AT&T is pathetic

Thumbnail Version:

Desiring to switch my internet service provider from Comcast to AT&T, AT&T sends me a modem. I run the "Self-Install" program, it doesn't work. Today I get a call from AT&T saying there is no service to my address. Well, duh! Why'd you send me the modem then?! Idiots!!

Long Version:

We get broadband internet from Comcast, via cable modem. Lately, the service has been deteriorating, aka sucking, so I'm looking at alternate providers.

Comcast's internet signal will just disappear now and then. The cable modem will show no internet signal. TV, however, which is also provided by Comcast and transmitted along the same coaxial cablewire, works fine. Just the net is down. For 20 minutes. Maybe 30. Or 60.

And then it just comes back on, all by itself. Just a little frustrating. I've called Comcast Service Dept several times about it, but certainly not EVERY time it has happened. The service, lately, has been dropping out maybe once per day. Sometimes the phone Tech would reset my modem from their end, and the signal would return. Sometimes it wouldn't. Last week, we had a Service Call to check the lines, but no problems were found.

A little extra noise in the line: 54 db and it oughta be 52, but that's not severe. The Tech replaced an older splitter with a newer one, and, so far, I haven't noticed any further outages. I might get lucky and that might have done the trick. But it's unlikely.

This poor corporate behavior, this inability to deliver a consistent broadband signal, this sudden, inexplicable loss of an essential part of modern life, this trauma, oh, the trauma! just might cause a customer to seek another provider. If there are any. And I did.

Enter AT&T.

AT&T ostensibly delivers a DSL signal to most of Houston. I know a few people that have the service. I think. And I can have it too! At least that's what all that mail from them says.

And it just so happens, coincidentally, that during this erratic Comcast experience, AT&T sales reps have begun calling me, pitching their high-speed internet service via DSL. Tres cosmic.

I've been letting the calls go to the answering machine. After another frustrating outage, I finally took their call and let them pitch me.

What I really want from AT&T is the U-Verse (fiber optic) system. The rep tells me that fiber optic is not available in my area, although, I tell her, my neighbor just two doors down from me is "U-Verse ready" while my address is not. Funny, that. But it happens. Uh huh.

And of course, they have no idea when I might be able to get U-Verse. But, hey, don'cha know, AT&T high-speed internet (DSL) customers get put on a "Priority List" for fiber-optic. Oh, yeah? Sure.

AT&T has four levels, or speeds, of internet service, from slowest ($19/month) to fastest ("Elite" at $35/month). According to the rep, who is actually a "Supervisor" who took over my call, I am able to receive the Elite service at my address, guaranteeing at least 3mbps and up to 6mbps download speed. She promises that I will be satisfied with this level of service. Says that over and over.

There is actually one higher level of service: "Max," which clocks at around 10mbps, which also just happens to be the U-Verse product. But you can't have that.

Fine. Let's do the "Elite" package, then. $35/month, plus tax, of course. There's no commitment and no contract? Ok, that sounds good.

So they'll send me a modem in the mail.

Since I'm about to change internet service providers, I figure this is a good time to compare the two systems, cable vs DSL, so I start taking some Speed Tests on the Comcast system. I'd taken some speed tests in the past and would score anywhere from 1mbps up to 5mbps download.

Strangely, though, now I was hitting download speeds of 10, 15, 17, even 27mbps with the Comcast cable modem! (I just took another one and clocked at 8.5mbps download). Upload speeds have been from 1mbps to 1.6mbps, which is very good. WTF? Is it possible that I've actually been getting speeds in those ranges? And not realizing it? If so, why would I want to lock in 3-6mbps with AT&T?

Why? Well, if AT&T could deliver a consistent signal that didn't just disappear once or twice a day, maybe I'd switch.

When the Comcast Tech was here last week for the Service Call, I asked him what the fastest speeds he'd ever seen on the Comcast system were, and he said around 10mbps, but not often. When I told him of the speeds that I'd been clocking lately, he said he didn't trust a lot of the speed tests out there. Ok. Who do you trust, huh?

So, finally, the AT&T modem arrives by mail. Inside the box, a letter said "Service begins 7/10/08 at 8pm." Cool. So, at 9pm yesterday, 7/10/08, I began the "Self-Install" process.

(By doing the Self-Install and not sending a Tech out, I have saved some $200, according to the Sales call Supervisor. "And you sound like a savvy person," she'd said, "so I'm sure you'd be find doing the self-install.")

Unfortunately, the AT&T modem wasn't being recognized by the system. I exhausted the few possible combinations with the same result. It was getting late, so I re-hooked up the Comcast internet. Figured I'd try it again today. Be more careful, although I was sure I'd followed the instructions correctly. Almost got really pissed when the Comcast signal would not come back on, but removing the DSL filter from my primary telephone jack did the trick.

I'm glad I hadn't gotten around to trying again yet. I get a call from AT&T about 2pm today saying that there, uh, is no DSL service to my address. What's that? No DSL service you say? Why is that? She didn't know. She was sorry, though, and I can use the Return Label included to send everything back at no charge. Fuck you very much!

NOW they tell me. I asked why she'd called me, and she says she got a ping from the Service Dept when my Activation Time came and no signal was received. And that means no service. During the Sales call on the phone last week, the "Supervisor" took my order for service after "checking and re-checking." I'd already been around and around the block with multiple AT&T reps about my address' inability to have the U-Verse service. Now, I couldn't even get DSL. And, naturally, she couldn't tell me when I might be able to get DSL. Or fiber-optic.

So they aggressively pursue my business as a customer with mail and phone calls, and when I finally relent, I can't even get their service. Ah, good ol American free market!

But this, as stupid as it is, is not the ONLY reason AT&T is pathetic. More on that in another post.