2 posts tagged “apartment”

I finally got the internet at my new apartment.  (How's my new apartment, you ask?  It rules.)

I decided to go with DSL because it is cheaper than Cable, albeit crappier.  At first I was real pleased with the service I got because the guy who signed me up was so nice.  But it was downhill from there.

First, the guy told me everything would be turned on Wednesday.  However, on Wednesday I came home to a note on my door from UPS saying they tried to deliver my modem but I wasn't home to sign for the package.  Wait a minute, didn't I tell the guy who signed me up that it was OK for UPS to leave the modem at the door?  Didn't he specifically ask me that?  UGH.  So I signed the slip that UPS left and Thursday I came home to a nice new modem.

I plugged it in, and having worked in tech support for a DSL provider before, I knew the DSL light had to be solid for me to be connected to the internet.  Nope.  No joy.  So, having worked in tech support for a DSL provider before, I knew the first step would be to make sure I even had a dial tone on the line.  Plugged in my phone.  Nope, no dial tone.

Call tech support.  They ran a test and said, "Yep, your line is messed up.  We'll send out a tech, and the problem should be fixed by Friday evening."

"Sweet!" say I, and Friday I go to work and come back to a note on the door from the tech they sent.

The tech apparently needed access to my apartment.  Hey, tech support.  THANKS for telling me.  So I call the technician and he's off work, he can come back the next day (today).  But he works 8-4 and I work 9-5.  So bright and fucking early in the morning (7:45, he was early but I was ready) he shows up and it turns out that the previous resident had cable phone and thus the line was disconnected.  So he plugged it up and I have dial tone and my modem syncs with the DSL service.  SWEET.

So I ran the installation disc for DSL, and of course, it didn't work.  What a surprise.  I am so shocked.  Called tech support.

The nice girl, Mia, walked me through setting up the modem/router and signing up for a username, and it turns out that because I don't have Internet Explorer, I can't activate an email account.

Um, what?  Are you kidding me?  HELLO, AT&T-SBC-Yahoo-Time-Warner-Disney-Exxon-Mobil-MegaCorp-of-Doom, Internet Explorer hasn't been updated for the Mac in like 5 YEARS.  The newest Macs are pretty much incapable of running IE.  IE is teh shitty.  Why the fuck should a standard service like email be dependent on a stupid browser?  I'd understand it a little more if it was webmail but it's not!  It's just a regular old POP account!  I signed up for a fucking PPPoE username, which happens to be mysecretusername@sbcglobalmegaconglomeratecorp.net so why can't that just be my email address?

Why are you a STUPID COMPANY?

But hey, my internet works.  And since staying on the line with tech support would have made me late for work anyway, I stayed home an extra hour and played some World of Warcraft.

Now when I get home, I'm going to try to connect my modem to my wireless router.  Hopefully it's as straightforward as bridging the modem/router they sent me, but somehow, I'm doubting it isn't.

We had an exciting saga with the electric company today.

Boyfriend and I woke up around 10:45, and as we were getting ready to face the day, the power went out.  We went outside and looked around, and some of our neighbors still had their outdoor lights on.  I asked one of the neighbors if his power was on and he said yes.

So I called the electric company.  The lady didn't know what was going on but submitted a ticket for us.  I had to go to work, so I left my boyfriend to deal with the issue.

A few hours later he calls with an update:  electric company says it's not their problem.  We need to talk to the property maintenance and they should fix it.  So he goes over to the rental office and they submit an emergency maintenance ticket.

A few hours after that, he calls with another update:  maintenance hasn't been by yet because they're working another "emergency".  Somebody's A/C is broken and clearly this is far more important than our power being out which, by the way, includes A/C.  And dudes, it's a 75 degree day!  Open your fucking windows and quit crying!  And turn our power back on because we have food that'll spoil, dammit.

Next update is that it doesn't matter that maintenance hasn't been by, because our power has been shut off by the electric company, they've red-tagged our meter, so we have to call them back.  So my boyfriend did that, and a story emerges:

They turned off the power to the wrong property.

They meant to turn off the empty unit next to ours.  Not us.  So my boyfriend bitches to the electric company and they in effect say, "Whatever dude, we've got 800 people without power in Podunk, we'll get to you when we get to you."

Hooooooold up there, parter.  You shut off the wrong apartment.  You are responsible for our power being out for going on 7 hours.  You get your asses out here and turn our power back on.

So I called the electric company figuring that since I'm the account holder, they'll be more responsive.  And they were; the lady was very friendly and empathetic and said she'd send out an ASAP notice to the techs.  And now our power is apparently back on.  Thanks, AEP.  It only took you 8 hours to turn off the right apartment.  You rule.