[ale] comcast static IP?

[Jim Popovitch]

On Sat, 2005-01-22 at 14:52 -0500, Geoffrey wrote:

> 1. When my 2nd line went dead, I contacted BellSouth and was told it 
> would be fixed in 3 days.  What kind of service is that?  

Standard service response time.  Read your paperwork.

> Further, it 
> turns out that a technican had screwed it up while working with other 
> services, yet they did not expedite repairing the problem they caused.

That is not standard service, although it does happen and it is not
unique to BellSouth or the telecommunications industry.  Drive-through
fast food restaurants (a place where a lot of people obviously spend
more per month then they do on their phone bill) routinely experience
service delivery problems.

> 
> 2. BellSouth constantly get's in the way of other providers, whether 
> it's local service or dsl.  This is not competitive, it is 
> anti-competitive.  They are the reason you can't get dsl without a 
> dialtone via Speedfactory.

Are they doing something illegal?  If so sue them.  If not, you really
have no grounds for complaint.

> 
> 3.  I've often (as in > 10 times) caught BellSouth Techs using my 2nd 
> phone line to place calls when in the field.  I was told that this is a 
> common practice.  Further I caught one guy talking trash to his girl.  I 
> was told that they'll pick a 2nd line since it's assumed it's a fax or 
> something.  Doesn't matter if you're expecting a call or something now 
> does it?

Whose wire is it?  Sure you might have rented a service from them, but
the reality is that you don't own those wires.  Again, read your service
contract.  Need a dedicated line?  Get a leased line.  

> 
> 4. When contacting BellSouth for service I received the same attitude 
> from the cust. dis-service persons.  

**  "dis-service persons" <-- I see you share that very same attitude
problem.  Perhaps the resolution of a technical problem is being held
hostage by an attitude problem.  Customer service is a two-way street.
No CSR likes an a**hole for a customer, just like no customer likes an
a**hole for a CSR.  When either delves to that level, the onus is on the
other to move on and get over it so that the *real* problem can be
solved.

> In two different situations, I made 
> the comment that I did not think that they were cust. oriented and that 
> I might consider taking my business elsewhere.  Both responded in the 
> same way, offering to assist me disconnect my service.

Ok, you indicated you might leave BellSouth, what kind of "customer"
response do you expect at that point?  What can you possibly expect for
paying a few lousy dollars per month?

> 5. I recently had a client move to a new location.  BellSouth screwed up 
> one of their voice lines when setting up the dsl.  At the time, that 
> line was their connectivity to the internet.  Dial tone gone, no 
> internet.  The next BellSouth tech told me that who ever tried to setup 
> the dsl was an idiot (his words).  He'd swapped the trans./rec. and had 
> left some hardware completely out of the dslam.  He said it would never 
> have worked.

That problem isn't unusual, nor unique to you, BellSouth, nor DSL.

> Need more?  Incompetence, arrogance, customer dis-service and a local 
> monopoly that acts like one.

See ** comment above.

At some point you wind up getting labeled as a perpetual complainer.  Be
known for something better than that.

-Jim P.