Post by The Centurion on Jun 12, 2008 17:18:35 GMT -5
This probably belongs in the Grr thread, but I am seriously pissed off about the current state of internet service providers in America. Basically everything is boiling down to two ISP's that matter
Charter
or
AT&T
I hate them both. The reason I hate Charter is because they do not have consistant prices. Every time I get a quote from somebody the price is different. Who do I believe? Not to mention my leasing office for my apartment says I can only get Charter if I go through a special agent that they have because they dont want people drilling in the walls(which is fair). The unfair thing is that this guy charges top dollar for installation that I dont freaking need, I know how to install a modem, and my apartment is already cable and interent ready so theres no drilling required. Therefore I should not have to pay the $69.99 installation fee if I can do it myself. Not to mention that Charter always wants to sell stuff in bundles so they can get more money, but they give you this like 6 month promotional price so after 6 months your bill goes up from $49.99 a month to $99.99 a month. Just doesnt seem like a company that I'd wanna do business with. So I went to the only other option available.
AT&T
I walked into an AT&T store. I told the guy behind the counter "I need high speed internet service, but I do not want a phone line to base it on, I understand you offer DSL service without the use of the a phone line". He says "yes thats fine, but we do charge and extra $4 for that service"(this is annoying because the less services I have by them means they would actually be doing less work to maintain me than if I did have a phone line but whatever its only $4). I go ahead and buy the $80.00 wireless modem and assume that I am set to go. The guy tells me they should be able to flip my service on in a few days. Fine by me. Well before I leave he says he needs to call to get me activated and all that jazz, well then he says its possible the service may not be available in my area and they will have to run a test that takes up to 48 hours. Which is crazy because my neighbors have DSL provided by AT&T. But anyway I go for it. Well he finally calls and tells me everything is fine. Well a few days later I get a phone call from AT&T saying that they dont have my apartment # (even though I gave it to the service man when I bought the modem) and they need me to give them a call back. THey dont leave me a direct extension just their main corporate line. I think "well I guess Ill call them back". I call them and after doing a magic code to get through all the automated phone robots I finally got to speak to a human being. Of course she has no idea who called me or for what reason(which is not her fault at all, its the fault of the jerk heads who called me and didnt leave me a good number). Well she connects me to another person who fixes my address in their computer system. That person then explains to me that they will be sending out a person to hook up my service on Thursday June 12th(today). Thats all well and good except im not home today im at work all day . So I gave them the number to my leasing office for them to grant the guy access to the apartment to do whatever he needs to do. So I decide to just wait and see what happens I envision 3 scenarios happening
1. They set up the internet service without a hitch and everyone is happy.
2. They leave a note on my door wondering why I wasnt home.
3. They call me and tell me that the service is not available in my area.
Charter
or
AT&T
I hate them both. The reason I hate Charter is because they do not have consistant prices. Every time I get a quote from somebody the price is different. Who do I believe? Not to mention my leasing office for my apartment says I can only get Charter if I go through a special agent that they have because they dont want people drilling in the walls(which is fair). The unfair thing is that this guy charges top dollar for installation that I dont freaking need, I know how to install a modem, and my apartment is already cable and interent ready so theres no drilling required. Therefore I should not have to pay the $69.99 installation fee if I can do it myself. Not to mention that Charter always wants to sell stuff in bundles so they can get more money, but they give you this like 6 month promotional price so after 6 months your bill goes up from $49.99 a month to $99.99 a month. Just doesnt seem like a company that I'd wanna do business with. So I went to the only other option available.
AT&T
I walked into an AT&T store. I told the guy behind the counter "I need high speed internet service, but I do not want a phone line to base it on, I understand you offer DSL service without the use of the a phone line". He says "yes thats fine, but we do charge and extra $4 for that service"(this is annoying because the less services I have by them means they would actually be doing less work to maintain me than if I did have a phone line but whatever its only $4). I go ahead and buy the $80.00 wireless modem and assume that I am set to go. The guy tells me they should be able to flip my service on in a few days. Fine by me. Well before I leave he says he needs to call to get me activated and all that jazz, well then he says its possible the service may not be available in my area and they will have to run a test that takes up to 48 hours. Which is crazy because my neighbors have DSL provided by AT&T. But anyway I go for it. Well he finally calls and tells me everything is fine. Well a few days later I get a phone call from AT&T saying that they dont have my apartment # (even though I gave it to the service man when I bought the modem) and they need me to give them a call back. THey dont leave me a direct extension just their main corporate line. I think "well I guess Ill call them back". I call them and after doing a magic code to get through all the automated phone robots I finally got to speak to a human being. Of course she has no idea who called me or for what reason(which is not her fault at all, its the fault of the jerk heads who called me and didnt leave me a good number). Well she connects me to another person who fixes my address in their computer system. That person then explains to me that they will be sending out a person to hook up my service on Thursday June 12th(today). Thats all well and good except im not home today im at work all day . So I gave them the number to my leasing office for them to grant the guy access to the apartment to do whatever he needs to do. So I decide to just wait and see what happens I envision 3 scenarios happening
1. They set up the internet service without a hitch and everyone is happy.
2. They leave a note on my door wondering why I wasnt home.
3. They call me and tell me that the service is not available in my area.