The originator of this thread may be a poor communicator, but let's not forget the point here: he got screwed in a raw deal with PacBell/SBC. That much I gathered from his albeit choppy post.
I, myself, was a customer of SBC's at one point and had a horrible experience with this incompetent organization.
My first beef with SBC is that it simply REFUSES to provide broadband Internet access on my block even though I live in a developed area in the most populated state in the union. When I initially contacted SBC about this matter a few months back, they told me they had a target date of 2005 (!) for bringing high-speed Internet access into my neighborhood. This is totally unacceptable, given that the Internet as we know it is now almost a decade-old technology, that Pacific Bell/SBC is the "default" local carrier in my area, and that I do not live on top of a mountain in Hicksville, USA.
After SBC's pathetic attempts to patronize me and railroad my inquiries, I tried, repeatedly and unsuccessfully, to get some straight answers directly from the company that sets up the remote terminals (RTs) for SBC to find out what the problem is. Oh, they promised to "research" the matter and get back to me. Their answer, after all their "research," was that they simply can't bring broadband into my neighborhood because they have other higher priorities!!! That spells G-R-E-E-D to me!
Even SBC's dial-up service, to which I was essentially forced to subscribe (because of unavailability of broadband) leaves much to be desired. Firstly, thanks to their out-dated equipment and old copper-wire lines that they have failed to upgrade, though I have 56K modems in ALL my computers, the MAXIMUM communication speed I can get on *any* of my machines is a lousy 28kbps!!! Secondly, their technical support is horrible. The majority of their support "techs" are miserably undertrained and have absolutely no business taking tech-related questions. Thirdly, this greedy company simply charges too much for the mediocre-at-best dial-up "service" it does offer in my neigborhood. I am currently signed up with an ISP literally a stone's throw away from me that charges, pretty much for the same service, only half what I used to pay to PacBell/SBC ($10/mo. vs. about $20/mo. I used to pay SBC). And if problems develop (and none has so far), within eight minutes I can be at the ISP's office talking to them face to face; you can't do that with SBC
When I signed up with the new ISP, they even told me that if I ran into a problem configuring my computer to use their network, I could bring in my PC and they would do all the configuration for me AT NO EXTRA CHARGE!!! Would SBC do that??????
How did I wind up a happy customer of my current ISP's? To add insult to injury, one morning a couple of months ago I woke up only to find that my SBC Internet was down. Upon calling SBC they told me that they had cut off service because of non-payment. Months ago, I had sent them a check (made out to SBC, of course), that my bank has VERIFIED *was* cashed, which SBC's incompetent employees apparently never credited to my account. Since I continued to receive outstanding balance notices, I called SBC a couple of months ago and explained the situation to one of their customer service reps. She took down some information regarding the said check (including the check number, amount of the check, my bank's routing number, etc.), and gave me a CONFIRMATION NUMBER. That was the last I heard from SBC in regards to this matter until the day they suspended my service. Of course, to reconnect me, they now wanted me to fax them a copy of the front and back of the check as this was suddently their "policy." Why was I not told about this "policy" when I *first* sensed there was something wrong with their billing and initited contact TWO MONTHS AGO??? And do they expect me to simply forego Internet FOR DAYS while I try to obtain a copy of the cancelled check from my bank (that, by-the-way, charges a fee for such requests), and while I wait for mighty SBC to make its decision following my fax to them??? Well, to heck with SBC...within hours I was down at my new ISP's office signing up, and that same afternoon I was back online!
I whole-heartedly give SBC TWO THUMBS DOWN. It is a sorry excuse for a confounded flop that dubs itself a "global" company when it can't take care of even the simplest of problems right in its own backyard!!! Boooooooooo...