I hope things get better and clear up for AEA Boston. I don’t think the internet companies understand that people do use residential internet access for more then just browsing the internet and social emails.
That kind of annoys me that they don’t think it’s necessary for us web developers or anyone else working out of the home don’t deserve immediate response. We can’t afford to be without internet access as much as any other commercial service subscribers.
they don”t think it”s necessary for us web developers or anyone else working out of the home, deserve immediate response
Second, if you start getting congested, I hear Musinex is really good for clearing up the lungs. Cayenne might help your throat. I’m not sure how to take it, tho.
“nibbled to death by ducks”
That made my day. :-) I hope it was a fun phrase to type.
I feel your pain Eric. I’ve had issues with DSL in the past (not through Earthlink). I currently use a cable modem through Time Warner (formerly Adelphia of course). I’ve had them for a few years and while there has been the occasional outage, none have lasted more than an hour or two.
Wish I was going to AEA, it looks like a great conference and Boston is a wonderful city.
I had a similar problem with my cable company. My broadband connection was down. I called them up to ask them what was up and they said they were looking into it. I asked them if they had an ETA (i.e. WHEN WILL THIS BE FIXED?) and they said that it wasn’t their policy to give ETAs. In other words, we’ll fix it when we fix it, and we won’t make ourselves liable by giving you a promise that we may or may not keep.
I had a similar situation when I was expecting a refund (per the customer service rep’s statement) from them. It didn’t show up on my bill, nor did I receive a check. I called them several times, all of which resulted in someone telling me “yes, we show you getting a refund of $$$”, none of which resulted in an actual check.
I finally called back and asked to speak to a supervisor and asked that they send me an email that stated that I was receiving a refund. This was also not a policy of theirs AND they can’t send emails to customers. RIGHT!
These days, companies go out of their way to not be held accountable for anything. Oh, but I’ve heard that they won an award for customer service three years running……hmm.
Sorry for the long response, but needless to say…I empathize.
jennhi: thanks for the pointer— Time Warner is indeed my local cable provider. Crap. Well, at least I know it can get worse.
Eric, I currently use WOW (wowway.net), don’t know if they service your area or not… I have had great service only minor outages (in which the whole city went down due to construction mishaps…) I would definitely recommend it if your going to switch to cable. Good luck with the i-net and hope you get better quick.
Mike
P.S. wheres the AEA cleveland?????
LOL “Nibbled to death by ducks.” Indeed! Some days it’s better just to head back to bed with a trashy novel, pull up the covers and forget there ever was a thing called the Internet. (I recommend chicken soup.)
> “he accumulation of annoyances is rather like being nibbled to death by ducks”
here’s what i do when i’m getting sick. i sit down with a bag of tostitos rounds are good and a small bowl of the really hot salsa (habanero or “hot”—no mild stuff). i eat as much of this as i can, refilling the salsa a few times. works like a charm, at least in my experience. and it’s tasty, too!
I second and third Derek and Cathy.
If only your Internet was working when you woke up and you could have read a blog post with the phrase “like being nibbled to death by ducks”, you would be feeling a whole lot better now. Thanks for sharing the love with us, it’s a true skill to make people happy even when you feel really crappy.
Hope you feel better soon and all gets fixed up.
Sorry Kathy… I was thinking K, my fingers thought C.
Howdy, Eric.
As I’m also a Northeast Ohio resident, wanted to let you know that Time Warner is a hell of a lot less hassle than Earthlink ever was. I did DSL, with Earthlink, a few years ago. I was finally so frustrated with various issues I had with them, including a modem that literally burned itself out and had to be replaced, which took two weeks as I recall, my wife and I decided to go with cable. Adelphia at the time, and no major frustration since. We also do just the modem and not the TV, and it’s quite good.
There have been a few hiccups here and there, but nothing nearly so frustrating as DSL was to me.
Also, we ditched the phone line completely and we do VoIP via Vonage, and that also is a service well worth it. I hate SBC, or whatever it is nowadays. Hope this helps.
Geez, we folks here in Good Old Europe ® should reconsider what we complain about and what not. I know the US have a higher DSL/Broadband Internet proportion than we have (at least that’s true for 2005) but from what you say… Well, we’re complaining about call centres where we aren’t heard (but if you know how to do it you can still be heard). We’re complaining about a day offline when we switch DSL providers. We’re thinking a reliable ADSL2 connection is annoying if the negotiated downstream bandwith drops to 15MBit/s from time to time (though it’s hard to find two download servers which will utilize the line). Today I’m going to meditate on living in Good Old Europe ®. Good night, and good luck. Hope it’s going to get better soon.
Last time I had to switch DSL companies it took over four weeks. While there were several moments of severe stress, it was amazing how much work I was able to do and how many books I read. One of the most relaxed months I have ever had.
For what it’s worth, I’m on the East Side with Time Warner cable, and really haven’t experienced any serious downtime in the past 12-13 months or so that I’ve had it that wasn’t fixed with a modem reboot. And you should see the ancient cable modem prototype beta they set me up with.
They do however, never show up on the first appointment scheduled for installation which usually takes at least a 2 weeks wait (in the last 2 places I’ve lived anyway)
Of course now by saying this, my internet will no doubt be down when I get home tonight….
You might look into Verizon’s FiOS service as an alternative to DSL or Cable. I know 3 people that have switched over and love it (thinking of moving from cable myself). http://www22.verizon.com/content/ConsumerFios
Sorry to hear you’re having a rough week. Sorrier still to hear that Time Warner services your area. They are the provider where I’m from, and while the TV service is great, I don’t really think they understand the whole “internet” thing.
Leeching wireless from neighbors is my favorite option, but it’s easier in a college town and an apartment complex.
I’ve dealt with Earthlink professionally many times. Their customer service invented the term “suck”.
I have cable, and very little trouble with it. I also do not have cable tv service, only the high-speed inter-thingy. Dump them if you get the chance. Try the cable – run a speed test at various times of the day or go to DSLreports.com and check for your area.
Just a suggestion.
I switched to Verizon’s FiOS and LOVE it. You know the speed jump from dialup to broadband? Well, imagine that jump up from broadband to FiOS.
Geez Eric, freaked me out there for a minute when the first two words I read were “child” and “died” !! :-s
I recently moved & got Cox Cable (again)… My first night was spent talking to the stupid automated scripts. After a certain point I couldn’t take it anymore & started calling the automated script names – “You’re a moron!” is apparently a trigger word. It decided it couldn’t handle my response & so quickly delegated my call to a service rep.
My problem wasn’t anything the automated script could have helped me with… I could ping google with no problem. The issue is they have a stupid redirect on port 80 the first time you connect & it wouldn’t let me past there. The service rep checked some things & figured out that my cable modem (which I had used a year ago with Cox in a different town) wasn’t set up for the new location. Giving him the MAC address on the modem & reseting it fixed the issue.
Comments (23)
I hope things get better and clear up for AEA Boston. I don’t think the internet companies understand that people do use residential internet access for more then just browsing the internet and social emails.
That kind of annoys me that they don’t think it’s necessary for us web developers or anyone else working out of the home don’t deserve immediate response. We can’t afford to be without internet access as much as any other commercial service subscribers.
they don”t think it”s necessary for us web developers or anyone else working out of the home, deserve immediate response
oops fast annoyed typing!
Hi Eric. Couple things…
First, via BoingBoing: Cable will make you miss your DSL if your provider is Time Warner.
Second, if you start getting congested, I hear Musinex is really good for clearing up the lungs. Cayenne might help your throat. I’m not sure how to take it, tho.
“nibbled to death by ducks”
That made my day. :-) I hope it was a fun phrase to type.
I feel your pain Eric. I’ve had issues with DSL in the past (not through Earthlink). I currently use a cable modem through Time Warner (formerly Adelphia of course). I’ve had them for a few years and while there has been the occasional outage, none have lasted more than an hour or two.
Wish I was going to AEA, it looks like a great conference and Boston is a wonderful city.
I had a similar problem with my cable company. My broadband connection was down. I called them up to ask them what was up and they said they were looking into it. I asked them if they had an ETA (i.e. WHEN WILL THIS BE FIXED?) and they said that it wasn’t their policy to give ETAs. In other words, we’ll fix it when we fix it, and we won’t make ourselves liable by giving you a promise that we may or may not keep.
I had a similar situation when I was expecting a refund (per the customer service rep’s statement) from them. It didn’t show up on my bill, nor did I receive a check. I called them several times, all of which resulted in someone telling me “yes, we show you getting a refund of $$$”, none of which resulted in an actual check.
I finally called back and asked to speak to a supervisor and asked that they send me an email that stated that I was receiving a refund. This was also not a policy of theirs AND they can’t send emails to customers. RIGHT!
These days, companies go out of their way to not be held accountable for anything. Oh, but I’ve heard that they won an award for customer service three years running……hmm.
Sorry for the long response, but needless to say…I empathize.
jennhi: thanks for the pointer— Time Warner is indeed my local cable provider. Crap. Well, at least I know it can get worse.
Eric, I currently use WOW (wowway.net), don’t know if they service your area or not… I have had great service only minor outages (in which the whole city went down due to construction mishaps…) I would definitely recommend it if your going to switch to cable. Good luck with the i-net and hope you get better quick.
Mike
P.S. wheres the AEA cleveland?????
LOL “Nibbled to death by ducks.” Indeed! Some days it’s better just to head back to bed with a trashy novel, pull up the covers and forget there ever was a thing called the Internet. (I recommend chicken soup.)
> “he accumulation of annoyances is rather like being nibbled to death by ducks”
But… how would you know?
How would *anyone* know?
Please don’t tell me it happened.
Oh, for crying out loud.
here’s what i do when i’m getting sick. i sit down with a bag of tostitos rounds are good and a small bowl of the really hot salsa (habanero or “hot”—no mild stuff). i eat as much of this as i can, refilling the salsa a few times. works like a charm, at least in my experience. and it’s tasty, too!
I second and third Derek and Cathy.
If only your Internet was working when you woke up and you could have read a blog post with the phrase “like being nibbled to death by ducks”, you would be feeling a whole lot better now. Thanks for sharing the love with us, it’s a true skill to make people happy even when you feel really crappy.
Hope you feel better soon and all gets fixed up.
Sorry Kathy… I was thinking K, my fingers thought C.
Howdy, Eric.
As I’m also a Northeast Ohio resident, wanted to let you know that Time Warner is a hell of a lot less hassle than Earthlink ever was. I did DSL, with Earthlink, a few years ago. I was finally so frustrated with various issues I had with them, including a modem that literally burned itself out and had to be replaced, which took two weeks as I recall, my wife and I decided to go with cable. Adelphia at the time, and no major frustration since. We also do just the modem and not the TV, and it’s quite good.
There have been a few hiccups here and there, but nothing nearly so frustrating as DSL was to me.
Also, we ditched the phone line completely and we do VoIP via Vonage, and that also is a service well worth it. I hate SBC, or whatever it is nowadays. Hope this helps.
Geez, we folks here in Good Old Europe ® should reconsider what we complain about and what not. I know the US have a higher DSL/Broadband Internet proportion than we have (at least that’s true for 2005) but from what you say… Well, we’re complaining about call centres where we aren’t heard (but if you know how to do it you can still be heard). We’re complaining about a day offline when we switch DSL providers. We’re thinking a reliable ADSL2 connection is annoying if the negotiated downstream bandwith drops to 15MBit/s from time to time (though it’s hard to find two download servers which will utilize the line). Today I’m going to meditate on living in Good Old Europe ®. Good night, and good luck. Hope it’s going to get better soon.
Last time I had to switch DSL companies it took over four weeks. While there were several moments of severe stress, it was amazing how much work I was able to do and how many books I read. One of the most relaxed months I have ever had.
For what it’s worth, I’m on the East Side with Time Warner cable, and really haven’t experienced any serious downtime in the past 12-13 months or so that I’ve had it that wasn’t fixed with a modem reboot. And you should see the ancient cable modem prototype beta they set me up with.
They do however, never show up on the first appointment scheduled for installation which usually takes at least a 2 weeks wait (in the last 2 places I’ve lived anyway)
Of course now by saying this, my internet will no doubt be down when I get home tonight….
You might look into Verizon’s FiOS service as an alternative to DSL or Cable. I know 3 people that have switched over and love it (thinking of moving from cable myself).
http://www22.verizon.com/content/ConsumerFios
Sorry to hear you’re having a rough week. Sorrier still to hear that Time Warner services your area. They are the provider where I’m from, and while the TV service is great, I don’t really think they understand the whole “internet” thing.
Leeching wireless from neighbors is my favorite option, but it’s easier in a college town and an apartment complex.
I’ve dealt with Earthlink professionally many times. Their customer service invented the term “suck”.
I have cable, and very little trouble with it. I also do not have cable tv service, only the high-speed inter-thingy. Dump them if you get the chance. Try the cable – run a speed test at various times of the day or go to DSLreports.com and check for your area.
Just a suggestion.
I switched to Verizon’s FiOS and LOVE it. You know the speed jump from dialup to broadband? Well, imagine that jump up from broadband to FiOS.
Geez Eric, freaked me out there for a minute when the first two words I read were “child” and “died” !! :-s
I recently moved & got Cox Cable (again)… My first night was spent talking to the stupid automated scripts. After a certain point I couldn’t take it anymore & started calling the automated script names – “You’re a moron!” is apparently a trigger word. It decided it couldn’t handle my response & so quickly delegated my call to a service rep.
My problem wasn’t anything the automated script could have helped me with… I could ping google with no problem. The issue is they have a stupid redirect on port 80 the first time you connect & it wouldn’t let me past there. The service rep checked some things & figured out that my cable modem (which I had used a year ago with Cox in a different town) wasn’t set up for the new location. Giving him the MAC address on the modem & reseting it fixed the issue.