Here I am on this first day of
Spring…anxious to get the first ride of the season behind me. It was not that long ago that first ride
would have already taken place. But
circumstances change and so does my ride schedule. The good news is that once again life has dealt me a new
hand. My employer will allow me to work
from my home! Now that offers many
possibilities including being able to ride more often. The focus is currently getting the home work
area established, but will then begin to consider when to schedule these
rides. Before deciding, need to know
what may be good for those also interested.
Perhaps a quick early morning tour would work…or something around
lunchtime…or in late afternoon / early evening may be best. I have several routes in and around
Williamstown and we can take advantage of the bike path for a portion of our
tour. The early rides would be “C”
pace, but hopefully we could push later in the season for a “B.” Anyone that would like to comment, well just
drop me a message on my email or else you can call. I will also be going to the high speed DSL internet
connection…and there now lies another RePete tail.
Most people go out and order their
connection…in fact, I check with several including my neighbor next-door. “Oh, just call them up and you will have
the self-install kit and be connected within two weeks,” was what I was
assured. Perhaps my mistake was no
going low-tech as my neighbor suggested and opted to ordering through the web
site. Before ordering, thought I should
research this a little and check out the DSL connection compared to cable. To be honest, I am a Comcast customer and
seen my television subscription rate more than double over the years and this
is for simple basic service. As such,
can’t say that I was embracing internet cable with much gusto. Regardless, did talk to Circuit City and
Best Buy sales staff…as well as my barber.
After all this, just seemed much equipment would be needed…and the
thought of Comcast more than doubling the internet service rates in a few years
just kept me from going this route.
So…off to get DSL. Wow…found out
that this can be provided over the current telephone line and you can talk on
the phone while on the internet made me more than interested.
Now the story gets
interesting…instead of listening to my neighbor who suggested that I call, took
the web route. Went to the Verizon Web
site. There you entered the telephone
number that is to be used for the DSL service to check if service is available. Up popped the notice that I could not get
that service through Verizon…although that is what my neighbor had and he is no
more than 200 feet away!! Ah…I must
have entered the wrong number…but after repeated attempts all getting the same
reply, it began to dawn on me, Verizon would not provide this service. Guess my neighbor’s property was as far as
Verizon would travel.
My next stop was with SNIP. They are a local provider that was used for
my dial-up connection several years ago.
Not to bore you with details of my journey through the land of recorded
messages, but finally found a “live” person representative that actually
spoke!!! As unbelievable as this
seems…what the rep told me was that since my local telephone service is with
MCI, I would need to switch either to Verizon or AT&T before they would
consider installing DSL service. The
rep said that MCI was too difficult to work with.
Not yet totally discouraged…pushed
on to AT&T. Found a similar
procedure on their web site to check for DSL service and finally the message
was displayed. Yes, the number did
qualify. Oh, joy of joys, I found a
provided and on March 5 submitted my order.
Little did I know then that the saga was to continue.
I waited…and waited…and waited for
the self-install kit to arrive. Only
the original message that confirmed my order arrived in the email. Finally, on March 16, called AT&T. Again through the land of recorded messages
before a “real” person told me the self-install kit would be mailed shortly and
apologized for the delay. I checked my
in-box on March 19 and found a message that my order was rejected…it took
AT&T two weeks to advise me of this fact and this was only days after being
told the self-install kit would be sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Again…a telephone call to AT&T, again the journey through the land of recorded messages to yet another representative. Yet another unbelievable story…seems I am located in a Verizon zone. As such, AT&T would not provide the service. Explained in strong language that the order was placed on March 5 and confirmed…answer was basically, “too bad…that is the way it is.”
My next step is back to
Verizon…already re-checked their web site and you can guess, now Verizon is
indicating that the service can be provided!!!
I plan to call them on Monday…but already have a problem. They require local telephone service be
provided through Verizon. I checked
their plans and found one that is acceptable, except they say that I accept a
Millstone Township calling plan…that is in central New Jersey. I live in Williamstown…nowhere near
Millstone Township!!! And so my saga
will be continued in the next release.
As for my first tour…the Peach
Blossom is schedule for April 16. Seen
the ride section of this newsletter for details.
repeten@verizon.net