As I promised a few weeks ago, I’ve disconnected my land line. Actually I had my husband do it, because after several random snafus that involved my office line going dead and then randomly dialing 9-1-1 at odd times during the day and night, I can no longer deal with talking to AT&T.
It only took 15 minutes, but involved speaking with four different people because he was transferred to the wrong department twice. Incidentally, as a former employee of the phone company, my husband shed some light on why you have to give your phone number to the IVR when you call and again to each successive person. Apparently the first time it helps route the call, but the number doesn’t actually pop up on an agent’s screen when they answer the phone. And your information typically doesn’t go with you when you’re transferred from one agent to another because the various departments’ back ends aren’t connected.
The timing of my voluntary disconnection, however, is perfect. Aside from not paying AT&T $60 a month, the best part of killing my land line will be the end of all the campaign calls. I had five of them on the Tuesday that Texans went to the polls. It drove me crazy that despite being on the Do-Not-Call List, I still had to hear from political campaigners multiple times a day in the weeks leading up to the primary. Now I’m off the hook.
