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Tennessee-Art's profile

Tutor

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7 Messages

Saturday, June 3rd, 2017 6:58 PM

Can not connect to Dial-Up internet.

Two Problems.

 

1. Dial-Up service down since Wednesday 31 May 2017.  Get [error 691 access was denied because the user name and/or password was invalid on the domain].  Everything works fine at the library. So my computer and my AT&T account are OK. Also the phone works fine.

 

2. Getting help.!  When calling any of several numbers, it appears that no one at AT&T knows what Dial-Up is.  So after at least 3 hours of round and round we go, I gave up.

 

Does anyone know what is going on.?

Does anyone have a phone # where they know what Dial-Up is.?

Does anyone have an internet address where I can find out what is going on, or send an outage complaint.?

 

Teacher

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6 Messages

7 years ago

I just spent an hour-plus trying to get an update but got the usual, call the dial-up tech support numbers, get a DSL tech. For half that time, however, a DSL tech (name withheld) stayed on the line with me and she also experienced what we get almost every time we try to get dial-up help. She was embarrassed to find out what I told her was true and will go up her chain with it to try to get visibility on this outage but she eventually ran out of ideas. No one we talked to had any idea ALL dial-up was out. I am beginning to worry they may not be able to reload our credentials even if they reconstitute dial-up servers. SMH

Teacher

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6 Messages

7 years ago

Just spoke to a billing rep to ask about eventual refunds and such and she just got an ATT internal notice the outage is total, etc but no more info, no fix plan or schedule but the word is SLOWLY getting to reps that there is a problem. *sigh*

Contributor

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1 Message

7 years ago

I have opened a copmplanint with the BBB http://www.bbb.org/atlanta/business-reviews/telephone-companies/atandt-in-atlanta-ga-7935 and I suggest others do as well.

 

The length if time, lack of public acknowledgement, difficult customer service response, and refusal of automatic compensation practically demand it.

Teacher

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8 Messages

7 years ago

Nice letter above from petersow!

 

I spent a long time calling numbers again today. As per usual from my past experience and in lockstep with previous posters above, they keep giving me DSL support, not dialup. One person I spoke to said she couldn't help since I reached the DSL for the eastern part of the state! New Jersey is not Texas in girth but they divide the state up?!? Anyway, over a period of 4 hours and many calls, all to different numbers AT&T uses, along with more transfers to the "correct" number I should have called, I got one person who helped, a little.

 

She told me she had heard of the 72 hrs deal to get things back up and running but said she wouldn't lie and tell me that. Things may start working at anytime, just keeping dialing in. I was also told that the outage only started 3 days ago which I quickly corrected by saying mine started going out last Saturday or Sunday and was completely out by Wednesday morning May 31st.

 

I continued asking about refunds for lost service and was told that this was being addressed. I was given a phone number to call to get credit for the lost time once service was restored. I will refrain from posting that number at this time for fear everyone will call it now, which will do no good. You can't get credit until service is restored so they know how much down time to credit you for. Be patient, I'll post the number once things get back to normal (s.n.a.f.u?).

 

My list of AT&T numbers is staggering. My list of successful calls is microscopic. I'm trying to post to other Internet forums and "everyone" here should also. Some require Google or Facebook access so I can't get to them. The more this info pops up on the Net the better. If you have Facebook, Twitter, etc... post it there so maybe the problem will be addressed quicker.

 

Some people have no other way to connect to the Net except dial-up. The cost is way less than cable or fiber internet. I really only need email and the ability to search things now and then. Buying $$$$$$$ high speed internet is useless to me even if it allows me to download the email 10 minutes before someone actually sends it to me 😉

 

Keep reading and posting here. It looks like it'll be the only way we'll know that AT&T is fixing the problem server by server or city by city, whatever. Post as soon as your service comes back. On 6-5-17 at 5:35pm in NJ I still didn't have service.

 

Teacher

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6 Messages

7 years ago

Just tried my usual local number and got connected, a lower rate at first but the normal 48k on the second try. We'll see how long it lasts. They still need to fix the inability to find dial-up tech support; I got more info from a billing rep today.

Tutor

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7 Messages

7 years ago

Hi Gang

Tuesday morning 06 June, my Dial-Up is working.!

Art

 

Teacher

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8 Messages

7 years ago

I got back home late Monday and tried dialing in at 9pm and it finally worked. Speed was almost normal for my locale but Tuesday morning I had so much hum on the Verizon line that I couldn't even hear the dial tone. Later in the afternoon I was able to finally dial in. Funny thing is, on one server I dial in to I still have the old password 12 characters long. On another is the updated password 17 characters long - both were accepted! Not comforting to know there may be a password issue on the servers. I'll try reducing the amount of characters to see if I can log in with only the first 6 characters alone. Doing so with only the 1st three failed login. Anyone else find they can use less characters than their full password?

 

As for refunds. I called the 800-772-3140 number I was given on Monday by a CSR who told me to call it "specifically" for a refund due to the week long outage. Tried it today and - no success. I did get through at first, computer voice (male) and they add fake keyboard sounds as if "he" is actually typing your question.

 

Finally got it to transfer me to a live CSR, who transferred me to her live supervisor, who told me he neded to speak with someone else. He asked for my phone number and said he'd call back in 3 minutes. A half hour later I headed out to the public library so I could post this msg. We'll see if there's a msg waiting for me when I get back home.

 

The original phone # that worked (immediately, no phone menu tag and a live person)  last week for me was 866-435-3264, I'll call it tomorrow.

 

I've got quite a collection of teeth that I've pulled from ducks over the years but getting results from AT&T so far has proven a lot harded to do 😉

 

Hopefully all this trouble that "we've" caused AT&T the past week doesn't cause them to raise the price of dial-up to recoup their losses to service the servers Smiley Surprised

Teacher

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8 Messages

7 years ago

(See my prior post) After I got back home yesterday I found no one had called me back as promissed earlier in the day after I called the number that was suppose to resolve the finance issue, credit for the time that the AT&T dial-up service was out.

 

Today I called the 866-435-3264 number I used last week to reach someone in billing. It looks like the credit issue is now also resolved. AT&T credited my CC with one month of service. I called my CC issuer and they confirmed that the month of May debit for service had been zeroed out by a credit from AT&T. I assume they are giving everyone (or the squeaky wheels that complained) a free month of service. I'm pleased with this but still wish someone had notified "us" customers on the AT&T forums web site of the outage to begin with, it's just good customer relations.

 

Once the CSR knew I was "happy" with this mess being resolved, she informed me that as an current AT&T customer I could get a discount on Direct TV or AT&T cell service, I of course declined. Common business practice. Once the customer is no longer upset, try to sell them something else Smiley LOL

 

If you're going to lose your dial-up service due to retirement of the copper wiring in your area and you don't have need of an unlimited data plan, check out Clark Howard's article of cell phone service providers as well as Leo Laporte's Tech Guy Labs site for info on how to tether a desktop PC to a cell phone. Prices are way cheaper than Comcast or Verizon's service. Dial-up is on it's last legs. http://clark.com/best-of-mobile-electronics/best-cell-phone-plans-deals/

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