Does Comcast Hate Firefox?

destinyland writes "Comcast is the largest ISP in America. And they're requiring Internet Explorer for installations — even if you're using a Mac. The Comcast homepage even specifies that the page is optimized for IE 5.5 (which was released in 2000), and 'is not optimized for Firefox browsers and Macs.' With 13 million subscribers, you'd think they could spring for a web developer who could handle multiple browsers. (From the last line of the article: 'I'm afraid to ask how Comcast handles Linux...')"

They don't hate Firefox

They hate their customers.

Re:They don't hate Firefox

The feeling is mutual.

Re:They don't hate Firefox

I use Comcast. I have a business account (had a residential first), and I have always used linux on it. I have a few widows machines, but most of my machines are linux (debian, ubuntu, redhat, mandriva) and they have always worked fine. I have run into a few funny issues where I had to call tech support and have something done on their end, but that was the worst I had to do. The real problem with Comcast (and every other cable company i have used) is the slowdown of their network during times of the day when I need to use it, as well as the poor upstream feed. I have had more then 8% downtime since I switched to business, but I believe that it has something to do with the long run my coax makes from the breakout to the home office.

I have used other cable systems in the past, and most of them were about the same. Nothing to write home about, but barely functional enough. I do miss my T1. It may not have been as fast as broadband companies advertise, but it was much faster then they accomplish normally. But, where I live now, it is way to expensive to go T1.

InnerWeb

Why do people even install anything?

I've used comcast (previously known as AT&T) since 1997 as a home customer, and I've never "installed" anything. I have never used their portal. Why would you? What would be the point? I subscribe to them because they are simply my connection to the outside world, and they are (in my case) *very* reliable and *very* fast. All you have to do is plug your router into their modem, and turn on DHCP. <sarcasm>oooo. Yeah, that's hard.</sarcasm>

Re:Why do people even install anything?

why is this being modded as informative? it is wrong

You only have to register the mac address of your cable modem (on the HFC interface) so they "allow" your modem onto their system. That's it. Nothing has to be done to your computer whatsoever.

In fact, come to think of it I have never ran their crappy software.

Re:Why do people even install anything?

This means the cable modems they're using have obviously sunk in quality. I have a Motorola SB5100, and it registers my router's MAC Address just fine. These things should be handled by the low-level firmware found in most cable modems (typically a custom VxWorks kernel)

My advice is to go out to the store, and buy the current member of the Motorola SB5100 series, and take back whatever hunk of junk it is they gave out. If you need a router, Linksys WRT54GL plus the dd-wrt [dd-wrt.com] firmware can't be beat. No crappy desktop-level software is needed to get such a setup going.

Re:They don't hate Firefox

I think the issue is more about installation than use (of course after it comes through your router, anything is going to work).

That being said, I had comcast installed a month ago and hadnt yet ran a cable to my desktop so when the installer needed me to plug in and test it, I used my xubuntu laptop which worked just fine (although the installer had a laptop there with IE so if there was some required step, he may have completed it).

Also, taking time to explicitly say you are not optimized for something means they just have a crappy web developer who clearly knows that other platforms exist and just doesnt want to support them. Of course I have never been to comcast's customer portal site so it doesnt really matter what browser it requires

Re:They don't hate Firefox

I have Comcast, and I run a Mac and a box that for a long time was Ubuntu/XP (now it is the Windows Home Server Release Candidate). At least with our service, after any power outage or reset of our modem I would have to boot up Windows and connect to the internet directly through the modem with IE before it would start working again (for some reason I couldn't figure out it wouldn't go through the router (a Buffalo flashed with DD-WRT and set to clone the desktops MAC address) and it wouldn't connect with Firefox, Opera, or with anything on Ubuntu). After the initial connection with Windows/IE then everything would work great, but it was still a pain to do that every time we had a minor outage or a problem with tech support (it seems one of their first things to do is remotely reset your modem).

Re:They don't hate Firefox

When Comcast took over here, I had to hold my nose and switch to AT&T DSL. So far, so good...

The way Comcast handles customers stinks. They had a app that is supposed to switch your email address and set up your account in Outhouse. It does a dandy job of changing your homepage and putting a bunch of tool-bar trash in IE, but can't quite handle the email part. It just dies at that point. I had to go clean up after it on my mom's computer.

Smegging Comcrap tried to spin the email address change as a good thing in their commercials, "Oh, goody, time to change your email!".

Re:They don't hate Firefox

You can actually do an DSL self install without the craptacular CD they ship to you. Just plug in the DSL modem (probably the baby Speedstream), wait for it to get a few green lights, then issue a DHCP request from your box (on Windows, ipconfig /renew and on linux, dhclient or whatever). Once you get an IP, something like 192.168.100.x, replace the last number with a .1 and you'll be facing your Speedstream's configuration page. From here you should be able to figure it out because I think it does a redirect and makes you create an account with AT&T or whoever. Once that's all finished it'll restart your modem and you're good to go.

Oh and one more thing..if you're using your own router you probably want to hit the modem config page again and switch the PPPOE settings. By default the Speedstream handles PPPOE but you want it to be handled by your router. I think this is called bridge mode (sorry it's been awhile, but when you see the page it makes sense).

Re:They don't hate Firefox

this is pretty much right on, the speedstream 4100 (which is what ATT is using right now) does PPPoE on the modem, to run a router you'll want to log into it at 192.168.x.1 (find the x using ipconfig or whatever) click on the advanced button, then on the ppp location button, set to "bridged mode, ppp is not used" and then apply, it might ask for the modem access code which is on a yellow sticker on the underside of the modem. then configure pppoE on your router. same instructions (minus the router settings) can be used to turn your ATT modem into a modem to be used with you friendly local DSL provider, of which there are many, check dslreports.com to find yours. They're not usually cheaper than ATT, but they're certainly better as far as customer service and support goes. Mine even has an actual store in downtown santa cruz. Disclaimer, I'm their Tech Support department lead.

Re:They don't hate Firefox

I used to work for Comcast in the tech-support area, (I just couldn't find a job out of college and a couple of my HS drop-out buddies worked there) The whole company is retarded, they don't let qualified people advance, and reward not those who truely help the customers or find problems but those with short call times, and brown-nosers. It's really sad that I almost got into trouble for spending 30 minutes helping an elderly man figure out how to use his computer and install his internet properly when I was supposed to "Refer him to the company he bought the computer from and tell him to call back." When I was working there I found some problems with some of the software they were using and a few security loopholes in the subscriber web pages, I reported it to my supervisor and was thanked with a "I'm sure they are aware of it..." Thank god I got out of there, and if I hadn't worked there and still had friends who could give me some insanely cheap deals for a long time, I would have dropped their service all together, and don't let me get started on the tech's that end up going to your houses, it's like they just don't care who they hire

Re:They don't hate Firefox

Turns out we ran over a bit of the ground wire with the lawnmower. Smart fella, him.

Yeah I'm sure he feels inferior to someone that ran over their cable with a lawnmower and had to call tech support about it.

Re:They don't hate Firefox

Keep in mind that most Comcast techs moonlight as meth addicts. You probably caught him on a GOOD day.

Re:More likely...MS Troll

OK you got me. Microsoft forced me to do it.

No money though. Ballmer just sent me a photo of a mannequin with a chair embedded in it's chest with the word "You" scrawled along the bottom.

Re:More likely...

Having actually worked tech support for Comcast, I can tell you exactly why they only support IE 5.5. No one wrote a guide for anything else.

Comcast outsources its tech support to a third party call center provider. 90% of the agents on the phone have no idea how to use a computer and can only troubleshoot according to the guides that are provided. And Comcast only provided IE 5.5 guides. They don't even have IE 6.0 guides. Firefox actually works quite well with Comcast's $hit, they just can't offer any technical support for it.

And don't even get me started on their service, or that email change over program. That POS service is provided by some other company, and it doesn't work worth crap.

Re:More likely...

They know *nothing* about networking, which is something that you would think would be required for someone that, well, supports a network.

Try their TV people. I called up to try and get them to update the firmware on my cable box so I could control it via a serial cable with my MythTV box.
I lied and said I had a Tivo and the guy was all "What's Tivo"?

Re:More likely...

I think it's a lot simpler then that.
Comcast has trained their install techs with Windows/IE. Almost every ISP i ever had gave me the same answer "linux not supported" or before 2000 - "which version of Windows are you running" and when i would say "Linux" they would ask again "so, which version of linux is it"?
In reality most of the time you just setup you box with DHCP and why would you ever want to visit their website anyway?

My experience

I ran Linux when I last had Comcast installed. They asked "do you have *any* computer here with Windows? We can't do this without Windows." Of course, this was when they were using those stupid install CDs.

Re:My experience

Last time I had Comcast over to hook up my service, the only computer I had set up was my MythTV box. The guy installing it made a few phone calls, and 15 minutes later I was set up. I dunno if they're just lazy or what, but it's definitely possible without it.

Re:My experience

The guy installing it made a few phone calls, and 15 minutes later I was set up. I dunno if they're just lazy or what, but it's definitely possible without it.

They have to call in to the office and have them register your modem's MAC and the ethernet card's MAC with the system. Generally this is done via a web interface that has weird proxy settings to get to the registration server. The techs that require that CD (and it could vary from day to day depending on what management's feeling like) may not know any better, may be told they require Windows that day, or they might just be lazy -- as you said.

Re:My experience

When I hooked up Comcast about 2 years ago, I got a self install kit, plugged it in to my router, waited 5 minutes, called the office and gave them my phone number, and I was off and away. Since then I've switched the modem out once and used 3 different MAC addresses (new router, and connected directly to my computer sometimes to troubleshoot) and never had a problem. If they authorized access by MAC none of that would have worked.

Re:My experience

When I hooked up Comcast about 2 years ago, I got a self install kit, plugged it in to my router, waited 5 minutes, called the office and gave them my phone number, and I was off and away. Since then I've switched the modem out once and used 3 different MAC addresses (new router, and connected directly to my computer sometimes to troubleshoot) and never had a problem. If they authorized access by MAC none of that would have worked.

It depends per market. They aren't all the same due to the purchase of smaller markets. You might be in a market that doesn't have MAC auth.

Re:My experience

I too did a self-install with my Linux systems. I called, just as you, read off some serial numbers and was up and rolling.

Unfortunately, at one point they changed *something*, and all http requests were re-routed to the comcast website. I called Customer Service and was told that my computer was not communicating with the internet and that I had to change something via Windows control panel. I told them that I was not running windows and this did not even register with the tech support person. She kept going from the script as if I hadn't even spoken! I was very polite at first telling her something to the effect that: "Ma'am, I'm sorry, I am not running a Windows operating system. My computers can clearly see the internet because I can get to the comcast homepage. You just need to unblock the MAC address of my cable modem. (PLEASE!)" She continued to go on like she couldn't here me. When I finally said: "Can I please speak with your superior?", she asked "Why? Has your customer service been less than satisfactory?" and then started fighting with me to talk to someone else. I finally did talk to a superior who fixed my problem, although *she* didn't understand that there were operating systems other than Windows. She basically asked me why I couldn't just follow the first woman's directions.

Another time I had the same problem, I called in and the problem was fixed immediately (I did not mention Linux, and simply asked if they could reset my cable modem).

In short, customer service at Comcast is windows-centric, follows scripts as opposed to understanding any technology, and is hit or miss in the satisfaction department depending on who you get on the line.

Re:My experience

I had to recover my connection after the service was accidentally shut off. Everything was working fine before. I had a Linux box acting as my router, so that machine was the one connected to the cable modem. After the service was restored, I got the same Comcast redirection stating "My operating system is not supported". However, I could still surf the net from any computer routed through the Linux box. Very weird. I still couldn't surf directly from the Linux router. Knowing how much time I would waste on a tech support call, I found that if I set up a proxy on the Linux box, and set my browser to localhost for the proxy server, I was able to surf on that machine. I don't know the mechanism behind it, but it's still strange I can't surf from the Linux machine directly, but I can surf from that machine through a proxy server running on the same machine.

Re:My experience

Ditto, except that the last time I had Comcast installed, they they were still using the stupid install CDs, and this was less than 2 years ago. It was the only way to get your modem 'configured' for the network.

Only this time, my wife called Comcast and made the mistake of telling them we're running Linux. I wanted to kill her. But the nice tech on the phone actually said "Oh, ok. I can't do anything, but I can have your cable modem configured from remote." And this time they actually did it. I was at least somewhat impressed that they didn't just throw up their hands and say "we don't support you."

As far as Firefox goes -- yes, those stupid install CDs require IE 5.5 or later. They will not work on ANY box that doesn't have IE 5.5, not even a Windows 98 box with IE 5.0 on it. The Comcast start page *does* work okay with Firefox, however, provided you have the latest Flash player installed. There are a few minor rendering difficulties at times, however.

Re:My experience

You just described my introduction to the internet, circa 1996 on Windows 3.1.

2 days of sitting in front of Trumpet Winsock twiddling options, 15 years old, never having heard of so much as an IP address. I will never forget the moment it worked. It was like magic. It was ethereal. It took me 20 minutes to find my first porn site ;-)

Re:My experience

I have run into the same problem with DSL through various phone companies and Roadrunner through Time Warner. I found the easiest solution is to set up an old win98 computer and let them install all the spyware crap they want onto it, then go write down the settings that they said could not be installed manually, and had to be installed with a windows installation disk. Plug those into my XP and Linux machines. Once I have verfied everything is running and that I will not need to call them for technical support, I will format the win98 machine.

I don't know if it is an issue anymore, but I always made sure that I told the company I did not have a USB port. They still came in and plugged a USB Only, Windows only modem in. After that, I make sure the computer does not have any working USB ports so that when it doesn't work, they are forced to read the ticket, then go back and grab a modem with an ethernet port that can be installed on a linux system or a router.

It's not their fault...

The guys who come to wire your house need to be able to configure your computer. Just ask the guy for the DNS servers if it doesn't just work when you hook it up. After this you should be on your way (atleast that is all that I remember I needed from him). You don't actually need to run the software - It's just that the well intentioned installer guys (who 'forget' to lock the TV signal for a nominal fee) can't really be expected to be networking gurus. or even novices.

Cheers!

I work for Comcast.

1) No, I'm a Systems Engineer, not an Installer.

2) A majority of us use Firefox. Internally, it's the browser of choice.

3) The web page is probably something that hasn't been updated. There are tons of internal projects for that kind of thing. But of course it's done by committee, which takes time.

It's a non-issue, really.

Re:I work for Comcast.

Unless you're a paying customer. Which I am. Fix the damn problem.

Why should they fix it? You're still paying!

Ah, but it is an issue.

Your company just got a huge helping dose of bad publicity from an influential market sector, all because you were too lazy to update a simple webpage. Granted, as of now there isn't much choice when it comes to choosing an isp or cable company, just as ten years ago there wasn't much of a choice other than AOL. Well, time and technology change fast, don't be too surprised when we have a choice we'll head for the exits in droves. Right now, I'm actively looking at a place to live that will allow me to use a decent ISP other than Comcast, because of your insane policies.

Rogers is no better

The Rogers website works very poorly with Firefox [especially without flash], and the PDFs they send out don't render with xpdf, gs, or evince. It's also as if they go out of their way to break things on non-Windows platforms. The Canadian government is going the same way sadly. CRA, MOT and a few others don't render at all in Firefox, or when they do select elements fail and make the pages useless.

And the worse part is though they have to go out of their way to break things. I mean there is enough HTML/CSS/etc in common between the two [IE and Netscape/Moz] that every website should at least be functional on both, if not presentable.

Pizza Pizza also doesn't work in Linux which means I have to boot my Windows laptop to get some chow ... :-(

Tom

Give me a BREAK.......

What has happened to Slashdot?

Comcast doesn't hate Firefox. They probably don't see a need to support it. I remember 5+ years ago, running my linux boxes on Charter. They didn't support it, but that didn't mean they had a problem with me doing it.

Here's a hint to the idiot who posted this: DON'T INSTALL THEIR SOFTWARE. YOU DON'T NEED IT. Plug your router/linux box into the cable modem, DHCP, viola, internet connection. Easy as that.

Re:Give me a BREAK.......

cable modem, DHCP, viola, internet connection

FYI you can substitute the viola for a cello, worked fine for me. Just make sure to keep it in tune otherwise your cable signal goes all wonky

homepage even species?

What is this species, I have yet to hear about it? Is it endangered? Should be call PETA or Greenpeace or what?

Seriously though -- this seems like corporate laziness to the nth degree.

They Don't

I'm afraid to ask how Comcast handles Linux...

They don't. If they come to your house to set up your account and you have only Linux machines, they either use their own laptop or your connection doesn't get connected.

They also offer no support. If you call with a trouble report you'd better pretend you are using a Windows machine when they give you their step by step connection test instructions. If they say "click Start -> Control Panel" and you say "I have neither", the problem is obviously on your end.

This is also true if you have only Macs and Linux, which I did at both my home and my studio when I first set those up. Luckily the guy who handled them had his Windows laptop.

By the way, Wild Blue satellite, same thing. They have independent installers, but Wild Blue tech support can't help them if they run into a problem on and only Linux machines are on the customer's end.

Re:They Don't

They also offer no support. If you call with a trouble report you'd better pretend you are using a Windows machine when they give you their step by step connection test instructions. If they say "click Start -> Control Panel" and you say "I have neither", the problem is obviously on your end.

I worked tech support for AT&T@Home and ATTBI. If someone would call saying they had connectivity problems and they were running an alternative OS we were instructed to powercycle their modem remotely and if still no bloc-sync, to have them do it manually with a power down. If still nothing we rolled a truck after explaining that if it wasn't a line issue they would have to pay. Now, if that tech arrived at their house, hooked up the laptop and found that they had bloc-sync after all, then the person paid $90 for the trouble call.

Honestly, if you're running Linux in your home and nothing else, I expect you to be able to handle powercycling yourself and insuring that your computer is running properly (including checking your router, your ethernet card, and to make sure your DHCP client is running).

What Install?

You don't need their disk. I've hooked them up for about 6-10 people and the first thing I do is trash that. Just set up the basic DHCP way for single machines and if you're routered, DHCP your WAN side and it's all gravy - takes 2 minutes tops.

Untrue

This story is inaccurate. When I signed up for Comcast a few years ago, I had the following problem: I had only Linux installed on my computer and the CD that came with the installer only supported Windows and Mac.

I called their tech support line and explained the problem. The first person I got didn't know how to handle it, so they passed me on to their supervisor. The supervisor recognized the problem and knew how to solve it. He asked me for the serial number of my cable modem, the MAC address of the network card connecting to it and a few other minor bits of data. He entered it manually into their systems and told me to reboot the cable modem. It came up perfectly.

Admittedly, needing to call tech support for your "self-install" is a hassle, but it's still a far cry from "not supporting".

Verizon does similar

Verizon does something similar. When you sign up for their DSL service they ship a self-install CD that "brands" IE, installs a bunch of bloat and requires Windows to work.

If you call them up to ask for help and actively tell them you don't want to install the software, they'll grumble for a while but eventually cave and step you through how to manually connect to and configure the DSL Bridge/Router they ship you.

The Mac Cop-Out

Using a Mac is often seized upon by support technicians or customer service squids as a one-size-fits-all scapegoat to excuse themselves from providing assistance.

If I call anyone's support about difficulties (cable modem troubles at home, network issues at work) they will frequently jump as soon as they realize (sometimes after a comically long time) that I'm using a Mac, and declare with infinite righteousness and authority that my problem is definitely "Mac-related." And then they're off the hook, as far as they're concerned.

It doesn't really matter if it's a router issue, or even a bad password -- for some reason, the cause is always "Mac-related." They wash their hands of it and skip away free, easy as pie.

For me, when a technician or supportist utters that phrase what I hear is, "I'm incompetent, and I'm hoping you don't know enough to see that. See the pretty icon? Clicky-clicky!"

It plays into the myth that Mac users are somehow rare -- somehow few and far between. You can bash about market-share voodoo until you're blue in the face, it won't change the fact that it isn't hard to find Mac users. There are definitely fewer Mac users than Windows users, but that smaller number isn't nearly as insignificant as some would have us believe.

"I'm sorry, but the vast majority of our users use Windows. I can't help you."

"As a Mac user, that's very disappointing."

"Yeah, I get that all the time."

Comcast support

Two months ago I was forced to call Comcast support for a dead modem. Now, at the time, I was running Fedora 7. The technician (I use that word loosely) was insistent I tell her the time, displayed on the lower right corner of my screen. My attempts to inform her that the time of my computer was irrelevant to a modem that is not syncing. After then giving in and telling her that on my desktop, the time is on the top right of the screen, not the bottom due to me being in Linux. "Ohh well, we don't support Linux" was the answer.

It then took another 12 minutes to explain that the OS of my choice has nothing to do with a modem that is failed. I was finally booted to a real technician after asking for a MAC address reassignment (tip: start using tech words and asking for things you can't actually do over the phone) I was able to get someone who at least understood what happened and send out a new modem.

What does this have to do with the topic? Well, I was asked to check a page at Comcast for terms, during the time I had told the "tech" that my cable was out, as they flat out said they would not support any issues with Firefox, especially under Linux, neither of which had anything to do with the problem.

Next time, I'll tell them I'm in BeOS or V2.

Re:Comcast support

No wonder you can't get any tech support. If you insist on arguing over the placement of the clock on the desktop, you're never going to get anywhere. Next time, just tell them what damn time it is and move on.

Verizon FIOS Techs required Windows

The night before I got my Verizon FIOS internet installed I had nightmares that I was going to end up with Yahoo toolbar, Google Desktop, and Norton Antivirus on my pristine gaming PC. So right before they came I hid my gaming PC in my closet and had my Macbook sitting out. It was very obvious that I had a missing desktop since I had my 5.1 gaming speakers not connected to anything. I figured that I could undo whatever crap they did on OSX better than I could on Windows. They refused to touch my laptop, so I just had them leave the router and I configured it myself. I never found out what was on that CD they wanted to install, but I am sure it was something horrible and evil.

Could be worse

Qwest "partnered" with MSN, so if you get their DSL your ISP just flat-out requires MSWindows for authentication, period.

Fortunately, for now the FCC still requires them to allow you to use other ISPs (if you pay more, but it's worth it). No telling how long that will last, though.

Injustice to the nth degree!

Thanks to this wonderful article, we can now continue feeling oppressed because our operating system of choice doesn't get the same hand-holding that the rest of the world does! "Dear Slashdot, would you believe that the cable installer did not know what the Linux kernel was? I BET THEY'RE FUNDED BY MICROSOFT IN A GIANT CONSPIRACY TO BRING LINUX DOWN!"

Seriously, get off Slashdot if you don't know how to set up an Internet connection. You're lamenting the fact you don't get a few browser helper objects, your IE branded, default home and search pages changed, and about 3 or 4 extra things run at startup installed.

The key is to know the lingo

The key to working with Comcast is to have some basic technical knowledge of cable internet. Once you show you know the lingo and you know the basic technical aspects, you'll either get the support person to "talk up" to your level immediately or switch you to someone that knows. Most support people have at least heard some of the terminology, usually enough to know if they're in over their head and need to route you to someone else.

For example, if you buy your own modem, NEVER say "I need my new modem INSTALLED." Say "I need my new modem PROVISIONED". 95% of the support people will know right away what you need and won't bother asking you about Windows and you'll be online 15 minutes later.

Know how to get to the status page of your modem (usually http://192.168.100.1/ [192.168.100.1] but may vary depending on model). Know that your downstream signal needs to be between -10 and +10 dBmV. Know that your downstream SNR should be above 33. Know that your upstream power should be between +30 and +50 dBmV. When my signal dropped because of a splice in the line gone bad, I didn't tell Comcast "my internet don't work", I told them, "my downstream power is -16, which is out-of-spec, I need a tech to take a look at this". I had a tech out the very next morning and was back online by the afternoon.

Also, whenever you have a problem, BEFORE you call do the mantra of restarting your cable modem, router, and computer. Even if you know this will not fix the issue, do it. Then take the router out of the loop and do it all over again. Then when you call, tell them you did all this already. This will save time.

In all the times that I have had to call Comcast for technical issues, not once did the subject of Windows ever come up.

A generation of Microsoft-only weenies

There is a whole generation of IT people who grew up knowing nothing outside Microsoft. (By generation I mean some kind of IT generation, say 5 years). They exist in their little ecosystem of microsoft products and anything else makes them uncomfortable. These guys are still largely around, I work with one guy, he automatically assumes Microsoft has the correct answer, even when intellectually he can be convinced there is nothing special about them.

I guess Microsoft deliberately nutured this little ecosystems; not just in the positive sense of focussing on developers, but in the negative sense by their careful marketing and PR speak aimed at FUDding everything else.

This is nothing new to Slashdot. What's perhaps interesting is that there are still lots of techies in this mindset, when people here clearly feel things have moved on ...

Linux installs...

Although it may not seem like it, a general shift from "What's Linux?" to "We don't support Linux" among tech support people *is* an improvement.

This is nothing new

Nor is it unique. Around 5 years ago TurboTax suddenly started "requiring" IE. It check and if it wasn't installed, it installed it with the program and made it the default browser. It "needed" it because the instructions were in HTML. Any browser would would. And in fact it did. We did the install and changed the default browser back again (Opera, at the time) and it worked fine. This, after TurboTax tech support swore down and down (there was no up to their "help") that it absolutely required IE.

The same thing happened with Dragon Naturally Speaking, in the last version before MS bought it and built it into Word. Same checking and forced install, same rationale, same story from tech support, except we finally got one guy to admit it would work with another browser after we told him we'd already done it.

We had Adelphia for telecom at the time. They also force installed IE with their software. We just didn't install their software since it was nothing but IE, some help files, some self-promotion, and AOL and Earthlink install programs. The important stuff, ports and s4erver names and whatnot, were in the instructions, and Opera read those off the CD just dandy. Whenever we called for tech support they asked if we had IE. We said no, we had Opera. They said they didn't support that. We said we weren't asking them to support the browser, we wanted them to fix the problem with the line or network, and in fact I forbid them to attempt to provide "support" for anything from the wall plug in because I didn't trust them to leave my system in the state I wanted it.

Kickbacks. That's what it comes down to. Probably not direct monetary kickbacks, but something like reduced support charges for their own Windows Server software as long as they standardized their network by having everyone use one "standard" browser. Then again, this was Adelphia, so it might well have been payola.

Non-issue really

Meh, I have Comcast and I think this is sort of a non-issue really.

To get their service going:

Call Comcast, deal with the stupid support people and get your account set up.

Throw whatever disks they give you in the trash.

Connect modem to router.

Enjoy pretty fast service (at least in my area).

What's the problem? I don't use their web portal (or at least very rarely) and the modem that I bought works fine with their service and my router.

Yeah, they hate Firefox.

They also hate KMail, Linspire, Thunderbird, and Eudora, even though they have instructions [comcast.net] on the Comcast website on how to set these things up to work with the Comcast email servers. They actively sit around and brood with their hatred for alternative browsers, even though their help site has instructions [comcast.net] on how to make Firefox your default browser. They hate Firefox, Opera, Camino, and Safari, even though they say these browsers will work [comcast.net] with their service.

Yep, they hate anything that's not from Microsoft.