Comcast Shoots For New Image, Rebranding As Xfinity 356
artemis writes "Comcast is making efforts to repair and restore its 'former glory' by the act of transformation, rebranding itself as Xfinity. Hopefully step 2 is an actual change in quality and customer service. 'Comcast will use the Xfinity rebranding to talk up its improved customer service as well as its technical upgrades. “There’s a lot to be proud of,’’ said Steve Hackley, Comcast’s senior vice president for the Greater Boston region. “We want to take credit for it.’’ W2 Group’s Weber said such a rebranding is “a bit old-fashioned’’ and a new name is unlikely to impress consumers. “I think the public is smarter than that now,’’ he said.'"
Re:bad branding (Score:5, Interesting)
It makes it harder to identify the problematic company.
Your friends may talk shit about Comcast, but they have no idea how good Xfinity is, but damnit they have gotta be better than comcast.
I believe that is the line of thought.
Re:How about changing it to "XSucksALittleLess" (Score:3, Interesting)
That was basically my experience. Tons of clueless techs who weren't authorized to actually fix anything. The "inside" tech blamed it on the "outside" tech and vice-versa. Why one guy couldn't touch wires inside AND outside my house is anyone's guess. The TV picture was full of static, but he said the signal level was great. Amplify a poor quality signal and you get a strong, yet poor signal. Whatever. I'm with Verizon now, but I still get a mailer from Comcast at least once a week wanting me back. Not going to happen after the manager promised he'd get it resolved in a week and call me back. A month later, I was an Xcustomer.
They actually measured my "high speed" internet connection at 128 kbps download to their own speed test servers. I think it just came down to it would cost more to fix and lose a customer. The fun part was waiting for the tech, who was paid per job, waiting on hold for 45 minutes to get an agent to reset something. That was priceless.
I had Comcast when living in DC and they sucked there, too. They "audited" the apartment building by just disconnecting everyone and seeing who complained and verified they were a customer. Pathetic.
Re:How about changing it to "XSucksALittleLess" (Score:2, Interesting)
Comcast rep: I don't see any problems in your area
Me: Please check again. I am seeing high lag, dropped packets, and randow route changes in the Comcast network.
Comcast rep: Everything's okay within 750' of your location.
Me: The problem isn't there, its further out Actually, it's at [ip address] which is [hostname], and is probably near [address]
Comcast rep: Wow, how did you see that?
Me: Traceroute
Comcast rep: I need to learn to do that
Re:Xfinity equals... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:bad branding (Score:3, Interesting)
They probably just want a name that angry customers can't tweak into something negative as easily as "Comcast" becomes "Comcrap" or "Crapcast".
Re:Xfinity equals... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not sure why Comcast gets so much hate. Maybe it depends on the local market you are in?
I've called Comcast a handful of times and I've always had very short waits and someone who speaks and understands English.
The most recent call was because of poor signal quality. I spent about 10 minutes on the phone and they sent out a tech the next day. The tech showed up, ran a new line and then took the time to properly attached the cable line to my house; it was a major improvement.
After that, internet worked great again.
Re:Xfinity equals... (Score:5, Interesting)
News flash: They all intentionally suck when there is no direct competition.
The ONLY places I have seen cable not suck is the rare community where there are two cable providers. Most of the time the likes of Comcast search out a franchise agreement with the city to make competition "illegal" or very expensive.
Re:How about changing it to "XSucksALittleLess" (Score:3, Interesting)
Me: The problem isn't there, its further out Actually, it's at [ip address] which is [hostname], and is probably near [address]
Comcast rep: Wow, how did you see that?
Me: Traceroute
Comcast rep: I need to learn to do that
You're lucky that didn't become "Why are you inspecting the network sir? Hold please while I transfer you to Hostile Services."
Training (Score:1, Interesting)
I hope this rebranding and shiny new Customer Service comes with training for your install techs. My RCN was disconnected by one of your jokers during a neighbor's Comcast install and your untrained monkey couldn't figure out what he did wrong. I had to show him his mistake (thankfully I was home at the time). Then he did it again 2 hours later. His excuse? "This building is confyooosin." Uhm. There are 4 units in the joint and only two hookups in the area where he was working. Shameful!
At least it is not Xe (Score:3, Interesting)
seXfinity? its where the bandwidth goes.
We used to joke with their employees who shared the building (who joined in:)
Concast
Commiecast (we were calling each other comrade too.)
Comquest (I think their line should be "All your internet belong to us.")
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Xe didn't help that corps image. People still call it Black Water.
Well, Arther Anderson pulled it off-- how many forgot they are now known as Accenture? (The people who brought you Enron.)
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Who set us up the takeover?
Re:Meaningless names (Score:1, Interesting)
WTF is it with this trend of conjuring up completely meaningless words to use as company names?
One reason: Googlibility (It's a word *now*, goddamnit)
If you make up a name, you don't have to compete with all the other uses of the word. E.g. think about Googling "install windows" if Microsoft was a relatively unknown company. Most of the hits would be about the benefits of double-glazing, and how to make sure the opening was square.
I've been trying to learn the R programming language recently, an let me tell you it's a bitch to search for things. "R" is so common elsewhere, including it just *barely* helps refine the search. "R statistics" doesn't help much either, because you get a bunch of stuff about the R-squared goodness-of-fit topic.
I think the only reason you don't see it for C/C++ is because of the volume of pages on those topics, and the fact that Google has special cased the snot out of them. (e.g. remember back when punctuation didn't matter? AFAICT, it still doesn't, unless it's two plus signs after a letter "c".)
That said, your point is valid that it doesn't matter how distinctive your name is if people can't spell it - but you get that with "traditional" names too: Is it "Hansen Bros." or "Hanson Bros."? "Smith and Fisher" or "Smith and Fischer"?
Re:How about changing it to "XSucksALittleLess" (Score:2, Interesting)
More accurate, anyway. At any rate, I'll believe something has changed when I can talk to somebody who's not in India, knows something, can make a decision and can understand words like "I measured the Comcast line signal strengh for the last 24 hours and it dipped to just above zero 7 times in that period for a total of 95.4 minutes of non-functioning internet time so GET AN ENGINEER TO YOUR SWITCH AND DON'T SENT OUT THE LOCAL DUMBASS AGAIN."
While many of the comments (in the overall thread) are funny, I don't think they reflect reality. Sure, I would like to have more of a choice but that is a different issue.
I've been with Comcast for many years and I've never spoken to off-shore support. I suppose a quick Google would find if they do or not. Last week I was having trouble using VPN from home. I called Comcast and the call started as voice response which normally ticks me off, but after I told it "Internet" and "I cannot connect" my cable modem reset. Wow. After a few more seconds I was transferred to a live technician who gave me some technical information about my connection. He wasn't local but sometimes they are. In most every case I've discovered they are usually bored techies and enjoy talking to technical customers about the various pieces and will devulge detailed information.
The last physical visit to my home was for TV/Internet connection issues and they replaced every piece of equipment between my TV and the box on the telephone pole (I have a long run to the pole). The guys were local, intelligent, and new a heck of a lot about what they were doing including measuring signal strength as compared to cable modem proximity to my wireless router (Belkin - I'll get back with my first wife before I buy another one of your wireless routers, and Motorola - It's called shielding).
My town has various "depots" around town where you can go in and pick up/drop off equipment and talk to people face to face. The line moves fast and the folks there are a hoot. Sure, they want to sell you stuff and I keep saying "no". I have basic cable (only analog channels below 32) and Internet service.
So maybe your issues are regional or closer to home. Or maybe they are based on a previous experience. I do know that for a company that can tell me to bugger off they treat me well.
Re:Xfinity equals... (Score:4, Interesting)
90% of first line tech support are idiots because 90% of calls are from idiots whose problems can be solved with simple scripts.
I've had this problem with Comcast alot.
"Hi comcast, please activate my cable modem. Here is the MAC address."
"OK, please run this webpage and it will set it up for you" (note webpage works only for Windows and Mac).
"I use Linux, please set the modem up for me."
"We only support Windows and Mac Operating Systems."
"Listen to me because I'm only going to say this once. I do not want you to support my operating system. I am paying you to provide TCP/IP protocol service. You do not need to know what my operating system is. Go and configure my cable modem now. If you do not know how to do your job, find someone who does."
(Idiot taken aback because he/she has a response that the flowchart doesn't include.) "Ummm... please hold on a minute"
Two minutes later "OK we have your cable modem configured now."