[sf-lug] (forw) Re: When it (that Comcast gateway device) broke

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2023 17:48:42 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: Al <aw009 at sunnyside.com>
Cc: Michael Paoli <Michael.Paoli at cal.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Re: When it (that Comcast gateway device) broke
Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Visting https://business.comcast.com/connectivity/internetdashboard/ 
(logged in), I belatedly notice that SecurityEdge™ Cybersecurity
is listed as a customer-selectable toggle option, currently set to 
"disabled" (as per Shawna).  

I also see that they, on their own initiative, re-enabled "Xfinity® WiFi
Hotspot Settings", a misfeature that permits _any_ passing Comcast
customer to use WiFi bandwidth on my dime.

I just re-disabled that.  The customer WebUI advises that "this change
may take 30 days".  Yeah, thanks, guys.


So, but, here's the broader perspective, giving this whole thing a
delightful Douglas Adams twist:  Some months ago, suddenly,
mother-in-law Cheryl (the nominal customer) got a sales-reachout call
from an "account manager" or something at Comcast, who said (to me, as I
took the call on Cheryl's behalf): "Hey, we're glad to have been able to
serve you for N years, but, FYI, we are EOLing the customer plan you
signed up for.  Therefore, we need to switch you to a current plan.  How
about a Happy Fun Upsell to Mucho Greater Bandwidth?"

I said "I'm sure I would madly love Mucho Greater Bandwidth, and do
appreciate your offering Happy Fun Upsell -- but, I'm guessing that you
also have a replacement plan that offers pretty much exactly the same 
up/down bandwidth figures as we have now, plus our existing 5 static IPs?"

She conceded that, yes, it's possible for ingrate philistines like us to
forego the rapturous happiness (and higher fees) of Mucho Greater
Bandwidth.  So, we transitioned onto:

  MY PLAN
  Business Internet Essential
  50 Mbps / 15 Mbps

Which is where we have remained.  (Pushing upsell is, of course, a 24x7
endeavour, so the Comcast Business customer WebUI "recommends a minimum
download/upload speed of 100 Mbps / 25 Mbps".  For great justice.
Right.  {sigh}

But here's my silly wild-assed guess:  When the agent hit the switch to
move us over to "Business Internet Essential 50 Mbps / 15 Mbps", our new
account settings were populated from a template that included:

  SecurityEdge™ Cybersecurity: on
  XFINITY WIFI PUBLIC HOTSPOT: on

Et voila.  We are here: bureaucratically delivered overriding of
customer preferences -- justified as "No, _we_ didn't do that.  It was
merely the way the new plan is provisioned by default.  Customer should
have checked settings, and modified to suit."

Lesson learned.  Next time, I'll check all settings on the "new" plan,
and not assume sanity.





----- End forwarded message -----