Comcast upgrade renders reader’s A/V equipment obsolete

Like many Comcast customers, Eric — a Gripe Line reader — received a letter from the company, announcing, “We are enhancing our network!” This enhancement required a hardware upgrade for some customers. Customers who subscribe to expanded basic cable or digital cable will have to activate the digital equipment they already own or get a new digital cable box. If you fail to make the hardware switch, you will eventually lose access to channels above 30, which includes Disney, CNN, and many others.

“To help me out,” explained Eric. “They will provide up to two digital adapters at no extra charge. How generous of them!”

[ This isn’t Comcast’s first time on the Gripe Line. See what previously befuddled Comcast customers in “Are you an excessive user?” | Frustrated by tech support? Get answers in InfoWorld’s Gripe Line newsletter. ]

According to Comcast’s Web site, this service upgrade (which is unrelated to the government-mandated digital switchover) will allow the company to “[o]ffer over 1000 HD choices and access to over 10,000 On Demand titles. In addition, these upgrades allow us to complete additional changes that will deliver much faster Internet access speeds and smarter phone service.”

At first glance, it all sounded great. “But what does this actually mean to me?” Eric asked. He was not pleased with the answer.

“I am currently paying Comcast over $160 per month for digital cable service, Internet, and phone service with two DVRs,” he reported. “But I also have four other TVs, three VCRs, two computers with built-in tuners, and two DVD recorders that are connected directly to cable. I have programmed the DVD machines to record shows as a backup to the sometimes unreliable DVRs. So when this switch goes through in November, all of this equipment becomes practically useless. I will need Comcast equipment to receive anything on these machines beyond basic service.”

Eric called Comcast to register his displeasure at this “upgrade” for which he will have to shell out more money (for digital converters) to access services he already pays handsomely for. “The representative said that I was 100 percent correct, but there was absolutely nothing he could do about it,” he says. “This reminds me of Ernestine on the old ‘Rowan and Martin Laugh-In’ who said, ‘We’re the phone company! We can do what we want.'”

Eric pointed out that he put quite a bit of thought and money into his home entertainment system, and it fit his house and lifestyle. He was unhappy about having to change it at the will of a faceless organization. “I like to watch the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins games on the kitchen TV while making a snack. My wife likes to watch Lifetime while cooking. I do not want to try to find a spot for a converter box in the kitchen. Nor do I want to use a converter box in my son’s room, so he can watch sports when he visits from college or in my daughter’s room so she can watch music videos in her room with the door closed.”

Of course, there is very little Eric can do about any of this, beyond gripe — or find all his entertainment on the Internet, which would limit his access to sports — because there is almost no competition for Comcast where he lives.

“When I was a kid,” he said. “If you told me that one day I would pay for water in a bottle, to listen to music, and to watch TV, I would have said you were crazy. I guess we are all crazy now.”

Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com.