I'd Sooner Perform an Autoorchiectomy with a Spork than Recommend SBC Yahoo!
Written: Apr 18 '04 (Updated Apr 28 '04)
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Pros: Pros? We Ain't Got No Stinking Pros! Well, maybe the self-diagnosis tool...
Cons: everything in the entire SBC experience
The Bottom Line: Why, oh why, didn't I listen to all the negative comments about SBC Yahoo?
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| scmrak's Full Review: SBC Yahoo |
I'm so sorry! I didn't listen to people I trust! I signed up for SBCyahoo, even though I'd already read the horror stories! And boy, am I sorry I did!
A short chronology is in order, I suppose: I signed up for SBC's DSL service about a month ago - hey, it was only eight bucks a month more than the full-service dial-up I'd been using (and after the NetZero fiasco, I wasn't ready for another bargain-basement dialup service).
The DSL modem came in the mail... oooh! fun toys! and on the appointed day (a Friday) I plugged everything in and fired it up. Nope, no signal - so I called tech support. The nice man there told me that, no, my install wasn't scheduled until the following Monday. Strange, I'd never had a single communication referencing that date. That should've been my first clue...
No, wait - my first clue should've been that the install executable on the SBC CD-ROM is so stupid that it can't tell that the software has already been installed. Instead, it walks you through the entire process again, even though you've watched their cutesy little "How to install a filter" cartoons twice already.
Still, I couldn't connect... but why? half a dozen calls to technical support found me going through the same monkey-see, monkey-do technical support checklist. I answered the same questions - "How many lights do you have on?" - and followed the same rote instructions - "I'm going to have you cycle the modem..." so many times that I could repeat them to the tech-support guy before he asked read them off his screen. After giving up and rewiring the telephone system in the house, I finally got a signal - an intermittent signal, since my modem would not maintain a signal if any other telephone in the house was plugged in.
I realized that technical support would never be able to help me when one of them called this an "intermediate" connection.
A month later, I still have my "intermediate" connection - of course, SBC would be happy to send out a tech to help me resolve it (to the tune of $60 per hour) - but they don't seem to eb able to connect me with someone knowledgable enough to answer technical questions when I call. And today, I can't receive or send email. But why? Four - count 'em four - calls to tech service later, after having been told twice to reboot and to cycle the modem (even though I had full internet connectivity at the time), I've found out that there's an outage in the area and no customer can receive or send email.
That's what happens when your wire people are in Illinois and your support techs are in India!
So:
Here's What You Get with SBC
They gave me a "$99" DSL modem (a refurbished Speedstream 5100 that I could have bought new for under $40). They gave me an installation kit with a handful of filters (you know that if you don't put filters on your phone, you'll get a feedback-like screeching sound, right?). They gave me the aforementioned none-too-bright installation CD.
That CD has SBC's custom software on it - a browser (actually overlays for either Netscape or IE), Yahoo messenger, a dialup manager (which is installed on my laptop and doesn't work particularly well), and the SBC Yahoo self-test tool. That last may be the only thing in the entire experience that's even remotely positive...
Here's What You Don't Get
Customer support. Technical support. Technicians who know enough to help you. Technicians who can help diagnose problems instead of reading through a checklist. On-time installation.
Here's What You Get Sick Of
Support techs with names like "Amanda" and Julie" and "Ralph" who drove across the Ganges River on their way to work. It's demeaning to the workers and it doesn't fool anybody, since we know SBC "offshored" the call center. Endless rote repetitions of the phrase beginning with, "I'm sorry for any inconvenience..." Since they repeat it every time, you know it is nothing but a script! Repetition of system outage problems at multiple levels in the phone menuing script (and when the message is 70 seconds long and can't be bypassed, it gets very old).
Here's What You Get Sickest Of
SBC Yahoo.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 30/month
Version Number or Year: 2004
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