Mac.LTL

I sometimes like to try and support the underdog in businesses if it’s not too much out of my way. I worry about monopolies and want to promote competition. But I think this search on Ask.com really exemplifies why other Search Engines aren’t always quite as good as Google and even Yahoo! and Live.

Awhile ago, I wanted to go to the Ubuntu website. Silly me, I forgot what the Ubuntu website address was. Did it end in .com or .org? Was it just “ubuntu” or “ubuntulinux”? So, like any other web surfer, I went to the search engine to type in Ubuntu, figuring it would be the first search result and I could just give it a click and go straight to the site. I figure, Ask.com could probably handle this; no need to expand the Google monopoly. Well, Ubuntu.com was not one of the search results for the first page and there was even an adult-oriented picture that was being displayed as one of the image search results. (Though, that image is still related to Ubuntu.) I took a screenshot, actually.

This was awhile ago when I did that search, so of course I thought I’d give it another try.  TheWikipedia entry aside, Ubuntu.com has managed to climb to the number two search result at Ask.com.  Not sure if I should be congratulating Ask or Ubuntu.  However, it does seem that the Ask.com search does still yield two particularly adult-oriented images.  Ask.com shows the results of the image search in the sidebar.

I should note that Google’s filter does also display those same two images in a search, but apparently Google favors breasts over butts.

I recently had a terrible experience with AT&T getting internet at my new apartment. I was interested in getting internet as quickly as possible and they just happened to be the first people I was able to get in contact with. I called AT&T. I ended up getting their most expensive internet service and a cheap land line. I was told my phone line would be active by Thursday and my DSL modem would arrive by Friday. I purchase a phone and plug it in on Thursday and I get no dial tone. I call AT&T on Friday at 5:00PM and they tell me my line is active and I should try it again and that my DSL modem could still arrive in the next three hours. They tell me their call center is open for another hour after that. (Experience getting transfered around on the phone and giving the same information several times was frustrating. I was told their was a 24 hour tech support I could have called, but apparently when I called back at 8:05 they weren’t open.) So anyway, I check my phone again and I don’t have a dial tone. Not receiving my DSL modem, I called back and couldn’t get in touch with anyone.

This is when I got a little frustrated. When I don’t have internet, I can’t get work done and I don’t have any entertainment. I spent the evenings playing single player video games and staying afloat with my iPhone.

So that very night I ended up getting in touch with Astound. They were incredibly responsive. They told me they could have a tech out by Monday to install everything for me. Considering there was a weekend and they were getting me this in shorter time than AT&T, I was quite pleased with that. Moreover, they had much better options for getting a cable modem. They came out and set everything up that Monday perfect. I came home from work and had internet. Ran a speed test and everything was just as it should be.

But back to AT&T. Now that I had found a solution with Astound, I had to call and cancel service with AT&T. They put me through to some “customer retention department” or something. I explained I wanted to cancel my service. They asked why and I explained it was because I wasn’t getting any service. (It’s not my intention to hassle these poor phone operators, so please don’t misunderstand my tone. It was very calm and constructive.) The young lady offered me a month of free service or something like that. I explained that the cost wasn’t the issue and I would gladly pay $100 a month of I could be certain I would receive reliable service. I told her I would like to cancel everything unless she could somehow guarantee that my future experiences with customer service would be responsive and ultimately satisfactory. She agreed to continue with canceling my order. She then proceeded to tell me I would be charged $40 for AT&T activating the line. I had to explain to her several times my unwillingness to pay because I never got a dial tone and did not want to pay for service that I never received. She told me there was some sort of FCC thing that said they had to. I’m certain she didn’t know what she was talking about.

She ended up sending me to a supervisor, but as that was going on, she told me her supervisor had noticed that charge was waved for me when I first ordered the service. So this wasn’t even an issue. I did end up speaking with the supervisor, but she was incredibly rude and self-righteous. In speaking with her, all I wanted to do was to confirm the situation and ensure I would be receiving no charge. Even when I tried to repeat what she had just told me to make sure I understood, she would interrupt.

And here’s the other thing, the DSL modem ended up arriving late. They told me to just refuse to accept it when it arrived so it would be returned to them. It did not arrive on Saturday as they had told me it should, since it didn’t arrive on Friday.

I really am annoyed enough with AT&T to want to ditch them on my cell phone. If I weren’t locked into AT&T with my iPhone… ugh…

But much thanks to Astound. I can’t speak for all customers and I don’t know them very well as a company. But I had a very positive experience with them thus far and wanted to note that.