OT-Comcast Usenet

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Good luck, Jor.

I've had that problem with Comcast newsgroups in the past, although I haven't had any problems in a pretty long time. I found that when I use the "chat with a technician" feature, it helps to use the term "Newsgroups" instead of usenet, which they apparently are not aware of.

My Comcast Giganews is working for now. I had problems over the weekend about a month ago and called their customer service. I had the exact same response - the rep or so called tech was clueless what Usenet was. One person must have looked it up when they put me on hold for a few minutes but their trouble shooting was useless. I asked for a supervisor and was told none was available, but one would call me back. No one ever called. Caller ID didn't show any calls from them either. I was finally able to access Usenet later the next day, but their service was beyond poor. And these people actually want me to switch my HOME phone service to them? Ha! I value my dial tone. If Verizon FiOS ever gets to this area I will seriously consider them.

-Dave

Yes, since yesterday afternoon when we had a wind storm. Comcast was down for a few hours but I got it back late in the afternoon. Everything is working now except newsgroups. I switched to my backup which is Teranews, which always seems to work. I'll call comcast today, I'm thinking something didn't reset at the local node after the storm outage. I have noticed in recent months that Comcast newsgroups has been rather sticky at times, not responding very fast.

I just talked to Comcast via live chat and they said they are

*upgrading* newsgroups. They said I will be contacted in a few hours.

"upgrading" usually means they fuxxed up somewhere.

I used to be a Verizon FiOS Network Technician. Verizon doesn't carry newsgroups anymore. The service is not all that good either. If you have a problem be prepared to speak to a computer for 20 minutes before you get put in a queue to speak to someone (in America) while waiting another 30 minutes or so. If the problem is one that can't be fixed immediately you will wait several days before it can be fixed by a Network Technician remotely or by a Field Technician who will have to come out to your house at their convenience to find out what's wrong.

Verizon FiOS does have a superior product overall but don't change looking for better service.

Try changing the server name from news.comcast.net to newsgroups.comcast.net

I was suddenly unable to log on and found this solution worked for me.

I tried that here just now and it worked for me too. How did you come up with that idea? Thanks for the tip.

Google, though I forget just what keywords I used, and found a tech board where the problem was being discussed.

Never got any notice of the change from Comcast.

Glad it worked for you.

I never got any either. What a way to run a communications business. Thanks again.

When working at Verizon I heard complaints about Comcast everyday from customers. I really couldn't imagine them being any worse than Verizon. I will admit the department I worked in was for network problems and that's all I saw constantly but I still wouldn't want the product if offered to me.

Currently I have Cox services, all three. Yesterday the phone went out due to someone fat-fingering our move date from 07/30 to 07/10. I called them around 7:30 AM and the answering service took a message. I was called at work around 11:00 by a Cox technician and they had the service back on by 12:30 PM. I was very pleased with the responsiveness, not to mention the problem being fixed.

I have no complaint with Comcast service here (I just use their hi-speed internet, no cable TV or phone). Service has been reliable and fast.

I don't know why they didn't inform subscribers of the newsgroup server name change. Last I looked, I didn't see any mention of it on their website.

**When I used to have Comcast, I would research any problem or query at: Most of the info I was looking for, I found in the forums:

Due to a move, I now have AT&T's DSL and Cablevision cable...I miss Comcast TERRIBLY. I know that may sound incredible, and though DSL is passable, Cablevision is a horror. Crap hardware, software, channel selection and picture quality. I'm thinking about getting DirectTV.

kaboomie

Yup - when you get your telephone from the cable company they give you an Internet connection, and the phone is VOIP to the special cable box on the wall of your house. The special cable box has a telephone interface unit inside to run your telephone loop in the house and provide talk battery and ring voltage.

There is a power supply in your house to run that special cable box, and a small battery for backup - but when the battery runs down in an hour or two, no more phone.

And the average CATV trunk line has a dozen powered signal amplifiers along the route, and one or two power injection points along the route back to the cable headend that run off utility power, also with a small battery backup. When the power runs out the amplifier shuts off, no more cable TV or Internet, so no phone.

If you have a region-wide power failure, the cable company needs to power up a few dozen of these remote power supplies in a small town, and several hundred in a big city. If you think they're going to bother running around placing and fueling hundreds of gasoline generators, you are sadly mistaken - when the power comes back on so will your phone.

But Plain Old Telephone Service from the legacy wireline telephone company gets all it's power from the Central Office batteries that will run for 4 to 8 hours without utility power. And they have a big diesel generator and a week's worth of fuel on hand to keep those batteries charged.

-->--

The phone company here has portable gen sets they place on various sites to keep the phone system working. I'll stick with my good old land line. When the power has been off, the internet has been off, landline phones still work, amazing.

Yes, comcast is difficult to get a rep at times. I say that competition would not hurt the market one bit.

I was looking to get better service for the buck. I'm also tired of Comcast constantly raising the price, sometimes trying to justify it by putting in some channels I don't watch or trying to stay "competitive". Ha! With those wait times, service does not sound good.

Thanks for the tip - I won't be so eager to switch but I DO think competition would be good.

-Dave

I wish Comcast had more competition here. Perhaps with ATT installing fiber a block away the last few weeks they will. Competition is good.