To the readers:
I returned home from a vacation yesterday, and found that my Internet service had been cut off. I have been using Speakeasy for many years, but they were bought out by Best Buy, and have been combined with and/or resold to "MegaPath", along with Covad (which used to be the transport provider Speakeasy used).
I called Speakeasy customer service, and they told me that MegaPath has abandoned service to the town of Sharon, Massachusetts, and I presume to many other communities as well. The tech-support person told me I had to call a "Retention specialist" to find out what my options are.
This morning, I managed to reach the "Retention Specialist" - which none of the people in the Sales department seemed to know about - and I was given these options:
- Continue to receive DSL service via Verizon instead of Covad. They offered me the same price I'm currently paying (~/month) for 768/128 DSL. Since Verizon sells the service directly for /month, I told them I wasn't interested.
- Receive data service from Speakeasy via Comcast, for about /month if I would settle for a dynamic IP address, and about 0/month if I wanted to keep a fixed IP address. Comcast sells the service for about /month, so I again said "No".
- A T1 line for over 0/month. I said "No" a third time.
The representative told me that MegaPath sent me a letter, but I haven't seen it if they did. I can understand that Speakeasy must do what the new owners want, but I'm mad as hell because I've received shoddy service from MegaPath.
Years ago, I contracted with Speakeasy for DSL service because of its customer care, cluefull tech support, Linux friendliness, and "bits are bits" attitude: things which I thought merited a premium rate because they were very hard to find in the past. Now, however, the rules have changed again: It seems that some animals _are_ more equal than others, and small towns that don't produce the obscene levels of profit that major players feel they deserve by divine right are being thrown in the dustbin. The gerneral lack of knowledge and brusque treatment I received today make it clear that MegaPath does not value me as a residential customer, and does not deserve my money.
I'll be moderating the Digest from the computer at my local Library, which through the grace of God and enlightened librarians allows me to use an SSH client. That will mean that your posts may take several days to process, so please bear with me while I search for the least distasteful of my new Internet options.
Bill