A few days ago I added a land line for faxes and to knock down the number of cell phone minutes we pay for - - and also added some other features, too, but - - no phone, Internet or TV service since Saturday.
And the service tech didn't show up today during the scheduled three-hour window, 5- 8 p.m., that a Time Warner person told us Sunday morning was our slot.
And maybe sooner, she said.
Now the word is Tuesday.
So here I am online at a local Internet hot-spot, which is great, but my Time Warner upgrade definitely feels like a downgrade.
[Monday update: Back online today at a loaned office: After a 38-minute call to Time Warner this morning with five different people (and thanks to that supervisor who transferred me to phone sales), there is a promise that someone will come out today - - at an unspecified time. We'll see. Had to laugh when today's mail brought a flyer from AT&T that said: "James - - You Deserve Better Cable Service."]
[Final final update: 3 p.m. Monday. Things back to 'normal' through some telephone signal adjustments without the service call - - though it never did get scheduled for today, Monday, and apparently had been set for Tuesday, 5-8 p.m. Since things are working, and the service rep said that there was nothing that a tech could do at the house that was better than what had been restored by phone, I agreed to cancel the Tuesday appointment. I did tell the service rep on the phone I was agreeing to give up the Tuesday appointment doing this against my better judgement because I had no faith that the service would stay restores. I will switch providers is there is a repeat service failure.]
[Here's another update: Tuesday arrived, and we have no phone, no TV, slow Internet. Burning up more cell phone minutes calling TW again. The Tuesday appointment was restored, and when the tech got here, he confirmed that the signal coming from the box on the pole was too weak, and a different tech would come with a fix on the pole in 24-72 hours.]
Hence. More waiting. Heavy cell phone call demands, as family emergencies and other important things, along with routine work and regular life, all seem to come at the same time.
[Thursday afternoon: Still waiting. We're closing in on the 48-hour marker, and still no fix on the pole, no phone, no TV, problematic Internet. As I said, this was all to buy added services and features - - turbo speed Internet, more TV options, and a land line that has been dead since Saturday - - and today is Thursday.
Some upgrade. What was I thinking?]
[Friday afternoon: 12:30 p.m. That 72-hour window is closing. Still no phone. Internet slower than old-fashioned dial-up. TV working. So that weak signal - - if any of that is true - - can't get the three services working at the same time. This bundling three-in-one is what TW is hawking. All in all: ridiculous.]
Welcome to the world of Republican style capitalism. Thanks to their half backed version of capitalism we have a telecommunications duopoly. When the FCC complained of poor US broadband performance, the cable and telco companies demanded more deregulation and the FCC gave in.
ReplyDeleteOne way to get more competition would be a shared last mile, but Wisconsin made it illegal to create open access municipal networks, thanks to a bill written by Ameritech.
In France you get 14 megabit Internet, unlimited national calling and 100 channels of TV for 39 euros per month. Japan has 100 megabit full duplex Internet to the home for about $50 a month.
So we are all stuck with lousy and slow service, thanks to the duopoly, the lobbyists, and the easily paid off visionless politicians on both sides of the aisle.