http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:13:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html/comment-page-1#comment-1112 jeff paul Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:02:18 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html#comment-1112 I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html/comment-page-1#comment-1111 James Henstridge Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:22:30 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html#comment-1111 Nona: if you look at Stormy's dialup example, every month they didn't contact her was potentially costing thousands of dollars. The expense of getting in contact (Stormy's time and the IT guy's time) was probably a lot less than this. If Comcast is able to identify the heavy users then it probably would be cost effective to contact them. Of course, that assumes that their monitoring systems record that information, which is only really required if your customers have bandwidth caps. As for the size of the cap, 250GB is so much higher than anything we can get locally for a reasonable price, so doesn't seem so bad. I assume they'd offer higher caps for additional cost, right? Nona: if you look at Stormy’s dialup example, every month they didn’t contact her was potentially costing thousands of dollars. The expense of getting in contact (Stormy’s time and the IT guy’s time) was probably a lot less than this.
If Comcast is able to identify the heavy users then it probably would be cost effective to contact them. Of course, that assumes that their monitoring systems record that information, which is only really required if your customers have bandwidth caps.
As for the size of the cap, 250GB is so much higher than anything we can get locally for a reasonable price, so doesn’t seem so bad. I assume they’d offer higher caps for additional cost, right?

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html/comment-page-1#comment-1110 ethana2 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:03:33 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html#comment-1110 I'd love to see an ad that kicks them in the shins. Something like: Verizon FiOS: For the Other 1%. I’d love to see an ad that kicks them in the shins. Something like:
Verizon FiOS: For the Other 1%.

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html/comment-page-1#comment-1109 Henrique Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:11:11 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html#comment-1109 250gb? Man, there's a ISP in my country (Brazil) that sets a limit of 40gb. 250gb? Man, there’s a ISP in my country (Brazil) that sets a limit of 40gb.

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html/comment-page-1#comment-1108 Bruce Cowan Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:18:32 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html#comment-1108 Think yourselves lucky. In Blighty, we routinely have caps of 10 - 30 GB as standard. Think yourselves lucky. In Blighty, we routinely have caps of 10 – 30 GB as standard.

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html/comment-page-1#comment-1107 Adam Williamson Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:02:41 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html#comment-1107 I would expect because if you do that, people start complaining about discriminatory, non-advertised policies. It is a lot safer for Comcast to tell everyone in big letters that they will have a 250GB limit than it is for them *not* to tell anyone, but then call up heavy users and harass them anyway. Heck, it'd probably be illegal. Calling people up and seeing what they can work out is exactly what ISPs do anyway - I used to do exactly that for Shaw, a Canadian ISP. (90% of the time it turns out that Junior's been running Bittorrent 24/7 without an upload speed cap). But if you don't clearly notify people of the policy *before* calling to bug them about it, you can get in a lot of trouble. I would expect because if you do that, people start complaining about discriminatory, non-advertised policies. It is a lot safer for Comcast to tell everyone in big letters that they will have a 250GB limit than it is for them *not* to tell anyone, but then call up heavy users and harass them anyway. Heck, it’d probably be illegal.
Calling people up and seeing what they can work out is exactly what ISPs do anyway – I used to do exactly that for Shaw, a Canadian ISP. (90% of the time it turns out that Junior’s been running Bittorrent 24/7 without an upload speed cap). But if you don’t clearly notify people of the policy *before* calling to bug them about it, you can get in a lot of trouble.

]]> http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html/comment-page-1#comment-1106 nona Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:35:40 +0000 http://stormyscorner.com/2008/09/if-you-have-a-problem-talk-to-the-person.html#comment-1106 ... maybe because that 1% still probably represents thousands of people, and you don't want to waste the company's nor the people's time getting in touch, and "trying to work something out" - meaning finding justifications, proof, negotiating, compromising. Me, even as a user, would much rather have a clear limit (or non-limit), than having to feel like I need to justify my consumption, or negotiate my way out of something, or whatever. I'm the customer, I pay for something well-defined, and that's it. Doesn't mean I like the limit, and the company should be under no illusion that if the competition is even slightly better, I will not hesitate to make the jump. But at least both sides know where they stand. By the way, my previous cable internet provider did something like you propose - they'd contact "overconsumers" and "work something out", but that usually meant guilting or bullying them into more expensive subscriptions. In the end being vague got them a lot of ill-will from their user base. … maybe because that 1% still probably represents thousands of people, and you don’t want to waste the company’s nor the people’s time getting in touch, and “trying to work something out” – meaning finding justifications, proof, negotiating, compromising.
Me, even as a user, would much rather have a clear limit (or non-limit), than having to feel like I need to justify my consumption, or negotiate my way out of something, or whatever. I’m the customer, I pay for something well-defined, and that’s it.
Doesn’t mean I like the limit, and the company should be under no illusion that if the competition is even slightly better, I will not hesitate to make the jump. But at least both sides know where they stand.
By the way, my previous cable internet provider did something like you propose – they’d contact “overconsumers” and “work something out”, but that usually meant guilting or bullying them into more expensive subscriptions. In the end being vague got them a lot of ill-will from their user base.

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