Really? All ISPs have technical issues from time to time. That’s the nature of the beast when you’re in the tech-game. However, when you lose your internet connection, you kind of expect something to be done about it, STAT. That is never the case with my ISP. Never. It takes days to get anything done with these people. I called Tuesday morning after losing access Monday night. I didn’t call right away because it often goes down for an hour or two here and there, but usually it gets sorted out. So I went to bed, and figured it would be fine when I got up. Not. The first tech was a lowly level 1 tech. I hate talking to these people.

“Of COURSE I went through a power cycle. We need to be repointed, because the dish was shifted in the wind storm we had last night.”

“Please try it again, Ma’am, while we’re on the phone together.”

“Seriously, I don’t want to try it again, I just did it. Twice. We’re wasting time doing this when I know it’s not the problem. Can I just speak to a Level 2 tech?”

“I can’t put you through to Level 2 without going through my manual first.” *silence, while he waits for me to come to terms with the fact that I’m a hostage to this nonsense*

“Ugh, fine. But it won’t make any difference. The dish on the roof was moved when we had a wind storm yesterday.”

We go through the power cycle once again, me fuming because I have a bad knee and have to crawl under the desk to get to the UPS/power bar, and him no doubt picking his nose and smiling because he knows I’m ticked, and he doesn’t care.

No difference.

“Ok Ma’am, now we have to see what your IP address is.” He starts speaking very slowly, like I’m a moron. “Go to Accessories, and click on…”

I’m miles ahead of him, and have already gone to the command prompt to punch in “IPCONFIG” to get my IP address. I rattle it off to him.

*click* It’s almost audible when he finally clues in that I might know what I’m talking about. “If you’ll hold the line, I’ll send you on to Level 2. I can’t do anything else for you.”

I often wonder if Level 1 is there simply to see if people have their computers plugged in.

Level 2 went much more quickly, and the girl I spoke to said “I’ll send someone out to repoint your dish, and make sure that’s all it is.”

See? How hard was that?? I asked her to make sure the work order went to the subcontractors close by, and not the people they sent it to last time… who are almost 2 hours away. Nope, not kidding.

Trouble is, I spoke to her in the morning on Tuesday, and immediately put in a call to the subcontractor. He knows me; he’s been here before. A lot. I asked them to watch for the work order, and get to me as soon as they possibly could. The guy in charge knows I run a couple businesses that depend on me being online.

So I waited. And waited. Called back several times and left messages, but they were out and couldn’t get back to me right away. Called Wednesday twice, and was told it hadn’t been sent through yet. I was on the road, and told the owner I’d call the second I got back and freak out on them. She agreed it was probably the best way to handle it at that point. “Squeaky-wheel gets the grease” kind of thing. I was on my way home mid-afternoon before she called me back and said she’d just gotten it. About, what? 30 hours after it was supposedly submitted? She also said that had she had it on Tuesday, they would have been there the next morning, no problem. They did show up first thing Thursday morning, and had me back up and running in short order. My thanks goes solely to the guy who was sitting on my roof, and the gal in his office that I spoke to the day before. At least I know I can always count on them! Oh, and they didn’t charge me for the service call either. In the tech’s words; “I could never charge you for their lousy service.” Thanks, buddy.

I know you’re thinking “Why haven’t you changed ISPs if they’re that bad?” Oh trust me, we would have had there been anything else in the area that would have been better. We’re considered rural where we are, even though there’s a shopping center 4 minutes from our driveway. The phone lines are old, so DSL isn’t possible. We all have satellite because there are no cable lines. We’ve tried other services, and either we have no line-of-site to their tower, or it wouldn’t have been any better. So essentially we’re screwed, and have to rely on this lousy ISP, with lousy speeds, lousy tech support (at least level 1) and even worse customer service.

On the bright side, our new house is being built as I write this, and in 4 months we’ll be in to paint and build a 4th bathroom before we move the furniture in. We’ll be “in town” then, and able to get a real ISP, with REAL high speed. Until then, all I can do is complain… and blog about it.

Xplorenet.com… YOU SUCK. Can’t wait to leave your sorry service behind.