The Devil and Me

While I sit here typing, a Comcast rep is a few feet away installing cable.  From my perspective, I am dealing with the spawn of the devil.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I can no longer remember the exact event that precipitated my phone call to Comcast on New Year’s Eve 2009.  I know I was screaming something like, “Disconnect me IMMEDIATELY.  Come get your equipment and then you can shove it  . . . .“  I think, at that point I controlled myself.  I hope so - my mother certainly taught me better.  What I do remember is that the Comcast person smugly responded, “We cannot disconnect your service until you return our receiver to a Comcast store.”  “Where’s the closest one?” I snarled.   “In Salinas – hmmm, that’s about 25 miles from you, isn’t it?” (oh, he was smug) “And it IS New Year’s Eve and we’re only open for 2 more hours so perhaps you’ll need to wait until January 2.”  “I’ll be there in 30 minutes,” I growled as I slammed the phone down but not before the horrid man said, and I kid you not, “You’ll be back.  They all are.”  And now, darn it all, I am.  The only positive thing in this whole scenario is that I am in a different state and using a different contact phone number so hopefully there is no one at Comcast headquarters gleefully rubbing hands together while chanting, ‘We knew it.  She’s back.” 

So what brought this reunion with the devil?  Total and complete frustration.  Not with my TV reception – I have been quite happy with Direct TV - but with the Internet.  When I moved from small town Pacific Grove I assumed (always dangerous) that I would have great Internet reception in Portland.  After all, this is a large city.  This is the big time. There are hundreds of thousands of people around me, not like the 17,000 in PG.  Stephanie and Dan, who live 2 miles east, have fine reception.  My sister, Mary, about 7 miles north, gets excellent reception. My sister-in-law, Lynne, 10 miles west, has no problem.  So why shouldn’t I have similar access?  

Well, not everything in life is equal and that includes Internet access.  The first inkling of a problem arose when I called AT&T back in September, soon after I arrived in Oregon.  I was so naïve.  I sat there, in my living room, pad of paper at hand, ready to start a comparison of programs.  Which company would give me the best rate for a bundled package of voice, TV and Internet?  AT&T’s response?  “Sorry, our coverage doesn’t include your neighborhood.”  That was a surprise.  Crossed them off the list and moved to the next name, Qwest.  They would give me voice but no Internet – for the same reason, no coverage in my neighborhood.  As I moved down the list I got the same response each time.  Yes for TV or yes for voice but no for Internet.  In desperation I called Direct TV – I still had several months of my California contract with them.  They would handle TV, but their Internet was too slow in my neighborhood to warrant installing it.  What was going on?

I think population density is the problem.  My neighborhood, Westmoreland, is a bit isolated.  To the west is the Willamette River, to the north, light industries, to the east a train yard, to the south the small neighborhoods of Sellwood and Eastmoreland - and then you reach the southernmost city limits.  A major boulevard separates these 3 neighborhoods from the rest of SE Portland.  I am guessing that the population density in this area is not great enough to warrant erecting the necessary towers.

My son-in-law Dan suggested Clear WiFi service and that is what I have had until today.  It worked minimally but at least it worked.  How bad was it?  The light on the modem that indicates strength of reception never got out of the “Bad” range.  It was so slow that if I wanted to update information on my new Blue Ray device for my TV, I would have to take the device to Stephanie and Dan’s house and connect it to their Internet.  Unacceptable. 

Last week I gave in and called Comcast and here is Stuart, working away, a few feet from me.  He was on time and very nice (drat!  I wanted to hate Comcast).  He even tried to make my own airport device work – but I couldn’t remember the correct passwords of course.  As a fallback I am using one of their devices to see if it will give me Internet access throughout the house.  More later - I have to hide this.  Stuart needs to use my laptop to set up my access and I don’t want him to read what I am writing.  It might affect his level of service.

Well, I am impressed.  An hour has passed and what a difference.  I have fast Internet reception throughout the house through the cable.  My TV comes in loud and clear. Stuart connected the cable to my blue ray box so I can update Netflix, etc. without having to take it over to Stephanie and Dan’s.  The little freestanding antenna that Dan connected for me still sends me the signal for the local PBS stations.  I may actually be in business.  And the devil never reared his ugly head.  I am not willing to go over to the Comcast camp quite yet but am a little more open to the possibility. Will let you know what I think a month from now, when the honeymoon is over.