uWhy Is Comcast Interrupting My Web-Browsing To Upsell Me On A New Modem?r

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  We already know that Comcast can — and does — inject alerts into users’ web browsers to alert them to potential copyright infringement, but the nation’s largest Internet provider can also use this ability to interrupt your enjoyment of the web in order to remind you to upgrade your modem.

  Consumerist reader and Comcast customer “BB” says that the cable company upgraded the network in his area in recent months, and has been writing and calling him regularly about upgrading his modem ever since.

  “For months we received multiple letters in the mail, explaining how we were missing out on the great new capabilities of their network,” writes BB. “This eventually escalated to repeated phone calls from Comcast, stating that we should really upgrade our modem.”

  Thing is, BB owns the modem he uses and he’s experienced no problems with service or speeds since the network upgrade. He’d rather not spend money on a new modem — or pay Comcast too much to rent one from the company — when what he has is working just fine.

  And BB is not some minor Internet user with an ancient desktop computer that he only uses to check email once a week. In fact, he’s a software developer living — like many of us — in a home with multiple web-connected devices.

  “We stream Netflix and YouTube and our Internet speed is great for everything we need,” he writes. “Why should I spend the money?”

  BB knows that sometimes customers can indeed be left out in the cold by using old tech — just ask all those people who had to scramble for digital antennas and cable boxes when that changeover happened — so he called Comcast to ask exactly what he was missing out on with his old modem. He says the support rep would only tell him that he wasn’t enjoying the full benefits of the upgraded modem, but failed to provide any real technical info about what this meant.

  “Now they’ve moved to more aggressive measures to try to get me to upgrade,” writes BB. “The other day as I was browsing the web on my phone, on my home WiFi, I got a pop-up notice while browsing on wired.com.” (see screenshot above)

  In big red letters, the notice alerts BB that there is some “Action Needed” on his service.

  It reads:
  “Our records indicate that the cable modem, which you currently use for your XFINITY Internet service, may not be able to receive the full range of our speeds. To ensure you’re receiving the full benefits of your XFINITY Internet service, please replace your cable modem.”

  “This feels like a step too far,” writes BB. “It just feels invasive in a way I’m not comfortable with.”

  A Comcast exec we talked to argued that this is not an attempt to upsell the customer on a new modem, and instead characterized the alert as an educational tool to let the customer know that their device may be nearing the end of its life cycle. They explained that while an older modem may work, it may also no longer be receiving necessary, regular software updates and bug fixes.

  The exec points to Comcast’s impending rollout of DOCSIS 3.1 technology — which allows for gigabit Internet speeds over existing cable lines. Taking advantage of that leap in speeds will also require users to switch out to newer modems.

  Unfortunately for BB, the only way to stop the upgrade alerts from showing up in his web browser is to eventually upgrade his modem. There is currently no way to opt out of these injected notices.

  For now, BB seems content with his setup.

  “If they want me to upgrade my modem so badly they can send me a new one, or put a credit on my bill to pay for one that I buy myself,” he writes. “Until then, I’m perfectly happy with my Internet speed and will use my modem until it stops working.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uBlue Bell Pinky Swears, Promises Its Ice Cream Is Totally Safe To Eat Nowr

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  Blue Bell Creameries is working hard to reassure customers after last year’s outbreak of Listeria contamination and a slew of massive recalls, issuing yet another message promising that its products are now safe to eat.

  The company announced on Friday that it was within the realm of possibility that listeria might be present still at its Brenham, TX plant — one of three facilities total — while saying that there was no reason for customers to worry about contamination. It seems it’s trying to hammer that message home hard, issuing another statement on Monday (via the Associated Press) saying customers “can be confident in our ice cream because of all the steps we have taken to ensure a safe product. Our enhanced testing program confirms that these procedures are working.”

  Part of the new process the company is implementing to stay contamination-free involves enhanced testing that flags suspicious areas early on, “so we can take steps to extensively clean and sanitize the areas, refine our procedures or make additional physical enhancements in our facilities.”

  A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services said Blue Bell told her agency that it found “a couple of instances of environmental positives for Listeria species at the Brenham plant over the last month” in non-food areas such as floors and floor drains “and the instances were addressed,” which is pretty much what the company said last week: yes, there could possibly be listeria hanging around here, but no, it’s not going to get into the food.

  Part of the fallout from last year’s recall and the subsequent cleanup effort means Blue Bell agreed to inform health officials in the states where it has factories — Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma — when there’s a positive test result for listeria in its products or ingredients. The agreements don’t mean that Blue Bell has to notify the states of any positive listeria test results if it was found on floors or other areas that don’t have contact with food.

  Listeria happens to be a foodborne pathogen that can survive being frozen, which is why its presence in ice cream is a particular threat. The Blue Bell outbreak killed three people and sent twelve to the hospital. In healthy people, infection with listeriosis causes fever and muscle aches, along with diarrhea and abdominal pain. Infection can be life-threatening to people who are elderly, young, or who have compromised immune systems.

  During last year’s outbreak, 12 people became sick and three died. Blue Bell recalled eight million gallons of ice cream as a result. The company is now in the process of expanding its distribution again, adding El Paso, TX; Little Rock, AR; and Memphis, TN to the list of areas that will be getting Blue Bell products again.

  Blue Bell says ice cream is safe despite potential concern [Associated Press]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uBill Requiring Childproof Packs For Liquid Nicotine Heads To President’s Deskr

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• The Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act, intended to reduce the odds of kids getting their little hands on tasty-looking – but poisonous – liquid nicotine, appears destined to be the first new federal law regulating e-cigarettes. Yesterday, Congress passed the measure, which now goes to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

  The Act [PDF], introduced by Florida Senator Bill Nelson, aims to treat the packaging of liquid nicotine the same as household substances under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970: requiring the use of childproof bottles and containers.

  Liquid nicotine, used to refill e-cigarettes, has been a point of concern for consumer advocates, health officials, and lawmakers in recent years, with reports indicating that children, who may be drawn to the product’s bright color packaging and flavors, are at a higher risk of death from coming into contact with the toxin.

  According to poison control data, the substance is highly toxic if ingested or absorbed through the skin; as little as half a teaspoon can be fatal if ingested by an average-sized toddler. In 2014, poison control centers received more than 3,000 calls related to e-cigarette and liquid nicotine exposure, and one toddler died, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports.

  At issue in the bill is the packaging of the products. Currently, manufacturers aren’t required to use child-resistant containers.

  That would change under the Child Nicotine Poisoning Prevention Act, as manufacturers of liquid nicotine will be required to sell products in child-resistant packaging — consistent with U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standards — within six months of the bill’s passage.

  The packaging must be difficult for children under five years of age to open or to obtain harmful contents from.

  Additionally, the measure will preserve the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to regulate the packaging of tobacco products.

  Advocacy groups were quick to applaud the bill’s passage.

  “This legislation will go far to protect young children from the dangers of liquid nicotine,” Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, and Kids in Danger said in a joint statement on Monday. “Just one teaspoon can be fatal to a child. And this safety threat only continues to grow as e-cigarettes and other vaping devices grow in popularity.”

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uAirBNB Will Gently Nag Hosts In San Francisco Instead Of Requiring City Registrationr

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  Airbnb’s hometown of San Francisco voted down a proposition that would have limited the number of days per year that a host on the service can rent out a room or property, with the goal of keeping scarce housing stock as housing, not places for tourists. Yet the company is preparing for similar future battles in San Francisco and in other cities, and will start by nagging hosts in San Francisco.

  Here’s where Airbnb’s approach to local laws gets a little bit tricky. Hosts in San Francisco are supposed to register with the city to avoid violating laws against short-term rentals. The company has offered to help hosts to register, but has not offered to cross-reference and take down the listings of hosts who aren’t registered.

  Airbnb has made a new promise to the city of San Francisco to send e-mails and paper letters twice a month to hosts within the city who haven’t registered yet, hoping to gently nag them into doing so. What they haven’t done is responded to a request from the city that the site require hosts to display their city registration numbers on their profiles: the offer to nag their hists is apparently the company’s counter-offer.

  New York City is also an expensive market and tourist magnet, and in that city, Airbnb provided a large data dump meant to prove that most of its hosts are not scheming landlords who have dedicated apartments in hot neighborhoods to the tourist trade.

  Airbnb’s Latest Weapon in Full-Time Landlord Crackdown: E-Mail and Letters [Bloomberg]
  Airbnb to share registration information with hosts [San Francisco Examiner]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uT-Mobile CEO John Legere Sorry For Cursing Out Critics On Twitterr

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• Last week, T-Mobile CEO John Legere went on Twitter to post video responses to questions about his company’s Binge On program. While the rabble-rousing exec is often applauded for his plainspoken demeanor, he was roundly criticized for cursing out one pro-consumer group that has been critical of his company. After a few days to think about it, Legere is now apologizing.

  In an “Open Letter To Consumers” (read: press release) about Binge On, Legere reiterates many of his previously stated positions on the program, which doesn’t charge T-Mo customers for using data from certain streaming video providers… so long as they don’t mind the fact that the stream may be downgraded from its intended resolution.

  YouTube, which does not participate in Binge On, was the first to publicly criticize T-Mo for not delivering its data to Binge On users in full HD. The streaming video service accused T-Mobile of throttling all video content, a possible violation of recently enacted federal net neutrality rules.

  T-Mobile fired back, claiming that the downgrading was not throttling, but an optimization process to make these streams run better for customers and allow them to get more for their data subscription.

  But a study by the Electronic Frontier Foundation alleges that T-Mo is doing is the opposite of optimization and may actually result in video that is even worse than if the content company had sent it out in a lower resolution. Additionally, the EFF claimed that T-Mobile appeared to be downgrading streams regardless of network speeds or congestion.

  So when the EFF used last week’s Twitter Q&A with Legere to ask the CEO to explain in more detail about how Binge On works, he finished his response to the non-profit, pro-consumer group by asking “Who the fuck are you anyway EFF? Why are you stirring up so much trouble, and who pays you?”

  As we noted in our story last week, this didn’t go over well with supporters of EFF, which is predominantly funded by donations and not from corporate gifts.

  And so, Legere concludes today’s open letter with an apology to the EFF.

  “Just because we don’t completely agree on all aspects of Binge On doesn’t mean I don’t see how they fight for consumers,” he writes. “We both agree that it is important to protect consumers’ rights and to give consumers value. We have that in common, so more power to them. As I mentioned last week, we look forward to sitting down and talking with the EFF and that is a step we will definitely take. Unfortunately, my color commentary from last week is now drowning out the real value of Binge On – so hopefully this letter will help make that clear again.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uAppellate Panel Grants FanDuel, DraftKings Another Stay, Allowing Them To Continue Operating In NYr

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• Back in December, DraftKings and FanDuel announced that despite a New York judge granting the state a temporary injunction that barred the daily fantasy sports (DFS) sites from operating in New York, they’d won an immediate stay that would allow them to keep their virtual doors open for business in that state. An appellate panel has upheld that stay, making it permanent.

  This new stay means the DFS sites can hold onto their customers for as long as it takes to have their appeal heard.

  “We are pleased with the Court’s ruling today,” DraftKings’ legal eagle David Boies said in a statement. “Daily Fantasy Sports contests are as legal now as they have been for the past seven years that New Yorkers have been playing them. As our litigation continues, we expect an appellate court to see what we have known since the outset: DFS is a game of knowledge and skill, one that builds community and whose competitive spirit has become important to the lives of millions of people. Our ongoing appeal will make clear that daily fantasy contests require just as much skill as season-long contests, which the Attorney General recognizes as perfectly legal under state law.”

  While DraftKings and FanDuel have argued that they offer games of skill, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says the sites are a game of chance, and therefore, constitute a form of gambling, in violation of state law. In November, his office sent letters to both DraftKings and FanDuel telling them to cease and desist selling their fantasy sports betting services in the state.

  “Our review concludes that DraftKings’/FanDuel’s operations constitute illegal gambling under New York law,” Schneiderman wrote in the letter.

  The state filed a lawsuit against the companies a week later, alleging violations of state laws that prohibit the promotion of gambling and “repeated or persistent fraudulent conduct.”

  Though a judge at first ordered DraftKings and FanDuel to stop doing business in New York, the companies won an emergency stay of that injunction. Today’s ruling upholds that stay.

  “We are engaged with legislatures and Attorneys General across the country, including in New York, to ensure that our fans are able to experience our contests in a fun and fair way with appropriate and thoughtful consumer protections in place,” Boies said Monday, echoing the statement he made in December, when he said the company has been talking to state legislators in New York about a potential resolution that would allow DFS sites to continue doing business with New York residents.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uCrocs Brand Honors David Bowie In Least Fashionable Way Possibler

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• This afternoon, someone who does social media for the shoe brand Crocs had an amazing idea. What if they joined the rest of the Internet in remembering musician and all-around starman David Bowie publicly on Twitter? What if they took one of his famous makeup looks and applied it to a white Crocs shoe? Yes, this is a thing that actually happened.

  Whether it’s the death of an almost universally respected celebrity or the anniversary of an historic event, brands always want to hop on the Twitter trend train to visibility-town. At least in this case, the person behind the tweet was actually aware of who David Bowie was and tried to be on topic, but ended up making what looks like a very orthopedic Gatorade ad.

  We've reached the #brands level of public mourning http://pic.twitter.com/zcy03Ga5rA

  — Polly Mosendz (@polly) January 11, 2016

  The original tweet has been taken down, but multiple users preserved it for posterity in screen grab form.

  There, there, readers, it’ll all be okay. Here’s a rather video that serves as an aesthetic counterpoint to Crocs to soothe your eyes and soul.

  FURTHER READING:
  10 Examples Of Why Companies Should Just Avoid Twitter Altogether

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist