ISP down

[icarus]

Hi guys. My ISP (Earthlink) is down and has only been working sporadically over the weekend. Now I've had no internet access since Sunday am.

Any advice on a new ISP?

I've been annoyed with Earthlink ever since they outsourced their customer service to India. Other than my personal feelings about the loss of American jobs and corporate greed, the Indian customer service reps just aren't as good. I miss the days when I'd contact Earthlink and the guy on the other line actually cared and was knowledgeable, excitedly informing me that the problem I have is the nasty new McEvil virus -- then send me a link on just how I can fix it.

Now, I call Earthlink, and some confused fellow with a thick accent answers the phone. He flips through screens that are supposed to tell him what to do and comes up empty. He attempts some inept small talk that he obviously has been told to parrot. When he can't help me because he's either a) not that educated in technology or b) doesn't give a damn, he hands me a bottled, "I am so sorry for the inconvenience." Then sits silently on the phone waiting for me to accept my fate. When I try to ask him to get off his duff and perhaps try some original thought, creativity maybe? -- I get the same "I am so sorry for the inconvenience." And silence.

What idiot decided India was a great place for call centers? I lived there. They have some of the worst service in the world.

Anyway, back the subject at hand: currently I'm paying $21.95/mo. for unlimited dial-up.

I moved my website from the free Earthlink account to Slashcity a year ago. I've left my old website up so some people's story links will die (specifically dkwilliams's links at Inkstained Fingers and switchknife's links), but most people have already made the transition.

The move will take down the original Percy Fic-A-Thon site. But the Percyfest stories have all been moved to Percyness: The Percy Weasley Archive.

I've also migrated my email from Earthlink to Yahoo and Gmail over the last year-to-two years. So I'm packed up and ready to move.

Any recommendations?

Comments

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm not even remotely surprised. Did you get the full "Indian" experience?

Icarus

[dkwilliams.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, yes. Here's a link to my rant about them - http://www.livejournal.com/users/dkwilliams/46406.html - when we went round and round over why I should pay for dial-up AND DSL, got disconnected, reconnected, charged and assured the charge would be removed. THEN told to pay the charges to get reconnected and they'd reimburse me SOMETIME. And I could tell the person was going down a checklist, hadn't a clue what the situation was, because they kept repeating "But you just need to pay all the charges and we will reconnect".

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Holy cow. This is so typical of my experience with them, just not listening, not comprehending, not caring, but much with the bullshit.

I did get an American this morning (thank god). He told me that Earthlink still has two U.S. call centers left.

I am so gone.

Icarus