Customer Service

I’ve been with the Death Star exclusively for a few years now, with both mobile phones and TV/Internet — iPad accounts are teated like a mobile phone.

Both internet and tv outage the other night.

I have tiny piece of software that runs in an iPad browser window that remotely tracks my astrofish.net web server. Simple, easy, just requires the advertised “always on” broadband connection.

In my current location, the DSL/Cable Modem seems to drop the signal three to five times a week. Just sort of stuttered. Didn’t pause very long, like the AT&T broadband would just cough to clear its throat.

Perhaps this is my third year, here, as this is the third broadband modem from The Death Star, so named because they used to operate like that.

While I can’t place the source, the expression was a comic actress, “We’re the phone company. We don’t care. We don’t have to.”

Been waiting on Google Fiber, but the reports from buddies in Austin are less than stellar. Whatever Time-Warner Cable became? While I loved the blistering fast pipeline, the burgeoning billing process forever soured me.

Rotten practices from whatever Time-Warner RR is now called, and rotten customer service, and deplorable billing practices.

Read The Fineprint

Not a good example of trying to retain a customer.

Customer Service

So The Death Star isn’t much better with its throughput, and the consistently inconsistent, intermittent service — since the last equipment replacement, it’s less frequent, but I still have a ticker that monitors that.

And it’s still happening.

The last repair guy swapped out the modem box, then had to swap it a second time, so I have the new, upgraded, better than ever, whatever DSL/Cable Modem available through AT&T.

I watched, at a respectful distance, but still casually and studiously observed, the line into here — Cat 5 — is a fat pipeline, and seems to get full strength signal at the pole. So far, so good.

Customer Service

With no internet for a day, didn’t bother me too much, but like that, the first operator I talked to was about to get a cogent, well-formed argument about delivery of services. Before I said anything of the sort, I got credited, reducing the bill, if only for that day, but it was a nice gesture.

There are still sporadic outages. Part of the deal, I suppose, part of the package, or whatever the correct expression, part of it. The outages are rarely over 30 seconds in duration, just like a cough to clear one’s throat. Still annoying, but what scan I do? Fat pipeline coming in, just have to realize they can’t always keep product in it.