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It’s as though satellite technology keeps letting me down, giving me the impression that the technology isn’t as ripe for mass consumption as the industry would lead one to believe, else simply prone to some serious issues. Take for instance the sudden “Antenna Not Detected” message on my Sirius radio today, brought on by who-knows-what or some random hardware problem. Unplugging the device from its electrical source and plugging it back in seemed to fix the problem, though it could only be a temporary fix.

My Sirius troubles aside, the issue at hand is Comcast’s poor display of service today. I’ve had some issues with DirecTV in the past, such as random intervals of horribly distorted broadcasting. After two such periods with no explanation from DirecTV, I did a price comparison with Comcast, with lead me to consider dropping DirecTV in favor of cable. How better to know if the decision was a good one than to test drive the competition?

Of all the days for Comcast to let anyone down, they dropped the ball on Super Bowl Sunday. A typical get-together at a friend’s place, and service drops in the second quarter. Comcast has no explanation by phone, and we’re forced to finish the quarter over antenna signals (conveniently achieved with a safety-pin, a fork, and some aluminum foil). Off we move the entire gathering to a friend’s place, catching the end of the horrible decision to use Prince in the half-time show. The signal at our new location worked, but there were occasional gaps in service causing a second of broadcasting to drop. It didn’t happen often, but more than a couple times is too much.

The days events have made me shake my head at Comcast’s digital service, which apparently is even worse than DirecTV’s offering. Maybe it’s not just satellite broadcasting that’s not as far along as consumers should expect, but digital service in general. Really, there’s no excuse for the horrible signals coming in, and the poor customer service that follows a complaint. For now, though, I may as well stick with DirecTV until something better comes along. Perhaps IPTV, when it becomes widely available, will be a reasonable alternative.

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