Alexander Graham Bell Calling.....

The new AT&T is not the old AT&T....and probably never will be.

Our land line phone service died a sudden death on Saturday morning.
Using my cell phone, I spent the better part of an hour trying to find out how to get it restored.
First, I had to get past the #s game: The language thing, the right department thing and then put on "hold" at the repair service thing...and without "elevator" music to let me know that I wasn't disconnected.
Actually I was disconnected but didn't know it because I didn't get a dial tone on my cell line.
Having the cell on speaker, I read most of the Dallas Morning News before I decided to try again...and went thru the #s game again.

When I finally got to talk with a real live person, she told me there were only two operators in the Repair Service Thing on Saturday morning.
There is something wrong with this equation: Years ago they had thousands of operators, great service, reasonable rates and still made money for the stockholders which made them a principle stock for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Now, all of that is gone.
Sara, the operator then told that she would call me back on my cell phone to give me a time in which to expect a repair person....and if this repair person had to step into our house, there would be a fee. OK! Let's get on with it.

Well by evening, when I didn't get a call from one of the two AT&T operators on duty on Saturday, I thought I might try the www.att.com site for help...as suggested in the billing information.
That was fun. It's even more unclear on their internet site.
The best advice I could get was to pick up a screwdriver, take a phone with a jack, go out to the box outside the house, disconnect their plug in and try by phone from that source. All this while reading a Warning that said "Do not do this in a storm...and be careful, you could get a 90 Volt shock." Well thanks for that bit of information.

Anyway, I did as instructed and heard "nothing", so went back to the cell phone, went thru all that stuff again and this time I spoke with Tracy, the second of two operators on duty on Saturday.
She did some checking and found out that we are scheduled to receive a visit from an AT&T Technician sometime on Monday....and if this repair person had to step into our house, there would be a fee.
"Wait a second! Does that mean I don't have land line service for the weekend?"
"That's right."
"Well, I did expect better service than that, but I guess this isn't the old AT&T.
"That's right Mr. Edwards...and have a nice evening." (I'm not kidding, that's how the conversation ended.)

To make a long story short....woops, too late for that.

If you need to get a hold of Betty, call her on the Cell:
If you need to get a hold of Mark, call him on the Cell:

Those numbers may become our ONLY connection to the rest of the world.

....and like Tracy says....Have a Nice Evening.