...the allure of darkness

I despise ATT... dealing with them...
and all their previous incarnations ...
was the bane of my existence...
for years...






until I switched my local service to Sprint...


I had signed
on with Sprint back in their "early days"...
[late 70's/early 80's...]
for their "long distance service"...
when I had friends who lived in other states...
that I talked to often...

when Mom was alive... we talked every day...
long distance... often over an hour at a time...
and the unique to Sprint plan that offered a huge discount...
on the ONE number you called the most...
saved us both a LOT of $$$...

so when Sprint offered "local area access"...
I jumped to them in a flash...
bundling the local & long distance...
saving a bunch of $$$...


"... and there was a great peace in the galaxy..."

but about a year, or so, ago...
Sprint got out of the landline business...
selling out to Trinsic/Matrix...
and the monthly charges began to rise...
until even with a $5.00 p/m discount...
my charge last month was $80.55...
[NO long distance calls...NO extras...]



I had been getting "love notes" from ATT ...
every other month or so...ever since I left them...



but they were not enough of a savings to tempt me...
considering all my "issues" with ATT...
and all the baggage from previous associations...

so then, a month ago, I got this...



I knew from paying Mom's ATT bill...
that simple service was about $18.00 p/m...
[including taxes, etc...]
but I couldn't trust...
I was afraid of being dumped on again...

so I waited...

and I got another "invitation"...
at the same time that I was very aware ....
of just how much Trinsic was charging...
[they have NO plan flexibility whatsoever...]

I didn't really feel OK with going back...
[evil empire, and all...]
but my desire to spend SO MUCH less...
for a service I didn't use much...
was too tempting...

and I fell back into the pit...



as I tried to access ATT online...
I started remembering ALL the reasons ...
that I had despised them before...

they have SO cleverly just "upgraded" their web page...
to IE 5.5 and above, ONLY...
[and fairly recently, I might add...
because I managed Mom's account...
very successfully online...just last year...]

uuh...Mac doesn't support IE...we have Safari...
we can run PC programs that are supported by Vista...
but the free down loadable IE 5.5...is NOT...

when Mac developed Safari...
Microsoft stopped upgrading IE for Mac...
they stopped at IE 5.2...
SOOOO....



I tried several times to access their page...
would get in a bit ...but then the door would slam...
and I kept getting the snotty...
"your browser cannot support our wonderful site"...
and... the oh, so "lovely"...
"please upgrade your lame browser
to accommodate wonderful, perfect us"
messages.... [grrrr...]

relinquishing ALL shreds of dignity...
and the anonymity of the Internet...
I dialed the 800 number...
ready to "feast on crow"...
with a real person...
[whom I assumed would be snickering...
or at least smiling... as I crawled "back"....]

the automated menu was very brief...
the agent was VERY nice...
there was NO hard sell...AT ALL...

I ended up with unlimited local calling...
plus 2 hours of long distance p/m...
[it should be noted that the "Sleepy Village"...
about 13 miles north of Mudville...
is considered "long distance"...]

no frills or fancy add-ons...

all for $15.00 p/m...plus fees...
for a total of about $20.00 p/m...
instead of $80.00 p/m...
AND... they will change my service...
so I don't have to deal with Trinsic...
she also set up automatic payment...
so I don't have to deal with the &)(#!@# web page...


I still have Sprint service for my cell...



where I have more than enough anytime minutes...
AND I have all the Internet time I need ...
to check my e-mail... and even my blog !
all for about $60.00 p/m...

I LOVE my Treo 755...

and I especially love all the...

I no longer have to send to Trinsic...

POST SCRIPT...

heh,heh,heh...



I just replaced Safari with Firefox...
not only does it chew up and spit out IE...
I no longer have to deal with the lame,
Safari "keychain" password requests...
that came in pairs...
EVERYTIME I went to a new page...

and BTW... the look is great...
crisper... better...
and WAY faster... !

take that IE...
and stuff it Safari...

hee, hee... hee, hee