Note to Sympatico One Bill customers

[Alex Beamish]

Hi,

About 24 hours ago, my Internet service failed, so I went into diagnostic
mode, resetting the router, checking for overheated components, and
eventually calling Sympatico for technical support. The told me there was no
technical problem -- my account had been disabled because of non-payment.
Oddly enough, I'd paid the bill five days earlier, as it was now part of my
amalgamated phone bill, something the Marketing department calls One Bill.
That change was made a few months back.

I finally had to use the magic phrase "I need to talk with your supervisor"
when the tech told me nothing could be done until Monday morning when the
Billing department opened. The supervisor, a very efficient lady called
Maya, checked and discovered that, hey, my account was paid up to date. She
restored my service right away.

I then explained to her that it was probably a bad policy decision for
Sympatico to cut off Internet service over the weekend. (Is Bell aware that
there are alternatives to their services?) In my case, I need a 24/7
Internet connection in order to stay in contact with work for support
purposes, as well as to stay in touch with my wife, who is helping her
mother care for my father-in-law. I could have had a difficult time if I'd
had to wait until Monday.

So, to all the Sympatico subscribers out there .. be aware of this
possibility. Apparently Sympatico cuts off service 180 days after the last
payment (because that's what happened to me). In my case, they didn't get
the memo that I'd been transferred to a One Bill, and presumably missed the
fact that they were still getting some kind of transfer payment for my
account.

And finally, a question: What kind of fallback do the TLUG members have for
their Internet connection? I know I've been able to use Sympatico dial-up
when my digital modem has died .. I still have a 56K dial-up modem. Because
I use it so rarely I haven't had to set my machine up as a DHCP server and
web proxy, but could that if necessary. I'm just wondering if I can
subscribe to a dial-up service that I can use in an emergency like the one I
just had.

Thanks!

-- 
Alex Beamish
Toronto, Ontario
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gtalug.org/pipermail/legacy/attachments/20060716/43115ba6/attachment.html>