2:50... a little lightning and the lights flicker... no problem anywhere with any electronic equipment... clocks are all still telling the time, computers are all running along without a hitch, everything is great, no resets anywhere, except the brighthouse cable box... the cable box can't handle that the way the computer can (which is technologically stupid since all it would take is a back up battery and some circuitry, but that would reduce the number of service calls and increase the life span of the cable boxes which would reduce the planned obsolescence factor and make less money for yet another greedy u.s. corporations, to hell with good service and quality products in the good old u.s.a...
3:15... the box is still in reboot mode... it seems stuck at E-7... E-7 is not a usual screen icon, so i am suspecting trouble... so once again i shudder and call brighthouse again... and a helpful canadian woman who is also a nurse (i didn't ask why a nurse is answering repair calls for brighthouse in the middle of the night) listens to all of my complaints about internet and cable and searches for a better package and finds all the same services i have now with upgrades to full turbo (30mbps) and digital dvr for $2 less than i am paying now...yeah, i know, the rate goes up next year, but it sounded good right now...
4:09... still on the phone with brighthouse... we finally finalized the new package... yeah, so i decided to go with (fall for?) the upgrades and $2 savings rather than the same services with a $10 savings (both monthly)... so while the customer service person was good at sales, she did not do tech support well and the box is still not working... she sent several signals, boosted the signal, and whatever other tricks she knew, but to no avail... i have a tech scheduled out to replace the box and install the new modem and dvr for wednesday morning... unfortunately, that will mean having to take the box in myself tomorrow if i want to watch the stanley cup and nba finals... meanwhile, i say thank you to the sales girl - she was professional, patient, polite, and helpful from a sales standpoint... and i try troubleshooting the tech issues myself some more...
4:30... after unplugging everything and rebooting three times, the box made it down to L-3... no E-7... hope?... yeah, well, the equipment brighthouse provides is the only thing about brighthouse worse than the tech support and service, but we let the box continue to reboot... it hung there, so i rebooted yet again... going on two hours paying brighthouse to take my time and energy and labor... and they wonder why i resent the unfairness of that?... a $50 discount this month would be reasonable for my labor would be fair...
4:45... the box made it back to the time, so?... for some reason it is not showing anything on the tv... no signal... so i unplug the tv and replug it in several times and still no signal... the box says it's on... i check the tv and the tv is working... i press the guide button and the guide comes up with the correct time so the cable box is sending some signal to the tv and the tv is recieving it and working fine, so...
5:05... i called brighthouse back again... and we tried sending another signal to the box and waiting for a reboot... and waiting for a reboot... and waiting for a reboot... i could probably type that a hundred times and still have time to go to the bathroom before the box reboots... just one more reason a simple lights flickering power surge should not cause a complete time-consuming reboot that prevents a viewer from finishing a movie or show, but profits must be maximized so screw the customer experience, right "friend?"...
5:20... finally have tv again... and i mention the fact that there is no sound and it's been that way since i first got the box (which was the third box tried back then) and the tech tries to trouble shoot and nothing... i tell him i am going to see what the new box and tech can do on wednesday and thank him and we are done... cable tv and internet service is still way a overpriced rip-off as is most products and services people need more than other products and services... supply and demand... greed and corruption... the american way... yeah, it's not fair or right, but it is the reality of the culture we live in... so two and a half hours of my labor and $50 off my bill would be getting my labor cheap... without the discount, brighthouse service and equipment and pricing continues to suck and what makes it suck most is the free labor they get from me to fix their crap equipment... still appreciate the sale customer service woman for improving the cost-benefit for me...
brighthouse roadrunner broadband turbo internet (updated 6/17/13, improved):
| working near perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all | 5% of the time 80% of the time 10% of the time 5% of the time | no problems slow downs intermittent connection, reboot requires a call to tech support or repair visit |
brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 6/17/13, still trending downward):
| working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all | 0% of the time 0% of the time 85% of the time 15% of the time | no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start (this is 100% of the time) box/channel resets every 10-15 seconds or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit |
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