"Oh boy!" I thought. Twice the speed for half the cost. That's what I was told by the AT&T representative and I believed her...and for one brief day, it was true.
Then came the outage. At first it was annoying, getting knocked offline, then after an hour or two, all the lights on the modem were green and it was clear - and fast - sailing again. Then came Black Monday (which started late Sunday afternoon into the early parts of today) when I didn't have any access at all.
AT&T spokespeople and techs are being deliberately vague about what's causing the problem; some articles I've read are blaming it on various conspiracies, while others say they think it's the work of hackers angry at the "Six Strikes" policy. I don't care WHAT is causing it, but I just want my Internet.
I guess I'm lucky; I only have U-Verse for my Internet; others have also been without their cable TV and phone if they've signed up for the complete package. Made me glad I decided to hold off on that for the time being. At least I could get on the phone to complain and although my cable is outrageously expensive for what I get, it was good that I could watch TV while I was offline.
I even took the time during a short window of opportunity when U-Verse was up to go register on the AT&T website forums to see if there was a workaround; I saw a few and will try them if the outages persist. Reading a HUGE thread of complaints on the subject - well, I didn't read ALL of the complaints, but was glad I skipped to the very last posts in the thread - and saw this. One holier-than-thou jerk said this, a message I've seen at least a hundred times before in some form or fashion:
(excuse the caps, that's the way it was written)
BACK IN MY DAY WE HAD TO USE DIAL UP, TOOK 5 MINS TO LOAD IT UP AND COULDN'T TALK ON THE PHONE WHILST ON THE INTERNET, YA'LL AINT GONNA DIE NOT HAVING INTERNETS FOR MORE THAN A DAY, QUIT YA GRIPING, BELLYACHING, AND MOANING AN GO OUTSIDE YA VARMINTS!
The outage has almost been worth getting to read the reply to it:
Look. No internet, TV, or PHONE. OK? Couldn't even call 911 if there was an emergency. It's 6 degrees outside. So why don't you go out there?
Anyway, this is the tune that used to go through my head when I'd see anything about U-Verse; if the outages persist, it will be AC/DC's "Highway to Hell".
Across The Universe - The Beatles
Then came the outage. At first it was annoying, getting knocked offline, then after an hour or two, all the lights on the modem were green and it was clear - and fast - sailing again. Then came Black Monday (which started late Sunday afternoon into the early parts of today) when I didn't have any access at all.
AT&T spokespeople and techs are being deliberately vague about what's causing the problem; some articles I've read are blaming it on various conspiracies, while others say they think it's the work of hackers angry at the "Six Strikes" policy. I don't care WHAT is causing it, but I just want my Internet.
I guess I'm lucky; I only have U-Verse for my Internet; others have also been without their cable TV and phone if they've signed up for the complete package. Made me glad I decided to hold off on that for the time being. At least I could get on the phone to complain and although my cable is outrageously expensive for what I get, it was good that I could watch TV while I was offline.
I even took the time during a short window of opportunity when U-Verse was up to go register on the AT&T website forums to see if there was a workaround; I saw a few and will try them if the outages persist. Reading a HUGE thread of complaints on the subject - well, I didn't read ALL of the complaints, but was glad I skipped to the very last posts in the thread - and saw this. One holier-than-thou jerk said this, a message I've seen at least a hundred times before in some form or fashion:
(excuse the caps, that's the way it was written)
BACK IN MY DAY WE HAD TO USE DIAL UP, TOOK 5 MINS TO LOAD IT UP AND COULDN'T TALK ON THE PHONE WHILST ON THE INTERNET, YA'LL AINT GONNA DIE NOT HAVING INTERNETS FOR MORE THAN A DAY, QUIT YA GRIPING, BELLYACHING, AND MOANING AN GO OUTSIDE YA VARMINTS!
The outage has almost been worth getting to read the reply to it:
Look. No internet, TV, or PHONE. OK? Couldn't even call 911 if there was an emergency. It's 6 degrees outside. So why don't you go out there?
Anyway, this is the tune that used to go through my head when I'd see anything about U-Verse; if the outages persist, it will be AC/DC's "Highway to Hell".
Across The Universe - The Beatles
