AT&T UVerse fiasco

I hate to complain.

But this is just one I have to post about.

I made the decision to upgrade from AT&Ts DSL service to UVerse--to get a better data rate at a lower price. A reasonable decision--to be made unreasonable by AT&T.

First the UVerse modem was delivered one day after they cut off the old DSL service. OK--so that's a day without service. You'd think they could be a bit more effective at coordinating this, or just cut off service a day later. But I guess as I found out this was to set the stage for further incompetence on AT&T's part.

The next day, with equipment now wired up and showing some signs of life. UVerse still doesn't come up. Turns out the order was written incorrectly. Should have been written to include support for the POTs line, but was written without. I'm guessing that some tech only just needs to unplug the cable from socket A and into socket B. But this new addendum order takes another 24 hours to clear.

After the 24 hours for this order expires, guess what? Still no service. Did someone actually do anything--guess no one really knows, but time to talk to level 2 support again. And this time level 2 tech doesn't know what's up. It's time to rely on the big guns and line up a tech repair dude to come over and see what's up. Maybe even work some magic. I'm cautiously hopeful now that I can work with someone face to face. Even better they'll get someone over the next day within a 4 hour window.

So, I wait, wait, wait. At the end of the 4 hour period I call and ask them what's up? The AT&T repair jockey was a no-show. If I'm not going to show up when I say I'm going to be somewhere I generally let folks know ahead of time--guess this is not how a big telco like AT&T operates. Maybe they know something about running a business I don't?

Well, turns out the order was written for the wrong type of tech. Someone needs to trace the whole line, not just some house tech jockey. I guess that requires a completely different set of skills. Maybe the wires are a different color or diameter, I don't know. But guess what? AT&T can send someone over with these other specialized skills to do just that! In 3 to 5 business days that is.

You know what? At this point I canceled the service and canceled the POTs. Went with Comcast and had internet up and running at a much higher data rate within 24 hours. Best call I made.


AT&T really takes their old motto to heart: "We don't care, we don't have to"