Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucselx!bionet!hayes.fai.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Can One Disable Call-Waiting If *70 Doesn't Work? Message-ID: <9800@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 16 Jul 90 06:37:06 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 55 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 490, Message 3 of 10 ncoast!fmsystm!macy@usenet.ins.cwru.edu writes: > A personal note: GTD-5's ... they had a lot of potential, but GTE > never really got around to making them 100% right. It's just the NeverEndingStory of GTE. What DO they make 100% right? 80%? 40%? How about 10%? > All the programming types are now in Ft Wayne or elsewhere and > heaven forbid any of those people should talk to a lowly member of the > public about GTE's all to frequent programming problems. As a > contrast, I regularly talk to software types at Ohio Bell, Alltel and > United ... they make mistakes, but I can usually get to someone and get > them corrected. With GTE it takes threats of PUCO complaints (which I > am prepared to do ... I keep logs of all this crap). This is significantly at the heart of why GTE is the way it is. (Gee, I had to struggle with that last sentence. This IS after all a family forum.) In my 30 or so years dealing with GTE, I have yet to talk to a single person who knows anything about -- well, er, anything. Front line people will "get back to you" at some time in the future. You can spend a great amount of time explaining the difficulty and then days later discover that the person you talked to had no concept of what you were saying and as a result your trouble was dismissed by the interior people. They NEVER let you talk to a real person. My own personal belief is that they don't exist. In contrast, there are many people at Pac*Bell who have, over the course of the years, given me their internal phone numbers. These are real people: programmers, CO maintenance people, upper level administrators. Some of them even communicate via e-mail. It is very interesting to actually speak to the person who will be making the decision concerning a cutover in my CO. As Macy points out, these people can make mistakes, but when there is communication the problems can ultimately be solved. Let's face it: an LEC is in the communications business. But when you deal with GTE, that fact is obscured. I have a data circuit -- one end terminates in Campbell (Pac*Bell) and the other end terminates in Los Gatos (Gee Hee Hee). I'll skip the fact that every single failure has been involved with the Los Gatos end. I have trouble numbers for both companies. Guess who I call and why. Even though the trouble is always in Los Gatos, I find that the Pac*Bell people can actually get GTE out of bed (something I can't do if I call the GTE repair number), off their butts, and on the problem. Pac*Bell people keep me advised of progress, make sure everything is OK, and give me internal callback numbers in case I have any unscheduled questions. GTE, on the other hand, asks if someone will be there during business hours (a godforsaken unattended mountaintop site) and then not another word is heard. Callback number? 611. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !