The real problem was a cracked cable causing ingress and knocking the guy's Modem off line. While it is a shame the guy lost his job I have heard real bad story's of drinking on the job and other things out of the DC area. It still doesn't excuse the fact of not maintaining the return path by Comcast. It is great to launch all these services and have all these cool things in the headend but if the plant is not properly maintained it means squat.
This is CABL.com posting #170874. Tiny Link: cabl.co/mSCc