I had this exchange with RCN customer service last fall:

Me: Hi. A truck just drove by, hit the RCN cable, and ripped it out of the side of my house. Can you send someone to re-install it?
RCN: I'd be happy to help you with that sir. Can you describe the specific problems you're having?
Me: Ummm... My phone doesn't get a dial tone, my TV doesn't get any channels, and my cable modem doesn't have any connectivity.
RCN: OK, sir, can you reboot the cable modem for me?
Me: Yes, but that's not going to help, because the cable was ripped out of the side of my house.
RCN: OK, I'm going to try to ping your cable modem, please wait a moment sir.
Me: I don't think that's going to work. The cable was ripped out of the side of my house.
RCN: OK, can you cycle power on your cable box?
Me: No, because I have a Tivo, but anyway that wouldn't work because the cable was ripped out of the side of my house.

And on and on it went... I was impressed at their Indian call center's ability to stick to the script despite my best efforts to actually diagnose the problem.

Anyway, (this is where I attempt to make this post relevant) I don't think that either RCN or Comcast has much customer service.