Another depressing call centre chat

Our internet service has been bad for the past week. We've been getting download speeds of 67 Kb/s which is appalling for the level of service we buy. For a few days, the phone company website said that there were issues in the network affecting high speed service, so we just sucked it up and didn't call in.

When I checked today, there were no issues reported so I reluctantly started an online chat session with a highly scripted call center professional (HSSCP). After some introductory info exchange, he asks me to connect directly to my modem rather than through the router. As I'm pulling the cable, it occurs to me that this will terminate the chat session. Sho' nuff.

I start online chat session number two with new HSSCP. He apologizes for dropped session, says that he will help me, and then asks "Are you near to your computer?" Um. Yes. I am chatting with you ONLINE using my computer. Even though I had explained that this drop in service was new, that nothing in my setup had changed, we had to go through all the trouble-shooting that I had already done on my own. Then he has me ping yahoo and tell him the loss (0%). Then empty my temp files. Then he asks me to run MY OWN speed test (I use DSL Reports) and give him the results. Finally, he tells me it's a line issue and gives me a case number with a promise that it will be resolved in 48 hours. Which is all I wanted in the first place.

This is all reminiscent of last summer's interaction with an HSSCP. Our internet service had never worked after we moved in and after multiple calls, I finally got someone to escalate the issue. At the end of the call, the HSCCP reminded me that I could have used www.phonecompany.ca to get help. Yeah. If I had internet service, that would have been dandy.

48 hours to download heaven? We'll see.