After all my internet presence (graywolfphoto.com) only costs me $5.95 a month. My connection (Charter Cable) costs me $53.47 a month. Since everything I need including unlimited email addresses, 250mb webspace, etc. is included in the hosting package I do not need the MSNET web page and other crap supplied free with that $50 package. Now if they would just give me a simple connection for $20 or so I would be in paradise. BTW, before the conglomerates took over the ISP business it was easy to get a basic internet connection, now it is almost impossible in the area where I live.
To top it off Charter Communications, a public utility service, is a local franchise here in Boone. But then so is the local North Carolina DMV license tag office. We supposedly have a separation of church and state here in the US. We seem to also need a separation of business and state.
Bob Walkden wrote:
Hi Mike,
that's a lot of bad luck.
I couldn't see the point of a going to a reseller, which has to go through BT anyway, when you could do it directly with BT, so I went with BT Broadband's connection-only option. The stuff arrived when I asked for it, I connected it all myself, it worked straight away and has continued to work. It doesn't include any webspace or email addresses, but the whole thing was simplicity itself.
Bob
Monday, October 6, 2003, 8:43:38 AM, you wrote:
Hi,
I have spent the last few weeks trying, unsuccessfully, as you will see by the end of this missive, to get a broadband installation by NTL.
Each person that I have spoken to has been unfailingly polite but the process has been an unmitigated disaster, from the lack of information "I'm sorry I can't tell you the answer to that, our installation engineers will be able to when they install" through the incorrect paperwork with wrong services and two, different serial numbers (correct one needed for installation) to the complete and utter inability to register the cable modem with the service.
The installation engineer left cable drums and cable cuttings all over
the place and was in such a hurry to leave that he left his jacket
behind. The installation process instruction leaflet has errors. The
required PIN number was not issued to me. I spent about four hours on
the telephone and another six trying to make it work over the weekend. No joy, despite three or four engineers telling me "I can see the
problem - it's fixed now". Same error message, telling me that the
order has not been completed. My machine's configuration has been
altered, despite promises that it would not be.
Annoyingly, I have internet access. It is switched on somehow so that you can setup and register online. No email addresses and no web space however, which is what we wanted it for.
So I find myself at the beginning of the undoubtedly lengthy, irritating and probably expensive start of the process to extricate myself from this mess.
My advice to others: 1. Avoid NTL wherever possible. It has all the classic signs of an organisation in meltdown. 2. If there is a mistake in your paperwork, cancel the order and start again. 3. Do not let installation engineers leave until you are sure that the system is running properly. 4. Don't buy into a system until you have had all your questions answered. If that means you have to forgo something, so be it. 5. Check all paperwork minutely.
For now, I am going to enjoy the net access until they cut it off after I cancel the direct debit. I have threatened to "uninstall" their equipment for them and leave it on the street but I probably won't. The refuse is collected tomorrow and the thought of all that gear going to a landfill is not a good one. If anyone wants a cable modem and about 20m of optic cable, though..... 8-)
-- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com
"You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway."
