The New York Times in so many words, along with the Associated Press have basically, in so many words labeled Comcast liars, around the Bit Torrent issue.
Let’s not go that far. Let’s call them experts in managing the truth.
That kind of crisis management may have worked when Comcast was growing, but now in the era where the customers are able to determine things better than the company’s front line techs and support folks, and where the blogosphere and journalism industry has the ability to get information faster than ever, there’s no time for that kind of “spin control.”
Let’s face it, Comcast would have been better off saying “we have decided to do this and effective xx date we are deploying such and such unless you opt for another plan.”
I for one don’t have an issue with tiered service offerings, as long as the service provider offers the options, but in this era, there’s no time for trying to hide reality. So while I see the reasoning to do what Comcast did, its the way they handled it, and the people who decided how to handle the matter who should be looked at as close as the traffic is being inspected.
Martin Geddes has his usual on the mark insight…very much worth a read.