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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, October 26, 2008 Comcast eyes better service for customers Jordan Goddard was irritated when his Internet access started fading in and out. It had been down for hours the day before. When his cable TV went out too, he fired up his blog. "Dear Comcast," the West Virginia University senior wrote. "You suck." When a member of Comcast Corp.'s new cyberteam called a few days later, Goddard assumed the company was threatening a lawsuit. But the worker was calling to apologize and offer help. Goddard was amazed. "That's honestly the first company that contacted me like that without me going to them first," Goddard said. Known for ranking at or near the bottom of its industry in customer service surveys, Comcast formed a team last winter of seven employees at its Philadelphia headquarters who scour Web postings, which are public, for complaints and try to resolve them. The effort has led some customers to view the company more positively -- including Goddard. But it's an uphill climb: Comcast still ranked near the bottom in customer satisfaction among residential TV providers in a survey released this month by J.D. Power and Associates. In addition to blogs, the team checks tech Web sites, Twitter and other social networking sites, consumer sites and even YouTube -- where disgruntled customers might post videos kvetching about their cable service. The Comcast reps track down customers by matching clues in postings to the company's internal database of customer phone numbers and e-mail. If they can't figure out who posted a given complaint, they may post a note directly in a blog. "I hire people who are passionate about customer service," said Frank Eliason, senior director of digital care. "I want them to be jumping up and down and saying, 'We're wrong here.' I don't try to toe the company line." Google's G1 working its way onto social networks: Social networks MySpace and Facebook have already courted iPhone users with programs that let people stay connected on the Apple Inc. smart phone. Now MySpace is first to unveil one for owners of the just-released G1 phone powered by Google Inc.'s Android operating system. News Corp.-owned MySpace announced a mobile application for the G1 this week that can be downloaded wirelessly to the device through the Google-run Android Market. The Market is stocked with add-on programs and games built by third-party developers. The G1 is made by Taiwan's HTC Corp. and was released Wednesday by T-Mobile in the United States. The phone costs $179 with a two-year contract. MySpace's Android application is its second for a device sold by T-Mobile -- there is also one for the Sidekick -- and it lets G1 users do many of the same things they can do from a desktop computer, like look at profiles and photos on MySpace. In addition, the application lets G1 users quickly upload photos from the phone to their MySpace profiles. There's no mobile Facebook program for the Android Market, and a Facebook spokeswoman said the company had nothing to say on the subject. However, if history is any indicator, something could be forthcoming: Facebook has developed applications for the iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry. Cell phone service could help you out of a legal jam: "Don't try to hurt me -- I've deposited a letter with my lawyer. If he doesn't hear from me within 24 hours, he will mail it to the police. It details all your murky dealings." That hard-boiled plot device from detective novels and movies is coming to life in a free service called My Mobile Witness from a startup in Pittsburgh. It works like this: When you're in a situation you're uneasy about -- say you're letting a stranger into the house -- snap a picture of the person with your phone and message it to My Mobile Witness. Or just tap out a text message. My Mobile Witness time-stamps and stores the message, and if you end up getting into trouble, it gives law enforcement access to your "vault" of messages. The main idea is that if a situation turns ugly, you can let the threatening person know that "Hey, I just took and sent a picture of your face, car, license plate to a place where the police will find it." Just like in the movies, but with a picture message instead of a letter. Threats will do no good; the sender can't retrieve the message or erase it from My Mobile Witness' vault. Police can view the vault's contents without a subpoena or court order if they go through "Fusion Centers" that coordinate state law enforcement efforts. The founders, Marcus Anthony and Scott Bullens, came up with the idea when they bought a real-estate firm and became concerned with the safety of their agents. They made it a policy that their employees had to take pictures of the clients they were meeting and send them to the office. Net oversight agency opens more alternatives to ".com": The Internet's key oversight agency issued preliminary guidelines Wednesday for the introduction of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of alternatives to ".com" in the first sweeping changes to the network's 25-year-old address system. But individuals should forget about claiming a personal domain name suffix for themselves or their families. The application fee, scheduled to be disclosed Friday, is expected to approach $200,000 -- partially refundable only in limited circumstances -- to help cover the potential $20 million cost of crafting the guidelines and reviewing applications. By contrast, the cost of a personal domain name as part of an existing suffix like ".com" is typically less than $10. Individuals should still be able to register addresses that cheaply; what would be costly is getting their own suffix. The new suffixes could cover locations such as ".nyc" and ".berlin" or industries such as ".bank." Though the hefty application fees will likely curb a rush for individual vanity names, larger companies might claim brands -- like ".disney." The draft rules would permit addresses entirely in non-English languages for the first time and ban suffixes that use only numerals, to avoid technical conflicts. The proposals also address potential conflicts, such as multiple requests for the same name or a bid for someone else's trademark or a geographic location. The Associated Press READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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