The Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier...
- Better known as Bell Canada -- we've been in our house now for a couple of months, and when we moved in, we decided that since we had the option to go with a different telephone company for local service, we'd give them a try. In our area, both Bell Canada, and Futureway Communications (now FCI Broadband) provide local telephone service. Futureway offers much the same services Bell Canada does, except that they are slightly cheaper, and offer free extended local calling. This means that where Oakville and Mississauga are usually long distance from Richmond Hill, with Futureway, they're free.
- Just after we moved in, our phone line started to do some strange
things -- it was full of static, it would hang up sporadically, and
when dialing digits on the phone, only some of them would actually be
transmitted. When we called Futureway, they said that they noticed a
problem, our line card at the central office was faulty, and it would
require up to 24 hours to fix. We chuckled and thought, "great, no
phone service for 24 hours". Sure enough, they'd fixed it within 24
hours. - More recently, we've been considering going back to Bell, they
offer a capped long distance service which Futureway doesn't, and I've
never heard of a line card burning out in Bell equipment, though I'm
sure it probably does happen. Additionally, if we want DSL service on
our phone line through Futureway, we can only get Futureway
provided-DSL service, which is expensive, and probably works as well
as their phone lines do. - With many lifetime's experience in delivering and provisioning
phone service, you expect at least better than average service with
Bell -- something that I regret even imagining now. - So after arranging to have a Bell phone line setup, and asking
Bell to transfer our same phone number back from Futureway (it was
originally a Bell phone number anyways, before we moved to our new
home), Bell took the relevant information, and started the ball
rolling. A few days later, I got a call saying that the transfer
could not take place because I had not provided the correct address to
them, and Futureway had refused to release the phone number. When I
called back, they had somehow managed to schedule a move of our
phoneline from 25 Stacey (our old address) to our new address.
Nevermind that Futureway doesn't provide service in our old
neighbourhood. So the installation date got pushed back another 10
days, because that's how long it takes for Futureway (or any other
local service provider) to release a phone number. The customer
service representative also insisted that I be home when the line was
going to be connected even though the technician was doing no inside
wiring, since the technician would need to ground the telephone line
inside the house. - Appointment booked for November 5th, morning, between 8AM and
12PM. - Last week, after booking the 6th off work, I arranged with Bell to
have them come on the 6th instead of the 5th. The morning of the 6th
rolls around, and no Bell technician. At 10:30, I called, and they
said that the technician is on his way, and our house would probably
be his next stop. If I don't hear from him by 1:00PM, call 611. - 1:30PM rolls around, and I get a phone call, "Just checking to
make sure your line is working". I figure that Bell wants to make
sure that the old number is actually active before transferring it. - 2:30PM rolls around, and still no Bell truck. Futureway line is
still active. I call Bell again, and the lady has no idea what I'm
talking about. Am I sure Futureway provides access in my area? Am I
sure that Bell can provide access in my area? Do I know that it takes
10 days for the line to be released? - I'm thinking, do you work there? Or were you just passing by?
- After half an hour on hold, she comes back and says, a technician
was there, but wasn't able to complete the job, and is going to be
coming back. I tell her that it was supposed to be a morning
appointment, and I took the whole day off work for Bell to come and
install the line. She tries to sell me Sympatico High-Speed. ;) - 5:30PM rolls around, and again, I'm calling Bell. Where and when
is our new phone line going to be connected? The lady tells me that
it's already active, and that the job is done. I insisted that no,
it's not done, and she asks how I know that. So I explain to her that
there are two physically seperate phone lines coming into the house,
one from Futureway, and one from Bell. The Bell line isn't connected
to anything physically inside the house, so obviously I'm not using a
Bell phoneline, and my Futureway line is still active, because I'm
talking to her on it. - Then it dawns on me that the technician that was supposed to come
out to the house instead called the phone number that was assigned to
the line, and figured that since I answered, I must have my line
installed, and there's no need for him to come out. So he marks the
work order as done, and never bothers to even come to the house.
Little does he know, that the number is still on Futureway's network. - Embarrassingly, the CSR transfers me to repair. An absolutely
horrifying experience, with a lady who was probably on her last day of
employment with Bell, and could care less whether my phone line was
working or not... She acknowledged that it was Bell's fault, but said
that there was nothing they could do about it until the next business
day. I explained, once again, that I had taken the whole day off work
for this, and that they screwed up, and should send someone out
immediately to fix it. She asked what time I'd be home tomorrow and
what type of appointment would be good. I said again that I was not
going to take another day off work to wait for them, and that as I'd
found out today, the technician doesn't need to do *any* inside
wiring, so I didn't even need to be home in the first place! So the
lady tells me that of course I need to be home, because the technician
needs in the house. After explaining that the technician is just
bringing the phone line to the demaracation jack outside the house,
the lady says, "Oh! Is that all he's doing? Then no, you don't need
to be home.". And you'd think they'd know, since they're the service
provider. - So it's "today" now, and I just received a call from Bell (at
10:45AM) telling me that it doesn't seem like there are any phones
attached to my phone line -- and that there may be a need to send a
technician out to the house. Kudos to the employee who noticed that
problem. - On an aside, life in the new house is pretty great. Greenpark sent
their service guy out to the house yesterday as well, and he spent the
better part of the day fixing various cosmetic, and some not so cosmetic
issues that we had inside the house. Very nice guy, very nice work,
very nice service. Makes us feel a lot better about Greenpark.