Trying to Get New Internet Service

[crgreen]

I recently moved into a new house in an area where AT&T is the ONLY telephone and internet/DSL (outside of satelite internet) service available. A month ago, I called AT&T trying to set up DSL service at my house. I have an AT&T phone line to the house, and the previous person in the house had AT&T DSL service set up. Upon requesting this, I was told that no service was available in my area. The operator asked for an address of someone I knew who had AT&T DSL, so I provided my landlord's address, whom I know for a fact has it, and I was told that there was no record of that account. After calling back 10 times to talk to someone with some sense, I was told that my area was capped off and no more internet could be provided in my area. This is by far the craziest thing I've ever heard of. A request was finally put into engineering for me to see if more slots could be added to the area, three weeks later I've still heard nothing (I was told it would take 5 days max). The customer service has been horrible. The concept that I'm trying to pay AT&T for internet and they have both told me they can't fit me in and ignored me is outside my mind for a company such as themselves. I need internet and AT&T basically doesn't want to provide it for me, even though they are my only option.

Has anyone else run into a problem such as this one? If so, any advice on how to handle it?

[rnetter21]

I have the opposite problem actually, and its very aggravating, I cannot get any type of highspeed where I am, even though like a couple hundred yards up the street, like close enough for my small child to walk up there and I can see her almost all the way, they have DSL and wireless, and they will not bring it down to me, There are several people down my way that would love to have it so its not that there isn't enough people.   They actually made me an appointment one time to come set me up, supposedly verified my address and phone number, made me wait for hours and finally called back and said "oh your house is around a corner, and we can't bring the DSL line around the corner" REALLY? Thats absolutely the most ridiculous thing I have heard, I can get phone service, but nothing else? I'm thinking about cancelling myself, there are other cell phone companies out there, and cancelling my home phone will save me money.  

[MadDogMike]

YES, I am having the exact same problem! I have a property that I've been renting out for over 3 years, and tenants have always had AT&T DSL. They moved out and I plan to use the property now, and now AT&T says I can't get DSL at this address. Hello, we've had DSL at that address for 3 years! Now they have the ports capped. The thing is, they're not letting anyone get DSL anymore because they want to migrate everyone to U-verse. That's fine, but I can't get U-verse either!

I was told that if I started an account, I could submit an escalation to uncap the ports. So I got a basic phone line and put in the request. I have done this SEVERAL times, and they NEVER get back to me. Every time I call back they say that they see the request has been made, but there has been no response. Then they say that they'll resubmit the request and we start all over again. This has happened a half-dozen times now! Today I told them to forget it and canceled the account. I have WASTED hundreds of dollars on an AT&T phone line, which I never used, because I was told this is what I had to do to get DSL. Obviously, they have no interest in keeping a paying customer, so I'm gone. If anyone knows a way to email a company executive, let me know. Speaking to customer-no-service is a waste of time.

[crgreen]

It seems as if a whole lot of people have been running into this problem, which is disturbing for a company such as AT&T who obviously thinks so highly of themselves. Either way, I went ahead and filed a complaint with the BBB. I don't know if it will help me get DSL, but I don't see it hurting my chances.