The Tennessean’s story today on Comcast has generated dozens of hostile comments from readers unhappy with the cable and internet provider, including one by someone claiming to be an employee who is calling out local executives by their names and email addresses.

It isn’t especially surprising to me to see all of this angst, but it did make me wonder exactly why so many people loathe the local cable company. Here’s what I think drives this wrath:

• Limited options: Comcast has a functional monopoly as the county’s only cable provider. Consumers are rarely satisfied with large corporations that don’t have to worry about losing market share.
• Poor customer service: Comcast isn’t alone in this, but it’s well documented in the comments and at comcastmustdie.com that this isn’t a strong suit for the company. Feeling ignored only breeds contempt.
• Pricing: Deceptive introductory offers and pricing plans intended to drive consumers to spend more money to get what they want don’t help. (Again, this isn’t limited to Comcast.)
• Corporate resentment: It’s easier to hate a large company that isn’t based in the local area. You can still hate your neighbor, but your neighbor has a face and a driveway next door. Lashing out against an anonymous conglomerate is much simpler to justify. (For what it’s worth, I like the people who live on both sides of my house, but none of them read this blog.)

What would it take for Comcast (or AT&T, for that matter) to please its customers and its shareholders? Is that a realistic goal?

Full disclosure: My employer serves AT&T as one of its clients, though I don’t do any work on their behalf. Many local residents, including several in The Tennessean’s comments section, feel the same way about AT&T that they do about Comcast, to be fair. My opinions are my own.

As expected, Apple has hit a home run with the launch of its iPhone, but AT&T countered with a pop fly to center over the weekend. Some first-day iPhoners waited hours and even days in some cases before they were able to activate their new gadgets on the AT&T network, causing plenty of frustration for early adopters who camped out ahead of the June 29 launch day.

A friend in my office bought one at the Green Hills Apple store at 7 p.m. Friday not long after the humongous line had dissipated. His wife decided to take the plunge at 10 p.m. the same evening. The family’s first iPhone activated minutes after purchase, but iPhone number two held up until Sunday evening before signing on with AT&T.

It’s never good to generate tons of hype and then have trouble delivering upon the promise, but analyst Rob Enderle makes a solid observation about how both AT&T and Apple can respond:

Depending on how the companies handle customer’s complaints, it could in fact help, he said. If customers feel the company has treated them well, they are more likely to buy and recommend its products in the future. “It doesn’t matter whether your product breaks or not,” Enderle said. “It matters how well you treat your customers.”

I agree. We’re all human and make plenty of mistakes, even big ones. What matters most is how we react when things don’t go the way we planned. People will be more likely to forgive a glitch such as this, in my opinion, if they receive good customer service along the way, but bad customer service can crush even a great product if it is bad enough.

AT&T will axe the Cingular brand name now that it has acquired BellSouth. I think this is a big mistake. I am a Verizon customer, but I didn’t choose Verizon because of its name. I chose it because it offered me a better deal through my office than I could get as a consumer.

Cingular has invested billions of dollars creating and promoting this unique moniker. BellSouth abandoned the name BellSouth Mobility in order to do that. AT&T is claiming dollar savings and increased opportunity for bundling services by making the change, but I tend to agree with this take:

But with its long and complicated history, AT&T may face customer confusion over its name, marketing experts said. Also, Cingular built up a reputation among younger customers who may not easily associate with the AT&T brand.

Furthermore, if customers do associate AT&T with wireless phones, here’s what they think:

The new AT&T was formed in the merger of SBC Communications and AT&T Corp. in late 2005. Adding to the mix, in late 2004 Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, eradicating that brand because of its poor reputation among customers.

In a somewhat related note, someone please acquire Vonage and get rid of that excruciating theme song. I mute the TV every time it comes on. Aargh.