Comcast, bad dog!

These past two weeks in both my Independent Media, and Government and Media classes, media consolidation and net neutrality have been intertwined in our conversations.

One of the big names that is inevitable to be mentioned when talking about these topics is Comcast. Comcast is the world's largest mass media and communications company by revenue - at a whopping $62.5 billion dollars. Additionally, it is the largest cable provider and internet service provider in the United States. So yeah, Comcast is one of the top dogs in control.

As a concerned citizen and a promoter of maintaining net neutrality, I was excited when I came across an article dogging the top dog Comcast.

The article starts with a disgruntled Comcast customer who is upset because of his lack of internet service in his own home. The customer is a web designer and estimates that he has lost anywhere from $500 to $1000 because of time he has to spend dealing with his lost internet connections. Although he has reached out to Comcast several times, he has to use his iPhone as a hotspot or go to a local cafe to use the internet.

The article then continues on to mention Comcast's campaign to convince Congress to let them take over Time Warner Cable for $45 billion dollars, saying that it will benefit both companies as well as the customers.

The customers disagree.

David Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president, states that Comcast is aware that it has trouble delivering a quality service to its customers, he says the company is working on it. But is seems the customers aren't believing Comcast's barks:

"You are seriously everything that is wrong with the world," a Seattle woman with the handle Kate J. wrote in October on the review site Yelp. "I am 100% sure you are run by Satan himself. I feel confident that you are responsible for cancer, homelessness, war, suicide, 9/11, and every darkness in the world." 

The article continues on with horror stories from customers who have complained about not being able to depend on Comcast's services in times of great need. One couple lost all internet service with Comcast, even though they depend on using the internet for the wife's chemotherapy computer. Another family told a story of a time they were robbed but couldn't call 911 because their phone line had been disconnected. The website, Consumerist, awarded Comcast with the title of "2014 Worst Company in America."

A merger of Comcast and Time Warner will control 40 percent of all broadband access in the U.S., and most importantly in locations where it will be the ONLY choice for broadband (no competition).