My internet service is fits and spurts (this being a spurt), and otherwise, dead as a doornail... and has been since yesterday.
I called technical assistance, and here's a synopsis:
- you shouldn't have to press 1 to continue in English
- the helpful message that says you can register your problem more quickly by logging onto "double u double u double u dot comcast dot com" only works if you actually have ACCESS TO THE FREAKIN' INTERNET.
- I was on hold for 22 minutes!
- technician asks me if I've checked the connections... cable, network, power. Oh my, smart sir, you mean it might be as simple as a connection in this room??? Give me a break. Had I rather hold this phone to my ear for half an hour, or crawl behind the desk and make damn sure it's not something I can fix myself????
- technician tells me that I would be surprised at the number of phone calls he receives from people who don't have thier modem plugged in, etc. Dear God, what a sucky job he has!
- technician tells me that he can't get a signal through to my modem. Wow... really??? I told him that when he picked up the call.
- the quickest he can get someone out is 8am Monday morning, which is unacceptable to me since I will have to go to the office today and tomorrow (Saturday and Sunday), in order to complete my work.
- not that he cares, but i tell technician of the sweet deal that at&t has offered me to switch to DSL. he swears that he DOES care and will do whatever it takes to keep me a broadband customer.
- however, he considers "whatever it takes" to mean sending someone out Monday morning. And no matter how long I hold out and threaten, the earliest someone can come out is 8am Monday morning.
- well, I resign myself, since that's quicker than I can get AT&T to install DSL, so I finally agree to 8 am Monday morning.
- then suddenly I realize that I have promised a client that I will do a walk-through on his jobsite on Monday morning, so I have to reschedule for Monday afternoon, 2-5pm.
- i remind the young man to credit my bill for 3 days of internet service, and while he's at it, credit me 2 days of cable tv, since I have to go to work (and won't be able to enjoy my cable tv).
- he says he'll credit me one week of my total bill, and I protest and remind him that that doesn't mean that they can take a week to solve the problem. he assures me that they won't.
- in closing, the uber polite young man asks if there is anything else he can do to assist me. BIG MISTAKE.
- I tell him to send a message to the advertising department: (1) I don't appreciate the astronaut popping off to the cop, (2) the astronaut's yoga moves are disturbing and irrelevant to what they're trying to promote, and (3) to infer that because a group of men are huddled around the remote control during a bbq party... that "their women" would set the backyard on fire is demeaning.
- the young man said that he appreciated my comments and would pass them along. he said that he understood, as men had long been portrayed as incompetent fathers...
- and I said, "if the shoe fits".
- ok, please understand that I was angry... but I was wrong for saying that. my father was the best parent in the world, and equal to my mother in every way.
All that said... seriously, with all I said, I may never get my internet fixed.
