Verizon. All part of the conspiracy of suck

So, you got a phone line? Have you got Verizon? I do... well, SORT OF.


New Verizon Phone Technology Coming Soon!!

See, it all started out with a simple online check to see if I could get DSL installed at my house. I was originally going to use Cavalier Telephone for both land-line and DSL - because Comcast is the child of Satan Incarnate, and I refuse to give them one thin dime if I can somehow help it. With Cavalier here, you could really save a buck or two so long as you're willing to deal with a WHOLE LOT OF TECHNICAL SUPPORT SUCKTITUDE. Being of a solid technical background, I wasn't scared of Cavalier...

BUT,
and it's a big but,
I really should learn that fear thing... you see,
I have had to go through it once with them in a previous residence, and that, dear friends was a MISTAKE. Hey, sure I saved 10 bucks a month between DSL and telephone. Sure. But it took me SIX (as in more than three, four, or five) WEEKS of telephone calls to an ever and overly busy tech support line to finally convince them that they, God Forbid!, screwed up and I really DID NOT have DSL service. Sure, I eventually got the satisfaction of being right... yeah, 6 weeks later.

Of course, they finally activated my line for DSL, right? So you think this story is done right? Nope. They didn't bother to create an account for me to log in with, so... I couldn't log on. Of course, that only took me a mere TWO weeks to fix. And, hey, when they found out then that I had no email accounts or mailboxes set up... and didn't even have the rights to set one up, they surprised the crap out of me with their quick fix that only took another EIGHT days! Wow. Awesome response time.

So, I went to Cavalier's website ANYWAY... and they do allow you to check your phone line to see if it is DSL capable by simply entering your phone number.

Okay, sure, why not... it says so, right?

One small problem.

I had no phone line at all. I guess they don't want pesky new customers to get DSL service - must think we're not keen enough on the new technology to deserve it, I guess... Of course, Verizon has almost the same problem but they at least let you enter a mailing address. Gee, whodathunk it could have been so easy?

So, after all this, it was a "toss-up" and I chose Verizon this time, counting on their technical superiority to win the day. Good plan, yeah?

So much for that brilliant idea.

End result? I now have a house with TWO different telephone lines running to it... the technician knows where ONE of them is because he just ran it up over the fence up to the telephone line, all nice and dangly - VERY aesthetically pleasing to the eye... (I mentioned the whole "sarcasm" thing with me, right?) There is another phone line, by the way, buried in some mystery location somewhere in my yard. He claims the previous tech must have "cut the line" when he switched the previous home-owners line to a new house next door...

Wha-wha-WHAT?

But, hey, it only took then TWO weeks to get my phone line... ummm... "working"... right?

So I have a phone line... sorta... and then I'll get DSL (bite me, COMCAST) eventually MAYBE - you have to have a land-line in place for a few weeks before they test it out for you... Hmm... I think that permanent land-line (to replace the fine telephone vineyard look) will get installed some time before September... add a few more weeks...

And HEY, I might have email at home by October!

So... what was I saying about Comcast and sucktitude???
.
.