Comments on Domain Helper service: Here to help you

Comment by Rick Anderson

2010-01-25T09:51:55Z

Has anyone actually gotten the opt-out to work? I just opted all of my accounts out twice in a row, and it's still happening. This is unbelievably annoying. First, Comcast won't let you opt out of their incessant emails advertising all kinds of features nobody cares about and now this nonsense.

@Scott McNulty: "We think our implementation is pretty good, and that our opt-out process [...] is the best in the biz."

HAHAHA!!! Are you kidding me? I've just wasted 20 minutes trying to opt-out and IT DOESN'T FREAKIN' WORK. No offense, but if non-functioning settings and suggesting that your customers to use alternate DNS servers is your idea of "the best", then you're delusional.

Comment by Scott McNulty

2010-01-25T14:51:17Z

Hey Rick,

I sent you an email directly.. and I've forwarded your comment along to our DNS folks. We'll get to the bottom of your issue.

You might try rebooting your modem, since that'll force it to get a new IP address from a DNS server that is serving up opted out addresses.

Comment by Jason

2010-01-26T01:36:59Z

This "service" inserts an step between my search query and my search results, a step which annoys me because your (yahoo) search is inferior and laden with advertising that I don't care about. You hinder me to make money: advertising, bandwidth throttling, courtroom packing, etc.

I use ComCast in an office setting and am not the account's owner. How do I change this setting? Do I have to contact the account owner himself and have him change the entire building's settings (which he will, if I ask)?

Finally: just because you have the chance to be evil, doesn't mean you should take it.

Regards,

-- Jason

Comment by brennan

2010-01-26T17:18:42Z

You are forcing this service on your customers and making money through advertising every time a url is typed in wrong. I don't have a problem with this service except for the fact that I can't even opt out. I have disabled the service and it is still enabled. This is highly illegal practices and you should be ashamed of yourself trying to spin this into something good for the customer.

Comment by Alyson Anderson

2010-01-31T14:07:33Z

I have tried repeatedly to remove this invasive and unwanted service. I have followed all directions, spent over an hour on the phone (and was told both that this service did not exist and then that it was due to my non-supported wireless router). I also have written in before and been assured it will be removed from my account without any luck. This is by far one of the most obnoxious invasions and takeovers of my computer I have ever seen. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REMOVE IT FROM MY ACCOUNT. I AM BEGGING YOU TO JUST TURN OFF THE OPTION ON MY ACCOUNT AND GET RID OF IT.

Comment by Erik Nilsson

2010-02-08T20:27:01Z

Hey, I hear you guys changed your name last week. I guess the old one was worn out? You don't suppose user-hostile programs like Domain "helper" have anything with the brand value of Comcast going negative, do you?

And good luck with that walled garden thing. It's been great for AOL.

- Erik

Comment by Zetanomikon

2010-02-10T02:17:22Z

To everyone who is having problems with this:

I have used Firefox for a long time now, and loved how misspelled domain names were automatically run through Google ... more often than not, I went right to the intended website. It was incredibly fast, and increased my efficiency greatly. This Comcast DNS hijacking is pathetic in comparison ... before, I would type in "wsj" in the address bar to bring up the Wall Street Journal site. Simple, quick, efficient. Now, I get a page of ads. It is a sneaky practice to make a few dollars, and brought my browsing speed down drastically.

Use Google DNS. It restored my Firefox / Google browsing combo ... type in a few letters, go right to the website. Simple as that: http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/ I am very pleased that they include instructions for Linux users such as myself, since I have been reading that Comcast's blatant interference with customers' web browsing habits has (unintentionally?) caused problems with using various package managers in our OS. Hope this helps ...

Comment by Eugine Horks

2010-02-10T21:54:18Z

Should be OPT IN. Very intrusive and disturbing.

Comment by Yong

2010-02-17T18:55:25Z

I second what Alyson has said. Just got off the phone with support and was told that you can't turn it off from the website. I pointed out this blog post, and all the instructions posted, but no luck. Just kept repeating that according to their information, this service (I had trouble even getting acknowledgement that this thing even existed in the first place!) couldn't be accessed from Customer Central. Can you please just get rid of it for my account?

Comment by Troy

2010-02-19T04:01:29Z

The Domain Helper runs on their DNS server. Take the DNS server out of the loop and Domain Helper goes away. Use a public DNS server.

Free Public DNS Server

Service provider: Google

* 8.8.8.8
* 8.8.4.4

Service provider: ScrubIt
Public dns server address:

* 67.138.54.100
* 207.225.209.66

Service provider:dnsadvantage
Dnsadvantage free dns server list:

* 156.154.70.1
* 156.154.71.1

Service provider:OpenDNS
OpenDNS free dns server list:

* 208.67.222.222
* 208.67.220.220

Service provider: vnsc-pri.sys.gtei.net
Public Name server IP address:

* 4.2.2.1
* 4.2.2.2
* 4.2.2.3
* 4.2.2.4
* 4.2.2.5
* 4.2.2.6

Comment by Troy

2010-02-19T04:30:04Z

Manually change your DNS.

Comcast Standard (Opt-Out) DNS Servers

http://dns.comcast.net/dns-ip-addresses2.php

Comment by john

2010-02-21T14:48:48Z

Your domain helper is the worst idea in recent memory. I'm an avid internet user and I work in the internet industry. I am trained and LIKE the google integration built into Firefox. You have a setting in your account settings page to disable this terrible service, and that doesn't even work! Your product management team is a bunch of boneheads that doesn't understand the internet or its users. Comcast #fail.

Comment by Bryan Price

2010-02-23T16:44:26Z

Ridiculous. I have turned it off. It came back on. I have gone in and sure enough the setting says it's off, but it's still on. I have turned it on, and back off. Hopefully this will finally shut it off. Otherwise, I guess I'll just point my router's DNS to someplace else and be done with it.

This is BAD. The is NOT a necessary nor even desirable situation. It's just more money in Comcast's coffers is all I can figure.

Comment by Phil Simon

2010-02-27T19:36:55Z

This is just awful. There's no option for me to disable the "domain helper", a misnomer if ever I've heard one. This is just unconscionable.

Comment by Jim Richardson

2010-03-04T09:34:45Z

And with one act, comcast reduces their value to me even further. The sole thing I get and pay for from you, is the raw bandwidth.

But don't worry! acts like this have made sure that no matter what you change your name to, I will never *choose* your product, only use it when there is no other option.

Thank goodness for honest dns servers, you know, ones other than comcast's.