FYI: TLAs like OTE can KMA
Today's headache is brought to you by the letters O, T, and E.
I don't know what that particular three-letter acronym would mean in English, but in Greece, OTE means «Οργανισμός Τηλεπικοινωνιών Ελλάδος», "Organismos Tilepikinonion Ellados", or "Hellenic Telecommunications Organization".
And they sometimes behave like AT&T in the bad old days.
Got a call from them yesterday (Tuesday the 9th), notifying me that they were doing infrastructure upgrades to their networks, and as part of it, I could upgrade my DSL line without any increase in my phone bill. After assurances that there wouldn't be any problems with equipment during the switchover, I finally decided to agree to it. They tell me that they'll be delivering a new VDSL modem-router, free of charge, on Friday the 12th.
Wednesday the 10th (which is today) rolls around, and when I go to check my work e-mail before heading out the door to schlep to the office, suddenly I can't connect to the office Gmail system. I check a couple of other sites and notice that they're not connecting either; I check my router stats page and find there's no connection; I reset the router, still no connection; I pick up my landline phone and there's no dialtone.
I grab my cell phone, call OTE Customer Service, and find out that the reason my phone line went down is that they're doing the switchover to VDSL today. As in two days before they send me the equipment to handle the switchover. I'm late for work by the time I get that answer, so I've got to hoof it over to the office and get to work.
Two calls to OTE Customer Service later (the next attempt transferred me to limbo), I'm told by a technician that no, an ADSL modem-router can't understand a VDSL signal, so what they're going to do is give me ten gigabytes of cell phone data free of charge, so I can tether anything to my phone until the new modem comes. I ask if maybe I can just go to an OTE office or storefront or something and pick up a modem from them, instead of being stuck until delivery, and the tech hems and haws and finally says he can't guarantee anything, because he wouldn't know what any store would have in stock.
Fine. I break early for lunch and head to the OTE storefront/office at Syntagma Square (which, contrary to public perception, is actually quite calm these days; the marble steps in front of the hotels have a year and a half or so of weathering on them, which didn't happen when they were being smashed regularly). I go and ask if I can pick up a new VDSL modem-router from them instead of being stuck in limbo. The answer: they're on different systems, and can't interact between the store and the courier system.
In other words, SOL.
Is it me, or would it have made sense for the phone company to have checked to make sure the equipment was in place before switching over the line?
Bleah.
This entry is cross-posted from http://bktheirregular.dreamwidth.org/593356.html. Feel free to comment here, or on Dreamwidth using OpenID (
comments).
I don't know what that particular three-letter acronym would mean in English, but in Greece, OTE means «Οργανισμός Τηλεπικοινωνιών Ελλάδος», "Organismos Tilepikinonion Ellados", or "Hellenic Telecommunications Organization".
And they sometimes behave like AT&T in the bad old days.
Got a call from them yesterday (Tuesday the 9th), notifying me that they were doing infrastructure upgrades to their networks, and as part of it, I could upgrade my DSL line without any increase in my phone bill. After assurances that there wouldn't be any problems with equipment during the switchover, I finally decided to agree to it. They tell me that they'll be delivering a new VDSL modem-router, free of charge, on Friday the 12th.
Wednesday the 10th (which is today) rolls around, and when I go to check my work e-mail before heading out the door to schlep to the office, suddenly I can't connect to the office Gmail system. I check a couple of other sites and notice that they're not connecting either; I check my router stats page and find there's no connection; I reset the router, still no connection; I pick up my landline phone and there's no dialtone.
I grab my cell phone, call OTE Customer Service, and find out that the reason my phone line went down is that they're doing the switchover to VDSL today. As in two days before they send me the equipment to handle the switchover. I'm late for work by the time I get that answer, so I've got to hoof it over to the office and get to work.
Two calls to OTE Customer Service later (the next attempt transferred me to limbo), I'm told by a technician that no, an ADSL modem-router can't understand a VDSL signal, so what they're going to do is give me ten gigabytes of cell phone data free of charge, so I can tether anything to my phone until the new modem comes. I ask if maybe I can just go to an OTE office or storefront or something and pick up a modem from them, instead of being stuck until delivery, and the tech hems and haws and finally says he can't guarantee anything, because he wouldn't know what any store would have in stock.
Fine. I break early for lunch and head to the OTE storefront/office at Syntagma Square (which, contrary to public perception, is actually quite calm these days; the marble steps in front of the hotels have a year and a half or so of weathering on them, which didn't happen when they were being smashed regularly). I go and ask if I can pick up a new VDSL modem-router from them instead of being stuck in limbo. The answer: they're on different systems, and can't interact between the store and the courier system.
In other words, SOL.
Is it me, or would it have made sense for the phone company to have checked to make sure the equipment was in place before switching over the line?
Bleah.
This entry is cross-posted from http://bktheirregular.dreamwidth.org/593356.html. Feel free to comment here, or on Dreamwidth using OpenID (
comments).