[Bloat] On fiber as critical infrastructure w/Comcast chat

[rjmcmahon]

It's not just one phone call. I've been figuring this out for about two 
years now. I've been working with some strategic people in Boston, colos 
& dark fiber providers, and professional installers that wired up many 
of the Boston universities, some universities themselves to offer co-ops 
to students to run networsk, trainings for DIC and other high value IoT 
offerings, blue collar principals (with staffs of about 100) to help 
them learn to install fiber and provide better jobs for their employees.

My conclusion is that Comcast is best suited for the job as the 
broadband provider, at least in Boston, for multiple reasons. One chat 
isn't going to block me ;)

The point of the thread is that we still do not treat digital 
communications infrastructure as life support critical. It reminds me of 
Elon Musk and his claims on FSD. I could do the whole thing myself - but 
that's not going to achieve what's needed. We need systems that our 
loved ones can call and those systems will care for them. Similar to how 
the medical community works, though imperfect, in caring for our loved 
one's and their healths.

I think we all are responsible for changing our belief sets & developing 
ourselves to better serve others. Most won't act until they can actually 
see what's possible. So let's start to show them.

Bob

> Hi Bob,
> 
> 
> somewhat sad. Have you considered that your described requirements and
> the use-case might be outside of the mass-market envelope for which
> the big ISPs taylor/rig their processes? Maybe, not sure that is an
> option, if you approach this as a "business"* asking for a fiber
> uplink for an already "wired" 5 unit property you might get better
> service? You still would need to do the in-house re-wiring, but you
> likely would avoid scripted hot-lines that hang up when in the
> allotted time the agent sees little chance of "closing" the call. All
> (big) ISPs I know treat hotline as a cost factor and not as the first
> line of customer retention...
> I would also not be amazed if Boston had smaller ISPs that are willing
> and able to listen to customers (but that might be a bit more
> expensive than the big ISPs).
> That or try to get your foot into Comcast's PR department to sell them
> on the "reference installation" for all Boston historic buildings, so
> they can offset the custom tailoring effort with the expected good
> press of doing the "right thing" publicly.
> 
> Good luck
> 	Sebastian
> 
> 
> *) I understand you are not, but I assume the business units to have
> more leeway to actually offer more bespoke solutions than the likely
> cost-optimized to Mars and back residental customer unit.
> 
> 
>> On Mar 25, 2023, at 20:39, rjmcmahon via Bloat 
>> <bloat at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> I've been trying to modernize a building in Boston where I'm an HOA 
>> board member over the last 18 mos. I perceive the broadband network as 
>> a critical infrastructure to our 5 unit building.
>> 
>> Unfortunately, Comcast staff doesn't seem to agree. The agent 
>> basically closed the chat on me mid-stream (chat attached.) I've been 
>> at this for about 18 mos now.
>> 
>> While I think bufferbloat is a big issue, the bigger issue is that our 
>> last-mile providers must change their cultures to understand that life 
>> support use cases that require proper pathways, conduits & cabling can 
>> no longer be ignored. These buildings have coaxial thrown over the 
>> exterior walls done in the 80s then drilling holes without 
>> consideration of structures. This and the lack of environmental 
>> protections for our HOA's critical infrastructure is disheartening. 
>> It's past time to remove this shoddy work on our building and all 
>> buildings in Boston as well as across the globe.
>> 
>> My hope was by now I'd have shown through actions what a historic 
>> building in Boston looks like when we, as humans in our short lives, 
>> act as both stewards of history and as responsible guardians to those 
>> that share living spaces and neighborhoods today & tomorrow. 
>> Motivating humans to better serve one another is hard.
>> 
>> Bob<comcast.pdf>_______________________________________________
>> Bloat mailing list
>> Bloat at lists.bufferbloat.net
>> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/bloat