Have others in Ladera Heights with Comcast Digital Phone experienced
frequent outages?  I have had frequent problems, and when I call to
express my concern they usually tell me they have no record of there
having been a problem.

Cliff,

I've had simultaneous telephone, television and Internet outages on a number
of occasions. Most recently from about 9:30 p.m. last night until about 9:15
this morning. Not being able to call, I visited Comcast's office on Green
Valley Circle this morning to inquire about the problem. The office staff
didn't know when the Comcast service staff learned about the outage. They
did say that a service team was on the case. The outage covered the entire
Ladera Heights, Westchester and Culver City service area.

There was an earlier outage yesterday, about 6:15 p.m, which lasted for a
few minutes. The outage also affected telephone, television and Internet
service.

We've experienced several other system outages over the past 2 1/2 years. In
those cases, I was usually the one who reported it to Comcast at the local
office. On those occasions, the office staff indicated that the service
staff was unaware of an outage. That may explain why you've been told there
was no record of an outage.

For each outage we were given a credit on the next month's bill. To get the
credit, a customer must request it. That requires two separate calls...one
for TV and Internet, and another for telephone.

I've corresponded with the FCC, the California PUC and the LA County Dept of
Consumer Affairs about the unreliable service. The FCC said it was out of
their jurisdiction. The PUC said they would look into it. The Dept. of
Consumer affairs acknowledged receipt of the correspondence.

Sometime in the future Time-Warner is supposed to take over the Comcast
franchises in LA County as part of the Time-Warner/Comcast deal to acquire
Adelphia Cable. I don't know if that is a good thing or not. It seems to me
that cable service quality has diminished whenever there has been a change
in franchise ownership.

Sincerely,

Mark

I switched over to Vonage about four months ago.  I have a telephone
adapter that I plug my telephones into.  It has been working flawlessly
for me.  The two plan options are 14.99 for 500 minutes and 24.99 for
unlimited minutes.
Here's a link for the first month free:
http://www.vonage-promotion.com/coupon.html

Bud.