Why AT&T finally fixed my Internet connection

I've used AT&T Internet service from a few years now. It's their "FastAccess® DSL Direct 6.0M" package. That's the fastest they offer.

Now, you ought to realize that, at my current location, my options are limited. I can get Internet service from AT&T or from the local cable company. And that's it. No other broadband options are available.

I used to have service from the cable company. And, every weekend, they'd have an outage. And I'd pick up my BellSouth (now AT&T) phone and call the cable company, playing answering service roulette, hoping to reach someone that would be able to get the Internet service back up.

Then, I realized that I could just get BellSouth DSL service that was as fast (faster, as it turned out) and cost less. So, the switch was made.

For a while, things were great. However, after upgrading to a faster service (from 3 Meg to 6 Meg) they provided a new modem. Some little silver-looking POS about the size of a billfold wallet. It breaks down from time to time. I'm on the third one.

For the last several months, Internet service has experienced the occasional interruption. But short interruptions, lasting maybe a minute, perhaps less. Sometimes it happens multiple times a night. Sometimes I don't experience any outage. Now, it could be that it goes down and back up before I realize it. If I'm not streaming a YouTube or Netflix video or something, then I only would notice it when I click a link or a page refreshes. So, I don't really know how many brief outages there have been.

Lately, though, the outages have been longer and more frequent. Within the last month -- and twice within the last week -- there were outages that lasted several hours. When I called about them (using my Verizon cell phone; it works), I got a message (either prerecorded or from the live CSR) that there was a wide-spread outage in my area that was expected to be back up by a certain time.

The last of these outages lasted over a day, and ran from some time on the 4th (I was at work at the time, but indications are it went down early that afternoon), and it wouldn't be back up until the afternoon of the 5th.

When I got home from work last night, the Internet was up. Launched a browser and everything was working. Launched my email program, and all the emails that had been sent during the outage began downloading, and everything was fine.

Then, I got the first "new" email -- that is, not dated from the previous day or earlier that day -- after the Internet came back online.

It was from AT&T. It began

Dear Valued Customer,

A new AT&T bill for your account number ending in **** is ready.

Yep. The bill.

So, if it goes down again, at least I know they'll have it back up in time to send me a new bill.

AT&T DSL Hell

AT&T is down. Mostly. It comes and goes. Mostly goes.

For the last few weeks, I've noticed an occasional hiccup with the Internet service. But, starting yesterday, it went from occasional hiccup to full seizure.

Tonight, I decided to call. On my BlackBerry, of course.

I'm not impressed with their voice-response service. I call one department, it asks me questions, and then it wants to send me to another department. And can't seem to remember my phone number from one department to the next.

I called, answered the questions the robo-voice asked, it said "Hold for a service representative" then, after some Kenny G-sounding muzak, started over, asking my number again.

Finally, after talking to someone in the Internet department. She asks about my phone line. Which we don't use. So, I plugged a phone into the phone line, and got some weird noisy noise. Yes, that's actually an accurate description. Wife thought I was crazy for saying that, so I let her hear it. She no longer thinks I'm crazy. Not for that, anyway.

Back to the human. I'm answering her questions, then getting placed on hold while she transfers me. More muzak. Then, another woman comes on, I acknowledge her, and I'm disconnected. They have my cell number, but don't call back.

I call again, and the whole thing starts again.

Then, this time, the voice system decides to not send me to a person, but handle the issue itself. The crazy-ass voice system asked me if I saw the "support page" in my browser. I said "no." Robo-bitch said "Great! You're now connected to the Internet. Blah blah blah. Thank you for calling the new AT&T." And disconnects me.

Called again. This time, answering the same questions, it decides to test my phone line. And, it finds a problem. Which is why I called to begin with.

And they tell me when they'll have it fixed: by the evening of Monday, November 16.

I'm now checking into how to tether my BlackBerry service on my Mac. I don't know if I can do that. Actually, I don't know if I may do that. If it can be done, I'm sure I can.

Normal. Or what passes for it around here.

After several days, the situation at the house has improved.

We're now to the point where there's just a hole in the roof.

And, yes, that's an improvement.

The tree is still down in the back yard. Or what's left of the tree after getting it cut up to get it off the roof.

The phone line is still down. Oh, the phone works. Mostly. Touch tone doesn't work, for instance. Pulse dialing does, as do incoming calls.

And the DSL works. Mostly. Download speed is supposed to be 6 Mbps. It's 3.5 Mbps, which is on the low end of what passes for acceptable. Normal for here is between 5 and 6 Mbps.

But, like I said, the phone line is down. On the ground. It runs from the house, across the yard, to the road, across the road on the asphalt, and to the pole on the other side of the road. We still have Internet access, though. For now.

The cable is still down. Oh, we are picking up the channels on the TV and TiVo. But the cable is down. It runs from the side of the house, across the ground, until about half-way to the road, where it droops from the other lines running across the yard.

But, we have power.

The electrician got the box on the wall yesterday. And the building inspector signed off on the work today. The power company reconnected the house and got power back to us late this afternoon.

Still waiting on the insurance company to send someone by. But the delay isn't entirely their fault. So, I'm trying to be patient.

Hope to hear from them soon. The cable folks said they'd have a man by Thursday to fix the cable. The phone company said they'd have the line fixed by Monday upcoming. And, yes, they know the line is laying on the road.

So, the good news is that 5 days after the storm, there's a hole in the roof, we haven't heard from the insurance company, the phone line is laying on the road, and the cable is down.

Yes, that's the good news.

That sums up what kind of week it's been.