My AT&T experience.

[simple_gifts]

Thought I would relay my last 2 weeks of "fun" having my dry loop DSL connected.

I had home phone and DSL service with SNET/SBC now ATT for 10 years. Service was flawless @ 6Mbs. I decided to transfer my home phone # to cell service (Verizon) Two weeks ago my DSL service was terminated as part of the home phone transfer. I called to have "dry loop" service install. After I was told it was installed, it did not work. I spent about 2 hours on tech support stepping thru their checklists even tho I knew it was not my setup. I was told the standard "we don't support linux or linksys routers" even tho having hooked up my work laptop to create a broadband connection, all they had me do was to create a PPPoe connection (the same thing linux or a linksys would do. I also inform them that I am talking to tech support on the phone line THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO DISABLE.

After all this work, I was informed I had not enabled my new account (which requires the web). So I drive down to the library and use their open Wifi to enable my account.

Still nothing works, except the phone line they hadn't disconnected. Another hour and I'm told I am supposed to remove the DSL filters that were installed as part of the old installation. Filters removed, nothing works, except the phone they were supposed to disconnect.

Finally I get transferred to Tier 2 support and a nice lady in Dallas says "definitely a wiring issue" and tells me to call back to schedule a on site tech. I was leaving the state the next day so I let it slide.

Call back when I got back in state and no one will transfer me to Tier 2. Insisting they can solve 99% of connection issues @ tier 1. At this point I am sorry I even transferred my service. I also inform them I am talking to them on the line they were supposed to disconnect. I calmly inform the help desk person and his supervisor that I would not be going thru the checklist of connection steps. e.g. What OS, what modem etc. etc. etc. That I was still talking to them on the phone line I wasn't supposed to have. "This stuff all worked for 10 years, it isn't the house wiring, the computer, the ethernet (aka the "yellow" cable), the modem, the OS, the striped shirt(ok I am exaggerating)" It all worked until they tried to convert my service and then nothing.

Over to tier 2 and they schedule a on site person, ok, i will diverge here to point out that now AT&T answers the help desk with "This is Manny in San Francisco or This is Annabelle in Little Rock" The HD translation is "you are not talking to a guy in India" The guy shows up and after 10 minutes of checking stuff figures out no one actually moved any cables back @ the CO; this is why my phone still worked and DSL didn't. He apologizes and says "this really isn't good for the customer" 10 minutes later DSL is working

I plan to put in a good word for him since he was cordial and apologetic. I don't really blame any Tier 1 people, I guess the moral is to document each call and the steps you have already done. Also have a case # assigned to constantly refer to it. I work in IT so I should know this. But sometimes the littlest things turn into monstrosities and the wisdom to document the issue arrives too late.

-T

 

[XS650]

I had a couple of DSL problem with ATT about 18 months ago. I got the same type of clueless script readers that were no help. When I finally got a tech sent out, she found the problem in about 10 minutes (the ATT supplied modem was bad).

I told her about the poor help on the help line and she said she hears that all the time. She gave me her business card and said to call her directly if I have another problem.

 

[S2500Dog]

My father had to purchase a new Router/DSL kit due to spilling hot coffee on it one night. AT&T said that we had to purchase a whole new kit because the warranty has just expired and there was no way they could rebuilt the orginal Router/DSL Box. We ended up burning about $125 out of our pockets. Great customer service
from AT&T is full of it !

 

[Billbert]

I guess most of the phone companies are that bad. I had 2 below terrible experiences with Verizon DSL and switched to DSL Extreme. What a difference!

 

[javacontour]

Fortunately, I was able to fix my own AT&T issue.

I have fiber to the home and switched to uVerse in Jan. However, they seemed to have left the RJ11 jack in the box that converts the fiber to a copper phone signal.

My TV and internet worked, but my phone kept dropping out. After going through the "reboot your router" etc I was able to narrow the problem down to being in my homes wiring.

So I open the network terminal interace box on my home and realize they have that box feeding my home phone lines as well as my uVerse gateway trying to drive the same lines. I disconnect the phone connection in the NTI box, and voila, rock solid phone.

Now if only they would stop billing me for my regular phone service. Every month, on the 26th, I get another bill, I make another call, I give them the AT&T ID's of all the folks with whom I've previously spoken, I get the apologies, credits on my bill, etc, but get another bill the next month.

We'll see in about 10 days if they've finally fixed the billing issue.

At least I don't have to pay. I simply have to call every month.

Now why don't they just give me some free uVerse for the hassle?

 

[Hermann]

Their modems are so cheap that I buy them on EBay for about $8 to $10 just to have a spare. Came in handy last week when I had one croak.

 

[simple_gifts]

A little background, I chose to abandon ATT as my primary provider because I used an SBC (company ATT bought) issued calling card to make a call @ work and ATT misrouted the call outside their network. When it came back into the network, they charged me $7/minute (for about $120 total) for a "3rd party" calling card. They admitted misrouting the call and said the charges were in error, but they would not wipe them, insisting I take up the matter with ATT "legacy long distance" apparently a different company, even though they share the same billing and logo. ATT legacy would not clear the charges either. About 5 hours on various account lines and I hung up and let the bill go to collections. (immature/stupid i know) I will probably pay that bill eventually, but they threw away a $1200/year customer for the sake of collecting a $120 debt on an error they admitted making. Nice job.....

Additionally, this is a story I repeat often.

 

[PandaBear]

This is very common with most of today's network (phone, cable, wireless) companies. You have to go through hoops of tier 1 supports reading out of a script instead of being trained with proper skill to do the job (cost $) regardless of in the US or India. Usually, if you know what you are doing, you should lie about the questions and read out of script too:

OS: Windows XP
Router: None, I'm connecting directly to the PC
Resetting modem: Done, power light looks normal
Reset PC: Done, it just rebooted
PPPoE client: Done (just enter these values into your router instead).

It also help if you lie and tell them that you are a tech support in the rival network companies (if you are with AT&T, say you work for Comcast, etc).

This usually give you enough speed to get throught the bogus scripts and straight to the problem or tier 2.

 

[Shannow]

My AT&T experience ?

Trip to the US, phone defaults to AT&T, as they are the partner of my Aus service provider.

5Mins call home $45.

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
My AT&T experience ?

Trip to the US, phone defaults to AT&T, as they are the partner of my Aus service provider.

5Mins call home $45.
I hope that 5 minit call was worth $45.00 lol

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: xxch4osxx
Originally Posted By: Shannow
My AT&T experience ?

Trip to the US, phone defaults to AT&T, as they are the partner of my Aus service provider.

5Mins call home $45.
I hope that 5 minit call was worth $45.00 lol


Just when I though $1.25/min calling back to the US from oversea was bad.....

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: xxch4osxx
I hope that 5 minit call was worth $45.00 lol


First one was explaining to my parents that due to lack of wi-fi where we were staying, skype wasn't going to work that night.

Second was talking to our children, so it was definitely.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
My AT&T experience ?

Trip to the US, phone defaults to AT&T, as they are the partner of my Aus service provider.

5Mins call home $45.


The cellphone business is a bunch of treacherous snakes. My wife has a brand x pay ahead service that uses ATTs system. It costs her 14 cents a minute to call next door, or to Australia.

I seriously doubt that her brand x pay ahead service is operating as a charity and I doubt ATT is selling air time to brand x at a loss. So if they can both make money on a 14 cent minutes call, they must pop open a bottle of bubbly when they hose someone like they did you.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
This is very common with most of today's network (phone, cable, wireless) companies. You have to go through hoops of tier 1 supports reading out of a script instead of being trained with proper skill to do the job (cost $) regardless of in the US or India. Usually, if you know what you are doing, you should lie about the questions and read out of script too:

OS: Windows XP
Router: None, I'm connecting directly to the PC
Resetting modem: Done, power light looks normal
Reset PC: Done, it just rebooted
PPPoE client: Done (just enter these values into your router instead).

It also help if you lie and tell them that you are a tech support in the rival network companies (if you are with AT&T, say you work for Comcast, etc).

This usually give you enough speed to get throught the bogus scripts and straight to the problem or tier 2.

Pretty much. I have not lied about being tech support, but I do have to lie about the router. Usually I pretend to reset it since if Im calling Ive already determined its not the fault of the machine I have running router duties.

 

[GMBoy]

I can't even begin to describe the issues I had getting U-Verse installed. LOL!

 

[MrHorspwer]

AT&T dry loop. What a flipping nightmare. I have a similar dry loop experience, but mine ended a bit worse for AT&T than yours did.

I dropped my home phone service, which required a dry loop. Whatever... except they didn't tell me they'd be doing this and the first indication I got was no service two days after I requested the phone be turned off. I go through the normal Tier 1 support. I finally convince him that I recently had home phone service cancelled and he sent me to Tier 2. Tier 2 immediately informs me about the dry loop and gave me a date for my service to be turned back on. Great.

The date for my service to be back on passes. I call tech support. They notice a flag on my account and send me to billing. Billing says my service order was put on hold because "I didn't have a valid credit card on file". Mind you, I still have a cell plan with them! They have my contact information. Were they just not going to call me and hope I didn't notice my DSL still wasn't working? She apologizes and gets everything set. I'll be getting a free month of DSL service for the trouble. I get a new date to have my service connected.

I get my service connected, finally, and immediatly begin having intermittent service dropouts. Back on the horn with AT&T. They are sending a guy out to check the signal at the house. He gets there and immediatly says I need to rewire the house. Fine, I probably do, but that doesn't explain why three weeks ago I had a great signal. He goes outside the house and, lo and behold, the signal is [censored] out there too. It's something on their end. Tech leaves and says he will continue working on it.

Service ticket is left open for two weeks with no resolution. I call to cancel my DSL service. Unfortunatly, this means I switched to cable. It sucks, but at least I can get service. I will also be switching to Verizon in the fall, despite my wants and intentions to purchase and iPhone 4. Oh well, the AT&T rep didn't seem to be too concerned about losing me as a customer.

The worst thing about all this is that I was all but forced to abandon DirecTV, which I was incredibly happy with. With the cost of stand-alone internet from the cable company, I couldn't justify the cost of not going with an internet/television bundle.

I never did get my free month of DSL. AT&T can die in a fire.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: XS650

The cellphone business is a bunch of treacherous snakes. My wife has a brand x pay ahead service that uses ATTs system. It costs her 14 cents a minute to call next door, or to Australia.

I seriously doubt that her brand x pay ahead service is operating as a charity and I doubt ATT is selling air time to brand x at a loss. So if they can both make money on a 14 cent minutes call, they must pop open a bottle of bubbly when they hose someone like they did you.


I heard an interview with a telecommunications analyst down here a few years ago.

He was explaining that mobile communications were initially isolated, and very expensive, because the users were few, and the equipment comparatively expensive.

As users and range increased, cost per user dropped, to the point of a completely saturated market, with everyone having mobile communication.

But they kept the cost fixed in last century's established cost per call.

So they offer $50/mo plans with "$500" worth of calls, rather than calls at actual cost. Indicating that like the old nuclear argument "too cheap to meter", mobile phone costs genuinely are becoming too cheap to meter, and that they really want a monthly service fee rather than an itemised bill.

I think that might be why we got screwed on our phone calls. we use a pre-paid account, that gets drawn down by actual useage. Our local "service" provider has been shortening the life of pre-paid dollars from 12 months, to 6 months, to 3 months, and increasing minimum balances, to almost become a monthly user fee.

 

[crinkles]

i may add that ive actually seen mobile phone use decrease in my work. People are starting to take off their mobile numbers from their email, business cards etc. guess people are sick being a slave to work 24/7. i only give my number to people i am expecting who will have to call me, e.g. client who's meeting me on site, etc.

If i am out of the office, i am out, they can leave a message on the landline. And guess what, lo and behold i can get back to them.

 

[Shannow]

crinkles,
people use mobiles instead of thought/planning.

It annoys me no end the inane questions that highly paid people ask at ridiculous hours rather than using 2 neurons and a written instruction that they are supposed to be familiar with.

That being said, skype was great for our trip. Talked to the children face to face for a half hour each day that wi-fi was available (good for them and us), called parents skype to land/mobile, and spent $6 over the 10 days.

 

[bradepb]

We had sbc/att a few years back - never again