My Life is A Drama Free Zone http://blog.the-jdh.com/ I graduated highschool for a reason, and it wasn't to go to college. en Copyright 2008 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:38:12 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sympatico pisses me off again. For the second time in just over a month, my internets decided they would go south on me. Not pretty. It happened sometime between when I woke up at 5, rolled over, checked the time, cursed, and went back to sleep, and when I finally dragged my ass out of bed at about 7:20 or somewhere thereabouts. I have no idea what the hell caused it this morning–probably another attempt to prevent me from continuing to rebuild my video library (a month or so and counting!). At any rate, it's irritating as hell. And making me contemplate the possibility of canning Sympatico as my DSL provider. It's also making me consider the possibility of creating a 'Sympatico' category on here. Hey, I did it for moronic cellebrities. Would this be any different? I didn't think so. In the meantime, Sympatico, fix your crap service.

Update:

I have decided, I'll lose nothing anyway. Category created.]]> For the second time in just over a month, my internets decided they would go south on me. Not pretty. It happened sometime between when I woke up at 5, rolled over, checked the time, cursed, and went back to sleep, and when I finally dragged my ass out of bed at about 7:20 or somewhere thereabouts. I have no idea what the hell caused it this morning–probably another attempt to prevent me from continuing to rebuild my video library (a month or so and counting!). At any rate, it's irritating as hell. And making me contemplate the possibility of canning Sympatico as my DSL provider. It's also making me consider the possibility of creating a 'Sympatico' category on here. Hey, I did it for moronic cellebrities. Would this be any different? I didn't think so. In the meantime, Sympatico, fix your crap service.

Update:

I have decided, I'll lose nothing anyway. Category created.]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/11/26/sympatico_pisses_me_off_again.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/11/26/sympatico_pisses_me_off_again.html James My interwebs were one huge clusterfuck. It, apparently, started last night at some point, and didn't get straightened out until about 6:00 this morning. Not sure if anything I did to correct it actually helped or not, but at least in doing so I could tell it wasn't anything within my control that was screwed. Translation: Sympatico sucks. Loads. But it's still better than Rogers. I'd switch to Primus for DSL–they already have my long distance service, but they still use Bell's phone lines, so that'd just be shooting myself in the foot in the long run. Damn, we need more choices for internet service up here. That aren't dialup.

]]> It, apparently, started last night at some point, and didn't get straightened out until about 6:00 this morning. Not sure if anything I did to correct it actually helped or not, but at least in doing so I could tell it wasn't anything within my control that was screwed. Translation: Sympatico sucks. Loads. But it's still better than Rogers. I'd switch to Primus for DSL–they already have my long distance service, but they still use Bell's phone lines, so that'd just be shooting myself in the foot in the long run. Damn, we need more choices for internet service up here. That aren't dialup.

]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/10/13/my_interwebs_were_one_huge_clusterfuck.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/10/13/my_interwebs_were_one_huge_clusterfuck.html James Even Dell technicians hate Dell technicians. And Sympatico, and Microsoft, and... Welp, as some of you know and others of you guessed I'm sure by now, the formerly Vista and now XP computer is up and running. Well, partially. No wireless network support and there's still a rather lengthy list of devices Windows doesn't have drivers for. But I'm slowly piecing that together. Now, here's why every time I have to call tech support, I cringe. And not because I am one. So I call up Del on Monday, because their support site doesn't have a driver for my built-in wireless card. Not for XP, at least–which, okay, no big deal; it came with Vista, after all. So I check the Vista drivers list, like I've been doing with a few other things, and there's none listed there. So I just flat out asked the technician I spoke to on Monday, "does this machine even come with a driver for the wireless card?" Honest question, and a simple enough yes or no question to be sure–if I were sitting on the *other* end of that conversation, I could have probably told myself one way or another in about a minute and a half. But, not with this guy, who first wanted to spend 5 minutes making *sure* I wasn't a moron calling up with the misguided belief that, because I got this new fangled desktop thing sitting in my living room, it automaticly comes with a wireless card. Did I mention I pointed out to him at least once I'm employed with Dell, doing things like network troubleshooting on a daily basis? So I know when a computer's supposed to come with a wireless card–like, say, when in your order information, it says that one was specificly requested. So, we get by that round about, and he finally decides he actually wants to varify whether or not it does. So he tells me to go to their support site–I guess he wasn't listening when I said I've already been there and they don't have it. He finally just decides to put me on hold and do some "research"–for the record, when a hardware tech says they're doing some research, you know they're asking one of their l2's if this is a good enough reason to transfer them to the Dell on Call department. About 20 minutes go by, and he comes back, saying he can't find the wireless card on my system. Insert long, exasperated, frustrated sigh, and me telling him, yet again, that it doesn't give a brand name in the order details, but, and this is where I think I drive the point home that I work for the same company, I tell him the training material *should* say what brand the wireless card option includes for my particular model of computer. Silence. Then he asks to put me on hold again. Another few minutes go by. Presumeably, more "research". Then he comes back, says he thinks he found the brand and model of the wireless card, the exact details I honestly don't remember–for the record, when a technician says "I think", it's never pretty–and tells me that it looks like the support for that particular model is built directly into Vista. And there are no drivers for XP. So, not wanting to argue the point, I hang up, and plug that particular model into the almighty goog. And sure enough, inside of 10 minutes, I could have called that particular technician a liar. But… rather than openly and blatantly advertising the obvious, I just dinked around a bit, installed a few things I needed to install, and called it a night–I had to work the next night, and it was 5:00 or later in the morning before I finally decided to fall into bed. So it got to sit there until tonight, when I ended up not going to work–thank you, public transportation, for showing up early and thus making me miss the only bus that'd actually get me there before I was well into my shift. So I go back to that computer, figuring if the support is built into one version of Windows, the other version should have *something*. So I do a little fiddling, and sure enough, one wireless driver, for windows XP, located and installed. What was that you were saying about it was only designed to work with Vista? Now, the problem comes up that it's telling me to make sure the actual card's turned on. Now, they have a funky little keyboard command where you can do that for laptops, but I wasn't sure about this particular desktop. Cringing again, I called tech support. Shoulda figured it out myself. First guy first of all had the same hearing problem as the last technician I spoke to, in that it took me 3 tries before he accepted that yes, Dell technician who troubleshoots networking problems on a daily basis does have a wireless router, does have it turned on, and does have it in the next room, well in range of the card that is trying to look for it. All I wanted to know was the one thing he either didn't know how or didn't want to tell me–was there a switch or something on the back of the bloody machine to turn the card on manually, or is there a similar command via the keyboard to do so as there is in laptops? He finally at least gets me over to the wireless department, and the girl on the other end actually has a brain. And is using it. If it wasn't against the rules, I'd of done my own troubleshooting at work when I went in tomorrow… there, I'd at least have access to the same things these people do, and could have found the answer in probably 45 seconds, instead of 45 minutes and 2 technicians. Move on, now, to what I have to get done so I can actually get the antivirus software I'm using set up on my other computer. First requires actually getting the password from Sympatico for my current email address, so I can resurrect a really, really old one I haven't used since I moved out of Pembroke nearly a year ago. Now, Sympatico uses Microsoft's hotmail interface–so yes, a uber craptastic service to be sure–to manage their web interface for all things email. So in order to change, create or delete email addresses, I have to log into that craptastic interface. Not an altogether too thrilling experience, to say the least. But, I do it anyway, because for reasons beyond my control, I have to. So I enter my email address, and move onto the next screen to enter my password. And it sits there, loading… and loading… and loading… then shows me the logout screen… then sits there loading… and loading… and loading… eventually, I just said screw it, and closed the window. I can think of a lot of things I'd like to do on an unplanned but certainly not unwelcome night off. One of those is not deal with the idiocy of people I have no choice but to trust to keep methods of accessing services I pay for from going tits up. So instead, I shall go drop in on an RPG I haven't played in forever. I'll curse at the evil that is Hotmail, and the stupidity that is Sympatico's decision to join forces with Microsoft, later. For the next hour or so, I'm planning to have fun. Or something.

]]> Welp, as some of you know and others of you guessed I'm sure by now, the formerly Vista and now XP computer is up and running. Well, partially. No wireless network support and there's still a rather lengthy list of devices Windows doesn't have drivers for. But I'm slowly piecing that together. Now, here's why every time I have to call tech support, I cringe. And not because I am one. So I call up Del on Monday, because their support site doesn't have a driver for my built-in wireless card. Not for XP, at least–which, okay, no big deal; it came with Vista, after all. So I check the Vista drivers list, like I've been doing with a few other things, and there's none listed there. So I just flat out asked the technician I spoke to on Monday, "does this machine even come with a driver for the wireless card?" Honest question, and a simple enough yes or no question to be sure–if I were sitting on the *other* end of that conversation, I could have probably told myself one way or another in about a minute and a half. But, not with this guy, who first wanted to spend 5 minutes making *sure* I wasn't a moron calling up with the misguided belief that, because I got this new fangled desktop thing sitting in my living room, it automaticly comes with a wireless card. Did I mention I pointed out to him at least once I'm employed with Dell, doing things like network troubleshooting on a daily basis? So I know when a computer's supposed to come with a wireless card–like, say, when in your order information, it says that one was specificly requested. So, we get by that round about, and he finally decides he actually wants to varify whether or not it does. So he tells me to go to their support site–I guess he wasn't listening when I said I've already been there and they don't have it. He finally just decides to put me on hold and do some "research"–for the record, when a hardware tech says they're doing some research, you know they're asking one of their l2's if this is a good enough reason to transfer them to the Dell on Call department. About 20 minutes go by, and he comes back, saying he can't find the wireless card on my system. Insert long, exasperated, frustrated sigh, and me telling him, yet again, that it doesn't give a brand name in the order details, but, and this is where I think I drive the point home that I work for the same company, I tell him the training material *should* say what brand the wireless card option includes for my particular model of computer. Silence. Then he asks to put me on hold again. Another few minutes go by. Presumeably, more "research". Then he comes back, says he thinks he found the brand and model of the wireless card, the exact details I honestly don't remember–for the record, when a technician says "I think", it's never pretty–and tells me that it looks like the support for that particular model is built directly into Vista. And there are no drivers for XP. So, not wanting to argue the point, I hang up, and plug that particular model into the almighty goog. And sure enough, inside of 10 minutes, I could have called that particular technician a liar. But… rather than openly and blatantly advertising the obvious, I just dinked around a bit, installed a few things I needed to install, and called it a night–I had to work the next night, and it was 5:00 or later in the morning before I finally decided to fall into bed. So it got to sit there until tonight, when I ended up not going to work–thank you, public transportation, for showing up early and thus making me miss the only bus that'd actually get me there before I was well into my shift. So I go back to that computer, figuring if the support is built into one version of Windows, the other version should have *something*. So I do a little fiddling, and sure enough, one wireless driver, for windows XP, located and installed. What was that you were saying about it was only designed to work with Vista? Now, the problem comes up that it's telling me to make sure the actual card's turned on. Now, they have a funky little keyboard command where you can do that for laptops, but I wasn't sure about this particular desktop. Cringing again, I called tech support. Shoulda figured it out myself. First guy first of all had the same hearing problem as the last technician I spoke to, in that it took me 3 tries before he accepted that yes, Dell technician who troubleshoots networking problems on a daily basis does have a wireless router, does have it turned on, and does have it in the next room, well in range of the card that is trying to look for it. All I wanted to know was the one thing he either didn't know how or didn't want to tell me–was there a switch or something on the back of the bloody machine to turn the card on manually, or is there a similar command via the keyboard to do so as there is in laptops? He finally at least gets me over to the wireless department, and the girl on the other end actually has a brain. And is using it. If it wasn't against the rules, I'd of done my own troubleshooting at work when I went in tomorrow… there, I'd at least have access to the same things these people do, and could have found the answer in probably 45 seconds, instead of 45 minutes and 2 technicians. Move on, now, to what I have to get done so I can actually get the antivirus software I'm using set up on my other computer. First requires actually getting the password from Sympatico for my current email address, so I can resurrect a really, really old one I haven't used since I moved out of Pembroke nearly a year ago. Now, Sympatico uses Microsoft's hotmail interface–so yes, a uber craptastic service to be sure–to manage their web interface for all things email. So in order to change, create or delete email addresses, I have to log into that craptastic interface. Not an altogether too thrilling experience, to say the least. But, I do it anyway, because for reasons beyond my control, I have to. So I enter my email address, and move onto the next screen to enter my password. And it sits there, loading… and loading… and loading… then shows me the logout screen… then sits there loading… and loading… and loading… eventually, I just said screw it, and closed the window. I can think of a lot of things I'd like to do on an unplanned but certainly not unwelcome night off. One of those is not deal with the idiocy of people I have no choice but to trust to keep methods of accessing services I pay for from going tits up. So instead, I shall go drop in on an RPG I haven't played in forever. I'll curse at the evil that is Hotmail, and the stupidity that is Sympatico's decision to join forces with Microsoft, later. For the next hour or so, I'm planning to have fun. Or something.

]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/09/27/even_dell_technicians_hate_dell_technicians_and_sympatico_and_microsoft_and.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/09/27/even_dell_technicians_hate_dell_technicians_and_sympatico_and_microsoft_and.html James A smattering of update. Because I only have a couple minutes before my shift starts.

  • My late birthday present, one hell of a computer, should be shipping today. It's about time.

  • Apparently, the storm we got yesterday took out my internet service, and Sympatico decided to conveniently state there were no service outages in the area. Disproven. That didn't take long.

  • For the record, when dealing with internet issues, it so should not take over 24 hours to solve. Of course, the only reason it did was because I only bothered to sit down and fight with it just before I had to go to work yesterday–also shitty, but it's a paycheck.

  • Completely and totally not related in any way, shape or form to… um, anything else in this post. Not that this post has any actual point to it as it is, but oh well. Oh my. Identical twins is kinda funky enough. But 4? Freakin' 4? Well, could be more unusual I guess.

And I have managed to make writing this entry last past my having taken my first call. Suhweet. I think.

]]> Because I only have a couple minutes before my shift starts.

  • My late birthday present, one hell of a computer, should be shipping today. It's about time.

  • Apparently, the storm we got yesterday took out my internet service, and Sympatico decided to conveniently state there were no service outages in the area. Disproven. That didn't take long.

  • For the record, when dealing with internet issues, it so should not take over 24 hours to solve. Of course, the only reason it did was because I only bothered to sit down and fight with it just before I had to go to work yesterday–also shitty, but it's a paycheck.

  • Completely and totally not related in any way, shape or form to… um, anything else in this post. Not that this post has any actual point to it as it is, but oh well. Oh my. Identical twins is kinda funky enough. But 4? Freakin' 4? Well, could be more unusual I guess.

And I have managed to make writing this entry last past my having taken my first call. Suhweet. I think.

]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/08/17/a_smattering_of_update.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/08/17/a_smattering_of_update.html James An open letter to Sympatico... Dear Sympatico,

Kindly stop blowing sunshine up my ass and lower the bloody prices for a change, rather than continuing to increase them. I've noticed no significant improvement in my service since I signed up, and therefore left scratching my head as to what, exactly, this price hike is supposed to go towards–besides some CEO's pocketbook, I mean. So, please, either start dropping prices, give me something to justify paying the higher prices, or kindly fuck off.

Sincerely,
Me.
PS. I despise form letters, in any way, shape or form. Just for future reference.

Dear Valued Customer,

We would like to inform you that as of August 8, 2007, the regular monthly rate of your
Sympatico High Speed Internet service from Bell will increase from $46.95 to $47.95, plus applicable taxes. 

As always, your Internet access is never shared, even during peak periods of usage.1 Plus, you’ll continue to enjoy:
• Automatically updated and fully supported security solutions, including Parental Controls, Email Anti-Virus, Junk Email Filter and Pop-Up Blocker 
• Round-the-clock technical support
• Multiple email addresses and access to Sympatico Webmail

If you have any questions about your continuing service, would like more information about this rate change or wish to respond to this notice, please visit

bell.ca/contactus
. Otherwise, the new monthly rate will be reflected on the corresponding invoice.

Sincerely,

Ellen Malcolmson
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Bell

]]> Dear Sympatico,

Kindly stop blowing sunshine up my ass and lower the bloody prices for a change, rather than continuing to increase them. I've noticed no significant improvement in my service since I signed up, and therefore left scratching my head as to what, exactly, this price hike is supposed to go towards–besides some CEO's pocketbook, I mean. So, please, either start dropping prices, give me something to justify paying the higher prices, or kindly fuck off.

Sincerely,
Me.
PS. I despise form letters, in any way, shape or form. Just for future reference.

Dear Valued Customer,

We would like to inform you that as of August 8, 2007, the regular monthly rate of your
Sympatico High Speed Internet service from Bell will increase from $46.95 to $47.95, plus applicable taxes. 

As always, your Internet access is never shared, even during peak periods of usage.1 Plus, you’ll continue to enjoy:
• Automatically updated and fully supported security solutions, including Parental Controls, Email Anti-Virus, Junk Email Filter and Pop-Up Blocker 
• Round-the-clock technical support
• Multiple email addresses and access to Sympatico Webmail

If you have any questions about your continuing service, would like more information about this rate change or wish to respond to this notice, please visit

bell.ca/contactus
. Otherwise, the new monthly rate will be reflected on the corresponding invoice.

Sincerely,

Ellen Malcolmson
Senior Vice President, Customer Experience
Bell

]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/07/10/an_open_letter_to_sympatico.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2007/07/10/an_open_letter_to_sympatico.html James My opinion of relying on other people remains uncontested. And this time, the no contest nod goes to my ISP for taking for freaking ever to escentially flip a switch. I'd originally got told before I moved up here that I'd have everything activated by the 6th of this month. Okay, so that's not bad. I can live with that. Except not really. Because when I got up here, it turns out I was handed a fair amount of wrong information. The phone number I was originally given when I signed up for phone service earlier last month was wrong. And I'd been handing that out to people getting other things set up. So I spent about a week or so fixing all *that* up. Then, apparently, because the phone number I got was wrong, certain activation of other things (see: long distance service, and quite probably internet) needed to be considerably pushed back a fair bit. And then, they decided to be incredibly nonspecific about when exactly I could expect certain things to be turned on. So, I ended up spending most of yesterday at home, waiting for people to figure out what they were trying to do, only to be told at about 6:00 last night that I didn't actually have to stay home. Gee, that would have been nice to know before my day was pretty well shot in the ass. So, to be rather blunt, people suck royally. At least, the people I was forced to deal with suck royally. If I ever end up that bad at my job, someone please do me a favour and shoot me. Repeatedly.

]]> And this time, the no contest nod goes to my ISP for taking for freaking ever to escentially flip a switch. I'd originally got told before I moved up here that I'd have everything activated by the 6th of this month. Okay, so that's not bad. I can live with that. Except not really. Because when I got up here, it turns out I was handed a fair amount of wrong information. The phone number I was originally given when I signed up for phone service earlier last month was wrong. And I'd been handing that out to people getting other things set up. So I spent about a week or so fixing all *that* up. Then, apparently, because the phone number I got was wrong, certain activation of other things (see: long distance service, and quite probably internet) needed to be considerably pushed back a fair bit. And then, they decided to be incredibly nonspecific about when exactly I could expect certain things to be turned on. So, I ended up spending most of yesterday at home, waiting for people to figure out what they were trying to do, only to be told at about 6:00 last night that I didn't actually have to stay home. Gee, that would have been nice to know before my day was pretty well shot in the ass. So, to be rather blunt, people suck royally. At least, the people I was forced to deal with suck royally. If I ever end up that bad at my job, someone please do me a favour and shoot me. Repeatedly.

]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2006/12/08/my_opinion_of_relying_on_other_people_remains_uncontested.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2006/12/08/my_opinion_of_relying_on_other_people_remains_uncontested.html James Due to sympatico's complete and utter stupidity... I've begun the process of phasing out that email address. Also, due to the fact I'll hopefully be moving at some not too distant point, pending job prospects. For those of you curious to contact me, my MSN is the most recent thing to get a changing. The old address is done, in favour of msn$the%jdh#com (munged purposely). Alternatively, email and comments still work. No longer shall I be given headaches by my ISP. Yay.

]]> I've begun the process of phasing out that email address. Also, due to the fact I'll hopefully be moving at some not too distant point, pending job prospects. For those of you curious to contact me, my MSN is the most recent thing to get a changing. The old address is done, in favour of msn$the%jdh#com (munged purposely). Alternatively, email and comments still work. No longer shall I be given headaches by my ISP. Yay.

]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2006/09/12/due_to_sympaticos_complete_and_utter_stupidity.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2006/09/12/due_to_sympaticos_complete_and_utter_stupidity.html James Urge to pull someone's hair out... rising... Okay, so I decide to finally make an email address on this server serve as my primary one, because well, I'm insanely tired of sympatico. Logical choice, you'd think. And you'd be right… usually. But, the day I decide to do it is the day they break their servers. So, while I can send email from my primary address, I can't receive email on my primary address. Kind of makes the whole idea of a primary address useless, don't it though? They eventually got it
fixed… a whole 36 hours after they were supposed to. It's a real good thing I'm not in business… that might verry well just piss me off. Oh, wait… it did.

]]> Okay, so I decide to finally make an email address on this server serve as my primary one, because well, I'm insanely tired of sympatico. Logical choice, you'd think. And you'd be right… usually. But, the day I decide to do it is the day they break their servers. So, while I can send email from my primary address, I can't receive email on my primary address. Kind of makes the whole idea of a primary address useless, don't it though? They eventually got it
fixed… a whole 36 hours after they were supposed to. It's a real good thing I'm not in business… that might verry well just piss me off. Oh, wait… it did.

]]> http://blog.the-jdh.com/2006/02/02/urge_to_pull_someones_hair_out_rising.html http://blog.the-jdh.com/2006/02/02/urge_to_pull_someones_hair_out_rising.html James