Connected: Not So Easily Done

We are 98% moved. That other 2% is scattered "residue" at our old house that I hope box up and move to our new home tonight. Now the arduous task of unpacking and creating a home...

It's a miracle that I'm able to post today because we are having issues with our phone connection. The phone isn't consistently working, and a few outlets, particularly the one of the room we plan to use as an office, don't seem to work at all. After being on the phone about an hour last night, the Big Phone Company representative finally established that the reason we didn't have an Internet connection was because our static IP address didn't move with us like the nice young man at costumer service assured me it would be. So my sweetie spent another hour on the phone this morning to find out why it didn't come with us and if that same address is still available.

In the end my sweetie told them to never mind and to stop billing us for our static IP. (We have Internet now, but not the service he needs.) He went on a tirade about how his works in the IT industry and his experience with what should be going on with Big Phone Company's service and customer service. (He does spend a large chunk of his time troubleshooting and talking to technical support people for various companies and issues.) The problem is that the Big Phone Company's tech support does not really know what they are doing with their DSL Internet. Anytime we have problems with Internet, we have to go through a series of transfers before finding that one person who seems to know what is going on. Apparently in the last two days, my sweetie never found that one person. Anyway, he concluded the last hour-long call by telling them that he was planning on changing Internet service to the Big Cable Company.

Now the Big Cable Company...sigh...when I called to establish service with them yesterday, they were unable to find my address in the system. Do I live in a new neighborhood? No. It's an old neighborhood. I gave them the cross streets and the name of the subdivision. Still nothing. I was on the phone about 10 minutes with them before they told me they had to do some investigating and that I needed to call back in 7 days. I thought he was joking! Seven days! Do you mean to tell me that the other 20 houses on this street don't have cable? Okaaaayyy....

Well, the joke's on them. I plugged the cable into the television, and I happen to have a good cable connection. Have you ever known a cable company who likes to give 100 cable channels away for free? I guess if they can't find my house to connect it, they can't find it to disconnect it. I don't know what to tell them...

So, when my sweetie tells the Big Phone Company that his going to the Big Cable Company for Internet service, I just had to laugh. (Behind his back, of course. He's pretty irritated.) I wish him luck on that one.