4 ms·

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

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
        I'm sure if they decided I couldn't have the service, I wouldn't have to pay. But what if they decided I could, but it was, say, 256kbps? I'd still be on the hook for that, and with no way to find out ahead of time. Again, the two options I was presented with were: 1) stop and be left with a "I don't know" answer 2) start the process to install service. You seem to either think there must have been a 3) start the process to find out what kind of service I could get, or that 2 is a good enough equivalent to 3. Neither is true.
        res0nat0r 12y ago
        So, how does one exactly start the process of signing up for a service, and yet force to be billed for some "unknown" tier of service which you never commit to? They just pick and decide what to bill you over the phone against your wishes? Sounds like this is being over complicated just to complain about how terrible ISP's are.
        mikeash 12y ago
        From a billing standpoint I'd just be signing up for a 3Mbps plan, or whatever it was they were offering. What the equipment actually allowed me to achieve is a separate thing.

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
      I'm sure if they decided I couldn't have the service, I wouldn't have to pay. But what if they decided I could, but it was, say, 256kbps? I'd still be on the hook for that, and with no way to find out ahead of time. Again, the two options I was presented with were: 1) stop and be left with a "I don't know" answer 2) start the process to install service. You seem to either think there must have been a 3) start the process to find out what kind of service I could get, or that 2 is a good enough equivalent to 3. Neither is true.
      - res0nat0r 12y ago
        So, how does one exactly start the process of signing up for a service, and yet force to be billed for some "unknown" tier of service which you never commit to? They just pick and decide what to bill you over the phone against your wishes? Sounds like this is being over complicated just to complain about how terrible ISP's are.
        mikeash 12y ago
        From a billing standpoint I'd just be signing up for a 3Mbps plan, or whatever it was they were offering. What the equipment actually allowed me to achieve is a separate thing.