ISP’s and Avarice
What the Heck is Gene-D.com and what is that all about?
Many of us who zip about on the internet, communicate via e-mail, post on Face book and otherwise use computers to comb the internet, are, for some such things, held captive to some a degree or another by our ISP’s, that is, Internet Service Providers.
For example, my ISP’s customer service dept. recently informed me they are no longer certified (?), to advise or in any way help me interface with Microsoft programs and especially with my preferred e-mail client, MS Outlook.
However, they added, for an additional (low-?) monthly subscription fee or higher per occurrence fee, they would provide support through their own IT-tech service covering whatever difficulties I may encounter; this, even though I already subscribe to and pay for the maximum access services they provide.
All of this distressing news suddenly dropped on me as I was trying to follow the trail of bread crumbs laid out in a technical manual, to raise an email Phoenix from the rubble of a system crash.
~Fortunately~
Way back when, I learned a valuable lesson from an early experience with those internet rascals. It came from my association with AOL or, as it was referred to in some circles: internet with training wheels. AOL’s service was a little more expensive but the risks of sailing off the edge of planet internet were considerably reduced.
Having gained internet navigational confidence sufficient to brave the wilds of this wonderful new realm, I decided to abandon the security of having AOL hold my hand and opted to subscribe to a bundled deal offered by my phone company. Sadly, I wound up having to revamp all my email address arrangements. Spared by timing and good fortune, I wasn’t as heavily invested in email in those days as I now find myself.
Floundering about in all the turmoil and angst of (to me) a dire situation, I discovered Go-Daddy, an internet domain provider and webhost. It was in its infancy and its founder, Bob Parsons, one of the good guys, was himself, his whole Customer Service staff. He was very helpful and generous with advice to such a novice as I was. I’m beholden.
I signed up for and continue to maintain my gene-d.com/existence, having figured out, with Bob’s help, that by having my own domain I could use it for a permanent email address, routing messages to whatever flavor of ISP I happened to be entertaining at the time.
~ Hah! Free At last! ~
Like a virgin in a Red-light-District, I tried and disqualified several promising & interesting ISP offers before returning to my increasingly attractive telephone company bundled deal; to my knowledge never missing a note, a letter, a notice or a meal, the entire time.
My move to free myself from being pushed around by those accepting my money with the pretense of resolving my internet service problems was more astute than I originally realized.
In the disappointing exchange with my ISP’s (no)service department as previously explained, I pointed out to the nice representative that unless they pulled a gun or some trick with which I was ignorant or unaware, I was not bound nor hog-tied to them in any way and it would be but a minor inconvenience to hire another ISP and have my email routed through that replacement service, adding that, even so, I had recently been considering VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) by Vonage or Magic-Jack for replacement phone service!
Fewer than ten minutes after that zippy-dee-do-dah conversation (as I now refer to it) I received a call from another representative of my bundled deal provider (In Alabama, no less) offering to correct my problem. And he did, too!
This dude, by internet remote control of my system and a flurry of activity, changed the oil, greased the chassis, repaired the trouble with the “check engine” light and had me sending and receiving in less than a minute! He also offered free coffee as I waited but it was too far to go.
It’s my guess that the gent from Alabama was one of the more senior employees; he was definitely certified!
Cordially,
Gene-D (Duckett)
