Can You Hear Me Now?

After having AT&T landline phone and DSL Internet service for about 10 years, which amounted to ~$52 per month, we decided it was time for a change. The plan was to switch our longtime phone number over to a cell phone for an add-on $10 per month with an existing Verizon account and switch over to an Internet plan that didn't require phone service.

The phone switch, which the Verizon vendor called "porting" the number, was a fairly easy process. Verizon has great coverage, there's the convenience and portability of having a cell, and the price was a no-brainer.

But then came the Internet switch. As mentioned above, we had AT&T for a long time and to go along with Verizon FiOS Internet being unavailable in this area, there was a sense of brand loyalty to Ma Bell as I first tried their "High Speed Internet Direct Elite" plan ("DSL Without a Land Line!") that advertised 6mbps (megabytes per second) download speeds. It also had a virtually unlimited usage allowance, which is important with Netflix Streaming being about 1-2GB per movie. I called and ordered and wrote down what numbers I was given. This brand loyalty was put to the test and failed. First, the technician that showed up was in and out of here in a whirlwind and left without my computer being connected to the Internet because I wasn't given the correct account number that had to be entered for access. It took two phone calls to AT&T customer service to find this account number out. The first of these calls was to someone who had a heavy India accent when I could hear her over the digitally-garbled connection, which at times was like listening to and trying to decipher Peter Frampton's lyrics over his synthesizer machine. "Samantha" was wholly unhelpful, somehow kept getting the account number wrong (either through the bad connection or a bad interpretation) and yet she evidently was able to have my account information because she knew the name and phone number on the account, and then after about 20 minutes, most of which I spent on hold and muzak three times after calmly explaining that "I really can't tell you anything else because this is the account number I was given when I ordered. This is the only information I have." Then, she hung up on me. After fuming for a little bit and trying the account # as the log-in one more time and still getting nothing, I called AT&T customer service again. This time I got a clear connection and a friendly Southern accent. I told her my name and account # that I had been given and that it wasn't working as a log-in, and she immediately said that this was wrong number and gave me the right one. I entered it in and was shortly connected. How AT&T can justify such a variance in customer service quality for the sake of saving some money by outsourcing these jobs, I'll never understand. It's what makes it too large a company for its own good.

The actual AT&T Internet service was another point of dissatisfaction. The 6mbps speeds turned out to be just 400-600kbps over my wireless router, and ~1.5mbps when I used a wired connection to the modem/gateway, according to several tests on a reputable speed test site. A slower-than-advertised rate is not uncommon, but this was not worth $48/month. Granted that part of the problem may have been the age of our gateway/router unit. But AT&T recommends using their approved brands (and doesn't offer support for brands not listed), and it becomes a problem when all of these are old and none have the N-wireless connection that has become the standard. How AT&T can operate using outdated equipment and not contracting with a manufacturer to produce new ones as technology changes (and even then, N-wireless connection has been around for a while), I do understand. They produce X amount of units and sell them until they're gone and then maybe they'll produce a new one with newer specifications. The rudder turns slowly and again proved to me that AT&T is too large for its own good. The accompanying picture of a modified logo neatly sums up the company.

So, I was a little upset quite pissed at this point. I endured it for a couple of weeks. And then I remembered about Charter Communications, the local cable company in our area. I had totally forgotten to check out their plans (just to note --- this is very uncharacteristic of me) and upon talking to someone who has service with them and seeing a quick demonstration of the speed, I was interested. Among their plans was Charter Internet Express 15mpbs service (with unlimited usage) for $34/month, and an introductory deal with the first 12 months for $19.99 per month when ordered online. More speed for less $. I bit. Rather than renting a cable modem and router from Charter for $10/month extra, I went down to Best Buy and picked up a Motorola SURFboard Gateway SBG6580 unit that consolidates the cable modem and router, has good specifications for it lasting and was on sale for $134 down from $160. Score! In a year-plus, it'll pay for itself. The installation was three days later, went very smoothly (despite the inconvenience of electing to take down some tools and temporarily move some pegboard on in our utility area for access b/c the techs are not allowed to fish wires through walls... and despite the guy absolutely reeking of cigarettes... and despite me getting a bloody nose (from the dry winter air) right as he was finishing up and I had to sign the paperwork), and I was flying with a ~35mbps download speed. We called and cancelled AT&T service; I'm just glad there was no term commitment or early termination fee with them. Just about two weeks in, I'm still loving Charter.

It was something of an odyssey, but we should have done this a long time ago.

(Photo illustration © David Beren. Link.)