Comcast Hiring 5,500, As Part Of Customer Service Improvement

CHICAGO – Comcast’s unhappy customers finally have gotten through to the nation’s largest cable television company.

Comcast Corp. said Tuesday that it would hire 5,500 additional customer-service workers in the United States and hundreds of new service technicians, as part of a broad plan to improve its poorly rated service operations. The company has been bashed nationwide by cable and Internet subscribers as unresponsive and rude.

CEO Brian Roberts told reporters that the customer backlash had served as a “rallying cry to rethink how we do business.”

The cost to execute its “aggressive” customer service improvements will be on top of $300 million Comcast has invested in recent years in service upgrades, company officials said.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150506_Cable_leader_admits_the_downside_of_being_disliked.html#CbSPg5D4sPheVYyd.99

FCC Approves Internet Neutrality Regulations

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved regulating the Internet as a utility in a 3-2 partisan vote, handing a big victory to Net neutrality proponents who lobbied for a decade for tough rules to protect consumers.

The FCC’s action forbids telecom companies from blocking websites, and slowing or speeding up some Internet traffic. This means that all Internet streams should be treated the same, or neutrally, without preferences.

The FCC also voted to make it easier for municipally run Internet providers to expand and compete with Comcast and other private telecom companies, a move lauded by activist groups.

“Some states have created thickets of red tape to limit competition,” said FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler, who spearheaded the changes. “What we’re doing today is cutting away the red tape.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150227_FCC_approves_net_neutrality_regulations.html#U82MxlMqFvJ5vFJw.99