Michael's Insight

Cable operators turning to Broadband Reports to provide customer service

New Comcast Direct Forum Launched [Broadband Reports]

Back in 2006, I discovered a treasure chest of Insight customer comments at Broadband Reports.  I did so out of necessity as we were having a really difficult transition of our Broadband services on to our own backbone network.  It helped us identify the customer problems we were having and get them solved.  Since then, we have developed a regular process where Insight Broadband professionals frequently check the forum to monitor issues that our customers are having.  When identified, we work with other members of the team to make sure that we're resolving those issues.  Today, I continue to check in there myself as well and, if you're a regular to the Inside Insight user forum at Broadband Reports, then you've likely seen one or more of my own comments on the posts there.

I noticed yesterday that Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, is partnering with Broadband Reports to create their own technical support forums, hosted at Broadband Reports. I think this is a great extension of their customer outreach on Twitter, in an attempt to meet customers where they are. The new Comcast Direct forum will allow Comcast users to message members of the Comcast Customer Connect team with issues they are experiencing. The forum has the capability of allowing each customer to provide their private customer information to the Comcast representative in a private message so that information isn't compromised. Though I can't read the contents of the topics on the Comcat Direct forum for this reason, I notice that since this announcement yesterday, there are a number of topics and responses that have already started popping up.

In addition to Insight and Comcast's efforts at Broadband Reports, Charter Communications also provides technical support to their customers in a similar manner.

Comcast recently got some kudos for dramatically improving their score on a national customer service index, with some of the credit going to their Twitter outreach program. I think their BBR plan is another great example of providing pro-active support to customers on a medium that's familiar to them and lends itself well to helping customers.

Speaking to the Lexington Rotary Club

Q & A with the Lexington Rotary Club

I had the good fortune to speak to the Lexington Rotary Club yesterday at the beautiful Fasig-Tipton Catering Center where the warm welcome from Rotarians, the peak-color Autumn leaves, and magnificent horses made the visit truly special.

My main goal was to advance the awareness of the February 17 digital transition and to explain what, if anything, consumers need to do in order to continue to watch broadcast television after the date.  After receiving a couple of questions about the transition, we discussed other cable-related subjects, all of which we've addressed right here on this blog since we began it last spring.

 There was lots of interest about the launch of Digital 4.0.  In addition to wanting more clarity on what to expect, they were also interested in when.  As I told the group of 200 or so community leaders and activists, we expect Digital 4.0 to launch in a couple of waves in late November and December, depending on where you live.

I also explained the reason we use the software industry's policy of numbering service upgrades -- so you can always be assured that by the time we are rolling out our latest version of our products, we're already well into the development cycle of the next release.

Other questions included:

• a-la-carte programming (it would make television prohibitively expensive);

• can we ever get rid of set-top boxes in the digital world (new Tru2Way sets can go box-free but older TV's will need one);

• why do cable rates increase (because our costs are going up, especially for programming, but customers can choose to bundle their voice, video and broadband services and save);

• when will customers have their computer on their TV or their TV on their computer (they can now and more device overlap is on the way, but only for those who want it);

Thanks to the Lexington Rotary for the invitation to speak and thank you even more for the great things you do!

Insight Digital 4.0 new HD channels update and other articles

Insight Digital 4.0

  Readers of this blog were the first to find out about Insight Digital 4.0 a few days ago. At the time, I didn't give you many details about the new HD channels because they vary by district. Today, I'd like to point you to our new Insight Digital 4.0 web site at www.InsightDigital40.com.

The web site will allow you to see the new HD channels that will be available in your area, the new On Demand programming, and the new HD On Demand programming.

Blogging and customer care

A few colleagues have asked me if writing this blog has exposed me to an onslaught of customer complaints.   They also wonder, if I have received some, how do I handle them. 

I'm pleased to report that, although there have been a few individual service-related comments posted, it has really only been a handful.

To begin this discussion, I thought I should highlight the recently-added message on the left side of this blog's main page regarding comments:

Issue with the Motorola HD set-top box

Cypherstream read my post last week about the way we transmit HD signals and commented that:

The only problem is the Motorola HD boxes convert everything to one specified resolution set in the obscure (power off, menu) screen. So you can only pick 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i... not a combination of them.
...
I'd like to see MSO's push Motorola as hard as they can to release a firmware update that allows native HD resolution selection, without powering the box off.

Good point and I admit that this was the first I heard of this issue.  So I checked with Patrick, our Vice President of Engineering and Video Systems, and got the scoop. Here's what Patrick says:

Cable a Monopoly? Don't Make Me Laugh!

This is a story about a few dozen people who wake up in the morning and get ready to go to work, just like everyone else.  Specifically,these folks are responsible for the products and services that their company provides to its customers.  They work for Insight Communications.

Before they get to their desks, they've already checked out what's going on in their world.  How much of an installation discount is Dish offering?  Is DSL increasing their maximum speeds?  What kind of response is AT&T having to our unlimited long distance, feature-rich phone service?

Human Contact Doesn't Cost Extra at Insight

According to recent articles on Broadband Reports and MSNBC, AT&T is planning to charge customers $5 to talk to a live billing representative, even if you're the victim of identity theft. Broadband Reports says: 

We mentioned in March that AT&T is prepped to start charging $5 in May if you want to talk to a live billing rep over the phone. MSNBC discovers the practice after an id theft victim (forced to close her checking account) was charged $2 for trying to pay AT&T in cash:

Payne objected to the "administrative charge" that was added to her bill but got no sympathy. Instead, she said, she was told she should consider herself lucky because the fee was about to go up to $5.

"We want our associates to spend their time helping customers as they are thinking about their wireless plans or looking at phones," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel says.

You gotta be kidding me. Apparently, AT&T doesn't want