Rants

I need to vent for a moment, about how much I hate AT&T and how I’m frustrated that there’s nothing I can do about it.

About a month ago, I decided to save myself some money and cut off my home phone line. I wanted to keep my DSL line so I switched to AT&T’s DSL Direct—DSL without home phone service. At the time I wanted to switch, I had 3MB DSL. I did the math and found that if I cut out my home phone service and upgrade my speed to 6MB DSL, I’d still save some money. So I had them upgrade my speed to 6MB as well as cutting off my home phone service.

I was told at that time that it will take up to 48 hours for the new speed to take effect and that after 48 hours I should power-cycle my modem. So I followed their instructions.

So after the 48 hour wait and the power-cycling of the modem, I still didn’t have my 6MB speed. I called them up and said I’m being billed for 6MB DSL now but I’m still only getting 3MB. As it turns out, the lady who took my call initially when I cut the home phone service off had done something wrong and now their billing didn’t sync up with my class of service. This service call took care of that and I had my 6MB almost immediately.

Then just yesterday, the 1 month anniversary of upgrading my speed (new billing cycle), my modem dropped back down to 3MB. After digging around on their site for 20 minutes trying to find a way to contact them, I decided to try to handle this problem via online chat with a customer support rep.

This encounter with support started off OK. She got my account information and verified that I’m supposed to be getting 6MB. She directed me to a speed test website that they could use to verify the validity of my claim of only getting 3MB. I ran the speed test and it came back with 1.5Mb down and 153Kb up. I relayed this information to the support agent and she said that this is indeed way below the allowable speed for my account. I said that this number didn’t jive with what I had been getting previously (just 10min prior) at Speakeasy’s speed test website. So I told her I’d run the test again real quick. This time it came back with 2.9Mb and 163Kb.

After relaying this information to the support rep, she said that this could be a problem with the line and that I needed to call in to talk to a support person live so that we could schedule a service call. I then said “So you mean you will no longer be handling my case?” to which she replied “I assure you that we will get your problem resolved if you call in.” Then I was in the middle of typing “So is there a ticket number or anything that I need to give them?” when she ended the chat session. I said out-loud “You bitch.”

After cooling off for an hour or so I followed her instructions and called in. I had to re-explain my entire problem to Eddie, a support rep. He didn’t quite understand what I was telling him at first, so I re-iterated “This is happening every billing period. My speed gets dropped back to 3MB. I’ve called in before and they’ve taken care of it.” Then he understood what I was saying. But because I never had a support ticket, I had to go through the whole rigmarole of doing the speed test and all that jazz. Then after I again proved that I wasn’t getting the speed that I was supposed to be receiving, Eddie tried to call the “Digital Services Department.” After about 10min he came back on the phone and said he wasn’t able to get ahold of them. Then I said “Is there a number I can try them on?” He said yes and gave me the same number I used to get ahold of him. I told him that can’t be right because that’s what led me to him. Then he realized he made a mistake and gave me another number. I thanked him and we ended the call.

I spent the next hour doing my own thing for a while, taking a break from the hold music and broken English that is AT&T support. Then I tried to call this number Eddie gave me. This number was not a support number, it was the number for “Electronic Payment Claims Center”, and was closed until Monday morning.

So I’ll be going through this same bullshit again in a few hours when I start this entire process all over again. I need to chill right now.

Q: “But Cale, why don’t you switch to cable?”
A: Because I can’t. There isn’t a cable provider in the subdivision where I live and there isn’t any cable infrastructure near me. I am in an area of town that isn’t incorporated, technically not within city limits—though this is one of the more busy areas of town. I’ve tried Charter and I’ve tried Comcast, both of which tell me they don’t serve my area.

Q: “Ok, what about using Clear?”
A: Yes, Atlanta has Clear (WiMax provider) which I WOULD use if they offered home internet service in my area. Where I live, they only offer Clear as a mobile broadband. Plus, have you talked to their customer support? They’re just as bad as AT&T! They don’t know their elbows from their assholes. I looked into getting Clear last month, this led me to a few questions which I decided to talk to a customer service agent about.

Q: “Alright, well that’s a punch in a crotch. What about FiOS?”
A: I’d LOVE to get FiOS. But again, I can’t. Verizon has no infrastructure where I live and can’t support even home phone service where I’m at.

Q: “Holy hell! Ok, what about satellite internet?”
A: LOL. Internet from outter-space… yeah right. 1MB is the highest speed I can find, and its more expensive.

Q: “What the hell! Where do you live?”
A: A seemingly under-developed area of un-incorporated Lawrenceville, GA which I have dubbed “Little Mexico”.