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So my network connection has been flaky all day - apparently, the damage has been getting worse all day too - when I first called Comcast, they just ran through their script. Later, there was a message "for residents of Howard County". Later, the message got updated to include about a fourth of the counties in Maryland. Supposedly, Comcast's bright eyed network people pushed through an "upgrade" so that they could offer VOIP.

So I'm stuck with completely flaky service at the moment, and Comcast has no clue when it'll be fixed. Meanwhile, they had their call center monkeys handing out wonderfully useless advice all day. I was asked to:

• Reboot my cable modem (this often does work, but not today)
• Reset my router to factory defaults
• Connect my PC to the cable modem directly, bypassing the router (never mind my multiple systems, or the fact that the modem is in the basement)
• I was told that switching my Linux box from a static IP (behind the router, not live on the net) to a dynamic IP would fix the problem

The suggestions seemed to get more insane as the day went by. I was only just told about the VOIP "upgrade" 10 minutes ago. Now, it seems to me that when you roll through a change that hoses off as large an area as this one did, you ought to have a plan for rollback. Only if you're a sane ISP, I guess. If Verizon ever offers service in my area, I'll have to switch just to encourage Comcast to pay attention...