at&t was wrong

so, we decided that for some old school, we just are still tied to the past reason to keep our land line phone. phone service was supposed to start on monday. it's friday now. still no phone. on wednesday, i called at&t and explained that my phone wasn't working. they said they had it turned on, that someone had come out.

really? someone came out? because i was home monday, and no one stopped by from at&t. the customer service rep said that they could have just turned it on from the box or whatever. i asked if there was any way to know for sure that there is service coming from them to my house? i knew that potentially there might just be a problem in the wiring inside the house, and that would be my responsibility. but how can i be sure it's getting to my house?

so, they can send out a service tech, but if it turns out that there isn't a problem between the junction box and my house, i've got to pay over $100. man, that's a lot. but, it needs to get done, so let's schedule an appointment. the plan, friday between 1 and 5.

that brings us to today. i've got some things to do in the morning, but i'll be home by 1. it's about noon, and i figure i'll grab some lunch real quick and then go home and meet the service tech. at 12:20 my cell rings. it's the tech. he's in the neighborhood, and will be @ my place in like 5 minutes. huh? you were supposed to come after 1. i mistakenly say, the appointment was scheduled from 1-4. i'm not there. i won't be there for at least 15 minutes. the tech seems a bit argumentative, and says he's never heard of an appointment from 1-4, they schedule it for 1-5. whatever, guy. look, you can get in through the side gate, i'll be home shortly. do what you need.

i get home, the tech is working on the issue. he's checked the box on the house, and sure enough, i'm not getting a signal. good. that means i won't be paying for this ish today. he heads off to the junction box, turns out some wires were in the wrong place or something like that. he also suspects that the wire directly to my house is a bit old and shoddy. so, he's going to replace that as well.

i was a bit aggravated by the tech from the phone call, but that's all slipped away. here's something else from the day that i wanted to mention:



carl's jr's has skin on their fries right now. they're supposed to be natural cut. frankly, i liked the old fries there better.

i think i might have seen a chik-fil-a being built in north fresno as well.

at&t or comcast internet

so, i'm pretty happy with comcast customer service right now. as i mentioned yesterday, we're going to get diret tv, so that means that i'll be cancelling comcast. today, i went about that task as well as transferring my phone service and dsl.

i called the phone company first (at&t) and waded through their stupid computer phone system. the lame thing about the computer system is that you can't actually transfer service using it. you have to answer all these questions, and when the system figures out you want to move your service, time to kick you over to a real person. that's good, i prefer talking to real people. so, i go about transferring phone & dsl service. well, as they work on my account, they discover that our new house is in some area that qualifies for u-service or something like that. basically, it's fiber optic tv, voice, and cable all in one. well, i don't really want such a service because i'm already getting direct tv, which in my opinion is better. but, i've already been transferred to the u-service guy. we chat, he runs me through my options which are basically to switch to the new service for the phone & internet (something you can't set up this way by yourself online) or stick w/basic phone service and...a slower, high speed connection. huh? i'm moving literally 3 streets over, maybe a half mile, and i'm not eligible for dsl any more? that's stupid. so, i tell the guy i'm going to have to think about it all and call them back.

so, i start looking @ comcast's internet options. every one i know w/this likes it, and talk about how it actually is faster uploading & downloading content from the internet. but, can i get it w/o having cable? because no matter what, i'm cancelling that for direct tv. i can't tell on the internet, and i figure i'll just call and ask questions & cancel all at once. good thing i did. a very nice lady set me up good. basically, i can have the internet w/o cable, and they're running a special for 6 months @ $29 a month. after 6 months, it goes up to $55, unless i add basic cable, for like $12. or, she gives me the option of getting a year @ $33. i opt for the year, but she hooks it up so i actually will get the 6 months @ $29, then it will switch me to the year @ $33. and, i can do all this w/o cable. banging. so, of course she asks why i want to cancel my cable service, and i explain i'm getting direct tv (nfl package). she says she completely understands and that her husband is trying to convince her to get that, alongside of their cable service. she's really nice, and sets it up so my cable ends saturday.

the only drawback is that my cable internet won't be hooked up until monday. no worries, i'll phone blog saturday & sunday should i choose to do so.

i'm also pretty happy because i know that at&t has better dsl rates for new customers (if you can get it @ your place) than i was currently getting. but, you can't get them newfangled discounted rates as an existing customer.

the only question i have left is do i keep my home phone line? we don't use it for anything, and i really mean anything. only random relatives call on it. i would suspect that most of my friends don't even have it. would you keep it for $10?