My mother has DSL & it's been active for at least six months.
Two months ago, she was offered by AT&T to upgrade the service from the 1Meg per second service she had, to 6Mps, & it would cost her *less* each month.
Naturally, she took them up on this.
Of course, ever since the new service went into effect, her connectivity has gone into the toilet.
Her modem would "turn orange" (the 2Wide modem has 3 lights: Power/Self Diagnostic, LAN Connectivity, & Internet Link - the IL light would turn orange indicating the connection has gone bad) at LEAST once a day, often times multiple times *an hour*.
For the previous two weeks, she hasn't been able to stay connected long enough to check her email.
She calls me up & asks me to come troubleshoot the problem ("Please come fix this. I'll buy pizza & Diet Pepsi." Ok, I'm there! *grin*).
Turns out there's nothing wrong with the computer (there'd better not be - I installed DeepFreeze on it & she stores everything to a USB drive), the internal lines test ok, but it dies on a PING and TRACERT shows there are a LOT of hops to the ISP...
I call up 611 repair service, ask them to rip & rebuild the circuit.
They claim there's no change in signal TO her, but the modem isn't responding properly.
Now, this is the same modem she had when we still lived at the old place, and it's at least 2 years old (they shipped it to us around August of 2005), so it's no longer under warranty & they will NOT replace it for free since "it's not THEIR equipment".
?O.o? Oh really? So this SBC logo emblazoned across the face isn't yours, then?
[AT&T Tech] "It's out of warranty. You bought it out-right when you signed up for the Service. If it's gone bad, then you'd have to buy a new one. We sell them for $130 plus tax & $13 Shipping & Handling."
Fine. Then send a line tech out to test the circuit & our lines because we're NOT getting the service we're paying for.
They sent a LT out this afternoon who determined:
- Her signal is "weak" & it's NOT the internal wiring
- The nearest DSLAM was never provisioned for HER to get 6Mps (her neighbors get it, but HER lines aren't capable of it)
- HER line is capped UNDER 6Mps, can only get a BURST of barely 5, and even THAT is only 82% reliability
- Her line CAN maintain 3Mps at better than 98%, but no-where NEAR the 6 they sold her
- The modem she has isn't capable of more than 4Mps
So SBC/AT&T sold my mother a service she could NEVER take full advantage of, and *they knew that from the very begining*.
The Line Tech was VERY professional & we talked about what was going on the entire time he spent testing the lines & equipment.
He asked me how *I* knew about DSLAM's et al, and I explained that I used to work for Williams Communications.
His eyes got RATHER wide & a grin spread over his face - "Well then, I guess I don't have to explain WHY this is a bit of a cock-up on our part."
(Grins) No, no you don't...
He showed me the readings he was getting on her line (abysmal) & puts his contact on speakerphone so I can hear the fact that everything they're doing is merely reconfirming the fact that they've flubbed it...
So I call them back today after their Line Tech left, explain all of the above, and ask them what kind of discounts, rebates, & pro-rate they can do to make up for the fact that they knew it all before, and I asked if they could give her a free modem that WAS compatible with the service.
Well, the Phone Rep says they can't give her a free modem, because the *low* priced model is still over $80 (the $130 model is their top of the line version), but they reduced her service to the 3Mps level, dropped the bill by $10 a month (which is the 3Mps rate), credited her with a free month of service, AND pro-rated THIS month's bill so she's only paying half.
Ok, that works.
They accepted that they flubbed it, that they should've known that her equipment couldn't handle the bandwidth, & that the whole "oops, we forgot to, like, activate that switch" was DEFINITELY something their legal department would have a cow over. =)P
I told them to put a note in her file to let us know when they've provisioned the switch for the full 6Mps, as my mom IS interested in the full speed.
The Rep said they would do just EXACTLY that, & hoped we wouldn't have to "suffer" with the "limited service" (of "only" 3Mps) until they can make it right.
So they did pretty much everything they could to make it right, & I *didn't* have to resort to a major butt-chewing to get it corrected.
I just wish I hadn't had to go through it all in the first place.
So do they deserve a LARTing or not? |
