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Voip Blog
They should have called it CallDisadvantage
Thursday, July 13, 2006
I never expected the phone company to be a fountain of information, but a cursory understanding of voip doesn't seem too much to ask. This afternoon I spent the better part of two hours touring the misinformed underbelly of the SBC/AT&T service department. It was not a pretty sight.
Last week, while trying to set up service with voip.com, I discovered that although my area code was available, I couldn't port my number or get a new number with a local exchange. Not the end of the world, but I wanted to know why. And who better to ask than the people who actually own the phone lines? I mean, they should know, right?
First I checked their website. I didn't see anything that obviously screamed voip, so I searched the site for voip and was directed to their CallVantage service, a "revolutionary digital voice service based on Voice over IP, or VoIP technology. It combines the power of a standard corded or cordless phone with your AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet..." whatever. As if voip works better somehow, using AT&T services.
Looking around, I found their voip service offers a handful of features at a much higher price than standalone voip providers. Clicking on the order tab, just to see what happens, I am directed to a redirect page that blathers on about the merger, but doesn't give me the information I'm looking for. And then, finally, it rolls over to the CallVantage site. Where, you'd expect to find real live information, but apparently that's too much to ask.
After wading through more propaganda, I once again click on an order button for their basic unlimited plan and get directed to a page reiterating the plan details that I already just read and asks AGAIN, if this is the plan I want. Like, perhaps, I had a sudden case of buyer's remorse. Which I would, if I were actually buying anything.
So I reselect the plan I previously selected (how many times, now?) and get a page telling me again all the wonderful things this plan will get me. And then asks me to add a bunch of other features to my package. And then it asks me to click the Place Order button. Again. I've lost count how many times I've already clicked it. I'm starting to think maybe it's broken.
Turns out it only works if you've already pressed it a gazillion times before. Now we're down to the nuts and bolts of actually setting up service, and you'll never guess what happened...apparently, I can't get a local number in my area. Which was all I was trying to find out in the first place. It got me thinking, though...why can't I get one? I can understand them blocking third-party voip internet phone service providers, but you'd think the phone company could pretty much put voip wherever it darn well pleased. So I, gasp, picked up the phone and called. Because they don't have chat enabled on their website. Heathens.
An hour and a half later, I'd talked to 6 different customer service representatives in three separate departments, none of whom knew anything even remotely close to what I was asking. In fact, only 2 out of 6 even knew what voip was. Color me not amused.
Here's what I did find out:
- E911 isn't available in my area, so they can't offer the CallVantage service to me anyway. Wouldn't that have been nice to know about 15 pages ago?
- Even if E911 was available, I still couldn't have a local number. Why? Nobody knows. It seems to be one of life's great mysteries.
- The SBC/AT&T customer service representatives tried to convince me that voip was a scary new technology that I probably wouldn't like anyway.
- SBC/AT&T has a lot of customer service representatives that are all really busy. All the time. I think they spend most of the day passing customers off from one representative to the other.
I finally got fed up and went to their press contact page so I could email a list of my questions to their PR representative. He, surprisingly enough, called me back but didn't have actual answers. Instead he asked me more questions and promised to get back to me via email within an hour or so. Still waiting on that one. If I ever hear back, I'll keep you posted.
