Verizon is the worst

[Hermskii]

Verizon has the worst business service I have ever seen. I mean this is almost like I'm on that old show where they recorded you while they messed with you. I've been on the phone for over 2 hours just trying to report a T1 bouncing. So mad!

Hey and check this out! You can get a phone for free if you're poor!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09 ... l-program/

That makes me way mad too!

[a nameless entity]

LOL good old rabid Fox News attacks the Democrats who did well in the campaign recently by giving links to "Recommended Videos" that slam the First Lady, (Michelle Obama injects race into politics) and attack President Clinton by dredging up old news about his ex-lover Monica. (Inside Monica Lewinsky's $12M tell-all, part 1)

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., received a mailed solicitation last year informing her she was eligible for a phone, leading her to question the program.

“I am troubled by the expansive potential for the program to be abused," McCaskill wrote the FCC in December.

The FCC, meanwhile, announced in July that comprehensive reforms to the program had saved nearly $43 million and were on track to save $200 million in 2012. The reforms included eliminating unnecessary subsidies, cutting off duplicative subscriptions and requiring better proof of eligibility.

*Bold & Italics added by me for emphasis
While rabid Fox News was honest about the origins of the program, no doubt they were betting that most people would not bother to read the article, and would see only the moniker "Obamaphone" that they hung on it.

It sure looks like another well intended program for the poor has been derailed by sharpies hoping to make a dishonest buck.

While I don't usually have to wait as long as you did there Herm, I hate my ISP for my own reasons. Namely that they don't deliver the bandwidth or quality that they promise and that I am paying for every month. My agreement with them expires next month. I'm going to push them for a much better deal for my money, or else they get the push. I've been putting this showdown off for 2 or 3 years. Now is the time.

[Hermskii]

Kick their butts!

[a nameless entity]

Kick their butts!

I spoke to the competition first, since I wanted to beat them over the head with a better offer from Bell. They have been advertising their new "Fibe" internet and TV network for some time. And since I have my home phone with them I've been getting countless offers of this and that kind of package deal.
But the guy that I spoke to on the telephone was obviously a bilingual Francophone who had grown up in the Caribbean. His accent was hard to understand. He sounded like a French speaking person who had learned to speak English in Jamaica.
He was also too well trained in the art of squeezing a potential customer for as much money as possible.
Once he learned what I had with my cable company he kept trying to "upgrade" me, and rush the process through to setting up a time and day to have the installer come to my house.
My main problem was actually getting him to listen to me. I finally got him to agree to send me a print out explaining everything about their services. Hopefully it will all become clear, because their website sucks, tells you nothing, and just loops you around and around the same four pages whenever you try to find anything out.

So no joy there yet, and no club to beat my ISP over the head with.

Which was too bad, because I called my cable company next anyway. I couldn't get anywhere with the young lady I first spoke to, because she is powerless, and can only change the service plan I have. I was bumped over to a "loyalty" representative next.

I need to explain here that originally I had analogue TV and cable internet with my cable company. There was no "digital" TV yet back then, and no need for a box to decode the digital TV signal. When my mother passed on and her pension stopped, I had to drop the TV and just go with cable internet. But of course since I wasn't paying for the TV any more, the cable company installed a filter to block the analogue TV signal. They didn't get around to doing that for the longest time, and once they did, I was sure that I was noticing that my internet signal was degraded somewhat. They claimed it was not, but I am sure that it was and is degraded. This has been a sore point since that time.

So I spoke to the "loyalty" representative. Once again it seemed that I could not get her to actually listen to me. At first she just kept trying to "upgrade" me to digital TV with the necessary boxes on each TV at $4 a month extra on top of everything else. But I kept insisting that all I wanted was analogue TV and that goddamn filter out of my cable line. She wouldn't budge on that. While analogue TV is still available, they don't and won't sell it to "new" customers. I insisted that all I wanted was analogue TV. I don't want another blasted box with its own remote to mess with. -And that most of all I want that damned filter out of my cable line!! But she didn't want to hear that, and was trying to avoid having a service technician come out to my house to remove it.

I don't think I was able to make it clear to her that I would budge on the digital TV thing, IF when they brought the decoder boxes, that they also while they're here anyway, remove that damn filter from my cable line!!! I was unable to make it clear to her that the presence of the filter was the real deal breaker, because she wouldn't listen to me, and didn't want to hear what she didn't want to hear.

Or so it seemed at any rate. I finally told her that I was prepared to walk away from the internet altogether, rather than pay too much money for so little. I guess she was exasperated with my attitude that "the customer is always right" too, because she seemed fine with that. That part she listened to.

It turns out that they want 30 days notice of cessation of service. I called on the correct day it seems, because 30 days from yesterday is when my month ends with them. So I will pay them one last time. I must return their modem to them within 5 business days after the 1st of November. They will get it back on the 2nd.

I'm rather hoping someone else from the cable company phones to ask me how I feel about the quality of service I got yesterday. I will tell them how they missed the point I was making, and what the real deal breaker was.
But I know I'm dreaming. They won't call.

[Hermskii]

I hope you get on with the new folks and eventually get the good service you want and deserve.

I'm in a mode right now of reducing costs. I'll be tempting my cable company to get me back. I may even go all adhoc like. Example. maybe have my phone just be on the lan line (pots) again. Then the high speed internet on Comcast cable and maybe I'll do the TV signal via satellite. This seems to be the cheapest route for sure.

The main thing I want and must have is my static IP. Comcast failed me last time and I left them. Let's see what they learned!

[Scify]

I try tell my sister that but she went with them.
She wanted iphone4 which was free.

[David]

Dang double post

289388,xcitefun-1000-posts.jpg

Good to hear from you again Scify and Happy 1000th post!!!!

[Hermskii]

LOL! I deleted the double post for her and now your post seems ......premature. LOL.

[David]

LOL! I deleted the double post for her and now your post seems ......premature. LOL.

Have you been talking to my wife?.....lol......Ok, Scify I do wish you a happy 1000th post when you post next....

[Scify]

okay
LOL

[Hermskii]

Congrats girl! 1000. Not bad at all!

[David]

HAPPY 1000th Post Scify.

289388,xcitefun-1000-posts.jpg

[a nameless entity]

Hey Scify!

I'm glad I'm still here for your achievement.

My nephew is a primo web surfer and hidden info finder; but even he could not find out any more than I could about the phone company's telephone/fiberTV/fiberInternet "bundles". I will not be buying "a pig in a poke", so they had better be prepared for full disclosure on what I get for how much, and what is involved for the installation of "Fibe TV & Internet". And until that happens, I may be offline for a while, or for good, depending on their attitude and what kind of a deal we can agree on.

I am so sick and tired of all of these too-big-to-fail companies that have absorbed all of the competition such that they now treat all of their customers so badly. At one time, no matter how full of it the buyer might be, the attitude of "the customer is always right" still prevailed.
Now they treat all of their customers as supplicants, who must give over all of their money for a crust of bread. Give them your last few coins, and they might "upgrade" you to have the crumbs off of the bread board as well.

[Hermskii]

I hear your disgust Nameless but I sure hope you don't go off-grid as far as internet connectivity goes. There has to be some options mannnnnn!