Current entries Journal Archives - 06/01 - 12/01 - 04/01 - 05/01 - 01/01 - 03/01 - 2000 & prior 05/31/01 I am behind in everything. Had a car accident yesterday (was rear-ended) so now I am even farther behind because I spent half the day dealing with that. All electronic items in my house decided to break at once, and I'm frustrated because I am getting further behind in everything and I haven't done **** on my web sites or looked at half of my e-mail. So I have decided to just sell stuff on ebay and go live in the woods. 05/25/01 This is the first Memorial Day weekend I haven't had to work since 1993! (usually the Festival is on Memorial Day weekend). What am I going to do with myself?! ;) (maybe catch up on my web ring submissions before all my members hate me. To all web ring members, please forgive me.) 05/21/01 A Lesson For Everyone - Nothing In Life Is Free. Learn from my mistakes - the letter I sent to my credit card dispute department (below) today says it all. (no need to e-mail saying that, because of Chapter 11, I probably won't get my money. I know this - I thought I should try and fight it anyway) To Whom it May Concern: I called *** Card Services today and was told to send this information to the Dispute Department. I currently have a *** Card, Account Number ***. My name is Carolyn C. Gargaro, which is also the name on the credit card. On April 4, 2001, I ordered a CD-RW Drive from a company called Cyberrebate, and charged the order to my *** card. I have enclosed a printout of my statement with that charge from the *** web site. The amount of the purchase was $999.99. When ordering the product, the company, Cyberrebate, guaranteed me a rebate for the full amount of the purchase ($999.99). The item's retail value was far less than $999.99, (the actual retail value is at most, probably $200.00) but I ordered the product from this company because they guaranteed a refund of the full amount ($999.99). I received the item a few days later (I have enclosed all related documents). As instructed by Cyberrebate, I filled out the rebate forms they provided on-line, and sent the forms back to Cyberrebate, including the rebate code issued to me (rebate code ***). I included delivery confirmation when returning the forms, and received confirmation from the USPS that the forms were indeed received by Cyberrebate on April 13, 2001. According to Cyberrebate, they would send me a check approximately 10-14 weeks after receiving my documents. I checked the Cyberrebate web site after receiving the USPS confirmation and noted, under my account information, that they posted an official notice stating that they received my documents, which meant they not only received my rebate forms, but had accepted them as being valid, and would be sending out my check. Cyberrebate did not post anything in this area unless the rebate documents had been received and accepted as valid. While this page on their web site did prove that they received and verified my rebate forms, I did not print it out because it did not contain any information other than what I already had. Instructions on the web site indicated that I should keep checking my account to find out when my check would be sent out, as well as the refund check number. Today, Monday, May 21, 2001, I went to log on to Cyberrebate's web site (http://www.cyberrebate.com) to see if by chance, they had specified a date for my check to be sent out. I was unable to log onto my account to get any information because the only thing available on their web site was a notice, saying that they had filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 on May 16, 2001. I purchased this product from this company, and for such an inflated price, specifically because they guaranteed me a rebate on the full amount of the product. I followed their instructions precisely, as is shown by their official acceptance of my forms. I am sending this information to *** Dispute Department because I believe Cyberrebate intentionally set out to defraud customers, charging incredibly inflated prices with no intention of reimbursing customers as they had promised. They guaranteed me a refund of $999.99 if I purchased a product through them and followed their rebate instructions. I held up my part of the agreement, and now Cyberrebate is refusing to hold up their end and pay me the $999.99 they had guaranteed I would receive. Thus, I am disputing the $999.99 Cyberrebate charged to my *** Card, by Cyberrebate, since they apparently will not be sending me the guaranteed rebate. I would be happy to return the product purchased if necessary, or provide any additional information regarding this transaction. Please feel free to call me at any time about this. Thank you. Sincerely, Carolyn C. Gargaro 05/10/01 I am still here - haven't had a chance to write much due to my key saga, my locked out saga, everything else saga...accidentally staying out late, seeing "Therapy?" and working more because Festival is fast approaching.... ;) 05/02/01 Dial-up connections suck when you have to upload large files for clients, and you have to burn a CD with the items, run to the office and upload the stuff from there. I want answers. Now. GIVE ME ANSWERS. Please :) 04/23/01 - I just snapped in another 128megs of RAM into my home PC. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) <--- a true sign of a geek - getting excited over more RAM. Hey - now I won't bomb when I try to run CF Studio, Photoshop 6, IE, Netscape and Eudora at the same time. - Octane plays at the Pennant East on Friday. Yeah, about time BOB! (Bob, the drummer, works at my office :) ) Octane rules. Last time I went to see Octane at the Pennant I went by myself because all my friends were being l-a-m-e! Yes, by myself - and it was fun. I banged my head like a moron, as always, and talked to friendly people I didn't know :) (Ok, I know Bob and I talked to him between sets) I then came home and, being the coordinated individual that I am, smashed my thumb in my car door. My friend Mike was the lucky recipient of the IM I sent about 5 minutes after that. (as with most geeks, I got home at some stupid hour but still bee-lined to my computer, smashed thumb and all) - Raise your hand if you think my journal is absolutely inane. (raises hand) - I finally got off my rear the past few days and updated Rightgrrl. - More people are in my guestbook, telling me they stop by! Who here has been following my DSL saga? Anyway, on Friday, my buddies at Telocity sent me and a slew of other customers a "Dear John" letter. "Hi - we told you we'd switch you once Northpoint died, but guess what, we can't. Bye." I'm luckier than most because I my line is still working (I'm in the running to win the "Phantom DSLAM" contest) Anyone who wants to see a bunch mad DSL customers can check out the fun on the Ugly Norhtpoint News forum. I'm hidden in there. Also, here's one of my posts - the condensed DSL saga for those who don't want to read the book. Comedy Skit DSL Time Line - posted for info. and possible amusement factor. July 2000: Finally decided to get DSL through NorthPoint/PSN.net Verizon is supposed to come out an start the installation. I hear nothing for weeks, and wait on hold with PSN for hours - can't get through. Finally call sales (THEY answer the phone!) and demand to speak to someone. Oops - sorry - there are no open ports at your location until Sept - at that time Verizon will come back out. Thanks for telling me, people.... Sept 2000: Verizon comes out. Then Northpoint. The Northpoint guy says Verizon screwed something up and he can't finish the inside installation. He leaves...another appt. with Northpoint is scheduled. Oct 2000: Another Northpoint guy comes out - says Verizon did their job, the other Northpoint guy didn't know what he was doing. My line is set up... but the Northpoint tech realizes that PSN set me up with the wrong IP addresses. I am told to call PSN and get the right numbers and I should be good to go. Takes me days to get a hold of someone at PSN - finally get the right numbers, only to have someone else from PSN contact me and try to give me the wrong numbers again. Oct - beginning of Dec 2000: My line works nicely. yay. December 2000: My line goes down. I called PSN and they had a status message, saying they were doing some kind of upgrade and service would be restored soon. Ok, I thought, I can understand that, so I waited. A few days. A week. After a week I called Tech support and a tech person said sorry, we have no idea when we'll have your service restored, we're doing upgrades. No idea when service will be restored? I was not happy...so I call Northpoint and ask them if there is a way I can still use their line but transfer ISPs...basically I then find out PSN is dying, and I get the notice about switching to Telocity so I won't have an "interruption in service" (though my service was already interrupted). I sign with Telocity December 200 - Feb 2001: Call Telocity every week and am told that I should be migrated "next week" - rather than start the whole &!%@& process over again with someone else, since it was always "one week" I wait. Mid Feb 2001: Telocity finished the setup for IDSL customers (like me) and I get an email with my IP info, etc ...and I have ... a line which does not work. After spending a week calling Telocity tech support someone finally does something to get my line working. (won't go into the details - no one is probably reading at this point anyway) Mid Feb 2001 - mid March 2001 - the line works ok about 1.5 weeks out of this one month period. Usually the line is down ("we are experiencing a network event in your area...") and when it is up, packet loss and speed is ridiculous. I can't even keep a telnet window open. I continue to bug Telocity about getting a line that actually works. March - now: One week before Northpoint dies: Telocity, working with NP, gets my line working. And now I still have a working line... which should not be working, and will probably bomb out this evening. Telocity tells me they can't switch my line over, bye, find someone else. And that brings my time line up to today. And my phantom dsl line. 04/17/01 Well, based on the guestbook, I seem to have a few people who do check this page out on a pretty regular basis. :) Thanks to all who mentioned that they "stop by" - I'll try and add something to the site a little more often (I swear! I will really try!) First I have to update Rightgrrl - oh ugh, I am so behind on that!! I know what I'll be doing during lunch today.... My DSL line is still saying, "I'm not dead yet! I feel fine!" (Monty Python fans will appreciate those words more than other people) I SHOULD have mentioned on 04/14 that one year ago I finally met my friends Mike and Lisa for the first time! Anyway, I hate Ebay. Yes I do. Why? Well, I usually love Ebay, but right now I hate it because I found out that the Inchworm toy I had when I was little is now selling for $350!!! I sold it for basically nothing at a garage sale! Grr.... Ha. Well at least I kept my Fisher Price Little People Castle :) 04/12/01 One year ago today I moved into my cool townhouse :) (Yes, it's cool. It's very cool. It's cooler than the other townhouses in the complex because it has the coolest, biggest yard :) And the most privacy.) I don't think people read this (except maybe Rad and Mike! :D) but... what if I do, by chance, have oodles of people, coming to this page each day, earnestly seeking out a new entry, and since I don't provide entries on a consistent basis, I cause endless pain and anguish to these diligent visitors? So, if you do stop by this page on a regular basis, sign my guestbook with the message: "I stop by!" I want to see if the number of posts are greater than 3! 04/06/01 Updated info below - 4:30pm So I usually don't post on message boards, but I have been lately. (dslreports.com baby!) Yes I have! However, it hasn't had anything to do with politics or "issues" - it has to to with DSL. Many entries ago I had mentioned relating the DSL saga at some point. I am sure everyone will want DSL after this ;) THE SAGA I ordered DSL from Northpoint (the CLEC) going through PSN.net (the ISP) in June 2000 after I moved. My line does not get installed until September because there are no open ports until that time on my row of townhouses. PSN did not update me of that status -- I had to keep calling and being a pest to find this out. My line gets installed by Northpoint. I can only get IDSL because I am too far from the CO, and cable isn't available to me. (Cable is available to almost everyone else in my area, but my little area uses AT&T cable and they don't offer cable modem access in my area). PSN gives me the wrong IP addresses, and I have a hard time getting a hold of anyone at PSN to get the right ones, so I sent out the following e-mail on October 15, 2000: ---------------- To: support@psn.net Subject: Contacting someone to finish DSL setup (order xxxxx) Cc: sales@psn.net, info@psn.net, acappola@psn.net A week ago, a person from Northpoint finally finished setting up my DSL line. (order xxxxx) However, he was unable to contact PSN.net and finish the IP address set up because apparently, he was unable to get a hold of anyone at PSN.net. He stated that he thought the IP addresses you gave me were incorrect, and that I needed to call PSN.net and get the information myself. I have been trying for a week to get a hold of someone at your company with no luck. I set up the IP addresses myself and they do not work, (I have an Ethernet card, etc) so I STILL do not have a working DSL line - and I am being charged for it. What do I have to do to get a hold of someone at your company? I usually just sit on hold for an extended period of time. Can someone please respond to this? My home number is xxx-xxx-xxxx, my cell phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx and my work number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. ---------------- I receive a call from a tech support person later that day! He gives me the correct information, I set everything up and it works fine. I then get an e-mail message from another tech person the next day with instructions, telling me how to set up my IP address...with again, the wrong IP address. I e-mail that person back saying: "As I said, I was given the WRONG IP ADDRESSES last week. I was given ones out of NY instead of Philadelphia. Someone from PSN contacted me yesterday and gave me the correct ones, and the line is working now - The ones provided here are different than the ones I was given yesterday." I receive an e-mail back with the IP address, gateway, etc - the wrong numbers again. So respond with (I kept the e-mails because the situation was just so ridiculous): "Please read my message. I SAID someone did contact me on Sunday after I emailed with the new IP addresses - the person knew what he was doing and the IPs worked just fine - I no longer need the IP info. Ironically though, you just gave me THE WRONG ONES again - 216.xx.xx.xxx IS A NEW YORK IP - at least that is why your own people at PSN.net told me, as well as the people at NorthPoint! Let me state again - I HAVE MY CORRECT IP ADDRESSES NOW thanks to a very nice tech person named Rudy. I just thought you might like to know that you are sending your customers wrong information." You'd think that would make things clear, right? WRONG! I then get this message! From:  [heatherp@psn.net] Subject: Your DSL Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 21:08:16 -0700 Carolyn, Alicia has forwarded your problems to me and asked me to assist you in configuring your IP information. The IPs that I have in my system are as follows: IP: 216.35.93.254 (note from me: <--- notice it starts with 216... hmmm..) Subnet: 255.255.255.128 Gateway: 216.35.93.129 If, for whatever reason, this information does not get you up and working properly, let me know, and I will arrange to call you when you can be in front of the PC. We can check the configuration, and, if necessary, I will open a trouble ticket with North Point. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The above numbers were again THE WRONG NUMBERS - the very same numbers I had told them were wrong multiple times! I didn't know whether to scream or laugh. My lovely response was as follows: Me, yelling via e-mail: "This is ridiculous. I do not have a problem anymore, but the people are PSN.net seem to because no one is listening to a thing I say. I HAVE MY CORRECT IP ADDRESSES. My DSL line is working now and has been since Sunday. However, until someone called me ON SUNDAY I had the wrong IP information because PSN.net originally gave me INCORRECT INFORMATION. I was given the correct IP address info on Sunday by a tech person names Rudy who knew what he was doing. However, you are now sending me THE WRONG IP ADDRESSES AGAIN when I don't even need the IP information anymore because on Sunday, a tech person named Rudy called and gave me the CORRECT ONES. You are sending me the INCORRECT IP information which were originally given to me. 216.35.93.254 is a an IP for someone close to New York - I AM NOT CLOSE TO NEW YORK - I AM CLOSE TO PHILADELPHIA! My current (and correct) IP address is 63.214.26.130. Why am I being sent incorrect IP addresses for a "problem" I no longer have? How am I supposed to feel secure with PSN.net keeps sending me wrong information? I was told by Rudy at PSN.net AND by people at NorthPoint that 216.35.93.254 is an IP for someone close to New York....AND, as you can see, the IP that is working for me does not start with 216. I guess I'll have to call someone at PSN.net (though usually I can't even get through) and explain this to the management at PSN.net." --------------------------------------- Note: I don't have a problem posting the above IP information since that is no longer my IP :) And what was the response to my above email? PSN: "Sorry just go by what Rudy said" Argh!!! Anyway, my line worked fine. I was happy. 144kbps up and down was the best I could get (IDSL speed) but hey, that worked for me. Then in early December 2000, my line went down. I called PSN and they had a status message, saying they were doing some kind of upgrade and service would be restored soon. Ok, I thought, I can understand that, so I waited. A few days. A week. After a week I called Tech support and a very snotty tech person (must not have been Rudy :( ) said sorry, we have no idea when we'll have your service restored, we're doing upgrades. No idea when service will be restored? I was not happy...so I call Northpoint and ask them if there is a way I can still use their line but transfer ISPs... they tell me that they have a special thing set up for this, and they gave me the number to call regarding the ISP switch. Basically, Northpoint was fed up with PSN and was transferring customers to Telocity... THEN, I started poking around what is now a site I visit every day: DSLreports.com I find out that PSN is going bankrupt!!! Oh yeah - they are doing upgrades - my big toe! No wonder Northpoint was transferring people! PSN officially closed down shortly after that... and I was lucky. I had not signed any contract with them... in fact I got quite a good deal - $39.95 a month, and due to special rebates at the time, the modem and line setup from Northpoint was free (plus I got a free digital camera :) ) I had only paid 2 months of $39.95 and that was it. Some people signed year contracts and if they had 10 months left... oh well! The money was *gone*. So......I also received a notice in the mail from Northpoint and Telocity, saying that Northpoint probably won't be able to service me with my current ISP (PSN)...yeah I guess so, since PSN doesn't exist... and to avoid interruption in service (umm...my service was already interrupted...) I should sign up with Telocity with their special "save my dsl" program, etc. I had done that just a few days before after speaking with someone at Northpoint, so I thought, fine, I shouldn't be down much longer....maybe a few weeks? A few weeks later I call Telocity to find out my status, since people on dslreports.com were mentioning that they had already been transferred....Telocity tells me I should be ready to go within a week, but because I use IDSL, it is taking longer because Telocity did not support IDSL before and they are setting up the network... Let's just say that I was told "a week" up through February! I would call every week and would be told "the network isn't ready." Why didn't I tell them to !^$!%^ and find another provider? Well, because by the time I started the process with another ISP, it might still be a month or two before I was set up... and I kept hoping that Telocity would be done the damn IDSL network any day...plus, IDSL tends to be more expensive then ADSL or SDSL even though it's slower, because IDSL is a different technology (it's basically an ISDN line, while the other types use your current phone line...actually the phone line usually has 4 circuits but usually only two are used by your phone so they split the line and use the other two for dsl...unless there are other issues, like your line loop being too long, then you still wind up needing another line....never mind, I'm not going into that now....) and it's actually more expensive to setup and maintain. So, the prices for DSL were going up and most places would cost a lot more a month, plus installation fees. I was unaware at that point that I could just call another ISP who uses Northpoint and make an ISP switch and not have to pay installation fees, etc. Anyway, finally, in February, I receive an e-mail stating that I was ready to, here is my IP info, have fun surfing. I follow the instructions. The line does not work. So I call tech support. Basically, they couldn't figure out what was wrong, and I had to keep calling back. (I am leaving out details - this thing is long enough already) Finally, on February 11, in the wee hours of the morning (I was out and when I came home I decided to call Telocity tech support for some weird reason ;) ) they finally got me up and running! I even signed my guestbook, screaming that my line was back. Well, I thought it was back.... Basically, my line would go up and down... at one point it stayed up for about a week, then it would go down. I would be on for 20 min, and it would go down. I called tech support numerous times - they were having router problems, they were having issues in the Philadelphia area, more router problems, it was raining, whatever. At one point they said they would check my line and call me... they never called. When I called them they said to try and call me but it was some business and no one answered. The genius people there called my OFFICE number on a SATURDAY!!! I told them to call my HOME phone number (geez....) Once they fixed all their little problems, my line stayed up... but my packet loss was HORRIBLE. I couldn't even keep a telnet window open. I would go to a web site and it it would take forever to connect to the site. So I called tech support yet again... they said they would have Northpoint monitor my line and let me know in about a week.. a week >:( Anyway, I waited. Then my line went down!! (It was now March 16) A few days prior I had called DSLi about switching services... they told me that I could still run through Northpoint and just do an ISP switch.. this avoided modem and installation costs... I would pay $79.95 a month, but hey, at least I would have a line! (This is when I found out that I could switch ISPs and not have to pay all the setup fees...) Anyway, the DSLi transfer had not gone through, so I called Telocity again (and remember, this is the short version!!) and after running me through the same tests I had run through about 80 times before, they said, gee, they didn't know why it was down?! I really had to hold my temper or hell would break loose. However, less them 20 minutes later another tech called (who was very nice!!) and asked me for some more information. He said that Telocity and Northpoint were working on this, and they would somehow find out the root cause and fix it. (FINALLY!) It was Friday evening and I was heading out...when I got home I had a message on my machine from Telocity - my line had been fixed! (I never did call and find out what the root problem was...) And lo and behold - my line worked!! It was faster than before (prior speed tests yielded things like 110kbps up and 120 kbps down... I was now getting almost 144 up and down, which is what I am supposed to get) Oh I was happy, and the line stayed up!! I canceled the DSLi transfer because if my line through Telocity was ok, I would keep it since it was only $49.95 a month. YAY! So everything is fine and dandy now yes? NO! Ok, my line is still up.... but it could bomb out ANY time... why?? Northpoint went bankrupt and their network is being shut off!! Yes, I am serious. Northpoint filed Chapter 11, which I was aware of early in 2001, and on March 22 (yes. less than a week after getting my line fixed!!) AT&T bought Nothpoint's hard assets... but not the customer base. And this meant Northpoint's network would die pretty much right away! I won't get into all the details on THAT.... you can find all the information you need at DSLreports.com regarding the Northpoint situation. (DSLreports.com can also help with definitions if you aren't familiar with what a CO is, what a CLEC is, etc. I'd explain it but, well honestly, I don't have the energy right now :) ) Anyway, many Northpoint customers have already been shut off... as of this morning my line was still up... but it could die any second. Some ISPs who used Northpoint just told their customers "Sorry, we can't provide DSL for you anymore." Other ISPs are trying to switch their customers to another CLEC/ILEC (such as Rhythms or Verizon). Telocity is one of those ISPs.. thing is....the only other CLEC out of my CO who can service me (it's much harder to find IDSL service than ADSL or SDSL, but as I am approx 17,000 feet from the CO, I have no choice :( ) is Covad, and Telocity does not work with Covad... yet Telocity claims they are switching my line to Verizon, but Verizon says they can't service my phone line! Details on THIS loverly new development can be found on my DSLreports.com post here, titled "Argh, Telocity". You should be able to find my post easily... Marvin the Martian is my user icon ;). A listing of my recent posts on DSLreports.com can be found here. So... it looks like I will have to call DSLi back (they use Covad, my last CLEC option) and get service through them since Telocity can't service me through Verizon (interesting that *I* can find that out but they can't) SIGH. Maybe my Northpoint line will stay up a while longer... (knock on wood...) many other Northpoint customers were shut off around March 25. So this is my DSL saga. And all I have to say is... WHY CAN'T I JUST GET CABLE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE??? Update - 4:30pm. This is getting ridiculous. According to the Rhythms (a CLEC) web site itself, as well as Telocity (current ISP, who provided my DSL line through the now defunct CLEC Northpoint), I cannot be serviced by Rhythms. As stated in my DSL saga, Telocity tells me that they switching me to the ILEC Verizon, but Verizon told me they cannot service my line! Covad is an available CLEC so I assumed I would just have to start all over with them, (since Telocity does not have a relationship with Covad) so I call DSLi to request new DSL service, assuming it will be via Covad. Well the person at DSLi tells me that I can get DSL through Covad AND Rhythms - I told him that everywhere I check indicates that Rhythms can NOT provide me DSL service. He then says that yes they can service me and that if I go through Rhythms I can get 384/384kbps?!? I am 18000 ft from the CO but he said that it's only 16000 if i go through Rhythms - I just checked here on DSLreports and indeed, it says that Rhythms services my CO but that I can only get IDSL 144/144 (which has been the case everywhere I checked) So what the.....??!!! If I can get Rhythms, why isn't Telocity switching my line to them, and why does the Rhythms web site indicate that they do not service me?! I don't want to pay for new equipment and setup fees through DSLi and then find out Telocity could have switched me to Rhythms.... And why am I suddenly not as far from the Co if I use Rhythms, according to DSLi? And why does the Rhythms web site tell me they do not service me, but they are listed for my CO on DSLreports (no distance estimate given though) and now are supposed to be able to give me something besides IDSL?? (I have never qualified anywhere for anything above IDSL) ^!$%!#^$@$ You know what? Right now my Northpoint line is still active - it can go down at any time. Once it goes down, I'll deal with a regular modem (it's not like I do gaming or anything) and wait for final, 100% confirmation from Telocity that Verizon cannot pick up my line - Telocity claims they probably can, but I doubt it, since Verizon says they cannot. And who knows - maybe a miracle will occur and somehow my line *can* just be transferred easily though Telocity. In any case, I'll wait to get the final word from them, THEN, when that is definite, if they cannot switch my line and I have to start over, I will see if, by that time, I can get some consistent answers from people. Blah!