Hong's venting thread

So, I'm moving to this new place, right. And I have to get the telephone (Telstra), cable internet (Bigpond) and pay TV (Foxtel) setup. Bear in mind that they're all part of the FoxBigTelPond monopolistical collective, because this is IMPORTANT.

- Call the Bigpond helpdesk, ask them to switch my cable broadband connection over to the new address. The guy sounds confused, but in the end they say sure, no problem.

- Cable guy from Foxtel turns up. However he's not technically a cable guy, he's there to install SATELLITE pay TV. No cable into the building, nosiree. However, he's got an ADSL splitter, since they told him I wanted a broadband connection. Never say that Foxtel isn't concerned with customer service.

- Telstra guys turn up to connect the phone. They say to wait half an hour before using it. 24 hours later, the phone is still dead. Without a phone connection, I can't get ADSL even if I wanted it, nor use pay-per-view (the other reason I wanted pay TV in the first place).

- Calling the Telstra helpdesk, they need my new phone number to lodge a fault. However, I left the number in an Outlook 2003 note at work. Which I am away from, since I took 3 weeks leave just to get this move sorted out.

- No problem, the office has web access to Outlook. Logging on, I find I can get to everything... except the notes section, where I left the number.

- Can the Telstra helpdesk find me via my name or street address? Nope. I don't exist at all unless I have a phone number, apparently.

- Can I get ADSL at the new place? "Maybe".

Ah, fun.

[mr. burns] Excellent... Smithers it seems our plans are working. did i just say that out loud? ah, fiddle sticks. [/mr. burns]

I'm just not getting any love here, am I?

There, there. (pats Hong's hand) It'll be all right. The big bad monopolistical collective will do right by you in the end.

hong, my evil twin, you can use my dialup at home. and 486/66 with 8 MB.

I feel your pain hong.

When I decided to upgrade to a cable modem I was all excited. The cable company had just added my block to the network. I called them up, set an appointment and waited. The cable guy actually showed up on time. To inform me that my cable TV line wouldn't handle the signal. He had to call in another guy to talk about it. So I wait some more.

The second guy shows up and they talk. It seems that the box on the pole across the street is very old and not in great repair. The only way that I can get my new modem hooked up will be to put in a dedicated line. I'm fine with this.

Problem: They will only put the line into the same spot the TV cable enters the apartment building. Which is about one hundred linear feet from my computer. The cable guys solution? He hands me a bunch of cable and tells me to call him back once I have it installed.

So I call a buddy with a cordless drill and a ladder. We buy some cable clips and a big *ss drillbit for going through walls. Luckily my landlord allows me to drill holes in his building. Many cable clips later we have the line right under the room with my computer. Which has a floor considerably thicker than my 18" drillbit. (This was an old farm house built in the 1870's) So we punch through to the space behind the computer room and go through the wall. Victory!

I've just never heard of a cable company requiring their *customer* to install the cable...

I still miss that apartment...

I hear they've got the Internet for computers now.

diaglo said:

[mr. burns] Excellent... Smithers it seems our plans are working. did i just say that out loud? ah, fiddle sticks. [/mr. burns]

Click to expand...

My internet provider is the same as my phone provider. They have a special wherein if you put your internet bill and your phone bill on the same bill, you get 2 hours of long-distance per month free. So I sign up.

Strangely, my internet connection doesn't work the next day.

I call the internet provider. They refer me to the phone provider. I call the phone provider, they refer me to the internet provider.

After many calls, I get someone competent and he explains to me that instead of giving me the special, they disconnected me.

4 days later, I finally get my internet back.

AR