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Huh? All of the specifics he mentioned above aren't just magically sitting somewhere in a simple database query. Your question needs to be handed off to someon

Huh? All of the specifics he mentioned above aren't just magically sitting somewhere in a simple database query. Your question needs to be handed off to someone so they can specifically research your situation and get back to you with the results. It sounds like specifically in your case, their system allows the techs who take new cable signups to enter your data in the system, and then it will return weather your house is serviceable, not serviceable, and with what type of service options are available if you can in fact sign up. Doesn't sound like a very strenuous process from the customer side.

mikeash 12y ago
So why didn't they offer to hand off my question to someone so they can specifically research my situation and get back to me with the results? They told me the only way to find out was to actually sign up, then maybe it would work or maybe it wouldn't. There was no way to get an answer in advance.
- res0nat0r 12y ago
  So you prefer waiting for someone to call you back at an unknown time vs. giving them your four lines of home address info, allowing them to punch that into the computer and seeing if your house is serviceable? This is actually what the results will be of your conversation. You can't "sign up" and be billed if you aren't even in a serviceable location in their system.
  - mikeash 12y ago
    I don't understand what you're proposing. How would I give them four lines of home address info and have them punch that into the computer to see if my house is serviceable? I mean, that's literally what I tried to do. I called them, I said I live at such-and-such address, what kind of DSL service can I get from you? And their response was, hell if we know.
    - res0nat0r 12y ago
      I guess I don't understand the outrage that not every home address is somehow in their database. I wasn't outraged when I called Comcast to get cable run to my new house I just built. They first had to send a tech out to survey my location and ensure I was even in a serviceable neighborhood which is perfectly understandable.
      - mikeash 12y ago
        It's not outrage, just incredulity. And this wasn't some random house in the middle of nowhere, it was in the middle of a major metro area, in a place where Verizon was the incumbent telecom operator, and provided phone service for everybody in a radius of several miles, including my own house (if I had wanted a landline). I just expect companies to be able to tell me what kind of products they can offer. If it takes some work to get an answer, then I expect them to do that work. I don't think this is at all an unreasonable expectation.
        res0nat0r 12y ago
        Did you submit a request and wait for a response, or just assume they are clueless and never actually found out?
        mikeash 12y ago
        Submit a request for what, exactly? I didn't request installation, as I'm not going to commit to pay for something until I know what it is. No option was given to simply request availability or speeds. You seem to have an issue with how I handled this situation but I have no idea why. What exactly do you think I should have done here?
        res0nat0r 12y ago
        You want to know what kind of options you have available to you. They don't know. They need to submit a request to someone else that isn't on the phone to find out and get back to you. You agree and wait for them to get back to you with an answer. You don't pay and I'm sure they don't expect you to pay (for what exactly? You've stated they don't even know if you are serviceable at this point).

mikeash 12y ago

So why didn't they offer to hand off my question to someone so they can specifically research my situation and get back to me with the results? They told me the only way to find out was to actually sign up, then maybe it would work or maybe it wouldn't. There was no way to get an answer in advance.

res0nat0r 12y ago
So you prefer waiting for someone to call you back at an unknown time vs. giving them your four lines of home address info, allowing them to punch that into the computer and seeing if your house is serviceable? This is actually what the results will be of your conversation. You can't "sign up" and be billed if you aren't even in a serviceable location in their system.
- mikeash 12y ago
  I don't understand what you're proposing. How would I give them four lines of home address info and have them punch that into the computer to see if my house is serviceable? I mean, that's literally what I tried to do. I called them, I said I live at such-and-such address, what kind of DSL service can I get from you? And their response was, hell if we know.
  - res0nat0r 12y ago
    I guess I don't understand the outrage that not every home address is somehow in their database. I wasn't outraged when I called Comcast to get cable run to my new house I just built. They first had to send a tech out to survey my location and ensure I was even in a serviceable neighborhood which is perfectly understandable.
    - mikeash 12y ago
      It's not outrage, just incredulity. And this wasn't some random house in the middle of nowhere, it was in the middle of a major metro area, in a place where Verizon was the incumbent telecom operator, and provided phone service for everybody in a radius of several miles, including my own house (if I had wanted a landline). I just expect companies to be able to tell me what kind of products they can offer. If it takes some work to get an answer, then I expect them to do that work. I don't think this is at all an unreasonable expectation.
      - res0nat0r 12y ago
        Did you submit a request and wait for a response, or just assume they are clueless and never actually found out?
        mikeash 12y ago
        Submit a request for what, exactly? I didn't request installation, as I'm not going to commit to pay for something until I know what it is. No option was given to simply request availability or speeds. You seem to have an issue with how I handled this situation but I have no idea why. What exactly do you think I should have done here?
        res0nat0r 12y ago
        You want to know what kind of options you have available to you. They don't know. They need to submit a request to someone else that isn't on the phone to find out and get back to you. You agree and wait for them to get back to you with an answer. You don't pay and I'm sure they don't expect you to pay (for what exactly? You've stated they don't even know if you are serviceable at this point).