Well, I thought things were going to work out better than this, but here’s how it went with Cindy at Island Tel.
For some reason Cindy, who seemed helpful and like she was going to work on the problem until it was solved, passed the file to Tracey. Tracey called me to find out the IP address of my desktop machine, and asked me to release the IP address so they could set up a mirror machine to see what the problem might be.
About 1/2 hour later Tracey phoned me back to announce that (a) the problem was specific to that IP address, and (b) the problem was not Island Tel’s problem, but Alter.net’s problem. She went on to suggest that Alter.net was probably blocking traffic to/from that IP address for some reason… perhaps because of “inappropriate network activity” on my part (which is absurd).
I assumed she would go on to suggest that they could just take that IP address out of commission and get me a fresh clean new one, but she didn’t and when I asked, she said they couldn’t do that because “somebody else would just end up with that IP address and end up with the same problem.”
And that was it.
If I treated my customers like this, I would be out of business. I realize that Island Tel has to make financial decisions about how much or how little they are prepared to go to support their customers. In my case, it’s not far enough. I know that if I was dealing with Kevin at ISN he would hammer away at this until I was a satisfied customer, and not because he’s a friend but because it’s the Right Thing to Do.
How can I convince Island Tel that it’s in their best interests to go just as far with just as much moxy? Or should I even bother?

So now I’m on the phone talking to someone else at the Business High Speed Internet office at Island Tel. She tell me that Watts Communications does the “first tier” technical support for Residential High Speed Internet. I explain to her my current frustrations. I offer to upgrade to the Business product if it will let me talk to a technician. She thinks this doesn’t make sense, as I would be paying more for exactly the same service. She offers to transfer me directly to “second tier” support. So I get to talk to Cindy. Cindy is very capable, obviously understands exactly what the problem is, makes sure she understands all of the details, and tells me that she will call me back in 20 minutes to 1/2 an hour. I no longer feel like a jerk. Cindy even says “this is obviously time-sensitive as you have some work to get done on that server.” This is good.

So I called the Island Tel High Speed Business desk to see if I moved to their Business as opposed to their Residental High Speed Internet product, could I get better technical support.
What I was told, in essence, was the Island Tel has nothing to do with the technical support for Residential High Speed Internet. In fact the guy I talked so said that he had no idea who offered technical support for Residential High Speed Internet.
Apparently, if I sign a three-year contract (although I was told that this is a “meaningless” verbal contract that I could easily get out of), I can get Business High Speed Internet for $59.95 a month. This gives me all sorts of cruft that I don’t need (domain name, etc.), but also apparently lets me talk to actual Island Tel technicians (as opposed to the mystery guys that handle Residential support, that is).
The question is, should I continue to date Island Tel at this point, or look at the Eastlink offering?

So I’m having another problem with my Island Tel Internet. Last time I had problem like this, Island Tel threatened me with legal action for talking about it, but I think they were just frustrated, so I won’t let that bother me.
The current problem is weird: I maintain a server for Yankee Publishing in Boston. I use my Island Tel High Speed Internet to ssh to the server to maintain it. I’ve been doing this with no problems for over a year.
Yesterday at 2:30 p.m., I could no longer reach the Yankee server, and I haven’t been able to since. After contacting Xensei, Yankee’s Quincy, MA-based ISP, it became evident that the problem was on this end: for some reason, the Aliant/Bell/ITAS network was rejecting packets from the ypi.com server.
Weirder still was the fact that only packets directed at my IP address were being rejected. I could get at the server with no problem from other machines on the Island Tel network. Heck, I could even get at the server from another machine plugged into the same DSL-connected hub here in the office.
A simple problem to solve, one would think. Or hope. So I called 1-800-773-2121, the Island Tel technical “support” line. And talked to a guy who, through no fault of his own, could neither understand the problem, nor offer to do anything but “escalate to second level technicians.” They would be back to me “in a couple of days” he said. (this couple of days thing seemed so absurd I ignored it, thinking it was some sort of joke or worst-case-scenario thing).
So last night I naively sat back and rested easy in the notion that the problem was being addressed by the crack second level guys.
Until 8:46 p.m. when I got a call back from the first level guy looking for the IP address of the ypi.com server. He’d forgotten to ask for that.
Or until 11:10 a.m. this morning when I called in again to see how the big escalation was going only to be blown off with a comment that I should just sit tight and be patient.
Or until 11:20 a.m. this morning when another first level guy phoned back to ask for that ypi.com IP address again.
At this point, any goodwill that Island Tel has earned over the last year by providing me with good service is now gone. My overall feeling is that they wish I would go away.
The funny thing is that this is all about attitude, and has little to do with technical issues. I know that the Internet is a complicated jungle to figure out, and I would be naive to think that anyone can make it work all the time. But I also know, from my universally positive experiences with both Xensei and ISN that it’s possible to run an Internet company without making your customers feel like jerks for bothering you.

Looking a Oliver’s immunization card, I realized that, being born on October 1, 2000 as he was, the abbreviated version of his birthdate is 10/01/00, which is binary number 36 if you take out the slashes. Hmmmm.

Telecommunications is complicated. It’s getting more complicated as telephone companies become cable companies and vice versa. It’s things like this that only make it worse. Surely there must be simpler ways to help businesses save money? Why don’t you just lower the prices?

On the CeeDees 1986 self-titled album there’s song called France which goes, in part:

To see you would be thrilling, but I cannot take that chance.
What’s the time in France?
What’s the time in France?
Where in the hell is France?

Once you get over the whole swine-metaphor laced nature of radio station KPIG (and you do have to admire the extents to which they go in this direction; my favourite is the Lard Card), it’s probably the best radio station in the world. I’ve been listening solidly for about 5 days now, and I continue to be amazed with the breadth and quality of music they play. Especially of note is their Sunday morning live music program Please Stand By.

Globe and Mail, March 15, 2001 — “The crash of a tractor trailer carrying a helium-cooled MRI machine closed the Yellowhead Highway near here for at least six hours yesterday. An RCMP spokesperson said the closing was necessary because helium used to keep the magnetic resonance imaging scanners supercooled was venting. The driver suffered minor injuries.”

National Post, March 15, 2001 — “The crash of a truck carrying a helium-cooled magnetic resolution imager closed the Yellowhead Highway near Jasper for at least six hours yesterday. An RCMP spokesman said the closure was necessary because the highly explosive helium was leaking. Experts were assessing the danger before attempting to clear the wreckage.”

Correction, National Post, March 17, 2001 — “Helium is not explosive. Incorrect information appeared in this story. The National Post regrets the errors.”