[ale] [rant] I dislike "we only support winblows/OS X" AT&T internet

[tom]

On Sat, 1 Mar 2008, Scott Castaline wrote:

> Thompson Freeman wrote:
>> The subject pretty much says it all in the short form. I need to blow
>> steam so you can delete this with my appreciation for the use of your
>> bandwidth.
>>
>> My girlfriend has BellSouth/AT&T dsl service at home, although she
>> doesn't much use it prefering to do her thing at work. I built her a
>> box and loaded Ubuntu 7.10 on it, which connects through a Westell
>> router/dsl modem. There are connectivity issues with the internet
>> however, so I went over for a troubleshooting session this evening.
>>
>> Now, I do know better than to admit to these script reading tech
>> support people that I've got linux running, but I've got a big mouth
>> also. Strike one on me. Actually two and three, end of inning, also but
>> the script reader was willing to fool along.
>>
>> The problem is that the modem will not stay linked up (and this is
>> influenced by the OS HOW??), but drops the connection. I can access the
>> web setup stuff on the Westell box just fine.
>>
>> Basically I got told (eventually) to get an expert on my end of the
>> line with Windows, or forget it.
>>
>> Jerks.
>>
>> I'll take the laptop over tomorrow, with Wonders 2000 on it, and see if
>> the next mouth breather can see reason.
>>
>> Trouble is, my only other option for her seems to be RoadRunner (I get
>> to fight with them for my daughter), for three times the money. Doesn't
>> seem to be worth the effort.
>>
>> Thanks for letting me bitch for the moment. I'm feeling slightly
>> better.
>>
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>>
>>
> Sounds like what I just went through with Charter NarrowBand Support. I
> went a step further and admitted that I had my own network. Oh but I
> didn't know enough about networks and I needed to have them install
> their own special router along with removing Linux from my computer and
> they would have to charge me to install Vista on all of my PCs. I was
> ready to put my fist through the phone to punch the script dummy in the
> face, when my other grabbed the phone and hung it up. She then calls
> back 3 times and finally got someone who didn't believe in using scripts
> and was actually Network+ certified. He also was using Linux at home and
> had a network at home of 19 PCs with all different Distros. We wound up
> on the phone for about 30 minutes after he resolved my problem, just
> exchanging tips.

Not exactly computer related, but your lady sounds like a real keeper. My 
congratulations to you both!