Monday, December 14, 2009

Phone Problems

We arrived home on Friday afternoon to discover that there was no dial tone on our home phone. Lovely! I called our phone company (to protect their identity, let’s call them Horizon) and told them the situation. They were able to perform some type of test to confirm that we did not have a dial tone (like we didn't know this already), but Horizon was unable to tell whether the problem was occurring inside or outside our home. Therefore, they told me that they would send a technician out. This all seemed fairly standard until they told me that the earliest someone could come out would be this Friday, seven days after we reported the problem. This is unacceptable! How can a company wait seven days to fix a problem? Isn’t a phone a necessity? Of course, the phone company also said that a technician would be out between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM. Wonderful! I told Horizon that we are moving soon and that this was making our decision of what phone company to use at our new home pretty easy. They didn’t seem to care.



I know what you’re thinking. Why not dump the home phone completely and just use cell phones? While we are seriously considering this, our cell phone reception (to protect the identity of our cell phone company, let’s call them Werizon Tireless) is not very good in our home.

Since we are about to move, I’m looking into options for phone service, cell phone service, cable, and internet. I know there are certain packages out there and want to get your opinion on what you like and/or what you don’t. Obviously, we want something that works but also won’t cost too much. We’re not sure yet whether or not we’ll go cell phone only and get rid of a home phone. Personally, I like having a home phone. Oh, we do get cell coverage from Werizon Tireless in the new place. Finally, a DVR, whether through Tivo or another company is a must (that sound you heard is Messiah yelling it’s about time). Any suggestions? The floor is yours.

7 comments:

Nichole Fisher said...

Love my Tivo. I know I could live without it, but I wouldn't want to. Pros of a Tivo - the wishlist feature. You can put in an actor or actress and it will records anything they are in. The cons - you can't record and watch at the same time and it can only record one show at a time. Tivo is also connected to amazon and you can download movies from them. DVR from your cable company: pros - you can usually record multiple shows at once. Cons - no wishlist or amazon.

I haven't had a land line in 3 years. I don't miss it at all. I use (for the sake of anonymity) ep&p.

Gilahi said...

Yet another, um, Horizon horror story. Ditch 'em. After ages of not getting our phone to work properly, I called in Cox, got cable phone and broadband service both at the same time, and I've never had a phone issue since. Ver-, um, Horizon still sends me mail trying to get me back. Not a chance.

DJK25 said...

Ben Stein and Shaq convinced me to switch to Comcast a few months ago - we now have home phone, internet and cable through them for $99 per month (+ about $10 in taxes/fees). That price is locked in for 2 years and also included free HD, DVR, HBO. On top of all that, we also got $200 cash back which more than covered the installation.

Not sure if you get Comcast in your area or if the offer is still available, but at least worth checking out.

Good luck.

David

Messiah said...

I think I'm the only person ever who has actually enjoyed both Comcast and Verizon, including customer service. I liked the Comcast cable and internet, and I like the current FIOS setup we have now, too. I forget the price, but Comcast was much more expensive at the time that we switched (this was pre-Shaq and Stein). The FIOS phone is good; we never had the Comcast phone.

Captain Easychord said...

How can a company wait seven days to fix a problem?

easily... because they know that you're not going to change providers no matter how terrible their customer service is... maybe you get a better channel lineup (cable), you prefer the service medium (cable/internet) or can get cooler phones or better reception (wireless)... and those things are all more important than customer service... besides, the competition's service is equally bad (actually, comcast's service seems genuinely worse, but maybe that's just me), so it's not like you'll do any better with the other guy...

as I thought about this, I had a few recommendations... more on that soon...

Nick's Blog n@ said...

Vonage is great. I've had it fro over a year. It's cheep, easy, and has lots of features.

Sean said...

Thanks Nichole. I'll have to look into Tivo vs. Cox's DVR.

Gilahi - At our new home, Cox does offer a cable/phone/internet deal. It may be so long Verizon, I mean, Horizon, as a home phone.

Dave - I'm moving from a Comcast area to a Cox one, so Ben Stein and Shaq have no influence on me.

Messiah - I'll have to look into Verizon Fios. They do phone/cable/internet too, right?

Captain - I think they don't care about us since we only have the regular home phone service and not Fios. However, the solution regarding not changing providers is just to cut out a home phone like so many other people have done.

Nick - Vonage is just phone, right?