So this week I got Comcast Voice. I thought it would be cool to try, and for some odd reason adding this service REDUCED my bill by $40 (duh). Strange marketing these guys have.
I was excited when it came and installed so easily… Well, so I thought. Apparently, Comcast isn’t too good at provisioning these circuits. Well, at least that’s my personal experience. Here’s how it worked.
1) Comcast guy showed up to deliver modem (did not read or understand his work order to also realize he needed to bring a DVR - oops - so he gave me an old one he just pulled from service… with someone else’s porn movies recorded on it LOL)
2) Tech installed modem, phone had dial tone, internet worked (they’re all in the same modem now) - SUCCESS! well maybe…
3) Began making calls with the modem - all is well. Then tried an incoming call. Incoming calls resulted in a recording - “The number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service.” Bummer
Now I’m not terribly harsh on problems setting up new equipment - I’m a tech too afterall - but when I emailed tech support to notify them of the problem, I got the following response:
I understand you are unable to receive incoming calls Darren, and Comcast apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. Please review the following information for troubleshooting tips:
* Check the ringer on your phone to make sure it is turned on.
* Try to plug a working corded phone into different jacks to find out if the issue is isolated to one phone or jack.
OK… dumbass tech, did you even TRY my number? It would’ve saved me some time here, ya know - that was the IDEA of the EMAIL. Why the heck would this issue be related to the phone cord?
So I do live chat, just for kicks. I get a guy at least willing to try calling my number. Sure enough, it doesn’t work for him. So guess what he tells me to do! REBOOT THE MODEM!
Now lets think about this for a minute… Voicemail, part of this service, is a phone company hosted feature. So even if a modem was off, broken or disconnected, it’s very likely the call would go to voicemail. So even that doesn’t work. In addition, this is not a busy signal or an all circuits busy message - it’s a completely “failed to route” phone company type message. So how does a reboot fix it?
OK, maybe this is new technology and rebooting now has magic powers to reprogram digital phone switches. So I give it a whirl. Surprise, surprise, no change. Clearly the line is not properly provisioned for incoming calls. Convincing the tech of this took about 30 minutes, though I’m glad he at least agreed in the end. Issue is still not resolved - he of course has to file a ticket and can’t fix this himself.
Now not to be completely insensitive, there are some really dumb folks out there who might have needed the above instructions - but before assuming your basic caller has an IQ of 10, could you at least read the details in the email so your not matching it?
Obviously my phone calls might cost less, as Comcast claims, but the service is still as crappy as the phone company was (or worse). Oh, and the best part - the tech who helped me was named Milton. “I could just burn the building down…”
Since I have no intention of actually using it, mind you. It was free afterall.