I am Matt Thomas.

Warning Signs

April 14, 2005

I knew that there were some real problems afoot when my new Comcast “High Speed Internet” service couldn’t seem to stay connected to the Internet for more than 24 hours at a time. In fact, in the week and a half that I’ve had it, it’s been out five times for more than an hour—and that’s just what I know of. So I suppose that, when I called tonight to cancel my service after signing up for Verizon DSL, I shouldn’t have been surprised when the friendly customer service rep informed me that the cancellation department was experiencing heavy call volume, and wouldn’t be able to take my “disconnection order” at this time.

Memo to ISPs: When so many of your customers are canceling at once that you’re not logistically capable of handling all of them, it might be time to really do something about your quality of service. Maybe.

Update Friday 4.15.05: Well, at least I’m in good company. But not for long, fortunately, as my DSL starter kit arrived while I was at work today. Just gotta wait for Verizon to turn me on, and my worries—at least these particular worries—are over.