Comcast's been irking a large segment of the internet again this week. This time, though, it doesn't have anything to do with their pro-merger mania, their stance on net neutrality, or the problems with their actual service. The latest kerfuffle is all about a thirty-second commercial -- one that doesn't even seem to get the basics of its own technology right.
The ad in question is for Xfinity Internet, and how it's supposedly so fast that "real gamers" won't notice buffering or lag when they play online. The problem is that the game shown in the ad is Ubisoft's Trials Fusion, which notably does not have any online gameplay. The game modes shown in the ad are only played offline, and would look and feel identical if the Wi-Fi were completely turned off.
Notice how smoothly your Blu-ray is playing? That's the speed of Comcast Internet!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 03 2014, @07:05AM
Nothing like shooting the corporate foot and then swallowing it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by davester666 on Tuesday June 03 2014, @07:52AM
What else can they do? Show a shot of somebody trying to view a Netflix movie watching a 'buffering' message onscreen?
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Tuesday June 03 2014, @08:10AM
Of course, they would probably have still messed it up by concluding with the now supposedly happy (if somewhat poorer) Comcast user watching a DVD or obviously torrented .mp4.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Funny) by quadrox on Tuesday June 03 2014, @07:59AM
If it's an ubisoft game I wouldn't be surprised if it still required an online connection when playing a single player game. DRM FTW!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday June 03 2014, @09:22AM
Uhhh...Ubisoft has actually been moving away from the always online DRM and has been slowly but surely removing the always online DRM from already released titles, which to me shows that voting with your wallet actually works.
As for TFA...what else could they do? Show reality which would be a fatcat holding a gun to a customer's head while they emptied their wallet? Not likely. There is A REASON why Comcrap has that name and such a piss poor reputation because in most places they are a de facto monopoly and like pretty much every time somebody gets a total monopoly service goes to shit and prices skyrocket. The DSL corps in most places are just milking the old copper for all that its worth while the infrastructure falls apart and they have no intention of spending a cent fixing it which leaves cable the ONLY choice. In my area you bend over and pay $60 for the lowest tier of cable at 12-20Mbps (with a 36GB cap to boot!) or pay $40 for DSL with no cap because your best speed, only obtained if you slaughter a goat to the old ones on the winter solstice is a mind numbing....3 Mbps!
So it really don't matter WHAT Comcrap shows in their adverts, you'll take it because you have no choice, isn't capitalism grand?
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 03 2014, @04:27PM
It's not capitalism's fault, but Americas. Works fine in other countries.
(Score: 2) by zim on Tuesday June 03 2014, @09:08PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Geezer on Tuesday June 03 2014, @10:04AM
If lag for on-line gaming goes from bad to worse to unplayable, watch the big game companies (looking at you, EA, Sony, Blizzard) start a massive pissing contest with the providers and go full-on behind Net Neutrality. That, or the first game host that caves in to the "pay for priority" shakedown racket will soak up all the business from desperate MMO gamers (like me).
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Tuesday June 03 2014, @12:08PM
The first host who caves in like that will start a huge outcry from US games subscribers who suddenly realize that, unlike their EU counterparts who are already covered by net neutrality regulations, they have been sold up the river and are being treated as second class netizens.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday June 03 2014, @03:16PM
With such a lag, what else can one do?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 03 2014, @11:20AM
If there is one company that is screaming to be broken up, it is Comcast. They are very anti-consumer and have no competition in many places. Basically, carte blanche to do whatever they please, because there are no other choices.
(Score: 2) by SpockLogic on Tuesday June 03 2014, @12:47PM
The Comcrap and SlimeWarner merger, the unacceptable same sacks* marriage.
*Sacks of shit.
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 03 2014, @03:08PM
FTFY
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday June 03 2014, @02:40PM
What exactly would breaking them up accomplish? Nothing. You could have a different mini-Comcast for every county, and prices would still be high (higher, in fact), and service would suck (probably even more than now). If you don't like your mini-Comcast, what are you going to do, switch to a competing one? There are no competitors in your area. This is the whole problem with utility monopolies. It really doesn't matter how many of them or how large they are, because you are only able to get service from one.
The only thing that'd really fix things is for municipal governments to seize ownership of the last-mile infrastructure of all these ISPs (since they were paid for with tax dollars after all), and then lease access to them to different ISPs.
(Score: 1) by compro01 on Tuesday June 03 2014, @02:47PM
Or just do the breakup along those lines, leaving a "physical infrastructure" company and an ISP company, with the former mandated to lease lines to anyone interested.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday June 03 2014, @05:40PM
Then the physical infrastructure company will just jack up rates as much as they want since they have a monopoly. If you make it munipality-owned, you don't have that problem.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by middlemen on Tuesday June 03 2014, @12:38PM
John Oliver has done a great summary on net neutrality and comcast in his comedy show Last Week Tonight on HBO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbOEoRrHyU [youtube.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Hartree on Tuesday June 03 2014, @12:47PM
If you confine your driving to rural Wyoming, you'll never have to put up with Chicago rush hour again! Isn't that amazing?
(Score: 2, Informative) by VitalMoss on Tuesday June 03 2014, @01:12PM
So out of touch marketing strategy is out of touch with gamers?
Where is the news?
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 03 2014, @01:29PM
Will the average American even get that this ad is complete BS ..? most likely it will be "new shiny!" and "big corporation is trustworthy and would never lie" ..
(Score: 3, Funny) by Rune of Doom on Tuesday June 03 2014, @03:47PM
Comcast Internet: your choice when you really want to watch a DVD!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday June 03 2014, @05:56PM
The solution must be that regular citizens end-run the telecoms. (And every other centralized monopoly, for that matter). We need ad-hoc mesh networks that can accomplish low latency. Right now you need a backhaul to make them work, but they are starting to pop up. There's one in Redhook, Brooklyn, that sprang up after Hurricane Sandy knocked everyone else offline.
Washington DC delenda est.