Just have to vent a bit about the monopoly of internet service providers in small rural towns...
First off, I have to say it stinks not having internet service. I didn't realize how much I have come to rely and use it. We've had a really rocky Spring weather wise...LOTS of storms which is kind of unusual this early in the year but that's another story. Well, unbeknownst to us during one of the storms at the beginning of May lightening struck the pole behind our house and took out part of the phone lines - I learned yesterday it takes 2 lines to make the phone work and the internet will "sort of" work on one line. Well, obviously not because we've been having terrible trouble with ours all month long. It was so slow that it barely even registered on their speed test (.16 download and .05 upload - that's worse than dial up!).
After fighting with Frontier trying to get someone to take a look at it because it was soooooooo slow... Nobody believed me! I called 4-5x and spent hours on hold - every time I called they talked me through this test and that with no luck (mind you I preformed the same tests every stinkin time). They said oh I'd have to talk to tech and they'd transfer me into oblivion then I'd get disconnected so I'd have to start all over again.
I finally told the guy on Monday if they didn't fix it I was going to drop them. Funny - after about 20 minutes of going through the entire story he FINALLY put in a service request. The guy came out yesterday and said some little module on the pole was fried - replaced it and we're up and running.
WHY couldn't they do this in the first place?!?!? It took a threat of dropping their crappy service to get action. The service guy told me that he's been hearing that from a lot of the places he visits. Frontier is the largest internet provider in our area which has too many customers on really old equipment and not enough techs (originally 275+ now 62 per the repair guy). Obviously they don't care because they have you by the tail. Wish there was good coverage everywhere and not just in the big cities.
I recently went through the same thing Roni. Glad you back up and running.
ReplyDeleteOMG we have Frontier and It took me 3 weeks to get any help from them... The service had never been set up properly so it would never have worked without a tech. I finally got a local number from the tech that came out and my life has been a bit easier having someone local. The service center does not do anything to help. But the local folks are pretty responsive. We still have spotty service but at least now we are on line. Little mountain towns. Love em but the one thing you have to remember; there is time and then there is mountain time.
ReplyDeleteI live in the biggest city in KS, and I have AT&T. Every time it rains, I lose both my phone and internet. One time I was without both for six days because I had no way to call AT&T (I have NO cellphone). I finally got a friend to call them and it took two times coming out to "find" the problem. Now that the rains and high winds have returned, I'm in the same boat you were in.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have internet service again because it's definitely difficult when you rely on it so much. So I assure you, it isn't just little towns that have that problem. Big ones with overloaded internet and phone connectors are equally at fault.
Oh I feel your pain, trust me I do! I think it's pretty much the same story all over, doesn't matter where you live. Phone Co's just don't give a hoot. You'd think with everybody switching to cell phones that they would take better care of the customers they have left, but it certainly doesn't seem to work that way! WELCOME back!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you back on your blog. Sorry that your internet service is so bad. Hope it holds up now.
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