I finally figured out why I haven't had a landline in 5 years.

I'm pretty fed up with the new AT&T/SBC/Dish conglomerate already, and I've only had their "service" for a couple weeks. Basically, I switched from Comcast cable so I could have a phone line that would work with my alarm system. Plus, according to the AT&T rep I spoke with on the phone, I could get it done for about the same price I was paying Comcast for similar service with no landline.

It would have been great, had she not been lying through her teeth.

The first problem I had was when the installer set up my TV. I have an HDTV, but unfortunately it has a 4:3 aspect ratio. I realize I'll have black bars at the top and bottom of my screen when I watch widescreen content. I'm used to it. What I didn't expect is that in addition to those, I get black bars on ALL FOUR SIDES of my TV when watching 4:3 content. WTF? If I'm watching 4:3 content on a 4:3 television, there should be NO letterboxing, much less letterboxing on all 4 sides. The installer said every TV he'd installed Dish on did the same thing. Well, that's great, but my Comcast HD box didn't do it. I suddenly have a TV that's effectively a 27" instead of a 32".

Then I noticed I'm not subscribed to some of the channels I'm supposed to be hooked up with. Then I try to use the DVR feature to record the William Shatner Roast on Comedy Central this Saturday. It doesn't work. I call tech support for Dish, and they tell me I'm subscribed to the Bronze package, and don't have a DVR.

I get transferred to AT&T, and they tell me they don't have access to Dish's stuff, so they transfer me back to Dish. I talk to them, they blame the problem on AT&T, and transfer me back to them. Lo and behold, I've been on the phone long enough that it's after 9PM, and they're closed. So here I am, with no DVR, missing some of my favorite channels, and I'm getting ripped on the price.

I was told I could get the Silver Package, Unlimited Long Distance, a landline, DSL, HD, and a DVR for 117/month. As it turns out, I'm only getting bronze, and no DVR for 114/month. And I'm in a contract. And their customer service sucks.

Their tech support goons tried to tell me for an hour that my router was broken, so I finally hung up on them. As it turns out, they gave me bad information during the setup, and I fixed it myself in 15 minutes.

I'm REALLY not pleased so far. I'll keep you updated as I try to get out of my F'ing contract. This ruling might help, actually, but I'll have to see what happens on appeal first.

On a related note, some of you may remember my problems with FedEx losing a MacBook Pro I shipped with them. It appears my very first angry lawyer letter did the trick. They hopped on it immediately, apologized, and sent me a check for the full amount.