Comcast Internet outage: Will customers get refund?
Comcast's massive high-speed Internet outage -- which started Sunday night and continued into this morning -- is prompting a litany of questions and criticism from frustrated customers.
Experts say the problem occurred when Comcast domain name system servers crashed. When customers tried to report a problem or get more information on the situation, Comcast's customer service line wouldn't accept calls.
The question now: Will customers get a refund to account for the downtime?
UPDATED 1:31 p.m. Comcast spokesman Patrick Paterno told AnnArbor.com in an e-mail that refund decisions, distributed as "credits," would be "handled on an individual basis, since customers were affected for varying times."
"Some customers experiences were longer than others, and maybe some not at all," Paterno said. "So to be fair, it is best to handle on a case-by-case basis, based on the customer's experience.”
The outage, which did not affect cable TV service, affected Internet customers in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. Paterno said he did not yet know how many Michigan customers were affected.
"The only thing I can tell you honestly is that we show that everyone’s pretty much online, that Comcast service was restored early, early this morning," he said.
Some customers are still having trouble though, according to various social media reports.
Bill Gerth, who monitors and responds to complaints about Comcast posted to Twitter, tweeted about an hour ago that he "confirmed we are still having trouble today."
Paterno and Gerth urged Internet customers to turn their modems off and back on again to reset the system.
The Michigan Public Service Commission, which does not regulate Internet service providers but occasionally fields consumer complaints, reported one call from an angry Comcast customer.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Comments
Jacob
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 7:44 a.m.
I am so tired of service that seem to be the inverse of growth. I have spent months trying to get things right, and I pay extra for the improved service, yah right. The service techs tell me they know how I feel and that I should not dwell on it. Rather I should use Goggle or Hot.MAIL, yes what a response. Not once has anyone apologized for the countless hours on the phone. Bunnyabbott seems to be spot on, maybe its time to follow.
GreenPus
Thu, Dec 16, 2010 : 10:48 p.m.
When a company is able to decide for itself whether to give a refund for a 3-state outage, it is too well insulated from competitive pressures. Those who enjoy a government-sanctioned monopoly should be held to a higher standard. The benefit of the doubt should go to the consumer.
norman roe
Thu, Dec 9, 2010 : 9:14 a.m.
Comcast has a place in the marketplace for residential service but this illustrates why Comcast should never be relied on for business service.
daytona084
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 11:53 p.m.
For everyone coming out with both guns blazing vs. Comcast... I suggest you do yourself a favor and lighten up. I'm not a huge Comcast fan (or ATT, or DTE, or....) but I can't imagine getting so worked up about a DNS outage.
jns131
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 9:40 p.m.
We left Comcast 5 years ago due to this and many other problems. Comcast is in it for the money and nothing else. We left for the dish and could not be happier. AT&T has better packages then Comcast. We told our parents not to do the Comcast thing and well, getting the same shaft we did. Don't expect a refund coming any time soon.
DAN
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 2:21 p.m.
Comcast should ALWAYS give a credit for not providing service-it is their job to properly maintain their system. djm
julieswhimsies
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 1:34 p.m.
We ditched Comcast high speed internet 2 weeks ago, for a much less expensive DSL line. A little slower. Yes...but much cheaper. We also cut of DirecTv. We now watch TV using Netflix through a Playstation 3 at less than 10 bucks a month, and hook up the computer to the television for free TV content. Watch out. Comcast is the new Borg. You WILL be assimilated. Resistance is futile. You can waste your time attempting to get a few cents out of this corporate giant, but I doubt it will happen. Is it really worth it?
dexterreader
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 9:40 a.m.
Wow!! Poor Rich Rod!! As a former tech support professional, a good rule of thumb when this happens is... always assume first that it is NOT your computer or equipment, but rather a "supplier" issue. Troubleshoot from the top down and usually you will save yourself a lot of time and grief. If things are working fine one minute, and the next everything stops working, it's almost a sure bet it's not your computer. I have had ATT DSL service for 2.5 years and have zero complaints, even with two x-box live systems, and two computers running simultaneously on a wireless router. Stuff happens. Just shows how dependent we have become on our technology.
Bob W
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 8:27 a.m.
Well, it seems Ann Arbor remains the undisputed Whine Capitol of the midwest.
greenstriper
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 6:31 a.m.
AT&T's U-verse hadn't reached my neighborhood the last time I'd checked (though it's working a couple blocks away, so any day now...), but with the poor DNS service I've seen from Comcast over the past year (solved by switching to Open DNS), lots of little 1-10 minute "pothole" outages, and their attitude toward Netflix, once I can get U-verse, Comcast and I are through.
a2citizen
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 12:23 a.m.
@Ghost: 99.3 is good. FYI,the standard in telecom is five nines.
Otho
Tue, Dec 7, 2010 : 12:12 a.m.
Comcast outage was simply a problem with the DNS. I recommend people educate themselves on how this works. During this "outage", one could have simply changed their DNS to any number of other public DNSes, including the one I used to get around this problem, Google's public DNS @ 8.8.8.8. To find out more, do a google search for "How to use google's public DNS" or some similar. If you know how to use an alternate DNS you can avoid issues during these types of "outages". Good luck. P.S. I don't work for Comcast.
TFR
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 11:17 p.m.
This is all Rich Rod's fault!! DB needs to fire him immediately and then everything will be right again in AA Town.
M.
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 10:40 p.m.
Steve Pierce: I got my main wireless network to work last night the way you said, but only after the settings didn't seem to work for WirelessYpsi. WirelessYpsi oddly went in and out of range and gave me a poor connection (it's always decent for me), but that's probably due to a high number of people trying to use it in an attempt to access internet. Comcast has done some interesting things lately, such as strong-arming Netflix to pay them fees due to the high use of bandwidth associated with Netflix video-streaming. It was also recently announced that ISPs such as Comcast may be able to limit the amount of bandwidth you use per month (plus raising the standard rates even more) and also charge extra if you wish to use more than their standard bandwidth allowance. @Marvin Face - Have you been following the WikiLeaks stories? More than one ISP going down on the same night, and the second Comcast *DNS* outage in weeks? A little more than strange.
loves_fall
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 10:37 p.m.
Yeah, Comcast came out to "fix" our Internet recently... still not really what I would call working, but they don't know what else to try, so we still keep paying them over $125 a month for Internet and TV. I don't see any refunds coming anytime soon. Add to that their plans to block Netflix/streaming videos unless subscribers pay a surcharge. I'm pushing for a switch to AT&T. I actually had UVerse before I moved to Ann Arbor and the speeds were a lot faster than Comcast and the TV was better and cheaper too. Too bad they don't offer service to all of Northside yet.
treetowncartel
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 10:07 p.m.
Love, love, love my Uverse. I made the switch from Comcast this summer and could not be happier.
dading dont delete me bro
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 9:49 p.m.
ha. not anymore likely than comcast will "be there" between 8am - noon...
Soothslayer
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 9:32 p.m.
@a2phiggy - lolwut? ATT Uverse and DSL service is available and in use pretty much everywhere in A2. Where did you hear that bit of nonsense?
Sealed
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 8:33 p.m.
@carcrush There is no monopoly. Other cable providers are free to come in and build over top of Comcast. If you want to complain to someone you need to complain to the city of Ann Arbor to offer incentives for other companies to do so. Prime example is Dearborn Heights. They have WOW and Comcast running on the same poles.
angry bird
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 8:05 p.m.
Use Google Domain Name Servers: 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 Fixed by eliminating Comcast.
actionjackson
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 7:56 p.m.
Unfortunately while moving the modem to unplug the power, hit the reset, and check the signal I bent and broke 1 of the two telephone wires that goe into the jack. I don't have that type of crimper to strip and recrimp the bad wire. Comcast explained that it will be a $50 fee to have a repairman come out and put the connector back on. More than likely AT&T would do the same however it may be time to take advantage of new customer 6 month premiums from the competition. Auto insurance is another that it can be advantageous to grab low rates and switch every couple of years.
a2phiggy
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 7:48 p.m.
I would love to know why AT&T is not permitted to sell high-speed internet in A2 - does Comcast pay the City a fee for a non-compete clause? AT&T phone and TV is here, but they are not permitted to bring high-speed. I'm confident Comcast's service would improve and prices would go down if they were afforded some competition.
ypsicat
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 7:38 p.m.
The outage didn't cause me an undue hardship so after rebooting a couple times I went to bed. But I agree with other commenters that Comcast could use a customer service makeover. I called for technical support and was told by a recording that I couldn't be helped at this time, try again later, goodbye. Something about it smacked vaguely of "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!" I like an earlier comment that advocated sending out a text message to subscribers; that way we can be assured we're not going to have to take our machine in to be fixed. I've been a Comcast HS internet customer since they were Mediaone back in the mid-90s. Every time I've gotten fed up and called to cancel services they always make a great offer. Try it!
daved
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 6:28 p.m.
Another great article by Nathan! Thanks Nathan for your coverage of this, losing my internet connection was especially bad, since I am in the crunch with the end of my semester at EMU!
tdw
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 6:28 p.m.
Problen some of us idiots ( maybe I'm the only one ) haven't a clue what a.888 DNS Server (or whatever)is we just want to pay our way too high bill and have things work.Infact I'm going back to look at the other alterntives( bad spelling ) are and fire Comcast completely
Soothslayer
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 6:16 p.m.
I LOVE how everyone absolutely freaks when the Internet stops working even for a short amount of time. Power can go out for hours and people are upset but understand because sometimes power goes out. Heck I bet they could even disrupt water service and it wouldn't affect some people as much as Internet. I'm pretty sure Comcast has crazy robust services throughout and something VERY bad had to be happening for this type of outage. If you absolutely NEED to be connected you can install a separate service like @Meg has or get an Andriod phone you can hack and turn into a wireless hotspot. All this for 4 or 5 hours downtime per year, or whatever, that Comcast wasn't working properly. There's always a solution available and price for it too. I think Comcast represents an extraordinary value when you combine the services. Heck just the phone bill was 70-100/mo with long distance "back in the day". Then when dial up Internet came into play you paid additional when you went over your monthly local minutes if your computer modem was using the Internet service more. So now you can get much more (count and compare the channels, services, Internet speed, phone service, etc) for much less especially adjusting for inflation as Ghost pointed out.
InsideTheHall
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 5:42 p.m.
carush: Just what we need more government regulation. Get a dish, get a DSL, plenty of competition out there for COMCAST. The last thing we need is more "obamaism" to screw things up!
T Kinks
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 4:59 p.m.
I don't know anyone ( & I know lots of people) that has ever been happy w/ comcast. Do like I did and use a local company for your internet service.
JPLewis
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 4:51 p.m.
@Steve Pierce- That solution did not work for many people.
Townie
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 4:38 p.m.
Nathan - Re: 'I just updated the story with a statement from Comcast on how it plans to handle prospective refunds.' That was a Comcast 'NO'. In Comcast speak: NO REFUNDS. That's the way they talk - they say they are going to review things, that you'll get a credit, etc. and it's always nothing in the end. Been there, done that so many times with them. They really don't care if you like it or don't - they're the local monopoly. And complaining to the PSC is an utter waste of time. They're more worthless than complaining to Comcast. This DNS outage is just like the one a little while ago on the East Coast (no refunds there either) - Comcast isn't upgrading infrastructure it appears or simply isn't very technically adept. Bet we start to see this a lot more until Comcast gets enough grief to look into the real issue and fix it. Could be a while I suspect.
Atticus F.
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 3:55 p.m.
Edward Murrows Ghost, it sounds as if you've been fooled by some sort of 'introductory rate'.
margo
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 3:54 p.m.
YES Comcast Should be made to refund the time and hours. Like myself I work on the computer and haveing to find out what "happened" is very agrevating and loss of time and work. Beside Comcast..gouf off to many times..strating with there Double billing and "latefee".Largest Subscrber decline in 30 years.Finacial Times nov. 18,2010
C6
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 3:49 p.m.
My experience with Comcast since moving to Dexter earlier this year has been better than my experience with SBC/AT&T was in Ann Arbor previously. Yeah, I was affected by the DNS problems last night but was able to recognize it as such and shut things down and went to bed. With AT&T however, I would experience outages with DSL a few times each year. Before I became a Comcast subscriber I was prepared to have problems with and hate their customer service, but so far all my interactions with them have been happy. They can keep my nine nickles from last night's outage, along with my wishes for happy holidays.
michigan48103
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 3:46 p.m.
My Comcast internet was out Sunday evening and I did try to get it to work for about 8 hours, at 6 am the Comcast internet was working just fine. This could happen from any provider, the service is usually wonderful and so good, I do not think they need to give a refund for a few hours, nothing is that urgent that any one could not wait for a few hours. When I had AT&T this type of thing would happen every few days and they would not ever give a credit to any one.
janejane
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 3:45 p.m.
My service has been intermittent anyway, so what's the diff. Someone sneezes and the power is out....geeeeeshhhh...maybe AA is one of the brainiest areas, but, clearly, Comcast falls off the charts in that count. Oh...wait a sec...maybe it's me...I have their service!
Jake
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 3:31 p.m.
The refund information is horribly explained. Does this mean that Comcast has a record of each subscriber's outage duration and that they will automatically distribute variable credits on next month's bill?
Atticus F.
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 3:29 p.m.
EyeheartA2, I dont know what planet you live on, but my cable bill was $29 for basic service 10 years ago, and is now $65.
Leah
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 2:50 p.m.
I agree with the other respondents that the major let down here was the communication from Comcast's end. Resetting the modem and router, and re-starting 5 times wondering if the problem is one with your own computer is annoying. So is my husband having to leave at 10pm to go try to use the WiFi at McDonald's for work. Maybe a massive text to customers notifying us of an outage would be in order?
a2miguy
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 2:32 p.m.
If credits are issued on an individual basis, as Mr Paterno reports, that sounds like the customer has to call and request it. Cut your losses and forget about it. The LAST thing you want to have to do is call Comcast and talk to anyone about anything. Trust me on this.
Macabre Sunset
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 2:09 p.m.
Funny. When Charter had the several-hour outage just a few days ago, no one even blinked, let alone expected a story on this blog. I can only imagine the giggles in India if we called customer service to demand a refund. Comcast may not be perfect, but it will never be last as long as Charter is around.
Steve Pierce
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 2:05 p.m.
The problems was easy to solve. In your router or your computer use the following DNS servers. 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4 If you are a business customer, login to the Comcast Router, and enter these Name Servers and you are set. Problem solved - Steve
doctrsnoop
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:59 p.m.
Believe me I'm not fond of Comcast but this annoyance was a tiny fraction of what it would take to make me switch back to DSL which gave me only an avg of 1Mb/s down and 512K up even though I supposedly was paying for 6 down and 1 up. My beef is only that they could have posted something on their front page before I wasted all my time trying to fix it.
bunnyabbot
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:52 p.m.
@Jon, I list hundreds of items a week. Forget comcast and get a verizon wireless internet card. Never have a problem again.
Basic Bob
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:45 p.m.
Comcast does not have a monopoly. The alternate choices we have: WOW, AT&T DSL, dialup, 3G cell phones, and satellite. Comcast provides by far the fastest connection and best level of service. I also keep a dialup account just in case. My kids bugged me last night because the web was down, but services that don't rely on DNS were still up. I checked the router and cable modem, and determined that it was a Comcast problem. I gave them time to fix the problem, which they did.
doctrsnoop
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:41 p.m.
It would have been a lot better if they would have communicated. The first thing I did was use my phone to check comcast.com and.net to see if there was any info. Of course there wasn't. Why is that? After an hour of unplugging and resetting my routers and modem a dozen times I gave up. And then I checked twitter and found the answer. Now how many people will check twitter AND be able to use the DNS re-route.
Nathan Bomey
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:34 p.m.
I just updated the story with a statement from Comcast on how it plans to handle prospective refunds.
carush
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:31 p.m.
We are all in this situation because the cable companies were given monopolies back in the 80's. This was to keep costs down and to discourage wasteful duplication of infrastructure. What did we get in return? Cable bills that keep climbing way above the cost of inflation. 1/3 of 24-hour programming is now infomercials (Comcast gets paid twice -- once by me, the sucker, and once by the company). Frequent outages (I've had three in the last month). Shoddy contractors: ever wonder why there are huge loops of cable hanging off poles all over downtown Ann Arbor? The Comcast contractors are too lazy to cut the cable properly. They leave it hanging in your neighborhood so it's convenient for them, at some point, in the indefinite future, to connect a new customer. The phone company can't get away with that crap. Now Comcast is negotiating to buy NBC/Universal and thereby get a monopoly on 1/3 of the broadcast programming (and Hulu online television), as a means to keep customers from cutting their cable TV subscriptions. So here it is, 2010, and Comcast STILL has monopoly power in Ann Arbor, and now has around 40% of the country's cable service. Long past time to encourage if not legislate competition and level the playing field.
Joe Hood
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:22 p.m.
Perhaps Comcast should update their customer service the way AT&T has.
JPLewis
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:20 p.m.
Look, $.50 refund times 10 million customers would cost Comcast 5 million dollars. This may give them incentive to have a more robust backup system, so an outage is reduced to a few minutes instead of many hours.
ez12c
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:19 p.m.
Yes, my internet was out last night. But overall, I'm happy with Comcast. It is fast and reliable. Always has been for me through 4 different addresses too. I don't expect a refund for the short time out. It happens.
Marvin Face
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:18 p.m.
You know what? I'm with ATT U-Verse and my internet was in and out last night and this morning as well which had never happened before. Wonder whats up?
Jon Saalberg
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:15 p.m.
I experienced this outage last night, and had a moment of panic - as an eBay seller, at the height of the gift-giving season, would I be able to list my items Monday? The answer was yes, but it gives pause to virtual sellers such as myself, who depend on reliable internet service to keep ourselves in business - what is our backup plan if Comcast goes down again? I don't have the answer to that question. As for refunds, they wouldn't be much money, and Comcast would probably spend more refunding the money than the amounts of the refunds.
CommonThought
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 1:11 p.m.
In agreement with YpsiLivin. If Comcast was to actually consider a refund, they would only refund the 5 hours of time service was unavailable. And to get a Fifty cent refund, would be more of an insult than getting nothing.
bunnyabbot
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 12:52 p.m.
the only thing massive about comcast is there poor customer service. Calling them and canceling my service for cable and internet was a good day. I now pay less with directv for cable and wireless take anywhere service through a cellphone company for my computer and both gave me sign up rebates making a years service even less! Not to mention I have never had a problem with either whereas I did have a problem at least once a year with comcast
Somewhat Concerned
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 12:44 p.m.
Will customers get fair treatment from Comcast? Right after the Lions go to the Super Bowl, Cher realizes nobody wants to see her 64-year-old belly button, and cops stop eating donuts.
YpsiLivin
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 12:42 p.m.
Reconfigure your network settings to use the Google DNS service (substitute 8.8.8.8 for the Comcast DNS address 68.87.77.130 - or whatever IP they gave you in your network control panel or Internet setup) and get back to your life. Comcast's Internet connections are working; their DNS is hosed. It's not the same thing, and if you use another DNS server, you can get your Internet connectivity back. A five-hour outage would net you a refund of about $0.45, based on 744 clock hours in the month of December at a monthly cost of $64.95 for service and considering a five-hour outage. (I realize that TV subscribers get a break on the Internet cost, so their refund would be even smaller.) Do you really want to be insulted like that?
Meg Geddes
Mon, Dec 6, 2010 : 12:41 p.m.
Why should this time be any different? This is why I have a back up cheapo DSL line too. I didn't have to switch over this time because Comcast was back up by the time I woke up the next morning, but if you are dependent on internet services, $15/month for DSL ensures you can at least get to email and the web.