bellsouth/DSL-bad

I signed up for a bundle (DSL/unlimited long distance/cell phone) and the stupid woman at Bell South didn't tell me I need Windows XP on my computer to run DSL. I waited one week and got the DSL equipment today only to learn I can't hook up because I don't have XP. Wasted my time to say nothing of the frustration and disappoinment I experienced. And I have to mail the equipment back and I'm refusing to paying the shipping because I was misinformed and set up to fail. I'm cancelling everything tomorrow. Can you believe all the offices are closed at night? Unlimited long distance for 5 days (I'm sure going to miss that!). And don't even talk to me about the bag of chocolate chip cookies I ate during this process so I won't be able to sleep tonight because I'm so sugared up! Oh boy, am I mad!!!

Oh Saundra, I'm so sorry! You were so excited about finally getting the service. What would it cost to upgrade to Windows XL? What do you have now?

Hi Saundra --
I don't understand why they told you that you have to have Windows XP to run Bellsouth DSL. My computer operates with Windows 98 (I'm not all that far from you, I'm in Sanford) and we've had Bellsouth DSL (bundled with long distance and cell phone and all that)for years and have had absolutely no problems with it. Unless they've changed something since we signed up for it, I don't know why it would work here in Sanford and not in Daytona!! Don't blame you for not wanting to pay the shipping back though if it truly will not work on your computer. If you do end up sending it back keep at them til they send you a prepaid shipping label or something.

Sandra...sorry to hear about your problems with Bellsouth/DSL. You cracked me up about your sugar high, though. I can just see you...made me laugh.

Fortuntely, we do have XP and Bellsouth and DSL. The only thing I don't like is when there's a heavy rain our service goes out...frustrating. During Katrina we couldn't get anything and had to use a portable TV that ran on batteries. Our house sits so far back from the street that the cable company refused to come out and even give us an estimate so we were sort of stuck with DSL. So far we've been pleased.

I have BellSouth DSL but I wouldn't have the "combined" package. I use to have it. They lie. They NEVER told me that your cell phone program had to be above a certain $ amount to qualify you for the savings each month. Same with Directv. So when I finally got my combined bill (phone, cell phone, and DirecTV) there was no savings and as a matter of fact, it was more than I would have paid separately. It took me from June till October to get it straightened out. Each month they told me it was straight and each month it wasn't. BellSouth lies....big time.

Now I kept the DSL and love it. LOVE IT! So I have my long distance service with them and my DSL. My long distance is 23.00 and some change, each month. It doesn't matter how many long distance calls I make or where they go, the price remains the same. I like this. And THAT plan works. So does the DSL...but the combined package DID NOT.

If anyone comes along with a better package, I'll leave them in a heart beat though. I have no loyalty to anyone who lies to me. Any lying gonna be done, I'll be the one doing it!

Hmmm.......my husband is the one who set up the bundle with the DSL/cell phone/Direct TV etc and he claims that we got a better deal that way. And like I said above, my computer has Windows 98 and we have DSL and the Bellsouth bundle deal.......sometimes I wonder if it all depends on who you talk to when you're setting it up.

Could it be becasue Bell South has combined with AT&T?

Hadn't thought about that, that could be it. Also we signed up for all this a few years ago, they've probably changed the deal since then.

What has changed about it is that Cingular One (who I also do not like) and DirecTV has a minimum now that you must pay each month before you qualify for the savings.

For instance, I pay 34./month for my cell phone and it has to be 40./month to qualify.

Now that's not the right figures, I'm just giving you an example.

DirecTV was the only fair player in the whole thing. They were always nice, and always wanted to do whatever it took to keep my business...at least that is how they treated me. Cingular spoke out of both sides of their mouth.

I know because I finally got ALL THREE of these companies on the line with me at once. Reason I did is that BellSouth kept telling me it was Cingular's fault and Cingular would say it was BellSouth's....I ended that. When they all got on the line it was BOTH their faults. The snots...

DirecTV admitted up front they hadn't given me the discounts and not only gave them to me, but gave me another month's worth of DTV free, along with a premimum channel for a month FREE. And the next month, it was exactly how they said it would be....

We are just a number to most companies and they hire and fire employees like we change underwear...every day. So if you talk to Pau one day and he promises you XY and Z, forget it. He isn't there a week later and you have to start all over.

I learned a long time ago to GET THEIR NAME, write down the time and date, and summarize the conversation. When I call back, they know I have their number (pun intended) when they ask "and just who did you talk to?"

Don't mess with da Queen....this ain't my first rodeo...

Saundra, sorry for your troubles. Although BellSouth may be my new ISP (depends on who has the best deal locally) soon b/c I need it for school and my WiFi laptop, I agree that the company is dishonest. In the past I received a hoop of wrong numbers from collectors, not for me, but for several people. I traced the numbers and after X times, I contacted BellSouth and the representative was very nice, yet stated I needed to speak with an individual in the fraud department. I did and although the gal referred me to the appropriate Federal Agency, she reamed for having wasted her time! Good googly moogly, I was so shocked at the tone of her voice and behavior and explained that the first representative transferred me to you and gave me explicit instructions! Also, by that time I'd been on the phone for at least 1/2 hour, so in essence they were wasting my time!

I talked to the DSL people who said I cannot use DSL without Windows XP and sent me a shipping label by email instead of buying me a new computer or upgrading mine like I asked if they would. I did so ask! I kept the BellSouth unlimited long distance plan ($19.99/mo with no extras) and cancelled everything else. Bright House will be here next Tuesday (my next day off) to install Roadrunner, which will work with Windows 98. Kathy, I was so disappointed I almost cried but yelled instead. After reading about JJ's experience, I'm glad I refused the cell phone. JJ, they didn't say anything about qualifying for cell calls. Glad I missed that bullet.

I've never spoken with a person who did the bundle thing without problems. I'm going to steer clear of this.

Not only that...(here I go again) but they screwed up my "SPAM" stuff so badly that after a long, long, period of using them, all of a sudden I couldn't get emails from my closest of co-workers (like Dotsie) or many others. When I called to find out why, BellSouth said, "Oh, we changed the way it does it...you'll have to either trust us (that'll be a cold day in Hades) or change your settings and go in and check the SPAM folder yourself all the time."

I was dumbfounded. I said, "Uh, 'cuse me...but you have a job because of ME and people like ME. You couldn't send us an email and inform us that you were changing things? I've spent the last three days trying to figure out why my mail system wasn't working!" I was furious. They said, "we didn't think we needed to..." Well duh?

So I chose Option #2...I did my own settings and go in and check and delete SPAM.

I'm telling ya...if a company comes along that REALLY listens to their cutomers, I'm sooooooooooo there!

I've been reading this topic with interest. We have DSL through a local ISP that's a woman-owned business. I have been with this ISP for years and love them. My business web stuff is also through them. When they messed up once they gave me two months free because it was their error. Our local phone co is Qwest - don't like them much as we always have trouble getting through to them and getting things fixed. But we have long distance through Working Assets. I like them because they give a percentage of every bill to charities, and once a year we get to vote on the charities to get money for the next year. We can 'round up' our bill if we choose so that extra money goes to the charities. They also have cell phone plans, but we haven't signed up for that yet.

Cable internet access is not necessarily better than DSL because you're actually sharing a line with your neighbors who also have cable internet access, so the speeds can be quite slow if everyone's online at the same time. DSL is a dedicated line for only your household. I was surprised to learn this in my tech class as I always thought cable would be faster.