Although we live in a day and age where such a concept as having a landline is more or less obsolete, we have had one for many years.
It's not that we don't want to "get with the times," it's more a case of the sad reality that — until fairly recently — the cell service in our area was so sketchy that not having a landline put us at considerable risk of being unable to contact anybody in case of emergency.
Mobile service in our area has now improved to the point where we've decided to do away with the freestanding landline, and instead incorporate our fixed connection into our Internet service. This, as a result of our Internet service having become more reliably always-on.
Yes, we still need the reliability of a fixed line phone connection because Mrs. Denmarkguy uses it extensively during her work.
Onwards!
Now, you'd think that transferring a phone number from one carrier to another would be a relatively simple process. But of course even the simplest things sometimes are the most complicated. In this case it is definitely turning out to be so!
Why this particular process is turning out to be so convoluted for the service providers involved remains a bit of a mystery to me but I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that we are transferring the phone service from a conventional fiber optic carrier to VOIP service at a cable service provider. That said, it can hardly be the first time they've had to do this!
So I spend the obligatory ten minutes on the phone with our cable Internet provider, eventually getting to somebody who knows what's going on and who happens to speak English... only to be told that even though we have everything laid out and decided upon, the cable company can't make an appointment for installation until I have a "Port PIN" code from the phone provider.
So then I spend the obligatory ten minutes in the maze of the automated phone system of our telephone provider before finally getting to a person and explaining to them that I need this Port PIN code in order to transfer my service.
In response to which I am told that that such PIN codes are actually only used with transfers of mobile numbers, not with transfers of fixed line numbers and that the new provider simply needs to put a blank in the space where the Port PIN code normally goes on the work order form.
So then I spend the obligatory ten minutes going back through the voice response system of the cable service provider and eventually get to another agent - different from the first one - to let them know what I was just told. Interestingly enough Zack in Pennsylvania is okay with that where previously Charlene in Vancouver was not, but then we run into the next snag.
Actually, we have two snags.
One, there's always been a typo in my name ever since I set up the account. I guess the data entry person at the original point of order — 17 years ago — made this typo and it has never been corrected. I have certainly tried to correct it but then it all becomes a matter of "well you have to go into a physical office, you can't do it online or over the phone" and blah blah blah.
Well, that particular snag is now coming home to haunt me because they can't process the work order paperwork because the originating carrier has a different name on their paperwork from the name that's on my cable account... even though it's actually the same person just spelled slightly differently.
Problem number two is it since it is thanks to Mrs. Denmarkguy — who qualifies for certain discounts — that we are getting a super low rate on this particular service set up, but her name needs to be on the account.
It's not enough that she is just an "authorized person" on the account, her actual name has to be on the billing statement or they can't apply the $30 a month discount. And $30 a month from now till whenever? Well, that's a lot of money for us!
In the end, we get no further than to have more information, and needing to drive over to the local service office to execute the name change.
Which was not happening today.
And that's a good three hours of my life I'll never get back!
Thanks for visiting, and have a great remainder of your week!
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Created at 2023-07-11 00:05 PDT
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