I read number three as "The second person said there was an outRage in my area," and I was going to say, "Well, duh, didn't they realize that's why you were calling them?"

That sucks. Especially having to go find a bar for kickoff time. Hope it comes back soon.

Utilities, in general, make for interesting discussion about reliability and availability. For decades now, we as consumers have become accustomed to electricity and telephone service ALWAYS being on. Availability is regularly in the 99.99% range.

Along comes the Internet and broadband communication in the 90s. After only a decade of trial and error, science and technology, is it time yet to expect the same reliability from our Internet provider? If we flip a switch the lights come on, or if we pick up the phone we get a dial tone. Does broadband Internet mean ALWAYS on?

1. I MISS CABLE INTERNET.
2. MY DSL BILL KEEPS COMING TO THE WRONG LAST NAME. I KEEP TRYING OT THINK OF HOW THIS MIGHT BE ADVANTAGEOUS AS IT IS APPARENTLY A STICKY BITCH TO FIX, WHICH IS WHY IT KEEPS COMING TO THE WRONG NAME.
3. I FEEL OBLIGATED TO THE QUEEN TO FINISH THIS BOX OF WEETABIX. BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE.
4. OPERATING ON A CAT IN ESTRUS IS MORE COMPLICATED, THEREFORE MORE DANGEROUS AND EXPENSIVE. WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND.
5. NO, "HEAT" IS NOT SOMETHING I MADE UP. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE THAT YOU LIE SO OFTEN YOU THINK EVERYONE IS ALWAYS LYING, YOU FUCKS.

GOOD CALL ON THROWING SOMETHING before GOING TO A SPORTS BAR. EVEN "SPORTS" BARS DO NOT WELCOME SUCH ACTIVITIES, EXCEPT FOR DART BOARDS AND HOOPS MACHINES. WHERE'S THE FUN IN CONTAINED THROWING?

more yelling: IT'S SUNDAY AND ALL THE BARS ARE CLOSED IN MY TOWN.

netbros: I don't expect 100% uptime from my provider. I do expect them to tell me what the hell is going on. I had called last night and they said there was a service outage affecting my area that would be fixed by approximately 9 pm (I was calling at 9:30 pm). This morning, person #1 had no idea about the outage, didn't know if my TV not working was related to my slow internet, and person #2 had no idea when it would be fixed. Obviously, my Internet is now up, but their customer service sucks ass. My utility company (where I used to live) had a recorded message during outages that tells you 1) where the problem exists; 2) what they're doing; 3) when they expect to be done; and 4) would you like a call back when it's all fixed? and how about some tea and a muffin with jam?

Customer service. Now that's a whole 'nother matter.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what it will take to improve customer service in all fields. Better pay? Better training? Somehow making the job more desirable?

Why do some companies do customer service light years better than others?

I can't even participate in this thread because of how traumatized I was by my last internet battle. It took six weeks to change my internet service out of my old roommate's name to my name, and during that time they had to TURN OFF MY HIGH SPEED DSL. (This is ATT which gobbled up SBC Yahoo! in San Francisco.) I went up the chain to the top and that was the deal. I had this whole plan to install a new phone line, and new DSL, and then turn off the old, so there would be no gap in service. But then some mean or incompetent phone worker who took one of my 700 calls turned off the service without my go-ahead, so I had to wait the six weeks. (And don't get me started about the calls to India about my wireless router. I finally paid $36.00 or something to have three months of premium service so that my calls would be picked up after 10 minutes instead of 90.)

Okay, I guess I participated.

DEAR TIME WARNER CABLE - PLEASE CEASE AND DESIST SENDING ME SHIT IN THE MAIL ABOUT YOUR DIGITAL PHONE SERVICE. I'M NOT INTERESTED AND SENDING ME SOMETIMES TWO MAILINGS A DAY SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK WILL NOT CHANGE MY MIND.

ALSO CAN YOU LAY OFF ON ALL THE TV ADS FOR SAME? I ESPECIALLY HATE THE ROADRUNNER EXTREME AD WHICH SAYS I CAN GET THE 10MB FOR JUST $10 MORE AND DOES NOT MENTION TO GET THAT PRICE I ALSO HAVE TO GET THE FUCKING DIGITAL PHONE.

I ALREADY GIVE YOU BASTARDS $160 A MONTH FOR THE DIGITAL CABLE, HD CHANNELS, HBO AND SHOWTIME. I ACTUALLY WAS READY TO FORK OVER $10 A MONTH TO BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD PORN PIRATED MOVIES AND MUSIC CONTENT FASTER. BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO.

The internet thing is just another part of our utility woes. We have Comcast for our cable and internet, which is fine. Well, except for the hundreds of mailings we get from them each month asking us to sign up for the services we already have. Whatever.

The real point is this: The BF works for ATT and can get a free phone line and DSL. I would love to have this because a) I don't want people to have to call both of our cell phones to find us and b) sometimes Comcast sucks. So the BF calls to set up the service and is told that we have four units in our building: garden, unit 1, apartment 1, and apartment 3. Which one are we? No one knows.

I HATE THAT THE WORST PHONE COMPANY IN THE PROVINCE HAS A MONOPOLY HERE. I MISS HIGH-SPEED, THOUGH I RECOGNIZE THAT THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS YOU JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHEN YOU LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, AND IT'S WORTH IT. STILL, I'D SWITCH PHONE PROVIDERS IN A HEARTBEAT, GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY. DAMN YOU HELLUS. DAMN YOU AND YOUR CRAPPY SERVICE AND YOUR CONDESCENDING STAFF AND YOUR LUDICROUS WAIT TIMES AND YOUR RIDICULOUS CHARGES FOR A SCREAMING 50.6 KBPS!!!!!!!!!!

At this moment, my Cable TV/Internet Provider is sending me mixed billing messages. Either I have double-paid my bill and owe nothing for the next month, or my electronic-check payment has been returned, resulting in a $25 charge, a threat to shut me off and a requirement that I only pay with cashiers checks or money orders for the next 12 months. My bank balance says ONE payment has been made. I suspect this is going to get worse before it gets better. If I disappear for a while from the web, then it'll mean they did shut me off and I'm too far out of town for DSL and my phone landline is a little dicey anyway.

So.... AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

The DSL service at my house is more reliable than the water.

Is that a good thing?