The "new" AT&T (formerly SBC, my local phone company) sent me a form letter stating that my user ID does not comply with their new rules and needs to be changed, or they will terminate the online access to my account. My AT&T user ID happens to be my last name (semenzato), same as my user ID everywhere else.
It complies with all AT&T rules except possibly their profanity clause. This is the first time anybody suggests to me that the first part of my last name is a profanity (seems more like a technical term to me). I let them know that I was quite offended and they should fix their filter to skip the profanity check for certain variations of the customer's name. Their response was another form letter stating, among other nonsense, that "though this may be a temporary inconvenience, we are certain you will appreciate the efforts we have taken to protect your information."
If this were my bank, I would change bank and be done. But this is my local phone company, so I cannot change it. Still, I feel that I have the right to use my last name as my user ID. Do I have any recourse?
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suggest you invest a few minutes on the phone to see if you can possibly reach anyone at SBC/ATT who is able to deal with this (don't hold your breath waiting and do not spend much time on the phone with it.) There _are_ limited alternatives.I assume you use SBC/ATT's highly touted DSL service, which is where the verbotin 'username' you are not allowed to use comes into it. SBC, now over two years ago, tried to tell me I had no choice either, and my response was to kick them out of my house totally. Most people have a cable or satellite alternative to DSL. We are also very fortunate here that we have local telco alternatives, and you may have also. Gage is one alternative offering service in many parts of the country; so is Prairie Stream Communications if you are in Kansas or a few other SBC territories; there are others. Of course, none of the alternatives can sell you DSL; for DSL you have to stay with Bell; that's their one ace in the hole; the one thing which keeps as many customers with them as it does. The alternative carriers may in fact get their facilities from Bell, but what do you care as long as you do not personally have to deal with AT&T/SBC?
I know that when SBC lied to me (for the last time I would allow it) and got _really_ ignorant with me trying to tell me there was not a damn thing I could do about it, I immediatly reported this to the carrier I preferred, Prairie Stream, and the owner there told me to go see (some name) at the cable company here in town, and get cable internet instead, which I did, then as he suggested I just bode my time for the 24 hours or so until the cable modem was up and running. Then I pulled the plug on DSL, called back to SBC and told them DSL was no longer needed. Once DSL was out, I was then 'eligible' to port my existing number over to Prairie Stream. Even if you have to keep your telco service SBC/ATT, I am sure you will probably like cable internet a lot better than DSL anyway, and most of them are not as ignorant and beligerant as SBC. But remember, do NOT evict DSL until you get your new cable or satallite internet installed first. PAT]