In recounting my AT&T problems, folks have suggested I go with VoIP – Voice Over IP, basically telephone over the Internet (instead of your phone lines). This is services like Vonage, MagicJack, and even the local Time Warner Cable provides such service.

I’ve been reluctant to do this because VoIP can have issues, tho the software and systems are getting better and these days folks have reported generally good experiences.

The main reason for my reluctance? Time-Warner Cable’s Internet service has more ups and downs than a roller coaster at Cedar Point. Maybe not long stretches of outages, but if the service drops while you’re in the middle of a call and doesn’t come back for a couple of minutes, what good is that when you’re in the middle of an important phone call?

And in just the past 48 or so hours while I’ve dealt with this AT&T mess? My RoadRunner Internet connection has burped like this at least a dozen times. All short downtimes, but still interruptions in service.  Hell, as I write this post it went down twice! *sigh*

For all of AT&T’s customer service failings, the actual service has been quite reliable. Reliability is very important to me. Unfortunately AT&T’s customer service has been anything but reliable.

I just feel screwed no matter which direction I turn.

….

Oh and get this. As I write this, AT&T continues to boggle my mind.

I just got an automated call from AT&T (on the apparently now working line). They are now saying someone will be coming out tomorrow — Christmas Eve — between 2 PM and 6 PM.

Um… that won’t work.

And what happened to all this “priority” and “expedited” for this morning service?

Wow. AT&T. So much FAIL. So much FAIL.