Please Leave My Netflix Alone

If there is one company that I have a huge grievance with more than anyone else, it’s Comcast.

Originally when moving to this area, I was a subscriber of its two predecessors. First it was Cablevision of Loudoun, who eventually got bought out by Adelphia. Of course we all know the issues that Adelphia had in recent years, and in doing so, was bought out by Comcast.

But before then I still had issues with Adelphia, namely with bringing high speed internet to this area. You see, it took them forever for it to arrive, and I even went as far as canceling my cable television service from them in favor of DIRECTV, a decision that I still don’t regret to this day.

But eventually the high speed internet did come to this area and I had no choice but to re-subscribe to Adelphia, and as a result, switched over to Comcast.

And that’s where my problems started.

One thing I noticed is that my cable modem (a Linksys/Cisco modem that I purchased to avoid paying the rental fee) would keep cutting out. It turned out it wasn’t the modem, because I had the same issues with the rental model, but rather Comcast’s poor service constantly cutting out. And even when I tried to get their poor customer support to help me out, I was left with more questions than answers.

It got really bad just last Sunday when Comcast suffered a major outage along the East Coast. Of course, no assistance was available, as calling their customer support line left me with either a busy signal or a recorded message stating there was a system outage. No doubt all their customer support staff was still away for the Thanksgiving holiday, but still, this is unacceptable.

But it’s not just my internet service that is making me despise Comcast. It’s what they are doing to competing services. Keep in mind that I said that I am a DIRECTV subscriber. Even as such, Comcast is attacking my freedom to watch whatever I want. As many of you know, I am a huge hockey fan, and last year, DIRECTV was in a carrier dispute with Versus, a network that is owned by Comcast. Because of this, I was stuck without watching hockey on Versus until a settlement was reached right before the Stanley Cup playoffs. Still, the damage was done last season, and it’s happening again this year.

I know I’ve been one of the harshest critics of G4, and yes my opinion of that network and some of its personalities is low. (cough Adam Sessler cough) But still, that doesn’t mean I should be left out of watching it because it too is owned by Comcast.

Needless to say, Comcast is getting out of hand with its ways, and for those of us who own a gaming console in one form or another, it’s going to affect something else on our beloved console: Netflix.

Apparently Comcast is demanding a service fee from Level 3, the company responsible for streaming Netflix to various providers, to allow Comcast members to use Netflix’s Instant Streaming service. Thankfully at the time of this column, Netflix is still running as great as ever on my Xbox 360, as well as my Wii, iPod touch and MacBook. But what if Comcast gets their way? Will this mean the end of a great service such as Netflix on all of my consoles and handhelds?

And come to think of it, what will this do with streaming ESPN3 on my Xbox 360? Keep in mind who owns ESPN…Disney. And what else does Disney own? ABC!

No wonder watchdog site consumerist.org calls Comcast the "Worst Company in America."

People, we need to stand up against these bully tactics that Comcast stands for. I’m sure many of you know that they are in the approval process for a merger with NBC. If they get their way, this could cause more control of what we can watch, especially on rival services. Speak out against this merger and stand for net neutrality! We won’t just have our Netflix streaming taken away, but our freedom to use our Internet as we want. Suddenly that switch over to Verizon FIOS looks a lot more tempting…

Currently Playing: Disney Epic Mickey (Wii,) Kinect Sports (Kinect)

Waiting For: The UPS guy to send me the MacBook memory that was supposed to be in BEFORE writing this!