Courtesy

Some companies still practice courtesy when it comes to their customers. Amazingly, Verizon is one of them.

They sent a tech person out to fix my phone line this morning. I knew this was happening, and had confirmed last night that I didn't actually have to be home. I assumed that I'd find out if they were successful or not when I got home tonight and checked for a dial tone. Mind you, this was already better than AT&T who usually made me call multiple times to report the problem and wait at least a week before they'd actually even consider sending someone out. So my expectations were rather low. Still, I reported the problem on Friday, and Verizon send someone at the first available time. No multiple complaints. No arguing about who's responsibility the problem is (AT&T always always said it was my responsibility until proved otherwise...even though usually it was their problem). One call to report the problem to Verizon, one test on the line, and they dispatched a tech person to fix it. Cool. Courtesy from a corporation. What a concept.

But it gets even better.

The tech person called my cell phone when he was done to let me know it was repaired. This was after he knocked on my door to try and tell me in person. There was a broken wire that was interrupting my voice transmission but it didn't affect the DSL transmission. Hence the DSL service but no dial tone (still having issues wrapping my brain around that). But he said that all should be well now, and to check when I get home just to make sure.

They CALLED to let me know the repair was complete.

Wow. Speechless.

File under "huh?!"

As you all know from previous posts on the topic, I have a history of problems with my phone line when it rains. In the past, this has meant static on my line. So much static that I end up with no service. The static interrupted not only my land line voice signal, but my DSL signal. Things culminated with the determination that a section of outside cable was in fact bad, and it was replaced the end of November. I haven't had static on my line during inclement weather since.

This time is different. It's pouring rain out. It's been raining all day. Raining so hard that after a quick trip outside the dog was wet enough to look like she had enjoyed a bath.

First, the good news, I don't have static on my line.

Now, the bad news. I have NO dial tone at all. No static. Nothing. Just silence. It's creepy.

BUT, I still have a DSL signal. Mind you, the DSL travels on the same lines as my voice signal, making use of the high frequency portions of the phone line (voice only uses low frequency). Logically one would think that if I have no dial tone, meaning something in the line has been interrupted, I would have no internet signal, since it's all the same phone line. Right? I mean, really, when I had static on my phone line interrupting my voice signal, it interrupted my DSL signal. Therefore it follows that no dial tone would mean no DSL signal, again since it's all the same line.

Um, maybe not. Apparently that logical assumption is wrong.

No dial tone, but I still have a DSL signal. Huh?! I'm filing this one away under illogical and possibly absurd things in my life.

But I think I'll stop short of complaining and just accept the absurdity of it.

Completion of the phone and internet saga

I am writing this blog post from home! Yes, you read that right, from HOME. Using my nice wireless(!) home internet connection from Verizon. The setup and activation was painless, smooth, easy. A sharp contrast to the 12 hours I spent on the phone with AT&T trying to get my DSL set up and activated with them.

So it's done. Finally finally done.

Although, according to my AT&T account (checked online), they might actually owe me money. I wonder how long it will take me to get that...of course, I'm sure that will change and I'll end up owing them some service charge or another.

No matter. I still feel so beyond triumphant to be free and clear of AT&T. And positively gleeful to have home internet access again!!

Happy Holidays!

Well, as luck would have it, I still do not have home internet and the holiday break is upon us. My department at the library will be closed until January 2nd, which means that unless I schlep myself and my laptop to a coffee shop with free wireless, I will be completely without email for a bit (blessing? or curse? I can't decide...). My home DSL is scheduled to be activated on Dec. 27th, but I won't be holding my breath.

Not that it matters, as I'm headed north (technically to the north-west) for a few days. North to a small town where my cell phone reception is spotty, and the chances of wireless internet access is even spottier. But I'll be with family, and taking a much needed break for a bit. There will be lots of food, the dog will be spoiled rotten (even more so) by everyone who sneaks her extra dog biscuits and bits of apple (Grandmother, I'm talking about you!) and lets her up on the couch, there will be snow (yay!), and lots of time to talk and catch up. I haven't seen my family for year, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! If you're traveling, be safe.

Now back to attempting to look like I'm doing work on the day before a week and a half holiday break!

AAUUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!

It doesn't end.
It.
just.
doesn't.
end.

I have now talked to four, count them, FOUR, different people at AT&T about canceling my DSL so I can make the switch to Verizon. I have now heard FOUR different versions of what is happening.

The short story, as of last night at 6pm, my DSL still wasn't fully canceled, only "suspended."

To recap: I called the end of November to cancel my DSL. This is what I was told: the order will be processed FULLY on Dec. 7th (last billing day). And they confirmed, when I asked three different times, that it would be canceled. There would no longer be DSL on my phone line at all. No signal at all. Period. Great, as that's what I want. They give me my confirmation number and the call ends.

So on Monday (12/10) or Tuesday (12/11), I check my account online to verify that everything is fine. AT&T Worldnet Internet Services no longer exists. In fact, if you look at my online account, it looks as if I've never had DSL service at all.

And then it goes horribly wrong. Yesterday I got a letter from Verizon telling me they still couldn't process my order. Confused, I call to find out what's up. Funny thing, on their end, from the technical side, AT&T actually hasn't shut off my DSL. The signal is still there on the line. Mind you, I don't have home internet access, haven't for a full week now, so I really don't understand what's going on. All my information says it's off. So I set it up for Verizon to call me back today (Friday, 12/14) and I call AT&T again to find out what's up.

I call AT&T, go through the menus to talk to a person in whatever department handles cancellations, but before I can even GET to a person, I get disconnected. Great.

I call AT&T back, go through the menus AGAIN, and this time actually get to a person. In billing. I explain the situation (at this point I'm still polite), and they tell me that according to their information, my account is suspended and it's up to the tech support people to actually fully cancel the signal. They've done their part in billing.

They transfer me to tech support.

The person I talk to in tech support has NO RECORD of an order to cancel my DSL in their system. On their end they don't see any evidence of my DSL being suspended, or any request to cancel my service. None. Nada. No evidence at all. WTF?!?! So I give them my confirmation number so they can find the order, which they do, and then they tell me that it's really the responsibility of the billing department. There's nothing for them to do in tech support. Uh huh. They offer to transfer me back to billing, so I can try again to find out what's going on.

During the transfer back to billing, I get disconnected. No sh*t.

So I call AT&T back yet again, go through the f*cking menus yet again, and get to a person. At this point I'm no longer polite, in fact, I'm downright rude. I demand to speak directly to a supervisor. I'm told a supervisor is not available, but they can help me. I tell them that no, I don't think you can, I want to speak to a manager. I explain my situation. This guy now tells me something different. Something I haven't heard before from any of the three people I've already talked to about this. Apparently my account was only suspended on Dec. 7th at 7:00AM EST (that date and time is very very important), and it takes 3 to 5 business days for it to be fully canceled. I tell him that this is the first time I've heard that. What I was told before is very very different. And that he needs to fix it now, because it's been over three business days. And in fact, Friday morning (12/14) at 7:01AM, is 5 business days. And if tech support has no f*cking record of any order at all, how exactly is this going to happen?! He has no answer or explanation for that one. Big surprise. He asks me to be polite, I tell him to go to hell, I've been polite, and yet this is the FOURTH phone call I've had to make to get the simple act of canceling my DSL completed and I've now been told four different stories, three of them from the same g-ddamn department, his department, billing. So I'm not going to be polite anymore and I really don't care (not to mention yesterday's post about my patience going missing).

I then confirm THREE TIMES that as of 7:01AM EST on 12/14 (today) my DSL should be fully canceled. He's obviously losing patience with me, and I tell him that I just want to be completely clear because obviously things have not been made clear in the other THREE phone calls I've made about this. I also want it on record, more than once, what I'm being told, so that if it doesn't happen I have ammunition to sue them. I demand to speak to a manager again, and am told that there isn't one available, but he can put in a request for one to call me back in 24 to 48 hours. I tell him to not waste his f*cking time, and hang up.

I'm convinced at this point that I should have just paid AT&T the over $200 early termination fee. Because it's taken no less than THREE phone calls on average to get anything done with them during the past year. For them to FIX things. No less than three phone calls for each separate issue. I shouldn't have to call more than once. I can confidently say at this point I will do anything in my power to avoid ever being an AT&T customer again. In any state. Ever. They are absolutely positively the WORST company I have ever dealt with. Frankly, I'd sooner go without a phone than sign up for service with them again.

And you know, I bet that if I had just not paid my DSL service bill my service would have been canceled immediately. No 3 to 5 business day bullsh*t I'd bet.

Sparse posting for the next week

So, if you didn't notice, I didn't post over the weekend. And you'll probably see sparse posting from me for the next week.

See, the switch from AT&T to Verizon is underway. But the service change means I'm without home internet access for a bit. I had to turn my access off through AT&T before the switch to Verizon could happen. That happened this past Friday, Dec. 7th (end of the AT&T billing cycle for simplicity's sake). No internet access at home over the weekend. Good thing I didn't need to find an address or phone number!

But my phone service should be switched to Verizon today, and my order for DSL will be processed once that is complete. It will then take anywhere from 5 to 10 business days before my new hardware shows up and my internet access activated. They're saying probably closer to 5 days, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

In the meantime...anyone have a current copy of the yellow pages in paper?? I'm not sure where mine is...or if I ever even had one for Philly...

Phone resolution

Who knew a simple dial tone without static could make me so happy. And that it would take so long for me to get it in this day and age. It's not like phone service is new or anything.

The cable technician came to inspect my lines today. And determined that I indeed had a bad stretch of cable. So for about an hour I had nothing (no dial tone, just silence...it was kind of spooky, actually) while he took out the old cable and put up new. And I've had a stable non-static filled line ever since. He even called to let me know that the maintenance was complete and that should fix the problem, confirming again that it was a cable problem.

So this confirms it. I wasn't crazy. I didn't deserve the insults, being talked down to, or the full year I've been fighting with AT&T to actually make someone come look at my exterior lines. And now that I've made them pay for the repairs, I'm leaving them and switching my service providers, effective Friday. Because they don't deserve any more of my money or time. They've taken enough of both thankyouverymuch.

Confusion...but I'm not crazy!

So, um, the technician that I scheduled for Monday morning showed up on Saturday mid-day. Yup. Apparently he got the order early so he showed up. Great. Finally my lines are going to be looked at. And they're early. Even better. Maybe sobbing on the phone got to them and they're actually trying to apologize by doing right for once as opposed to just saying sorry a zillion times for their screw up. [I know...wishful thinking...but stranger things have happened!]

First the bad news. He looked at my line coming to the house, and my connection isn't great, and the line needs to be replaced. He tried switching me temporarily to different connectors, but that didn't help matters any. There's something wrong between the tower and the connection at my house. Presumably the copper wire is exposed somewhere along there, which is why I have problems during inclement weather. But there's nothing the technician can do. He's referred the problem to the team that does maintenance on the lines, and they'll probably have to replace them. But in the meantime, I have to live with the static on my line and the intermittent DSL signal that results from the static. Fabulous.

The good news in all of this? I'm not crazy! On several occasions they tried to tell me that it was a problem with the lines in my walls, which is why I had such a hard time convincing them to send someone out to look at the lines coming into the house. The technician confirmed that no, that's not the problem, it really is a problem OUTSIDE, which is why it only happens during inclement weather conditions like rain. And why the static clears up after a few days...the lines finally dry out. So I was right. After all the phone calls, the insults, the problems, the technician confirmed that I was right all along. It's their problem, not mine. The exterior lines are their responsibility. And they will be fixed, hopefully soon now that the issue has been identified.

So I consider this a victory. Even though I have to live with the issue a bit longer, still, it's now clearly their problem. And I'm not crazy. W00T!

And my line is surprisingly stable today. We're having a winter storm and everything is freezing (snow, freezing rain, slick sidewalks, the works). The line must be frozen...I wonder if the ice helps conduct the signal...or maybe it's just not wet anymore because the moisture froze up...frankly, I don't care. All I know is that it's stable for the first time in a week!!

Knew it wasn't that simple

My phone woes are not over. I knew it was too simple. But instead of triple checking everything I decided to just believe that things MIGHT actually be changing and going the way they were supposed to for once.

I was wrong. So very very wrong. AGAIN.

Tuesday I arrived home to see the service people tried to come by but couldn't get to the box so they needed to access the premises. This does not surprise me. The alley is quite overgrown and blocked off at one end, so it's not inconceivable that they need to go through my house to get to the phone box where the line comes into the house. Now, my service at this point is still with AT&T, and they were the ones that sent out the tech. The notice in my door was from Verizon, and it told me I needed to call and schedule an appointment. So I do this: first, I call AT&T, and they tell me to call the service people directly since they left the card. So I call Verizon. And I'm told that yes, I called the right place. AT&T contracts with Verizon for the physical maintenance. And yes, they can set up the appointment. So we do. For Friday afternoon between 1pm and 5pm.

I'm sure you can see where this is going...

Anyway, after making that appointment, I call Verizon to have my service switched over after being insulted for the umpteenth thousandth time by the AT&T phone and DSL technicians. They tell me that the order is all set up, and like I said in my previous post, I'm actually going to get some nice discounts and it will actually cost me quite a bit less per month for the same set of products I'm getting now. Well, they call back two days later and tell me that there's a small problem. In order for them to switch the DSL, I need to call and put in an order to cancel my DSL with AT&T first. Once they see that the order for cancellation is in, they can place the order for internet service through them. OK. Granted, this creates some minor panic as it means I won't have home internet access for a good 8 to 10 business days between canceling my service with AT&T and when the service with Verizon actually gets activated. But I can deal. Really. [takes several deep breaths] So I call and cancel my DSL with AT&T on Thursday. Effective Dec. 7th, which is the end of my billing cycle and due to various reasons, pretty much the earliest date possible for them to flip the f*cking switch to turn it off (I don't understand why it takes a minimum of 5 business days, but whatever). The only good thing is that it will be the end of the billing cycle so there won't be any credits/partial bills etc. for them to screw up.

Now, the service tech coming out has nothing to do with my service switch. Nothing. It does, however, create some confusion when I call to confirm the appointment, but it gets cleared up. I confirm that my service will be switched now that I've canceled my DSL with AT&T, AND that a tech is coming out to the house on Friday afternoon to fix the physical problem with the line. I'm told everything is fine. Remember, this is Thursday. And everything is all set. No problem, I am assured multiple times. Everything is clear.

Again, WRONG. So very very wrong.

It's now Friday. I took the afternoon off work and waited all afternoon for the technician. No one showed up. So I called the nice little number they gave me to inquire if the tech didn't show by a specific time. I'm told that the appointment had actually been canceled. WTF?? No one told me. Seriously. NO ONE TOLD ME. Apparently, I called the wrong place and should never had been able to make the appointment in the first place. Federal guidelines and all. But that still doesn't explain why no one f*cking told me this or let me know the appointment was canceled. It took an hour on the phone to get this answer. ONE HOUR. And my phone line is still full of static. Which means my DSL signal is intermittent. And there's nothing the Verizon people can do.

I literally started to cry. I sat there on the phone with the person and sobbed. I'm the CONSUMER. It's not my JOB to know these things. I'm NOT the company. They are. How am I supposed to know the Federal guidelines regarding who I have to make an appointment through for service on my physical line? I just call the help line and go through the f*cking menus to talk to a person. Ultimately, after my sobbing for a good 10 minutes, they tell me I can either cancel my order to switch service to them, or wait until the service switches and then call and make a NEW appointment directly with them, or try calling AT&T again to make a new appointment through them. I manage to get out between sobs to NOT cancel my order to switch my service. But it's now been clarified that they can't even switch the service until the DSL is OFF completely. Which is different than what the other TWO people told me. Fine. Whatever. So my service won't be switched from AT&T to Verizon until December 7th.

Back to the problem that started it all. The physical line. I call AT&T. The first time I called, they told me to call the service people at Verizon directly to make the appointment. I've now learned that was wrong. So I call back to schedule a service appointment, but since it's after 5pm on a Friday, they can't send anyone out today. Despite the fact that I already had an appointment, which, ironically, is showing up in their system even though I didn't make it through them. [Are you confused? Yes? Well, so am I] We're now trying this again, and I have a NEW service appointment on Monday morning between 8am and noon. This means I have to live with the static on my line and the DSL problems all weekend. Yes, I'm quite cranky about this. OK, VERY cranky.

But cross your fingers that the service technician shows up on Monday morning. One way or another, this will all be over soon. But if this keeps up, and I get frustrated enough, I just might cancel my home phone line altogether and go with cable internet access and wireless (i.e. mobile/cell) only for my phone...

Success! I'm free of AT&T!

I have left AT&T. When I called to complain (yet again) about my intermittent DSL service (which continued all evening because it was still raining), the screwed up order, and other such delights, I learned a valuable piece of information. I was no longer under any contract with them for phone or DSL. I asked and had the person repeat themselves 3 times just to be sure. Apparently the previous customer service individual I spoke to was wrong (this is NOT surprising). No contract meant I could leave them at any time without penalty. Apparently the gods were smiling on me.

So I left. Effective Wednesday afternoon I am a Verizon customer. My home phone number will NOT change. And I'm actually going to save quite a bit of money since I can now bundle my phone, internet (DSL), TV and wireless into one bill. One bill to pay for all those services. Simplification at it's finest not to mention using less paper! And voice mail is included. No more paying for voice mail (AT&T...get a clue and enter the 21st century: stop charging for voice mail!). Just the phone service alone is cheaper than what I could get as the most basic service through AT&T. Their high speed internet is cheaper by over $10 too. What's more, bundling gives me some nice discounts on services I already had (TV and wireless). I've been a happy Verizon wireless customer for about 5 years and I have no complaints about my DirecTV service during the past year (except when the weather wrecks havoc with my reception during my favorite shows, but that's not their fault). So far this looks promising. At the very least, I won't have to be insulted by AT&T's customer "service" reps when I call to report a problem anymore. That alone is worth switching companies for.

So good-bye to AT&T. No more frustrating so-called customer service for me!

What next? (a rant)

My home phone and DSL service is through AT&T. Because I was an AT&T customer in my PCOR due to their merger with SBC, and because I was technically still under a DSL contract when I moved here, I had to continue to use AT&T or face an over $200 early termination fee. Fine, whatever, I'll continue with AT&T here in Philly. I wasn't too concerned, as my service with them in various previous cities had been pretty good. I hadn't had a whole lot of problems, other than the usual complaints about things like international long distance costing too much (what else is new). But the switch over was not smooth. I should have seen this as a warning about what kind of service I was in store for from AT&T out here. The two regional service areas told me different things, my service got screwed up, and it took multiple phone calls over the course of several days just to get my service set up correctly, i.e. the way it was written on my contract and in all my account information. For some reason, there was a disconnect between what I was paying for versus what I was getting. And ironically it was the regional service provider back in my PCOR that was able to fix the problem, or at least communicate with the AT&T people out here to get it fixed.

Alas, that was not the last of my problems with them out here. I have had various problems with AT&T over the past year. Static on my line. Intermittent connections. DSL issues. You can read about them here and here. Why haven't I switched, you ask? Well, that damn contract thing again. With DSL you sign up for a service contract, usually for a minimum of one year. Mine somehow morphed from a one year to a two year contract when I moved out here. So until August 2008 I am still under contract for DSL service. But my problems haven't been limited to just my DSL. I've also had issues with the general phone line. I've made countless calls to report problems with my service. And for awhile I thought things had been resolved and the problems fixed.

I was wrong. So very very wrong. And I have two issues with them now, one an old problem, and one where they screwed things up with my service plan yet again.

It's raining today. For months I had issues with massive amounts of static on my line every time it rained. Literally every single time it rained. And they tried to tell me it was a problem with the wiring in my walls. Yeah, sure, um, NOT. And every time I had to call twice: once to report the problem of the static on my general phone line, and then call back again to report the fact that the static caused my DSL signal to become intermittent (i.e. no internet connection). After a multitude of angry phone calls from me, they finally sent a technician out to the house to look at the connection between the house and the incoming lines sometime this past summer, almost a year after I first reported the problem. And the problem appeared to have been fixed by the technician. We had rain storms for days. One that even exposed that slow leak. But I had no problems with my phone service or my DSL.

Again, and I admit it, I was WRONG. It hasn't actually been fixed, I was apparently just lucky for a few months. I had to call this morning and report static on my line yet again. The static was so bad I could barely hear the prompts from the automated system on the other end. I called before I left for work, around 7am. No, I have no idea when the problem started, as I was asleep until 5:30ish. But it's raining, so presumably it started sometime after the rain started in the middle of the night. And of course my DSL signal is intermittent so I have no internet access AGAIN. They're sending another technician to see what's going on at the connection between the house and incoming lines. Sometime today or tomorrow before 7pm. Fabulous.

But this is not my only problem. I called on Nov. 14th to change my basic phone service (not my DSL, just the phone, which has no contract) to a simpler plan. I had done my research, I knew exactly what I wanted, but for some reason the system wouldn't let me do it myself online. So I called. And spent a good half hour on the phone repeating myself and refusing other offers. Only to be told at the end that their computers were down for maintenance/upgrade and once they got it in the system it would take 7 to 10 days to process the switch. Great. So I proceeded to track my order online. My order was put into the system on Nov. 19th. It was processed on Nov. 21st. My order was for a basic phone line package with two features: CallerID and call forwarding. And I was keeping my voice mail (which they charge for...who charges for voice mail in this day and age?? but that's another rant). I made it abundantly clear to the technician that I did NOT want call waiting. I loathe call waiting. Hate it with a passion. She asked me three times and all three times I said no. And when she read my order back to me, she read it to me correctly: NO call waiting, just CallerID and call forwarding, with basic phone service.

But guess what? AT&T screwed up my order. Yup. They f*cked up my service yet again. Somewhere between that phone conversation and the entering of the order into the computer, or between the order in the computer and completion of the order, CallerID got replaced by call waiting. So I haven't had CallerID since before Thanksgiving. And what's worse, they charged me to make the service plan changes. Yup. I paid them to screw up my phone service. I am so beyond pissed right now. This evening I have to make yet another phone call to have them fix it (i.e. get rid of call waiting and turn CallerID back on) and have them refund me the service charge for the change. Because I'm not paying for their mistake. And I will be a pain in their rear until they refund me my money and fix the problem. Or until they release me from my contract so I can go someplace else with my business. Because this is unbelievable. How is it possible for them to screw up the same problems over and over and never fix them?? What the f*ck am I paying them so much money for each month?? I just can't stand it.

How one company can be so beyond incompetent as to do EVERYTHING wrong with a customer all at once I have no idea. And then try and blame it on the customer. How they survive and keep such a lion's share of the market is beyond me.

Pet peeve

rant

Why oh why, if I'm paying $90 a night for a room, are you charging me for internet access? I can get free wifi at plenty of other hotels for less than $50 a night for a room. And you call yourselves "upscale"??

What's more, no wifi?? Are you kidding me? Not only do you want me to pay you $11 a DAY for internet access, you expect me to tether myself to a ethernet cable?

Bad hotel. Bad bad bad hotel. And don't get me started on your crappy shower water pressure...

/rant

A rant about my ISP

It is time for a new ISP. That's it. I’m done. I can't stand sitting on hold for almost 30 minutes only to spend another 45+ minutes on the phone while you walk your way through whatever process your computer is making you go through AGAIN. I just can't. It's to the point of ridiculousness. And every time, we go through the same things, things I've already done BEFORE I CALLED but I have to do them again so they can enter something into their damn computer screen so we can move on. And every time, they tell me something completely different and contradictory than the last time I called. I feel like I'm chasing my tail, only, unlike my dog Aussie, I can't catch it so there's no end to the process.

My mother has always said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. In terms of dealing with my ISP, I'm definitely becoming insane. I call (repeatedly), and I expect them to fix the problem because I’m paying them for reliable fast DSL service. And each time, it doesn't get fixed or the same problem reappears a few weeks or months later, so I call again, expecting them to actually fix it this time. And, repeat. Silly me.

This time the technician proceeded to read to me my entire call history with them, after lecturing me about being cooperative. So I explained that I know why I've called, and I've about reached the limit of cooperative, especially since I sat on hold for a good 25 minutes. (I just want the damn thing fixed so I never have to call you people again until my contract is up and I call to cancel so I can actually switch to a nice reliable ISP.)

Anyway, the call history. First, I moved from an area that was previously served by SBC before SBC was acquired by AT&T. The service there is still monitored/maintained by SBC, so I dealt with SBC people when arranging my transfer of service to my current area. I had to transfer it because, see, since SBC was becoming AT&T, and I was moving to an area that had AT&T service, I had to stay with them or face a $200 plus early termination fee, even though my contract still said SBC, I had yet to receive any formal letters about a change regarding my provider, not to mention I was still paying SBC, and oh yeah, SBC doesn't exist in my new area. But, OK. Fine. Whatever. Transfer the service.

Well, apparently the SBC people don't communicate well with the AT&T people, 'cause what they told me did NOT match the letter that AT&T sent me. There were some pretty major differences in terms of what kind of service contract I had signed up for (when did it change from a 1 year to a 2 year contract??) and my e-mail login to access said service was very new and different. So I called to find out what was going on. I got bounced around, disconnected not once, not twice, but THREE times, requiring me to call back and start all over (but I did learn my phone number from having to punch it in so many times), bounced around some more (how many departments can you send me to?? Wait, I already talked to them, so try again…hey, aren't you the person I talked to 15 minutes ago that sent me to the person who apparently just sent me back??), until I finally talked to someone that could fix it and clear up the miscommunication. I think I spent almost 12 hours on the phone over the course of 3 days.

Next I had installation problems. The CD-ROM they sent me didn't work, so someone had to walk me through it over the phone. Oh, and the password they sent me in the letter didn't work, so they had to give me a new one. Um, what kind of operation are you people running that you send your customers INVALID passwords??

Then I called because every time we had a severe rain storm, my DSL would go out, or at best, be intermittent. This is a problem. Thunderstorms are not unheard of here on the East coast. They're kind of frequent ALL F**KING SUMMER. But, according to the technician, it's an internal problem. Riiight. I get static on my line when it rains because I have a problem with the wiring IN MY WALLS. So we played switch the phone line from one jack to another until we got the connection to work. This happened more than once over a few weeks, which meant more than one phone call about the same problem. According to the technician, I called 3 times about the same problem. I already know this. But what are my options?? I'm tied to a contract. And when there's a problem with the service I'm paying for, and I've done everything in the help files that I can access (since I can't access the online help files if I can't get online, duh, and yes, I had to tell a technician this during one of the calls), the next step is to call. And spend time on hold. And more time chasing my tail with yet another technician.

And let's not forget having to rest my modem with a paper clip so they could "reprogram" it back in February (see post).

We had another rain storm today. A nice big thunderstorm. When I came home, my DSL was, once again, intermittent at best. And, once again, this technician told me something completely contradictory to the previous technician the last time I had this problem. Last time, phone jack A was bad, so I had to use B. "Do NOT use A, it is a bad jack and is why you're getting static on your line and having intermittent connection problems with your DSL."

Huh. So the weather outside is affecting the wiring in my walls, causing problems with my phone jacks. Problems that seem to only occur when the OUTSIDE lines get wet. Okay. Sure. I believe you (NOT). Convenient how this makes it my problem because it's inside lines rather than outside ones, and they recommended I look into replacing the wiring in my house (um, it's a RENTAL). Oh, and I got a lecture on how DSL signals work, "sharing" the phone line, blah blah, and NO SHIT, I ALREADY KNOW THIS SO CAN WE PLEASE MOVE ON.

Tonight, it was "Phone jack B is not showing a good signal" (apparently it's "troubling"), So, he had me unplug everything connected to a phone jack in the house (2 phones and my satellite TV receiver) to make sure there was no interference, he checked the line, and still, "B does not have a good signal" so we move the DSL line to phone jack A. Magically, phone jack A, the one I was told to never use for my DSL barely 6 months ago, now has an excellent signal. But, just to be sure, let's play switch the phone line from one jack to another. Move it back to B. Hm. B is still not showing a good signal. So move it back to A. "A is excellent" so I now should "ONLY use A, do NOT use B. But, monitor the connection for a few days, as it may change, and you might have to switch back to jack B, especially if it rains again."

WTF?? I JUST CAN’T STAND IT!!!

Any recommendations or suggestions about how I can get out of my contract with these people?? Please? Anyone?? HELP!!

New music month, or, a love post about Nine Inch Nails

Earlier this month (April 3rd) Ozomatli released their new album, Don't Mess with the Dragon. It rocks. It's fun and exciting and has a great (and infectious) beat. Like all their albums. I've been listening to it and dancing while I do my housework. It's so much more fun to vacuum when you're doing a salsa at the same time. Really. Try it. You'll see.

Today (TODAY!!) Nine Inch Nails released Year Zero, less than two years after With Teeth. Trent Reznor did some serious viral marketing on his latest album, to the point of catching the attention of "non-fans" like the big guys at Google (Matt Cutts) and Rolling Stone. He left USB drives for people to find at concerts, giving fans pre-releases of tracks from the new album and leading them a neat little "down the rabbit hole" chase through the web. A series of websites linked from one to the other, all leading fans through a network of ideas (and a vision of the future), while keeping them interested and guessing. Messages were hidden on t-shirts and buttons. Listening parties (hear the full album before the release!) were held where fans were given more "clues" to the website maze. All in all, quite brilliant. Fans used webpages/fanpages (examples here and here), message boards and wikis to keep each other informed. And Trent has encouraged it all. It has been fascinating to watch, and it's still going. It's not done yet. It's still evolving. There are more "clues" on the album, in the CD booklet, the cover art, and on the physical CD itself ("thermachrome" art that is only visible when the disc is warm, how cool!). Oh, and let's not forget, the entire thing is a commentary on the possible state of the future world, it's a make-believe and rather bleak future where the government has control of it's citizens via a drug they put in the water called parepin (do a Google search for it, I dare you...).

I'll be buying the album, regardless of the marketing, but that's because I'm a long term fan (think back to the beginning of NIN with Down In It and Pretty Hate Machine in 1989) and I buy ALL the albums. Trent's been doing viral stuff for awhile, one example being the lyrics to With Teeth, which were made available via a PDF file that linked one song to another using colored text (there was no booklet with the album). From what I understand via interviews, it's not about selling records for Trent, it's really about the music. So making it possible for fans to listen to the entire album (which he did) prior to release might seem insane, but I wasn't at all surprised. In one of my favorite interviews with Trent he talks about how when he gets a new album, he turns off the phone, sits down, and listens to the entire album from start to finish. He has to experience the album and the music as a whole. Because, ultimately, it's about the music. And I happen to agree wholeheartedly (as someone that really does get "lost" listening to music as much as I do when reading a book).

Overall Trent has really tapped into the web2.0 market and made the music an experience that the fans participate in and help shape. I have so much respect for that. He's reinvented himself and the band over and over, constantly growing as an artist and musician. Nine Inch Nails has blogs (yes, plural), a MySpace page, fan sites that are detailed, and an ever evolving main website complete with a "resources" page that has exterior links. Not to mention downloads galore for those that want them. You have desktop wallpaper, sound files that fans can remix and then upload back to the main site (granted, in Garageband for Macs, but still...), song lyrics, and so much more. It takes the music beyond and really engages the fans, making them active listeners, not just passive receivers. Which, in a nutshell, is what web2.0 is all about, engaging users. Year Zero as an album in particular is supposed to be more than just the album, everything, including the websites, is Year Zero. It's a whole package: image, story, future world, music, all tied together; every piece is significant (although the music is the ultimate expression). And it's not done yet. It's still evolving.

Oh, and if anyone's interested, Year Zero (the album) rocks. Different than every album that came before, and just as incredible. I'm in love with NIN all over again (happens every time I hear a new release). It's distinct in its sound from the other albums/releases, yet without betraying its roots so you can still tell it's Nine Inch Nails. Truly reflects the ever evolving nature of Nine Inch Nails as a musical entity.

Trying to find something positive in the midst of technology hell

My world has been full of technology related frustrations lately. I love technology when it works the way it's supposed to. But when it doesn't work it has the ability to bring me to my knees and make my life hell for hours until I figure out the problem and get it fixed and that is even if it is fixable.

I don't call a help line until I've exhausted everything I can think of and run all the tests and searched all the help files painstakingly. Then and only then will I call the help line. I've spent hours on the phone with help lines, usually connected to someone that's not even in the same country and who's troubleshooting ability is limited to the screen in front of them. They all have programs and scripts they follow, and if it's not on their screen, then they don't know what to do. Usually, I've already tried everything they suggest and then they make me do again, waisting my time. Apparently they make you repeat things that you've already done because their program moves to the next screen only after they enter a value or specific phrase from your continued error results to tell it what screen is next. I know they get paid for it, so ultimately, it's only waisting MY time. And ultimately, the conclusion their program tells them is the SAME thing I told them when we first started hours ago. I've come to expect it, but that doesn't mean I like it or even think it makes sense, because, let's be honest here, it doesn't make sense.

Last night I spent almost two hours on the phone with the people that make my wireless router trying to find out why my router lost all of my data. ALL of my data. The network I set up in August disappeared overnight. Gone. All my personal settings, logins, everything, gone. Poof. And after those 2 hours on the phone, going through every test available in their little computer help programs they read from, they still didn't have an answer for me. So I had to set the wireless network up again, which naturally took another hour because that's just how things work in my world.

This past Saturday night I lost the data in my PDA. I had to install updates to the software because Daylight Saving Time started 3 weeks early due to an act of Congress (in an effort to save electricity, apparently). So I followed the instructions, and, well, it all disappeared. Gone. Poof. I had backups for some of it, but not all it. I sync my PDA with my Yahoo! contacts and calendar, but not everything transfers. So I was able to re-sync Yahoo! with my PDA and restore some of the data, but I lost quite a bit of it. Most notably, I lost all my meeting locations and any birthdays I had entered into my PDA contacts list. The meeting locations are also in a work calendar, so I can deal with those. Stupidly, however, I had not written down those all important birthdays anywhere else. So I've had to put a call out to my friends who's birthdays I couldn't find anywhere else asking them tell me again what day they were born and now I have to re-enter all of that data.

Teach me to trust technology. Paper trail. The all important paper trail. I forgot it's importance for a moment and I got spanked for it. Damn.

In the midst of my technology related frustrations, I did have one positive technology experience. I finally got a new cell phone. Same number, because apparently there is no way to put a forwarding message on a cell phone number if you change it (you know, those "this number has changed, the new number is..." recordings? yeah, not an option), but a new phone. It's sleek. It's black and silver. It has a camera (shoe abominations, look out, I can now document your existence at any time) and even video. It's kind of sexy, actually, all sleek and black and ultra-slim (about a half inch thick at most). Fits nicely in my pocket. Even better, it has a nice long battery life.

Anyway, I decided to try the online "contact list backup" program offered by my wireless carrier in an effort to not lose anyone in the phone transition and to avoid the possibility of having to re-enter all my contacts by hand. It's a simple enough program. You create an account and basically the system uploads your contacts to the online account and gives you a web interface (which is also much easier for editing purposes). You then set up regularly scheduled backups that sync the list of contacts in your phone with the list online. If you make online edits, they get downloaded to your phone and vice versa. If something happens to your phone, you can download that list from the online account back into your phone. So when I got my new phone, I told it to download my contacts and poof! There they were. Easy. I printed out the list "just in case" for nothing, apparently. It worked the way it was supposed to and made my life easier.

Now isn't that the point of technology, to make life easier?

When it's time to switch to a new ISP*

When you call the help desk because the piece of crap modem they gave you is acting up again (third time in six months, which is so not a good ratio) and you spend one and a half hours on the phone with them only to have them tell you "reset" your modem with a paper clip (yes, a paper clip) so they can "reprogram" it from their end.

When you could have saved one hour and 15 minutes of that conversation if they had just done that from the beginning like you told them instead of testing the line five times and checking every damn aspect of your computer's network software again (since you did all of this before you called).

When the technician you've waisted over a hour of your life with on the phone tells you at the end of your rather tense conversation (where you've spent a lot of time practicing deep breathing and counting to 10 so you don't scream) that they've learned a lot because you obviously know a lot more about computers and networks than they do.

Yeah. It's time to start shopping for a new ISP.

*ISP = internet service provider