ranting

I have been without my high-speed internet access since last Wednesday. We came home to find the satellite modem lights blinking the “blink of death.” You know, usually they are doing something that looks constructive, but there is a certain point where you know the thing is dead, just by the way the lights are going on and off. They look as though they are not doing anything constructive.

So I called up Direcway and told them about the problem. Okay, well, let’s back up.

I called Direcway and spoke to their tech support in India. They were very friendly and helpful, except that they were determined that my problem was a low signal. I tried to convey that the lights were blinking on and off steadily, not randomly like they often do when they are searching for a signal.

About 55 minutes later, I had been transferred to a higher level of tech support, and we had gone through all of the same diagnostics that had been administered in the lower level of tech support, and the technician determined that we needed a new modem. Okay, I think I said that…

He arranged for shipment of a new one that should arrive in 5-7 business days. In the meantime, he set up a dial up account for us, but was ultimately unable to give me the username and password because the database which generates those was down. He told me to “call back later.”

Later was Friday, as B’s parents were in town, and we were busy. I spent an additional 75 minutes on the phone with tech support that day. After being transferred from India back to New York, I was able to easily get the username and password that were promised to me, and I asked the support tech to confirm that a new modem had been ordered for me. It had NOT been ordered! Of course, the second tech could not authorize the shipment of a new modem until we had gone through all of the diagnostics that we had gone through in the very first call.

Last night we received the modem. The modem needs to be registered and initialized, and it was determined that some earlier problems I had were attributed to a low signal (though the modem was, in fact, dead) so we needed to review issues with the satellite transponder. I was transferred twice, and spent another 88 minutes on the phone, where I was then disconnected! I called back, and was told that I would need to wait 36 minutes on hold to be connected to someone at the level from which I was just disconnected!

I waited and called back again about ½ hour later, and was told that my wait time would not be more than 2-3 minutes. He then came back and said it would be more than 10 minutes. I decided +/- 10 minutes wouldn’t be a big deal. But I was steaming mad when they finally picked up the phone 46 minutes later! Of course, they read the case review, but still had to go through the same diagnostics. At this time it was 12:15 am, and I still had no internet access. He told me that he would need to put the information in the system to change the transponder, and that I should give it about ½ hour and call back! I wanted to ask him if he could just put me on hold, as that should take about ½ hour for someone to pick up the phone anyway! But it was too late and I needed to go to bed. That call took 58 minutes.

They also told me that there are two transponders on the horizontal and vertical axes that I am trying to lock onto. The support person said, “we will change it in the computer and hope it locks onto the one with the stronger signal strength. If it doesn’t someone will have to come out and configure it from your house.” Oh joy. This could take a while.

I wonder how long the call will be this afternoon to finish the job (or maybe “finish” is too optimistic?).

I HATE THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!! I hated the cable company for being such a gorilla, but Direcway is much, much worse. Customers like me are the perfect “captive audience” because we are screwed if we need high speed internet—they are the only option. No DSL out here, no cable, nothing but satellite, and they are the only provider.

Oh, and regardless of your thoughts on outsourcing call centers to other countries, don’t you think the individuals should at least be familiar with the geography, the time zones in the U.S. and the protocol? I was asked how the weather was in “Idaho;” I was told just to call back in a few minutes, and I could not make them understand that it was IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT HERE; and they gave me a phone number with too many digits.

Okay, done with rant.