Some observations about Internet providers

Namely, that they are the scum of the earth.

They don't have to be nice to you, because they have no competition.

First we had cable. It took four visits to get the cable business straightened out. Then only one computer worked on our humble two-person network.

So I switched to DSL. Verizon, our local monopoly, provides a Yahoo interface which is annoying even when it works. Nasty little icoms smiling and winking at you. One of the computers did not work, but it was the other one. Verizon has voice mail down to a science--their voice mail, that is. It took me one hour and forty-five minutes to talk to a humanoid, who gave me the (unlisted) number for Internet problems.

By the time Verizon had tried to solve the problem, neither computer could access the Internet at all. They recommended that I call Linksys. The first Linksys customer service rep, a chap with a strong Indian accent and a condescending manner, walked me through a dozen steps and then broke the connection. The next rep, a woman who seemed obviously over her head, said it was our modem and severed the connection. I went to bed.

These two companies have a monopoly around here, and they act like it. Today I got my computer up again, but it is as slow as mud.

Grrr! May the luck of the cell phone companies afflict them!