ATT DSL Service in Milwaukee : Prepare for a headache

I am usually a fairly tolerant person. I understand that technology can often be frustrating, and add the human potential for error into the mix and you are going to hit some snags. That being said, my patience for AT&T has bottomed out. I have been a customer of theirs for over a year. I refuse to give money to the cable company so I decided to get their DSL service in my apartment.

As far as uptime, I can’t complain – too much. Unfortunately the fastest DSL connection I can get is 6mbs, which is not bad. I would prefer the 16mbs of U-VERSE but I can’t get U-VERSE in my building. My new connection goes from .5 mbs to 5mbs like a car running out of gas. I’ve never seen it hit 6mbs, ever.

I recently moved into a new apartment that is about 150 feet away from my old apartment. Moving sucks, and there are some things that we know we are going to struggle with but I thought that transfering my DSL would be relatively painless. I put it off until the last minute which was dumb, but it really is a matter of flipping a switch. Don’t let them tell you otherwise.

I called ATT and got someone on the phone, she told me that they cannot transfer the service, instead they have to cancel my current service, then set up new service and this would take A WEEK!. They made it sound like there was more to it, like someone would have to come out to the building. They asked if there was an alarm or a dog. I knew that no one was coming but I answered the questions. I was annoyed at having to wait a week but I shouldn’t have put it off, so my fault. The woman told me she would have to put in an order to cancel my current service and set up new service, ok fine. This particular day I had forgotten my credit card. She told me that we couldn’t continue. I asked if she could put my order on hold while I ran up to get my credit card. She of course said no. I asked for her name or number, she said no, I offered a couple other options, no , no, no. OK. I’ll call back.

I called my girlfriend and got my credit card number then I called ATT back. This time I got a woman and I just KNEW by the tone of her voice that I was in for trouble. I should have just hung up, but I didn’t. I explained the situation to her and she said she saw that my current service had been canceled. I told her I knew I had to open a new order for service and that I needed a credit card which I now had. Then she started with the “ummms” and “aahhhhs”, which are the sound of someone who is lost on their computer. She put me on hold, in fact, she ended up putting me on hold 6 times (yes I counted). She then told me that I had a new order in but I would now have to wait 9 days!!! How did 3 days get added on in the course of 20 minutes??? Then I said “OK so do you need my credit card?” she said “ahhhh… No.. not right now.. there’s ummm.. well… its not giving me this code to ahh.. ” You get the point. She said that I would be contacted to provide a credit card number when the service started. We ended the call.

I had some coffee but couldn’t ignore this nagging feeling that something was wrong. I decided to call back. After wading through the obnoxious menu system with the voice recognition system that kept getting tripped by background noise, I got someone on the line. I told her that I had just signed up for service but I had a real suspicion that the last woman I spoke to didn’t know what she was doing. I wanted her to verify that I had an order. Guess what? No order. In fact no record of a phone call, just that my current service had been disconnected. My cork popped.

The coffee shop I was in was closing so I am on the phone, balancing my laptop with one hand, the phone in another, a coffee cup in my teeth, trying to pack up to get out. I apologized in advance for the reaming I was going to give this girl because of her co-workers. I was pissed, I had spent over an hour on the phone, my cell phone mind you (T-Mobile w/600 minutes). She did the obligatory apologies, but had no answer to my question of “what the hell is wrong with you people? why do you insist on making this so painful?”.. She kept saying she was sorry, and promised that my order was in and I would have my service in…….11 days..

Then the best question she could have ever asked.. “Would you be interested in signing up for cell phone service with us?”

The reason I decided to write this is because I am sitting in a Starbucks right now, they have wireless access for ATT customers, I tried to sign on.. Guess what? I don’t need to tell you – my login didnt work. SO 2 phone calls, totaling 26 minutes (on my cell phone) and I am finally online, no thanks to them.

I’m a big believer in testimonials. Word of mouth goes a long way. There are plenty of options for DSL in Milwaukee, I suggest you check them out.

If an ATT rep sees this and figures out that it would be a good idea to shut me up with some comped months of service, that wouldn’t be a bad idea.