telephony
UPDATE: Empire Who’s Who Service Gets Imperial
Previously, a reader wrote in about how hard it was to get a refund from Empire’s Who’s Who, a business contact directory. Many of our commentors said the best way was to dispute the charges with the credit card company. Today, another reader writes that all it took for her was the THREAT of doing so.
Verizon DSL, A Fee By Any Other Name…
Verizon announced in an email sent to customers that starting August 14th, Verizon Online will stop charging the FUSF (Federal Universal Service Fund) fee. This fee cost customers $1.25 or $2.83 a month, depending on their plan. FUSF was a fee “assessed” by Verizon’s DSL suppliers, but since they’ve stopped “assessing” it, Verizon will stop “recovering” it.
Verizon Strangely Helpful
Verizon is inviting people to call in and get their calling plan reduced.
Get Ready to Sue a Telemarketer
There’s a special place in hell reserved for telemarketers; for the rest of their eternal damnation, they’re forced to be a telemarketer. Until then, you can use the questions prepped by Junkbusters to either screw with telemarketers’ minds or record the information needed to sue their ass.
Clever Gambit For Debating CSRs
You wouldn’t think that making a cellphone call in your own bedroom would get charged as ‘roaming,’ but that’s exactly what happened to Andrew W. One side of his room is bathed in Sprint coverage. If he shifts to the other side of the bed, all of a sudden he’s roaming, and getting charged for it.
UPDATE: Surfing On Our Free Sprint Cellphone
We just called Sprint to check on our coverage for this weekend’s trip into the Poconos and experienced something bizarre.
You Pay For the Unintended Consequences of Cell Number Recycling
As cellphone use explodes, the number of times a number is recycled increases. This used to just mean a few “sorry, wrong numbers” but now it might mean a big billing headache.
TWC L3 Rep Responds to Consumerist Posts
A self-identifying Time Warner Cable Level 3 rep calls bunk on our story, HOWTO: Get Actual Customer Support From Time Warner Cable.
A Little Word On Cell Phone Etiquette
Dumb Little Man’s got some great tips for decorum and modesty with public cellphone use, which we rewrite for you here.
HOWTO: Get Actual Customer Support From Time Warner Cable
After three months without internet and numerous failed calls to Time Warner Customer support, Mike happened to overhear a rep mention the term “L3.”
NONUPDATE: Cingular Wants to Yank Docs
Since Cingular legal counsel sent us a note Friday demanding we call and take down some internal documents, nothing has happened. They told us to call. We didn’t call. Instead, we insulted their note. Other sites picked up and popularized the story. Nary a further Cingular peep. Not even a full cease and desist. Sigh. We feel a little left at the altar.
How Fast Is Your Internet, Really?
Are you getting the bit rate you signed up for? Take this quick and easy test and find out. We know its from Speakeasy (which doesn’t have an unbiased interest in showing your speed as slow…) but it’s better than the one by Ookla because you can select a nearby server to do it at.
Old Phone? Cingular Charges You $5 More
Cingular plans to start charging customers with older model cellphones five extra bucks in order to poke them towards upgrading.
Cancel Your Cellphone By Dying
Here’s a tip for quitting your cellphone AND avoiding cancellation fees, straight from the mouth of a former wireless call center rep, Davros.
