I say fire the old one and bring in fresh blood. | |
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| | Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
·SONIC.NET
| said by RadioDoc :DOCSIS 3.0 is going to take some serious investment to implement. Now is not the time to be dissing those who provide the money. Why can't they use revenue instead of stocks to fund upgrades? If they switched to SDV (switched digital video) and MPEG4 (away from MPEG1/2), then their savings would be fundamentally greater, and they wouldn't need to upgrade as fast. Then they could use that bandwidth and money savings to invest in upgrades, rather than just trying to overstuff with too much money.
I've already wondered how much they could start cream-skimming channels to SDV and MPEG4 now, putting the HD and other most premium channels (and niche channels) into SDV & MPEG4 and leaving the rest in MPEG1/2, so that the hassle of getting the box can be borne by those who would appreciate the upgrade. At first, it would just be a cost, but then soon enough they'd be able to free some of the bandwidth. Put SDV and MPEG4 upgrades at the forefront, and then do upgrades with revenue rather than with stock capital, and then use the savings from those upgrades to pay for the rest of those upgrades, until they have profit from that, and then turn that into more upgrades. At some point they can start putting DOCSIS 3.0 in where there's hot spots, instead of rolling out a uniform plant like that.
They seem like they're trying to stack waves on top of each other right now, rather than do a more money-integrated upgrade path that is both ambitious, fast-paced, interlocking, and conservative (more level) in costing. The way to do that is to puzzle-piece things together in good fits rather than frothing and foaming it up. | |
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| | | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: cost of doing nothing is higher said by Ulmo :The way to do that is to puzzle-piece things together in good fits rather than frothing and foaming it up. Roberts knows nothing of conservative, sensible or long-term. Most of his tenure has been "frothing and foaming it up" (I love that term!). Getting press is a lot easier that way than just getting the job done.
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Toolmaster of La Grange. | |
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ropeguru
Premium
join:2001-01-25
Bridgeport, WV
clubs:
·VOIPo
| Not really... even though it will take Verizon a very long time to match Comcast's footprint
Somehow I don't think so. Given the current environment of letting monopolies back together, another couple of years and AT&T and Verizon will merge back together. Then they will certainly have the capability to quickly smash any remaining competition and be vastly larger than Comcast. | |
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MarkyD
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK
clubs:
·Cox HSI
| Re: Not really... ATT does FTTP in some areas, mine included. We get DSL speeds. | |
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Cable Me This
@rr.com
| Boot Em? Comcast stock reflects has worthless the company is, regardless of what CEO they have.
Comcast and the other cable/satellite monopolists HAVE THE POWER to take on the content-provider lobby on behalf of their subscribers, and by doing so, deliver us ala-carte pricing.
But instead, they lazily fall back to their typical cable-company habits, and decide they'll just stick it to us, because we have no other choice. They'll brag about offering us so-called phone service and dysfunctional DVRs, but primarily, they'll focus on reaming us with "digital tiers" and other such crap.
Their margins reflect their unwillingness to provide value to the customer. As a result, nearly every one of my peers has disconnected cable TV for years, in favor of Netflix, the library, and rabbit ears.
We'll gladly sign up anew, when they offer us ala carte, and the STB is something other than that Moto POS. I don't think we'll ever have any interest in their VOIP product, since they already can't make the cable-modem work for more than 3 hours at a time. | |
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| Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
·SONIC.NET
| Re: Boot Em? said by Cable Me This :
Their margins reflect their unwillingness to provide value to the customer. As a result, nearly every one of my peers has disconnected cable TV for years, in favor of Netflix, the library, and rabbit ears. What's interesting is the mandate to be able to receive OTA ATSC will cause the unwashed masses to realize rather immediately that they can receive HD (as well as SD) via OTA (after the initial fast and simple learning curve). This will cause a resurge in various cousins to "rabbit ears", as you so put it.
Regarding Motorola: I am suspicious of your anti-Motorola stance. Certainly, Motorola has been laggard, but to dump it for Asian companies seems suicidal; asians can't program user interfaces in ways that Americans can understand how to navigate. I don't know if that's because American companies are cripling the user interfaces or not (or even cripling more than just the interfaces), and the language and time zone differences make it impossible to keep quality; one recent example of an asian product that actually does have decent user interface (unlike all of its carrier's peer products) is Sony's Walkman W810i telephone sold by AT&T (the only decent interface of all the AT&T phones), so perhaps that asian thing may be the wrong reason. But only having 4 box suppliers is just a really bad idea. | |
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Cable Me This
@rr.com
| Re: Boot Em? Moto used to be the standard-bearer for quality, right next to another company whose initials were said to stand for "High Price". One used to be to able to drop a piece of Moto gear off the second floor, dust it off, and go back to work.
Enter the "digital" cable-tv era. We get the equivalent of a toaster-oven sitting on top of the set, which can't render a decent picture or change channels in less than 5 seconds. Don't get me started on their cellphone performance.
I don't believe that "American" designs are any less baffling than European or Asian equivalents. Time Zones are not the issue either, its a question of budgeting product testing with real users, where some western firms MIGHT have a slight edge, though not in my experience.
As for your Walkman phone, my hunch is that it was designed by Ericsson.
I've purchased well in excess of $100K worth of Moto gear.
There is nothing to suspect. As a potential cable customer, however, I usually have no choice as to what crap STB I receive. | |
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| | | Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA | Re: Boot Em? I know you're right. | |
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jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs: | bah comcast sounds just as bad as time warner around here. But i will say from sheer subscriber count comcast has to be doing something right with their telephone service.
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3 free for you/3 free for me: Free Stock Trades : PM Me | |
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dawgxian
@bellsouth.net | hah I think it's funny how their commercials rag on AT&T and Verizon but seldom actually say anything good about Comcast. it's Comcasterous. | |
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NbWY1
join:2003-05-23
Columbia, MD | Comcast Down with Brian Roberts! | |
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| fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20 | Re: Comcast Very well thought out...
.. care to elaborate? or were you just tired and needed a bandwagon to ride on? | |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| A great new way to secure investments.... .... just sue when they go bad!
This guys is a total loser and a joke! The more and more I read the stories that investors are suing people because their investments don't pan out... makes me sick.
Here's an idea.. when your stock goes down in value.. SELL!
idiot. | |
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james
join:2001-02-26
antarctica
| Re: A great new way to secure investments.... said by fiberguy :Here's an idea.. when your stock goes down in value.. SELL! I think the idea is to sell BEFORE they go down in value, isn't it? I do agree that it's bullshit that they're trying to sue/get the government to bail them out for their own risk taking. I'm thinking of suing the Lottery because it sold me a bad ticket, and the nearby Casino because I thought I could win but didn't. | |
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| | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| Re: A great new way to secure investments.... Do you have anything better to do than to tell people what their opinions are?
The very line you quoted of mine makes 100% perfect sense.
Do yourself a favor and put me on ignore, JT.. I do not EVER agree with you even 1% of the time.. | |
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| | | | fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| Re: A great new way to secure investments.... said by JTRockville :I would have been satisfied with an example of the issue you complained about (investors suing companies because the investment didn't pan out), but if you can't come up with any, that's ok.  Do a search on BBR, right here... just a few weeks/months ago, it hit the front page news here. Don't have to go much further.
btw - aren't discussions supposted to foster communication between people whose opinions are different? If we all agreed on everything, there wouldn't be anything to discuss.
You are right. However, when I say this, and I have MANY times, I'm told I'm a shill and a paid mouth piece.. when others, like you, say this, it's ok. | |
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tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
| Where's VZ? Why is CC worried? Verizon isn't trying to deploy FIOS where it's not already providing service (ie, Detroit) so it can't be hurting them too much. It perception that and VZ can't sustain this deployment too much longer as it's costing them some big bucks so the investors will want some big returns soon.  | |
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melt2003
join:2003-09-12
Tupelo, MS
| Comcast CEO The current CEO's father started this company back in the sixties down in the backwoods of Mississippi and built it into a world-class organization. They are true American empire builders. Now along comes some paper and ink hack with a pocket full of investment cash, probably doesn't know the difference between a DVR and cable modem, and wants to tell them how to do it all. | |
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Major Comcast Investor Wants CEO Booted
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Roberts going nowhere; but mgt could modify corporate plans
