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smart zone red x problems
I have a friend who has Comcast as her ISP. She was recently switched to Smart Zone for her email. Since that happend, email she sends with pictures in the body of the email are missing and and replaced with a box with a red x. It is not either of my computers as they receive pictures from other email addresses & ISP's ok. None of the solutions mentioned seem to solve the problem. It has to be on Comcast's end. It was not a problem until they switched to Smart Zone.
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Inappropriate?Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I recommend that your friend should send the pictures as attachments. If this doesn’t work, you can have your friend contact us and we will be happy to look into the problem.
Best Regards,
Mark Casem
Comcast Corp.
National Customer Operations
We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com3 Comments
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The problem of being unable to receive images within an email is not consistent between different Comcast accounts viewed on the same comuter. 2 of 3 accounts receive the images as expected, while one account shows only the red x in lieu of an image. You proposed "solution" to this bug is insulting. -
ComcastCares reply is not acceptable from a company that claims that if offers competitive programs. Is there a problem that Comcast cannot fix?
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Ed - You are absolutely correct. This is a problem with so-called "SmartZone", and it is UNACCEPTABLE that Comcast is blaming this on other ISPs! This didn't start until we were switched to SZ.
There is a temporary solution (until Comcast actually decides to fix the problem), which is to send the emails (with pictures embedded) as attachments - if you can figure out how to do it. I know it works, because my brother has started doing this, and I can now see the pictures that he sends to me. However, I can't figure out how to do it. I don't think he remembers how he made the switch, because I've asked him several times to explain it to me and he hasn't. I'm pretty sure that a Comcast rep walked him through it. -
Inappropriate?I just got switched yesterday to this Smartzone. What a NIGHTMARE! I have watched the tutorials many times. I cannot forward an email with a picture imbedded in it. All my recipents get is a Red "X" where the picture should be. I just got off the phone with Comcast support and they tell me the problem lies with the recipients email provider and NOT SMARTZONE!!! This never, never happend with the old comcast format. I can't even get pictures from other Comcast "Dumbzone" email recipients................ I am very upset with them.
I’m frustrated
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Betty, I feel your pain. In my probing around the internet I have found many sites with complaints about Smart Zone. Seems like it just isn't ready for prime time. Too many bugs. What bothers me most is Comcast's refusal to recognize the problem is on their end. Prior to Smart Zone, none of their customers seemed to have these problems and none of the recipiants of Comcast customers email had this problem. I get pictures embeded in emails all the time from non-Comcast customers and even Comcast customers that haven't been switched to Smart Zone. I also understand there are problems with Comcast customers using Outlook and Outlook Express with Smart Zone. It is unfortunate that Comcast doesn't care enough about their customers to at least admit they have a problem and be willing to try and fix it. I have Comcast as my Cable company and was thinking about switching to them for phone and internet service but I can assure you it won't happen now. Not until Comcast admits they have a problem with Smart Zone and makes some attempt to fix it.
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I have the same problem with sending and receiving pictures from other Comcast customers....we all receive blank pictures with the red x in the upper left hand corner. I wrote to several of my friends who have Comcast and they are all having the same issues, which they never had before Smart Zone. I think Comcast may lose a lot of customers if they don't admit the problem is theirs and try to fix it. I also was told by Customer Service that the problem was from the person who sent me the e-mail with the red x....well, guess what? They are also a Comcast customer who didn't have the problem until Smart Zone. Isn't it odd that I receive all of my other e-mails from friends who are not with Comcast? Maybe if we all just keep calling and complaining, they may start to listen. I am planning on calling again tomorrow.
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Those who are interested in understanding the problem, have the recipient look at the HTML source of the received email. (In Microsoft Outlook, you do this by right-clicking on the body of the email and selecting "View Source"). The recipient will see something like this:
IMG id=_x0000_i1025 height=398 src="http://sz0078.wc.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=10101&part=2"
The part after "src" is a URL that is meaningless to the recipient (try to get to it using your browser). It is only meaningful to the (Comcast) sender. -
send the email with pictures as an attachment is the only way to send the email it is a comcast problem!!!!!
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Inappropriate?I have had the same problems with photos. Prior to SmartZone with Comcast I was able to do several things that I, unfortunately, now cannot. In forwarding an email to several people I used to be able to go to my address book and check off those that I wanted to forward to and then hit done. In doing that the addresses were placed in the To: address area. Now I have to highlite each address individually and then click "To" which then places that singular address in the To area. When you have to do that with 20 or so names it adds to the time required to forward something.
Prior to "SmartZone I was able to insert photos into the body of my text without problems. With the new and improved "SmartZone" software it doesn't allow that. Another irritating "improvement is that when using the address book you will see only a portion of the lengthy book that I have and when you have to scroll down to get to other names once you highlite and click "To" the book goes back to the beginning. You then have to go to where you left off. Previously as stated above, you could just check off who you wanted to send to and then click done. I have friends that have experienced the same issues and have gotten nowhere with Comcast. My experience with a representative was that when all of my issues were explained he said "that is our new software and there is nothing that I can do". It seems Comcast has reached the point where the money keeps rolling in and they don't give a damn about. They seem to have the same attitude regarding their cable TV service and offerings as well.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?My mother recently got Comcast, and has this problem. I looked at the HTML source of her email, and found that the embedded pictures in the email are located at Comcast's servers, and the URLs of the pictures (the address that shows where they are on Comcast's servers) are constructed in such a way that the pictures can only be downloaded by the sender, not the receiver. More specifically, the URLs contain relative directory paths, making them meaningless to the receiver.
Comcast's recommendation to send the pictures as attachments would work, but this shouldn't be necessary. Any well-behaved email interface (standalone or webmail) should be able to forward an email with embedded pictures correctly. I use both Gmail and Yahoo webmail often, and neither have a problem with this. -
Inappropriate?Wow, I got an email from City_Desk@cable.comcast.com to view these Helpful (not) hints:http://lite.help.comcast.net/content/search/SmartZone. Well don't ya think I tried this!!!!!!!! Told them it was useless. Got a phone call this morning after I replied and they are looking into the problem. Won't hold my breath. I told them I am not alone with this problem!!!!!1 Comment Add a comment
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If you happen to hear back from them, you can tell them that the problem is that the image source URLs are malformed. I can provide them with specifics if they'd like.
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Inappropriate?I just got off the phone with the Comcast. They are aware of this problem. It is a glitch in the system and will not be fixed for a couple of months so no forwards of pictures embedded in emails for awhile...If you would like their number it is 769-226-8994. I can't imagine comcast email subscribers would put up with that crap.........................................I'm not
I’m done
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Actually you can forward emails with embedded pictures as attachments, as Comcast originally suggested. It's kind of a workaround. The only problem with it is that some receivers might be confused about what to do with an email received as an attachment. Pretty sad that Comcast can't get a basic piece of email functionality working, though.
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Inappropriate?I've even had problems getting addresses of folks that I've checked to
send to the "To" line in composed/forwarded messages to get on board! I really DO NOT LIKE this dumb smartZone thing. It's made my work WAY too
difficult, and I'm going over to Verizon if things don't improve this weekend.
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I talked to someone at Comcast and they do know they have a problem with the new program. She suggested using the Smart Zone Lite program which is more "user friendly". I think it's a little better, but still cannot receive pictures from my Comast "buddies" and they can't receive them from me.
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Instead of switching providers (wouldn't Comcast charge you a cancellation fee?), you could try using a different email program, like Outlook Express.
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Inappropriate?The comment the Comcast rep. gave me when discussing the problesm that I've had was "Sir, you are not paying for email service you are paying for an internet connection". Wow, aren't we lucky that we don't pay for something that has taken us backwards in time and service. Hopefully, with the continued complaints from Comcast's clients, we will see a correction to the disservice that they have done to us.
I’m really ticked off.
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Ah, I see ... so the employees who maintain Comcast's email servers are working for free.
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Inappropriate?I have also been having this problem. I called and talked to Joyce (37045) a Comcast tech. I tried her suggestions and nothing worked. I can't copy the photo either. One place suggested saving it in the "Comcast photo saver", however there are no headers to do this. I even thought it was Firefox and used Internet Explorer. Now I see it's a huge problem.
I’m frustrated
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There shouldn't be a problem copying the photo. If you right-click on the photo, you don't see a "Copy" option?
Anyway, any suggested solution that involves anything other than forwarding the email is just a hack. The best, hopefully temporary solution at this time is to forward the email as an attachment. The receiver will get an email with an attachment that looks like a little envelope (probably, depending on the mail client), and when they open up this attachment, they'll see the original message, including embedded pictures. -
Inappropriate?thanks - tried all of those. doesn't work - Best is if I save it (sometimes I can) and send it as new. Some won't let me copy (only save link as, etc.).
Sure stinks - I like gmail better, but most has us a comcast.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?This Smart Zone is terrible! When I send emails there are long blank spaces inbetween and throughout the email. This smart zone must be for high intelects not us everyday folks. Get red x's from friend all the time. Will change email carrier in self defense.3 Comments Add a comment
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Hi Patricia. When you say "change email carrier," what do you mean? If you mean changing from Comcast, before you do that, you might want to try using a different email program, like Outlook Express.
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I contacted Comcast the day after the switch to Smart/Stupid Zone, I was told that their new format was web based and if their program did not recognize the images (jpg, gif, ect) the program would not be able to send them - period! I now use incredimail, free program that pulls your mail from Comcast or whatever program you use - however anyone sending you mail from comcast as my husband does, you will still only see the red x, if I didn't have to compromise cable speed, I would get rid of comcast now!!
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Lori, that reply you got back from Comcast makes no sense. Number one, their program (SmartZone web pages running on a browser) shouldn't have any problem recognizing standard image types like jpg and gif ... no browser on Earth has a problem with standard image types.
Number two, Comcast has ALREADY ACKNOWLEDGED that there is a problem with images not displaying in forwarded emails containing embedded images.
Until they fix the problem, the two best solutions are to (one) either forward emails as attachments, or (two) use a different email program, like Outlook Express.
Note that this won't solve the problem of receiving emails containing embedded images from Comcast subscribers ... only forwarding them. -
Inappropriate?Ssssooo -
WHEN will Comcast actually F I X their acknowledged problems??? I tried to print out an e-mail with embedded pictures this morning, and I got just
a BLANK sheet - NO GRAPHICS! - out of my (usually quite obedient) HP OfficeJet!
I wish that I could leave DumbZone without paying all sorts of fees for
changing to a more customer-friendly browser, but it might prove to be worthwhile despite the cost involved.
I’m frustrated
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I've heard that people have gotten two replies about when Comcast will fix the problem: (1) in a few months, or (2) we didn't create the SmartZone software so there's nothing we can do.
Regarding paying fees for changing browsers ... browsers are free, but I doubt that SmartZone will work properly (when forwarding emails with embedded images) in any of them, because the problem is in the way the email is formatted, not the browser.
You could try using a different email program, like Outlook Express. It won't fix the problem where emails you receive from Comcast users display embedded images, but it should fix the problem with emails that you forward to other people. -
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Inappropriate?I now use gmail, with no problems. However, my professional partners and I agreed long ago to use good ol' gmail exclusively for our business. My comcast account is for other important work, and for staying in touch, via our e-mail accounts, with family and friends. The intervention of the change to DumbZone has made these things significantly more difficult and time-consuming!
I’m frustrated!!!
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Don't want to use Outlook Express, huh?
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Dear Dave ,I don't understand... outlook express doesn't recieve the pics sent by comcast customers any better than yahoo, gmail or any other email program,it is a comcast crap on the customer, all the work arounds being forced upon us is a bunch of crap.
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Bruce;
I meant using Outlook Express to send/forward emails with embedded pictures. Comcast customers don't need to use Smartzone, which is the source of the problems. -
Hi Dave, I understand what you are saying, But any mail sent from comcast and going thru thier isp wich my outlook express uses has the embeded pics removed, and as a lot of my contacts have a comcast address the emails i send have the pics removed ,unless i send and recieve mail from another e-mail client such as yahoo, g-mail ect.most of my contacts over the years have my comcast address and alot of them have comcast addresses. Some are elderly and have little computer savey,so the cute lil e-mails i get from them have embedded pics that they can not figuire out how to send.Are we as paying custermers expected to drop our comcast mailboxes which is part of the isp service because comcast wants to screw us?? And no I have no cancelation fee in washington if I chose to go with another service provider,As a matter of fact comcast must repay the unused portion if any from my being paid 1 month in advance on my bill as I assume most people are as billing is done 1 month in advance.
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OK, maybe I don't understand; I thought the problem was forwarding emails with embedded pics using SmartZone. Are you saying the pics are removed even if you forward an email with embedded pics using Outlook Express?!?
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Inappropriate?Dear Dave -
Somehow, I don't think that you've been getting to the core of the MANY complaints that you've read from comcast CUSTOMERS, which is, simply put, that WE have encountered so MANY problems with DumbZone (which was FORCED upon us in such an obviously UNREADY state) that we are FRUSTRATED with the EXTRA WORK that MUST be done now to get work done. Since this is TRUE, several CUSTOMERS have asked comcast to FIX things QUICKLY so that we don't HAVE to LEAVE dumbzone to go through gmail or outlook express or ANYthing else to get our e-mails AS THEY WERE SENT TO US, and to be able to EFFICIENTLY manage them (even our graphics) WITHOUT the extra steps that you suggest. WE HOPE THAT YOU can come to UNDERSTAND THIS!!!
I’m frustrated!!!
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Charlene, I definitely understand. It's just that some people have implied that they're going to leave Comcast for another ISP, because of the email issues. All that will do is cause people to pay Comcast's cancellation fees, and then they'll wind up using a different email program anyway.
Using a known, working email client like Outlook Express might be a good temporary solution until Comcast fixes the problems with the broken DumbZone. Actually, people might find they prefer Outlook Express anyway. -
canselation fee ???I call bullshit Dave, we have no cancelation fee.we pay for services rendered, not when they are taken away.If the state you are in allows this i would be e-mailing your reps. if I were you.
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Not sure what you mean Bruce. I'm talking about people saying that they might cancel Comcast because of the email problems. If you cancel Comcast, you need to pay a cancellation fee, don't you?
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Dave I don't know why you keep talking about a cancellation fee. I live in Georgia and I just prepay for my monthly service. There is no contract so if I decided to go with another ISP it doesn't cost me a dime to do so. All of my family has Comcast and that's in 4 different states and non of them are under any kind of contract nor have they ever been with comcast so if we don't like the service we just disconnect and change to a new one with no penalties. As a matter of fact comcast ends up having to pay us because if I pay for 1 month and only use half a month then they have to give me back the other half of the month that I already paid for. Comcast wants to piss customers off like we have no other choice but to use them. They are not the cheapest nor the only internet provider in town so we don't have to tolerate crappy service. It's already bad enough that their cable and went to the dogs because of all the channels getting moved so we have to pay more to get the channels we were getting and are still paying for back, but then to say well our email system is crap too but oh well deal with it cause u have no choice. I say, oh yes I do. Go with a different company who isn't full of morons.
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Andrea, I didn't know about the prepaid service. My mom signed up for the year-long contract, and was told she'd have to pay a fee if she canceled early.
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Inappropriate?I have the same exact problem as CT Ryan has with the address book and trying to forward emails out! It takes way too much time to do it the new DumbZone way!!!! Also I have the red x problem when forwarding it on to individuals and am getting totally fed up with these problems. Comcast needs to get their act together and either resolve the problem, or take away the DumbZone!
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Inappropriate?I sent an email to comcast yesterday and stated that we are so fed up with them not doing anything to resolve this issue of imbedded photos not being forwarded that we wish to discontinue all of our comcast services and that we wanted a refund for the lack of service. I do not have their reply before me, but in effect they said to go to one of their offices and this could be done.
Right now we are checking out alternative cable and internet service.
Terry -
Inappropriate?the problem is on comcasts end and it is their smart zone doing it.one of the differnces is pics do not go thru . I think this may be part of the ads side bar or legal spam they have included in the new format. I am sure they make plenty of money invading your mail box in this fasion and they have assured me they have no intension of droping this platform. It is a piss on the customer approch unless they have advertising money.
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?Comcast called Saturday and admited that they have had a lot of complaints about imbedded pix and other "features" of SmartZone. They discounted my bill by $20 and added some more channels, but we're still likely to convert to Verizon FIOS TV/Internet/phone for $60/month less. The suggestion to use Outlook Express as a mail client is not applicable, since we want to use a web-based mail service to allow access when traveling.
The Comcast rep was reasonably concerned (although he had to go through a lot of sales spiel points), and finally, after about 10 minutes admitted "You do seem to know what you are talking about."
Comcast should not have released this alpha version, and they certainly should have done more consumer acceptance testing before unleashing this degraded software.
I’m disappointed
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Inappropriate?it is a problem with comcast smart zone. you have to send the email as an attachmentto fix it.
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Inappropriate?next to the address book is preferences left click on it go to composing left click go down to format email you will see reply/replyapp set it to include oringinal message as an attacmment then go to forward and do the same thing then click on the save top left corner that will fix it for now . all email in the past have lost pictures forever. The people you send emails to now will have to open the attachment to read and see the pictures
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I plan to try GEORGE'S partial solution for forwarding messages which I know contain embeded images, but then, how do i know which e-mails contain embeded images? It's a puzzlement!
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Oh I feel your pain!!!!!!! I get pictures from other ISP users, I forward, click options, include original as attachment, Well I have another comcast email address which I forwarded this particular email to just to make sure it worked. Well guess what? It forwarded the embedded pictures!! I then forward exactly the same way to people in my address book and my recipients say all the got was a "Red X" !!! WTF?
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Inappropriate?Ed, an email has embedded pictures if you see pictures in the body of the email, as opposed to being in the email as attachments.
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Inappropriate?I don't have a Comcast account, but I logged into my Mom's and tried forwarding an email with embedded pictures as an attachment to my own account (Gmail) and it worked. The only problem with this solution (besides the fact that it shouldn't be necessary) is that I think the body text of the received email will be blank, and many receivers won't know what to do with the attachment, or will be concerned about opening it because they don't recognize the file extension (which I think was ".eml").2 Comments Add a comment
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I can do a work around using my gmail or yahoo or msn Just not the service I pay for, but a lot of the email I get is from my aunts and uncles, my mom who are in thier 70s and 80s , and have had comcast long before this change in e-mail platform was forced upon them by comcast.heck 3 or 4 years ago I would have been challenged to find a work around.The biggest problem now is haveing to work around when nothing seems to be done about resolve the issues other then making people find a work around.My only option in the area i am in is Dsl which is starting to look better even tho it is slower.
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I use outlook express because I have multiple email address's and I can get all of them put into one resource. I have no problem forwarding emails with pictures in them, even through my comcast email but through outlook express. If me mom sends me emails through her comcast though with pictures then I get the red x's. She has called comcast and even tried sending as attachments and it still doesn't work. Seems like not only has the problem not been fixed but it's gotten worse. She is gonna start using her outlook express.
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Inappropriate?I totally agree Bruce...you should not "Have" to do a work around. We are paying for a service that they changed, well guess what..the change did not make things better, only worse!! Time they own up to it and fix the darn thing!
I’m ticked!
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Inappropriate?I'm having the same issue since Jan, 2009. The IT folks keep telling me that they are aware of the problem and are working on it. Its April 4th and the problem still exists. Now I can't even get into my email! This is the last straw. I'm switching to Yahoo or Gmail.2 Comments Add a comment
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I would love to change, but I need them for my service provider....and too many people, places and stationary/card/etc. have the comcast email email address. It sucks!!!
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yes just make sure that you still pay comcast for your isp, the add revenue is nice but the added server resourses from people switching to the free mail servers is an added bonus for comcast. It seems comcast wants your money for nothing.
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Inappropriate?Comcast was having some problem with the web server that hosts SmartZone this morning. Not sure whether it's been resolved yet.
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Inappropriate?Comcast must not have pissed off enough customers so that they switch thier email addys and free up more of comcasts server resources. Of course once those resourses are free they can put more spam in your mail box... Win Win for comcast!!!!!
I’m pissed and tired of waiting
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Inappropriate?I'm so happy I took the time to google what is happening with regard to Smartzone. Happy for two reasons....one! I know I'm not the idiot... but, rather, the helpless desk out there somewhere (not in the US I'm sure) Second!......I know not to waste my time on the phone trying to get these morons to solve this issue.
If this problem doesn't get resolved soon. I may choose to use my precious, little free time to write some articles describing The Smartzone.issue.. and then submit our thoughts to
some Newspapers....all in the hopes...that ...Comcast can get some bad press and maybe even lose some dollars for being so completely unprofessional. How unethical is it to switch the format of an existing e-mail service that was working fine... to this botched up smartzone set-up? Scrap it comcast and give us
back our old format! The note above all these comments says: "Comcast Cares." Show us by restoring the old program. JEEEZZZEEE!!
I’m extremely angry
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