Climer + iPhone = iClimer

Let me start by prefacing this as a rant. A complete and utter disillusioned account of a horrible customer service experience turn worse as hours passed. Just want to post this so that the world can read how incredibly difficult offshore tech support must be.

6PM: Last night 6pm my modem made a weird noise, it lit up all its lights and my surge protector shut off. Everything in my office Shut down. My iPhone was connected and when i reset everything, my iphone was no longer working, my computer could not connect to the internet and my modem was no longer connecting to AT&T.

8PM: iPhone still not working. Hangs up between calls, wont swap between programs, royally screwed up at this point. Schedule appointment at ipod Bar and head to the mall.

8:55PM: Awesome rep at the Apple store replaces my iPhone. Says this is a problem they are aware of and that they can replace it at no charge. Impressive support and I have to say its nice to know they will do that for you. So good job Apple. (Northpark Mall Location, Dallas, TX BTW).

9:30PM: Funny thing iPhones. That whole online activation thing really bites you in the ass when you DON’T HAVE INTERNET! So now the saga really begins. After putting with the connection for about an hour i decide to bite the bullet and call AT&T.

10:30PM: “Hello, dis is AT&T Customer service, “Bob” Speaking how may I be of service” I explain the problem i have and he asks me to reset the computer 3 times, reset the DSL model 3 times and we hard wire the computer to the modem. Guess what after an hour of this he tells me that service in my area is kaput. Great to know after doing all this. I was told it would e restored around 1AM.

Now remember i have an iPhone i need reactivated, and I have a 7am conference call on that phone. So i am really stressing at this point. I decide to take a break.

12:00AM: I return to find the same problem still exists and decide to sleep.

6:00 AM: Up and about and hitting the computer. NO SERVICE STILL! So i crank on a pot of coffee and start my long dramatic series of tech support calls.

6:30AM Finally got a rep on the line. Seems he has a solution (so he thinks). After resetting my computer 4 times, dsl modem 3 times, and then actually getting the modem to connect to the net. He thinks we are done. But guess what i get an IP address, bu pinging does not work. Now my conference call is no longer an issue. Since we missed it. So its now 8AM.

8:00AM: I have been upgraded to LEVEL 2 Support. Time to get transfered to America? Nope no such luck. AT&T India still helping me. OK so i get with another gentleman. We reset the computer 3 times, DLS model 3 times and router 4 times. (Running Total Computer Resets Thus far: 9) We twiddle with settings, we send pings, we change setting, we hard wire we do this and that. and at the end of a 2 hour session between him, then me and 2 more reps. they give up. And congratulations I am no sent back to the ol US of A tech support.

10:10AM: I am not with DSL support Stateside and the gentleman helping me is obviously sick, coughing and hacking in my ear every 2 seconds during the call. He checks for service outages, has me reset the computer 4 times, same of crap different operator. And guess what same results. computer connects to modem which connects to router which gets IP address and is logged in. How strange it is that the internet does not work STILL!!!! More and more crap we try n and on and on. After 5 hour of tech support. AT&T Gives up. They say its not their problem, not an issue with their system. Keep in mind i am hooked directly up to their modem, to 1 computer, no router attached. The guy tells me is a LinkSys issue. Again THE MODEM IS ALL THAT IS CONNECTED! No router attached. So how the hell can it be LinkSys. He says sorry and we part our merry way.

11:00AM: I was so taken back by all the rounds of help from AT&T that I decided to Called LinkSys. My router company. Told them of my issue. Within 1 minute they found the problem with the AT&T Modem, told me how to work around their issues and i was up and Running! The problem was how their router (the main hub in our area) was reconfigured. So i no longer had to use a mode AT&T told me to use. Thank God LinkSys knows how to work around AT&T’s crap.

So points awarded and revoked:
1000 Points awarded to APPLE
1000 Points Awarded to LINKSYS
1000000000000 Point Removed from AT&T

My iPhone is now working. My computer is now connected to the internet. And i am tired and angry!
congrats AT&T Another satisfied customer.

I was working on some design project when my client asked me for my home address. I asked why and they said my iPhone was on the way. I was beside myself. I had wanted an iPhone since Jobs announced its future arrival. Swore I would have one, but knew the expense was way out of reach right then. So sure enough about a week later I get my shiny new iPhone.

The phone is all I hoped it to be minus a few features I was sure would come soon, (iChat the biggest one APPLE!). I swapped from a Treo 650 on the Sprint Network to the iPhone on AT&T (again wish it was not AT&T But its an iPHONE!).

So as i played with my new fancy toy, and drove my wife crazy diddling with it constantly, I realized i got some great pictures on it. I wanted to do something fun with it and since it was now apart of my being (since I have it with me always) I started iClimer.com.

All photos on this site are from the iPhone. They have been reformatted for fast loading and are much higher resolution right off the phone. I hope you enjoy my adventures, my incite, my rants and my world.

“Life is a little more fun with an iPhone” iClimer.com