I took this past week off as vacation to catch up on my course work. I have been spending so much time on Calculus and Statistics that I have fallen severely behind in Microeconomics and Law. My biggest goal was to complete the last four chapters in my Microeconomics course and to get my Law paper done. I also planned to take my new bicycle out every afternoon to practice riding and build up my strength. Verizon had other plans.
Monday morning, 7:00 a.m., I find my Internet connection speed is so slow it took 7 to 11 minutes to load a page. I spent from 7:30 to 12:30 pm on and off the phone with various non-English-speaking Verizon employees getting the connection up, only to have it go down again. At 12:30, it came up for the afternoon, and then at 9:10 p.m., it went down completely, and I spent from 9:15 to 11:30 p.m. on the phone with Verizon again. They blamed my computer, the number of processes the computer is running, the ethernet cable (which they had supplied), the setting in the modem (which they repeatedly changed and finally 'bridged' with my router), my telephone line that is inside my home, and my router itself.
They asked how long I had been having problems with my service. I told them - approximately a year and a half. As a matter of fact, when my brother came to visit from Seattle about in June of 2006 and used my Internet service, he said, "Boy, your Verizon service really sucks." And I said, yes, yes it does. They finally, after over a year of connection issues, decided to send a technician.
I asked when the technician would be arriving. I was assured one would be at my home within the next 24 to 48 hours. No kidding.
So Monday, I spent most of the day on the phone, getting nothing done.
Tuesday morning at about 9 I received an automated call that informed me a technician would be at my home the next day between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. That certainly narrows it down, doesn't it? There was no way to speak to an actual person on this call, so I pressed the appropriate number to okay the appointment, hung up, and called Verizon back. I asked for someone in Customer Service. I actually was able to speak to an English-speaking customer service representative, and she was unable to help me. I had to speak to the DSL Department (which, by the way, is in another non-English-speaking location). She connected me, and stayed on the line with me trying to explain to the non-English-speaking person that I was on the line with her, and that I needed a narrower window for my appointment with the technician.
Good luck with that one. I was finally assured that although they could 'request' a more specific time, it could not be arranged. I asked to be transferred to their billing department, who is the only department who could tell me when my contract expires with them so I can move on to another ISP provider.
Two hours later, I received another call from Verizon. This person was actually able to narrow the window of time from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday for my appointment with the technician.
So Tuesday, I had no connection, could not view the lectures that are online, and got nothing done.
Wednesday morning, at about 10:30 a.m., I noticed the Verizon truck sitting outside my house. He did something in the back of his truck, got back into his truck, and started it up. I went running out there to catch him. He said everything was fine. I asked him, 'Then why don't I have an Internet connection?" He said he would take a look. He shut off the truck and came in, and said, "Oh. They told me you were on the right." (I am actually in the apartment on the left.) He ended up re-wiring my place, gave me a dedicated DSL line, made sure my connection was working, told me that if I was having any problems again, to call, and he would come right back, and he left.
Ten minutes later, I have no internect connection. I called Verizon and asked them to send the technician back. That's impossible, they said. The ticket is closed. So re-open it, I said. No, that is impossible. We could send a technician back, it would be 24 to 48 hours before they would arrive. They would not send the technician back, however, because my line was working fine, so that obviously is not the problem.
I was on the telephone with this non-English-speaking person for a few hours, at which time it was ascertained that it (of course) is not Verizon's problem, it is my network card. How do we fix that? It was recommended that I call a service like Geek Squad or someone like that to have it repaired. By this time, it is 10:00 p.m.
I called Rescue.com. They would have a technician contact me at 8:30 Thursday morning. Here it was, Wednesday, and I got nothing done.
At 9:30 a.m., I received the call, and actually got to speak to someone whose native language is English, which made up for his being an hour late. He ran numerous diagnostic tests and ascertained that it was indeed a problem with my network card, and it would have to be replaced. In the meantime, he got me up and running with my laptop. It cost me $148, and the desktop was still useless.
At 10:30 a.m., I pulled out the Verizon telephone book and called Circuit City and CompUSA. Every single telephone number that is listed in the book for the locations nearest to me was a non-working number. Verizon was very helpful there. I called the Cheektowaga Circuit City location, and they gave me the correct number for the Amherst location. CompUSA is no longer in business. They're still listed, though, just in case you want to know what their number used to be. Verizon can be very helpful that way.
Circuit City has a service called FireDog. I took my tower in, they replaced the network card ($30) for a service fee of $40. I brought the tower back home, plugged everything back in, and lo' and behold! No Internet connection!
So at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, I am back on the phone with Verizon. They again blamed the router. I told them, this router is my third router. Why can't Verizon make my service work with any of three different routers? It's the router, ma'am. It's been working with this router, why isn't it working now with this router? There is a problem with your router, ma'am. You have to call the company that manufactured your router.
Linksys is the manufacturer of my router. I called them, they changed settings, and I was up and running again.
Until about 7:30 Thursday evening. Then - here's a shocker - no Internet connection! I called Verizon. Of course, it isn't their problem, they had me disconnect the router, and after numerous recyclings of the modem and computer, various changes in settings, more recycling, I was finally up and running again - but without my router. I had to call Linksys back to get my router working again. I plugged everything back in, called Linksys, and spent a couple hours on the phone with them. By midnight, I had an Internet connection again, but was too exhausted to do any coursework! All day Thursday - nothing done.
Friday morning, I get up, take Ian to the bus stop, come home, fire up the computer, and I have no Internet connection. I called Linksys this time. After two hours on the phone, it was determined that the modem was not set to work with the router. I would have to call Verizon and have them 'unbridge' the modem. Westell modems do not work well when they are bridged to work with routers, and there have been numerous problems with them. I wasn't surprised at all by this - the Westell modem was the modem that Verizon provided to me with my DSL service.
I called Verizon. They reset my modem, unbridged it, and made sure I had an Internet connection. I then plugged in my router, and had - you guessed it - no Internet connection. So I called Linksys back.
I spoke with someone who changed the settings in my router to again work with my modem. I had an Internet connection. I was happy. I could still work on my course work and watch the required lectures for three hours before I had to pick up Ian.
Guess again.
I launched my Internet Explorer from my laptop, which said I was 'connected' and my signal strength was 'Excellent', and it took 11 minutes to download the home page for the course work. I tried loading Google. Another 7 minutes. I called Verizon.
No, they assured me, it isn't their problem. I recycled the system again, had to disconnect the router, recycle the system, change settings, etc., etc., etc., and finally they got my connection up again, without the router.
So I called Linksys again. I spent until 5:30 p.m. on the phone with them, and the bottom line is, they can't tell me what is wrong, perhaps the router is defective, and they gave me an option to return the router for replacement. So here it is, Friday evening, and I've gotten nothing done. I have effectively spent my entire week of vacation on the phone.
This is the third router that I have tried over the past year and a half. I have a Netgear router that would not work with the Verizon Westell modem, a Microsoft Broadband Networking router that would not work with the Verizon Westell modem, and now the Linksys. I can only connect from my desktop, which is in my bedroom, and cannot use my laptop.
I decided to take the laptop to Barnes & Noble, who has free wi-fi, get a cup of tea, and do some coursework in their cafe. I tried to connect up to the Internet, but got an error message with a telephone number to call. I spent half an hour on the phone with their customer service rep, and was finally told that they were having a network issue, and they did not know when the internet would be available. I looked around, and everyone was tapping on keys and looking rather aggravated, so I knew it wasn't just me.
It sure felt like it, though.
My entire vacation - shot to hell. I am still facing the last four chapters of Microeconomics, and I have only been able to read one of the seven chapters I have left in order to prepare the paper for Law, I got no bike time in, I have a Statistics assignment due today that I haven't even started on, another Calculus assignment due on Monday, and the semester ends May 15th. If I cancel my Verizon service and go with one of their competitors, they want an early cancellation fee.
Haven't I paid enough?
Dolores said...
Kelly,
Here is what is wrong with Verizon.
Love, Dolores
This is India. It is where you call when you have a technical problem with your computer.
Here, she showed the slightest difference in the sign makes the sign mean something entirely different. The sign on the left means "loyalty", and the sign on the right, she said, means something to do with the earth, the ground. She was unsure of the English translation. Just the slight extension of the top vertical line makes a great difference. Jo-Lin showed us how important it is to be precise when writing the symbols. 
