It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again

I got my SBC bill today for our two lines, LD, and DSL. Hmmm. Looks as if the DSL charge has gone up from what I remember. So, I log on to the SBC homepage and look at my account. Then I go to the DSL section and am confronted with several different plans, most of which I did not know existed. Back to my account to see which of these, if any, I am now on. Seems like I am on Express. Back to the list of fees and services for DSL. I am not surprised to see a different fee than I am paying, although it’s only a slight difference.

Next step: call the DSL 877 number. After the customer service person looks over my bill, he tells me that, yes, my DSL rate had gone up and that there had been some insert in a previous bill telling me all about it. Since I pay them directly, I guess I never looked.

He puts me on hold to see if there are any current packages available (Wanna bet?). When he comes back on, he tells me he can bundle lots of stuff together, get me unlimited LD (wondered when this would happen on land lines), double my DSL speed (now I’m Pro), and, with no strings attached except a $10 one-time upgrade charge, can save me $20 a month on my total SBC bill. Why not?

Another thing I noticed when I had logged on to the SBC web site: it’s no longer SBC. It’s “the new at&t” powered by SBC. For those of you my age, there was a time when Ma Bell, the old AT&T, had to divest itself of all the Baby Bells. Seems ironic this “new AT&T” owned by SBC. If you have followed the gyrations of AT&T over the years, you have seen several “new” versions of the company: mergers, divestitures, changes in philosophy, a general floundering around in a changing marketplace. Now what was a bulwark of portfolios of widows and seniors is now just a shell name.

And once again I am taught the lesson: for land lines, mobile phones, and anything else that charges monthly, it pays to call about twice a year or more to see what “packages” or deals they have that reduce what you pay them. Hey, they won’t call you.