Rant from another part of PA

[chim]

Hey Skeets, plenty of craziness in my part of the Commonwealth too. We've been bombarded with calls and emails from Brightspeed for over a year. They're replacing copper with fiber optic. Installation is free. At present we do have Brightspeed for phone but cable for internet. On Monday I finally contacted BS (that's actually an appropriate abbreviation) to check the offer. It was the first interface regarding this matter, but there were about 8 contacts over the next few days. Every one began with a several step ID process that had to be repeated 2 or 3 times as the call was transferred between AI "people" and real people. The fake AI people came on line first and had fixed menus that didn't include the necessary topics. Frustrating as the AI people were, at least they could be understood. Most of the real people had accents and fast canned banter that made understanding them somewhat difficult. It was especially irritating to have them call me and then ask me to provide them with ID. Highlights only:

First call / promise - landline and 100M net both for $39.60 per month. OK, please confirm with email. Email arrived with monthly amount of $45.69. Installation will be 4//4/2026.

Called to question. So sorry. Real monthly charge will be $32.93. OK, please confirm with email. Received email confirmation, along with request to set up my account so I could be informed of the progress. Website wouldn't allow me to set up my account.

Received call that installation had an issue that would delay it. Then received another call that the installation was on schedule for the 4th after all.

Woke up yesterday to see someone had painted arrows between a utility pole and the back of my house. The path crossed the adjacent separately-deeded property (we do own) to get to the property our house is on. I didn't even want to explore if that would be an issue if we ever sold that land. It also crossed our existing power, cable, phone and water lines.

I called to express concerns about not being able to set up my account and the proposed routing of the underground work. Turns out setting up an account isn't possible until after the installation. Says chim "I'm already a customer by virtue of the landline". Gal with heavy accent responds that doesn't count. On to the questions on the routing. The girl said not to worry. They'll repair anything they damage. My response was I don't want someone to fix anything, I don't want it damaged in the first place and it sure looks like trouble. She assured me the people were trained and not to worry. After much back and forth and even a promise of a free month for jerking me around, I ended up telling her to cancel the installation and if anyone came onto my property to perform the work I'd call the police to charge them with trespassing.

Received a robocall stating the installation had been cancelled.

If BS doesn't continue to provide our landline via the existing copper, bye bye landline.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Hey Skeets, plenty of craziness in my part of the Commonwealth too. We've been bombarded with calls and emails from Brightspeed for over a year. They're replacing copper with fiber optic. Installation is free. At present we do have Brightspeed for phone but cable for internet. On Monday I finally contacted BS (that's actually an appropriate abbreviation) to check the offer. It was the first interface regarding this matter, but there were about 8 contacts over the next few days. Every one began with a several step ID process that had to be repeated 2 or 3 times as the call was transferred between AI "people" and real people. The fake AI people came on line first and had fixed menus that didn't include the necessary topics. Frustrating as the AI people were, at least they could be understood. Most of the real people had accents and fast canned banter that made understanding them somewhat difficult. It was especially irritating to have them call me and then ask me to provide them with ID. Highlights only:

First call / promise - landline and 100M net both for $39.60 per month. OK, please confirm with email. Email arrived with monthly amount of $45.69. Installation will be 4//4/2026.

Called to question. So sorry. Real monthly charge will be $32.93. OK, please confirm with email. Received email confirmation, along with request to set up my account so I could be informed of the progress. Website wouldn't allow me to set up my account.

Received call that installation had an issue that would delay it. Then received another call that the installation was on schedule for the 4th after all.

Woke up yesterday to see someone had painted arrows between a utility pole and the back of my house. The path crossed the adjacent separately-deeded property (we do own) to get to the property our house is on. I didn't even want to explore if that would be an issue if we ever sold that land. It also crossed our existing power, cable, phone and water lines.

I called to express concerns about not being able to set up my account and the proposed routing of the underground work. Turns out setting up an account isn't possible until after the installation. Says chim "I'm already a customer by virtue of the landline". Gal with heavy accent responds that doesn't count. On to the questions on the routing. The girl said not to worry. They'll repair anything they damage. My response was I don't want someone to fix anything, I don't want it damaged in the first place and it sure looks like trouble. She assured me the people were trained and not to worry. After much back and forth and even a promise of a free month for jerking me around, I ended up telling her to cancel the installation and if anyone came onto my property to perform the work I'd call the police to charge them with trespassing.

Received a robocall stating the installation had been cancelled.

If BS doesn't continue to provide our landline via the existing copper, bye bye landline.

Ir seems the only reason we still gave a landline is my wife likes to check the Caller ID before she refuses to answer the call. Drives me F'n nuts.

Dan

 

[Blue2Orange]

CenturyTel>CenturyLink>Lumen purchased by BS a couple years or so ago. in this region of the country. Only other "hardwired" option is a regional company (N) that has been installing fiber optics for the past several months, years and has yet to provide those that "pre-purchased" their services. "Free" installation, locked fees for x months bs.,bs, bs.... Only other options are a local wireless with very limited number of towers and bandwidth. Why most my neighbors who switched from BS to them have switched to N. And are waiting.... Other options are satellite internet providers. N's fees makes StarLink look reasonable.
Life in rural sparsely populated USA.

BS has been relatively reliable. Only one time down. Called them. Robo time..... Gave up to just check if them or the line from their pedestal to the house or the modem were the issue. A few hours later received text message that service was out in this area and an expected time for the fix. Have yet to see a BS service vehicle in the area. Maybe they just contract independent techs?

 

[Speed25]

BS customer service has been a nightmare, but thankfully the service has been solid for us, so not much interaction needed. Customer service is hard to understand sometimes, but not because they're foreign. They speak so southern/backwoods that having lived my life in NC hasn't prepared me for what the heck they're saying.

For line trenching, I usually communicate with the crews hired by whatever utility to do the work to get it done how I want.

 

[Donystoy]

Ir seems the only reason we still gave a landline is my wife likes to check the Caller ID before she refuses to answer the call. Drives me F'n nuts.

Dan

Doesn't your cell phone have caller id. We don't answer any calls if we do not recognize the call. If anything is important they will leave a message.

 

[William1]

BS is our landline provider. Wires are so bad, most of the time you cannot hear anyone. Getting them to fix it is impossible. Terrible company. They have fiber near my house but I'll only use them if one day, I have no choice. Did I mention, BS is a terrible company?

 

[GeoHorn]

Doesn't your cell phone have caller id. We don't answer any calls if we do not recognize the call. If anything is important they will leave a message.

I have the “Do not disturb” feature activated on my cell ph. If the caller is Not in my “Contact List”….it will not ring or vibrate…. instead it rolls straight to voice-mail.
If they leave a msg I care about… I return the call…. otherwise I have the option to report it as “Spam” and Block it.

Texts are treated the same.

This has worked very well for me…and my Voice-Mail message explains it to the caller.

Result: Most spam calls simply hnag-up and don’t waste anyones time. My list of “Recent” calls displays their number and the time of the call however, So I have a record I can choose to keep or delete.
My family, friends, and business contacts ring-thru normally.

 

[Scm]

BS is in our area too. Difficult to deal with.
Took over a year to rehang a line that fell off the pole.

I avoid ALL the BS. Off grid, not wires/fibers to the house. No spy cell phone, wife is about to give up hers. Going with Verizon landline (4g Device you connect regular phone too) and hotspot (150Gig/month).

I use a script to download YouTube videos to watch later because cell service is terrible at best.

Upsides: Much more time for my animals and garden.