The never-ending phone rant

[muckefuck]

Back when I had my phone trouble (anyone remember that? it was two months ago now) and decided to give up on RCN, I knew that things would get a lot worse before they got any better. Someone, I still managed to underestimate the utter incompetence of my local service providers.

At least I've discovered what it takes to get a response out of RCN: File a complaint with the Illinois Commerce Commission. (You can do this easily and simply online.) I wrote to RCN, but no one answered my letters. I tried calling them, but they decided that having staff on hand until 7:30 p.m. to field service requests was insanely generous and cut their office hours back to 5 p.m. Less than a week after submitting my complaint to a regulatory agency, however, I got someone on the line who explained why they hadn't turned my phone number over to SBC: When I cancelled my account (which I did to keep them from charging me for service I was not receiving), it went back in the pool. To get them to release it, I would've had to resubscribe, get the number back, and then get them to turn it over to SBC. No way I'm masochist enough to do that and I wish someone had told me, oh, I dunno, a MONTH AGO that this would be a problem.

So I called SBC to ask why they had dropped the ball (I mean, shouldn't there be a flag somewhere that says, "Hey, this order was placed six weeks ago and hasn't gone through yet! What's up with that?") and got the Mouth Breathers' Call Centre. The operator wasted ten minutes of my time until I realised he wasn't just taking my existing order and noting that I needed a new number (as he led me to believe), he was creating a brand-new order! (The tip-off was when he asked, "Did you remember what calling plans you ordered?"). I told him to get stuffed, I'd fill out the request online.

Meanwhile, YAK-RAPE has decided it really doesn't like holding a charge for longer than it takes to make like one or two calls. So if you've had trouble trying to get in touch with me lately, this is part of the reason.

Comments

[gopower.livejournal.com]

If YAK-RAPE is a cell phone, invest the $30 or so in an extended battery pack. While it adds a hefty amount to the weight of the phone, you get used to that quickly. It boosted my talk time from under an hour to well over two. More importantly, rather than being forced to remember to charge it every night, it goes for several days with moderate use. (Longer if you happen to be in Lonely Guy mode).

I think I bought mine at wirelessgalaxy.com

[cruiser.livejournal.com]

Also, assuming infinite cash (YMMV), other things to buy would be a charger that holds both the phone and a spare battery, the same thing for your desk at work and anywhere else you can leave a charger plugged in, along with spare batteries to put in all of them. A spare charger cord that plugs into the phone (not a cradle type) is useful at work and when you're travelling and a car charger is useful if you spend much of your time on the road (which, if I remember correctly, you don't - but it's good general advice for your readers). If you don't have infinite cash to spend, whatever combination of these fits your budget can be useful (when a cell phone was my only phone and I didn't have infinite cash, I had a charger at work and at home, and a car charger).