Let me start off by saying that I am a professional web developer and graphic designer.  I am more than familiar with how the internet works and how to troubleshoot simple connection problems.  So when you determine that the problem does not lie in your equipment,  you would think it would be easy to communicate this to AT&T and get your service up again, because its AT&T's problem then, right?  Wrong!  Woe to those who have the misfortune of dealing with AT&T when the problem is actually on their end, with their lines/infastructure..as this is what you will be dealing with!

Here is a list of amazing situations I've had with AT&T in just two years:

- A line that was literally sagging off of the pole in the alley onto the ground behind our house.  The tech support agent, in India, tries to tell me the reason my internet disconnects constantly has to do with my modem, and that I should probabley get a new one or upgrade to a faster service.  He then tries to get me to powercycle the modem several times before I completely lose it, screaming that the LINE HAS FALLEN OFF OF THE POLE INTO THE GROUND

-After a week AT&T recognizes that they need to send a human being to fix the line.  They instead send a DSL repairman who after 2 minutes tells me he will be back later and never returns.

-After another week I am told the case was "CLOSED"

-After this another DSL tech comes out and then quickly tells me that it is an issue with the phone line, that he doesn't work for them (even though both phone and DSL are both ATT and he has an ATT patch on his coat?) and that I have to call a PHONE tech.

-By this point the phone has completely stoppped working, along with the internet.  No dialtone, no outbound calls to 911 or anyone.   Luckily we live in the cell phone age but still no fun to pay for a dead phone line.

-Finally AT&T sends someone with some sense who fixes the problem, a month later after the original call

AT&T has the absolute WORST policies when it comes to repairs and helping their customers.  It's almost funny in a mafioso/school bully sort of way..they offer you terrible service, and when you call them because of an obvious outside line problem they threaten you with a $90 fee if they don't find anything with the outside line.  BUT in true crooked business practice, you can PAY a monthly "maintenance" fee to be protected from their bad service and not get slammed with a fee if the repairman comes into your house.

Its almost a funny game at my house, when we call the AT&T repairman I have to make sure to let everyone know not to let him in the house so as not to get charged!  The tech support agents on the phone are so vague about this policy that you will never get a straight answer.  Will I be charged $90 if they can't figure out what is wrong with the outside lines if he doesn't come in the house?   Who knows!  Usually the person on the phone will mumble something vague but slightly threatening.

After all of this hassle, I am yet AGAIN having the same problems with AT&T.  Last night there was a big storm and since then the phone is crackly and the DSL disconnects constantly, every 5 minutes.  Again I am met with the same idiotic advice from tech support:  Power cycle the modem, upgrade to a faster service, .  I work online and I have to go elsewhere to get any work done while I wait for AT&T to get it together and fix the line again.

AND creepily enough, AT&T can look into your router and see the names of computers who have connected to your router!  The tech support agent listed all of the names of devices to me that have ever logged in through our router, in a chastising tone, like the problem may be with all of the devices I have on the internet!!!  And then she suggests I pay for an upgrade to faster service!

I'm sure other people have some at&t horror stories, lets hear 'em!  Maybe they will respond to the bad PR and actually fix our service before we all switch to some other horrible provider!