Just read on DSL Reports that
Comcast Nixes 'Traveling Modems'
Keep your surfboard at home...A Comcast technician lets us know: "Starting this week, Comcast will be making provisioning changes that will affect customers who have been using their modems and MTA's in a city other than the one where their service is officially installed (traveling Modem). Comcast only supports modems used at the service address recorded in the billing system, so Customers in this scenario will not be able to connect, and may also receive an error in set-up."
Seems logical, per contract, never thought I could take the modem to another Comcast location and make it work -- "walled garden" and all that, regardless of whether or not the local loop has to have ethernet bundled into all locations or you wouldn't be able to get it (that's the nature of the cable network).
But the screaming and the yelling did of course commence anyway.
What is with people today? The assumption of entitlement here just completely boggles the mind. For one thing, I can see how Comcast would not want to support a scheme like this just from the standpoint of bandwidth availability per local loop. I would imagine any given loop is provisioned for the amount of bandwidth known to be contracted for within it. That would just plain make sense.
For another thing, bitch and moan all you want, but Comcast is not bound to provide you with service anywhere but where you contracted for it. Whether or not this was a service issue that slipped through the cracks or not, the fact that they've fixed it and you can't take your modem on vacation with you anymore is nothing less than their right under the TOS you agreed to at the time you initiated the contract.
It's one thing to move your VOIP phone from place to place, but you simply can't expect to move your basic HSI service just on your own say-so.
Some of these comments are just funny as hell. Or depressing, depending on your point of view. I don't normally stick up for Comcast (the devil), but in this case they are absolutely on solid legal, moral, and ethical ground.
EDIT TO ADD: I should make the point that I am a generally-satisfied Comcast HSI subscriber, but I await impatiently the day that AT&T Lightspeed makes it the last couple of blocks into my neighborhood.
