Yes, that’s what SBC stands for.
I got home last night to find that the electricity had been off all day. That wasn’t SBC’s fault, but I also found that my phone was dead. I assumed the two were connected somehow, because it seemed like an awfully big coinky-dinks. But, coinky-dinks, it was. The electricity came back on in time to watch Survivor, but I still couldn’t get a dial tone. Hmmm.
This morning, I called SBC from my neighbor’s house and went through their auto-response maze. They tested my line, said it was fine, and recommended that I test my network interfact thingumy. M’kay. So I called my landlady, to tell her that there was an issue and that she’d have to get the rear area bush-hogged so that someone could actually get to the box. It’s seriously overgrown and probably full of snakes and lord only knows what. I wouldn’t go back there, and there’s no way I’d ask anyone else to, either.
My landlady said that her ex had recently had his work line transferred to his new house. A-ha! When I originally moved in, and had my phone hooked up, the worker bee had accidentally switched my landfolks’ line to my house. I’d bet a million damned dollars that that’s what the problem is. When SBC switched my landdude’s line to his new house, they actually switched my line.
So, I called SBC back and went through their maze again. This time, when they ran the line, they got a busy signal (and so did I, when I tried calling it). Their auto-response was to hang up my phone. Duh. I’m not a stupid. That was the first thing I checked. The second thing I checked was to make sure that the jack hadn’t come loose. The third was to swap out all my cables. I’ve done everything I can to troubleshoot the inside lines and equipment. The funny part is that SBC says they’ll have it fixed by tomorrow at 8pm. Now, how does that work? If they think the problem is that my phone’s off the hook (it’s not, but that’s what they claim), then how, exactly, do they propose to fix it?
I don’t know what to think. I know my landlady won’t actually do anything to get the problem fixed. Her advice was to get another line installed. Um, I don’t think so. I’m going to try phoning my number later today, to see if I still get a busy signal. If it’s still busy at the end of the day, I’m going to have to figure out some way to get hold of an actual, live human at SBC, because their auto-response system is doing me absolutely no good.
red paper boat 