phones

What do you do for phones? local phone company, giant phone company, cells only, PBX, VOIP, and other options out there. of course we all want high quality, flexibility, and the cheapest price.

ClearTel has been a disaster. I never thought I would long for the regular ole phone company so badly - but I’m crawling back as fast as I can. The day we switched over from the Bell/AT&T megagiant to the T1 supposedly-faster internet connection and phone service that would offer greater flexibility is a day my internal organs would prefer not to relive. The phone numbers, toll-free numbers, voice mail boxes - none of it worked right. The T1 was slower and regularly cut out completely. Every person I spoke with in the ensuing days - literally 20+ representatives of ClearTel, were all really nice, but they one by one promised me the next person would fix it. I would get transfered, called back later, forgotten about til I called in again, and shuffled around the world until it was clear no one really knew what to do. My numbers would stop working, the toll-frees go dead, and voicemail give out so that their best advice was to start over again. The experience revealed layers of incompetence with that company.

So now I’ve vented to you - and faxed a contract back to Bell. Just work - just be reliable - just be up all the time. from an older perspective it’s amazing any of this stuff works at all. from a millennial’s frame of mind, it’s a disappointment when there is a half-second delay in delivery.

The company depicted in the cartoon below had nothing to do with my awful experience - but it’s a funny image of dealing with phone companies as we all must.