I’m sure many readers saw the embarrassingly bad breakup a couple weeks ago between Comcast and a customer. The customer called to cancel service; the customer rep wasn’t going to let that happen. He harassed the customer with loaded questions and threat of red tape.

Many people have commented on the corporate culture as a cause of the tenacious rep. Certainly that’s an aspect of the story. But what strikes me from the broadband world is the familiar runaround – especially from national companies without a local presence or interest that will never see their customers at the grocery store or baseball field or church.

I had a very different experience cancelling service with CenturyLink earlier this summer. I called. They tried to persuade me to stay, which I understand. But as soon as I said I needed better upload speeds – enough to upload an hour of video at a time – the rep stopped trying to convince me to stay. She admitted that wasn’t their strength and thanked me for being a customer for 20 years.

My intention isn’t to pit Comcast and CenturyLink. But to say that I appreciated that once the rep at CenturyLink heard that I wanted something she couldn’t provide, she let me go!

There are some communities in Minnesota that have been trying to have conversations with large broadband company reps that are like the Comcast interaction. The community asks for better broadband. The rep responds with loaded questions and threat of red tape or engaging in nonproductive dialog. Or even worse agree to discussions but can’t fit anything on the calendar until 2015!

That’s where the bad corporate culture comes in. It’s as if these reps are being paid to stall – as Geoff Schaadt suggests in the case for the residential customer incident…

“I would wager that this rep’s salary is directly impacted by the number of cancellations that happen on his shift – even in situations where he is helpless to effect any change. And he certainly has a checklist and a script that he is accountable to. Why was he so adamant about finding out why the customer was cancelling service to the point of ludicrous bullying and harassment? Because the script says he has to or his wages will be docked. (And, most likely, his supervisor’s pay will be impacted too.) “

Maybe it’s time for these businesses to let the communities go! In part because broadband isn’t a luxury, it isn’t a commodity – it’s a utility. It’s a lifeline to local economic development, better healthcare and unique education opportunities. It may not be a good business proposition to serve them, so move aside and let the local community come up with a plan – because while it may be bad business to build broadband to some communities, it’s worse economic development to not build it!