Taking a chance on Broadband...
It's official. We've left the bonds and chains of conventional telephony and taken a bold leap into digital future.
Well that sounds corny, right? What we really did is sign up for Vonage and tell Verizon to stick it.
I am pleased to report that the first few days have been wonderful. The quality is fine, no dropped calls, and the web-based dashboard appeals to a geek like me. Any service that emails me WAV's of my voice messages as they happen has my vote. Thankfully, Verizon completely disconnected our service instead of leaving a carrier signal. This allowed me to plug Vonage into the wall and repeat the signal to the entire house. So really, there's no perceivable difference, which is what I like. (And Mrs. Splice. She's fine with newtech in the house, as long as she doesn't have to do backflips in order to operate it. My Modded-Xbox was significantly modified until it performed as a home entertainment center first, and geekdom-toy second.)
The reasons for our jump were two-fold. One, we were paying upwards of $70 to Verizon per month for "Freedom Unlimited", which means free calls anywhere in the US and Canada, and Voicemail, 3-way calling, yadda yadda.
Seventy bucks is a lot of money.
Comcast serves our cable modem, and that's close to 60 bucks a month, so combined, that's a lot of money. Vonage offered essentially the same deal for $25 a month, and even went down to $16 a month if we did 500 minutes or less. Mrs. Splice spends most of her speaker-ear time with the cell-phone and I communicate largely in text, so 500 seemed a good spot to start.
The detractors would say "Why not kill the cable modem and sign up for DSL with Verizon? They charge $30, versus the $60 you're currently paying. Average it out and you're paying the same price." Treu, Treu. We actually tried that. And what happened forms the basis for Number Two.
4:30AM. Los Angeles Time. The phone rings. The Splicehold growls unintelligibly in bed. Ringer vibrations invade our dreams, but our autonomic systems refuse to wake us from our slumber. The voicemail takes it. Later on, we discover that no message was left.
4:43AM. Los Angeles Time. The phone rings. This time we wake up. We can't believe anyone we know who loves us would call at such ungodly an hour. So we let it go. Again, no message is left.
This pattern continues for a few more days as we go through the emotional landscape of anger, denial, fear, and finally more anger as we realize that whomever is calling simply isn't getting it.
So on the last day, Mrs. Splice picks up the phone to tell whomever is calling off.
It's Verizon customer service! They have a question concerning our upcoming DSL Installation and have been trying to contact us.
You're kidding me.
Nope, they're cheerfully serious, and little despondent that they've had to call multiple time to reach us. My wife explains that it's 5:30 in the morning, and since 80% of the western half of the USA is still sleeping, Verizon should not expect us to be any different. Verizon explains that while it's 5:30AM in California, it's actually 8:30AM in Florida, where the call center is based, and therefore, is perfectly within normal business hours.
Wrong Answer.
Let me rephrase that. After initial disbelief in this answer, Wrong Answer. This is before the service is even turned on!
The Verizon representative proceeds to quash any attempt my wife has in explaining that while it's business time in Florida, it's not in California, it never will be for us, and they should not expect to contact us at this time.
The Verizon rep then says that the person opening the account was actually MR. Splice, not my wife, and could she please speak to me.
Unbelievable. Mrs. Splice explains that Mr. Splice can't come to the phone as he is currently sleeping! She tells them to call back after noon and then we can talk.
2 Hours later they call back. I'm up now and I pick up the phone. Verizon sounds happy to hear me. I tell them to cancel the order. It's just not going to work. I don't care that they're 30$ a month cheaper. If this is the way they treat customers, then I want nothing to do with it.
So there is no love lost on Verizon and the Splicehold.
Goodbye Verizon, hello Vonage. Treat us right and don't call before 9am, and we'll be loyal customers for life.
Well that sounds corny, right? What we really did is sign up for Vonage and tell Verizon to stick it.
I am pleased to report that the first few days have been wonderful. The quality is fine, no dropped calls, and the web-based dashboard appeals to a geek like me. Any service that emails me WAV's of my voice messages as they happen has my vote. Thankfully, Verizon completely disconnected our service instead of leaving a carrier signal. This allowed me to plug Vonage into the wall and repeat the signal to the entire house. So really, there's no perceivable difference, which is what I like. (And Mrs. Splice. She's fine with newtech in the house, as long as she doesn't have to do backflips in order to operate it. My Modded-Xbox was significantly modified until it performed as a home entertainment center first, and geekdom-toy second.)
The reasons for our jump were two-fold. One, we were paying upwards of $70 to Verizon per month for "Freedom Unlimited", which means free calls anywhere in the US and Canada, and Voicemail, 3-way calling, yadda yadda.
Seventy bucks is a lot of money.
Comcast serves our cable modem, and that's close to 60 bucks a month, so combined, that's a lot of money. Vonage offered essentially the same deal for $25 a month, and even went down to $16 a month if we did 500 minutes or less. Mrs. Splice spends most of her speaker-ear time with the cell-phone and I communicate largely in text, so 500 seemed a good spot to start.
The detractors would say "Why not kill the cable modem and sign up for DSL with Verizon? They charge $30, versus the $60 you're currently paying. Average it out and you're paying the same price." Treu, Treu. We actually tried that. And what happened forms the basis for Number Two.
4:30AM. Los Angeles Time. The phone rings. The Splicehold growls unintelligibly in bed. Ringer vibrations invade our dreams, but our autonomic systems refuse to wake us from our slumber. The voicemail takes it. Later on, we discover that no message was left.
4:43AM. Los Angeles Time. The phone rings. This time we wake up. We can't believe anyone we know who loves us would call at such ungodly an hour. So we let it go. Again, no message is left.
This pattern continues for a few more days as we go through the emotional landscape of anger, denial, fear, and finally more anger as we realize that whomever is calling simply isn't getting it.
So on the last day, Mrs. Splice picks up the phone to tell whomever is calling off.
It's Verizon customer service! They have a question concerning our upcoming DSL Installation and have been trying to contact us.
You're kidding me.
Nope, they're cheerfully serious, and little despondent that they've had to call multiple time to reach us. My wife explains that it's 5:30 in the morning, and since 80% of the western half of the USA is still sleeping, Verizon should not expect us to be any different. Verizon explains that while it's 5:30AM in California, it's actually 8:30AM in Florida, where the call center is based, and therefore, is perfectly within normal business hours.
Wrong Answer.
Let me rephrase that. After initial disbelief in this answer, Wrong Answer. This is before the service is even turned on!
The Verizon representative proceeds to quash any attempt my wife has in explaining that while it's business time in Florida, it's not in California, it never will be for us, and they should not expect to contact us at this time.
The Verizon rep then says that the person opening the account was actually MR. Splice, not my wife, and could she please speak to me.
Unbelievable. Mrs. Splice explains that Mr. Splice can't come to the phone as he is currently sleeping! She tells them to call back after noon and then we can talk.
2 Hours later they call back. I'm up now and I pick up the phone. Verizon sounds happy to hear me. I tell them to cancel the order. It's just not going to work. I don't care that they're 30$ a month cheaper. If this is the way they treat customers, then I want nothing to do with it.
So there is no love lost on Verizon and the Splicehold.
Goodbye Verizon, hello Vonage. Treat us right and don't call before 9am, and we'll be loyal customers for life.
posted by DLoyd76 at 5/24/2005 04:26:00 PM
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