It appears that DISH Network has made good on its plan to improve customer service. The recently-announced American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) results place the company in the number one spot for customer service among satellite and cable television providers.

DISH Network scored a much-improved 71 on the result of the latest survey, beating out their satellite competition, DirecTV, by three points. Cable giants Comcast and Time Warner scored a 61, with Charter trailing the pack at 60.

Telephone companies Verizon and AT&T came in tops in the category with scores of 73 and 72, respectively.

Although DISH is number one when compared only to other satellite providers or cable companies, they are not too far from the top spot where Verizon leads with 73. It will be interesting to see if DISH can best the phone companies in next year’s survey.

That’s the route that my favorite cable company seems to be taking. News has emerged that Comcast is planning to rebrand itself as Xfinity. Not sure where that name came from, but unless the exorbitant amount of money they charge me monthly just for broadband internet service comes down, I’m not going to like them any better with the “Xfinity” logo at the top of the bill than I do now with the “Comcast” logo at the top.

Although Comcast claims the name change is being done to “promote the company’s digital technology prowess,” not everyone is convinced.

Some reports are suggesting that the company is changing its name in order to distance itself from its reputation for lousy customer service. Checking out “Comcast” on YouTube does not do much for the company’s image. The number one result is the infamous video of the sleeping Comcast technician who was supposed to be working on a problem in a customer’s home and would up falling asleep on the couch as he waited for a call from the company’s office.

As someone who is locked in as a Comcast customer due to their monopoly on broadband service in my area, I understand why they might want to ditch the old name and go for a massive mulligan. I genuinely hope that this change brings about better customer service, and more importantly, more realistic prices.

As it stands now, I pay about $8 a month more for my DISH Network service (with all the channels I want) than I do for my broadband connection. Naturally, I would pay less for the internet if I was a Comcast cable TV customer, but to me, that’s like saying that they value me less as a customer because I only want broadband.

Perhaps they don’t realize it, but that leaves a bad taste in a customer’s mouth, and in my case, as soon as another broadband option becomes available in my area, I’ll be saying “so long” to Comcast, or Xfinity or whatever other name they may be using at the time.

In the unlikely event that they actually improve customer service and bring prices more in line with reality, I may consider staying on as a customer as long as the service is reliable and the cost is competitive with whatever other options might come my way.

I won’t be holding my breath.