The Perfect (Tech) Storm -- Part 2
Please read Part 1 first. This still won't make much sense but it will come closer.
S
8. In the meantime, I was in the market for a new phone, an actual smart phone unlike the cheapie I got from Verizon when I signed up for my first cell phone contract. The cheapie has reached the point where it is difficult to hear people sometimes, it won’t hold a charge for long, and I’m beginning to think that it doesn’t always ring or maybe never rings. I get very few calls so it’s hard to say for sure. Maybe it stops ringing or rings faintly when its battery is low.
9. But back to looking for a new phone. After doing as much research as I could, and asking people for advice, I settled on the LG Voyager and the extension of my Verizon service. I had both a salesperson at Best Buy and one in the Verizon store assure me that, even though I was upgrading before my current contract had run out, the cost of the Voyager would not be full price but rather a (substantial) fraction of it. Both had it wrong. I was on the verge of going to buy the phone last week, when I called the Verizon store and discovered that the LG Voyager -would- cost me virtually full price because the contact wasn’t over yet. I had to put buying the phone on temporary hold.
10. While all of -this- was going on, I was also attempting to upgrade my internet service. (Actually. Not “while”. If any individual tech difficulty had gone away or worked out on its own that the proper time, then I would be experiencing much less of this overlap.
In case you missed it, I still have dial-up. ComCast has been “on my case” for a while to get the Triple Play (TV digital reception, internet and phone service) at a substantial reduction in price. They were right but I had trouble commiting to ComCast’s high-speed internet service over their competition. Not secret knowledge. Or research. Fear of the unknown. I set up my original ComCast appointment to switch to the Triple Play, for the 15th, last Friday.
When the desktop wasn’t repaired and with the 15th approaching, I postponed the ComCast appointment until the 22nd (tomorrow) 9-11 a.m. (9:00 !?!?!? Ack!)
In the meantime, ComCast personnel warned me not to anticipate the change in phone service with Verizon ahead of time, lest I end up with no phone service because V dropped me before C picked me up. I happily complied-one less phone call notification to do.
11. Tuesday, I received an email from Verizon Online (the email provider part of Verizon, to which I also subscribe). The email made it very clear that Verizon already -knew- about how I was taking the phone line away from them. C/o/m/c/a/s/t someone must have told them, still focused on the 15th date instead of the new date of the 22nd. I spent an hour Tuesday, being on hold and talking with Verizon people trying to straighten this out.
All through these calls, minutes have been leaking away from my small stock on the cellphone, while my brain cells have been leaking away as I listened to, “I Will Go On” from The Titanic--- “One more time!”
One,--presumably positive--side effect of the Verizon conversation was that someone suggested if I was still having trouble with the poor condition of the landline into my apartment, they could have a repairman come out “tomorrow”. Tomorrow at the time was Wednesday, when I am of course never home. I said this to them. They said they didn’t need to be inside the apartment, just to some kind of box or other. Usually repair people at apartment complexes had access, assuming these boxes weren’t on the outside of the building. Fine.
12. Summarizing: Verizon here yesterday without needing me; Geek Squad here today between 8 and 12. (They make a practice of calling up minutes before knocking on the door.)
Me up about 5:30, trying to wake up while clearing away any debris that would make computer repairs difficult.
ComCast due to come out tomorrow to 1. extend digital TV into the bedroom (where sits a TV made by J.C. Penney, I kid you not), 2. to hook-up high speed cable to the desktop and 3. to snatch my main landline number from Verizon.
13. Back to me--numbered really appropriately “13” I see.
To be continued in A Perfect (Tech) Storm -- Part 3 -- possibly the last part. Then again, who knows?
desktop computer, telephone, cell phone, ComCast, Verizon, DELL, Geek Squad, Best Buy, Part One, A Perfect (Tech) Storm
S
8. In the meantime, I was in the market for a new phone, an actual smart phone unlike the cheapie I got from Verizon when I signed up for my first cell phone contract. The cheapie has reached the point where it is difficult to hear people sometimes, it won’t hold a charge for long, and I’m beginning to think that it doesn’t always ring or maybe never rings. I get very few calls so it’s hard to say for sure. Maybe it stops ringing or rings faintly when its battery is low.
9. But back to looking for a new phone. After doing as much research as I could, and asking people for advice, I settled on the LG Voyager and the extension of my Verizon service. I had both a salesperson at Best Buy and one in the Verizon store assure me that, even though I was upgrading before my current contract had run out, the cost of the Voyager would not be full price but rather a (substantial) fraction of it. Both had it wrong. I was on the verge of going to buy the phone last week, when I called the Verizon store and discovered that the LG Voyager -would- cost me virtually full price because the contact wasn’t over yet. I had to put buying the phone on temporary hold.
10. While all of -this- was going on, I was also attempting to upgrade my internet service. (Actually. Not “while”. If any individual tech difficulty had gone away or worked out on its own that the proper time, then I would be experiencing much less of this overlap.
In case you missed it, I still have dial-up. ComCast has been “on my case” for a while to get the Triple Play (TV digital reception, internet and phone service) at a substantial reduction in price. They were right but I had trouble commiting to ComCast’s high-speed internet service over their competition. Not secret knowledge. Or research. Fear of the unknown. I set up my original ComCast appointment to switch to the Triple Play, for the 15th, last Friday.
When the desktop wasn’t repaired and with the 15th approaching, I postponed the ComCast appointment until the 22nd (tomorrow) 9-11 a.m. (9:00 !?!?!? Ack!)
In the meantime, ComCast personnel warned me not to anticipate the change in phone service with Verizon ahead of time, lest I end up with no phone service because V dropped me before C picked me up. I happily complied-one less phone call notification to do.
11. Tuesday, I received an email from Verizon Online (the email provider part of Verizon, to which I also subscribe). The email made it very clear that Verizon already -knew- about how I was taking the phone line away from them. C/o/m/c/a/s/t someone must have told them, still focused on the 15th date instead of the new date of the 22nd. I spent an hour Tuesday, being on hold and talking with Verizon people trying to straighten this out.
All through these calls, minutes have been leaking away from my small stock on the cellphone, while my brain cells have been leaking away as I listened to, “I Will Go On” from The Titanic--- “One more time!”
One,--presumably positive--side effect of the Verizon conversation was that someone suggested if I was still having trouble with the poor condition of the landline into my apartment, they could have a repairman come out “tomorrow”. Tomorrow at the time was Wednesday, when I am of course never home. I said this to them. They said they didn’t need to be inside the apartment, just to some kind of box or other. Usually repair people at apartment complexes had access, assuming these boxes weren’t on the outside of the building. Fine.
12. Summarizing: Verizon here yesterday without needing me; Geek Squad here today between 8 and 12. (They make a practice of calling up minutes before knocking on the door.)
Me up about 5:30, trying to wake up while clearing away any debris that would make computer repairs difficult.
ComCast due to come out tomorrow to 1. extend digital TV into the bedroom (where sits a TV made by J.C. Penney, I kid you not), 2. to hook-up high speed cable to the desktop and 3. to snatch my main landline number from Verizon.
13. Back to me--numbered really appropriately “13” I see.
To be continued in A Perfect (Tech) Storm -- Part 3 -- possibly the last part. Then again, who knows?
desktop computer, telephone, cell phone, ComCast, Verizon, DELL, Geek Squad, Best Buy, Part One, A Perfect (Tech) Storm