More AT&T Billing Fiasco

June 12th, 2009

So, I changed my billing structure last month with AT&T for our cell phones. Apparently the chick at the store said that we could get unlimited Text and Data for $10 per line (we were previously paying something similar but for only 200 texts/month and so were paying for another 100 texts or so per month when going over).

Long story short. I notice that I was charged $215.64 last month for “Data”. The data amount was consistent with just checking eMail, so I know it wasn’t excessive web usage or anything like that. I called (thank God, this time I didn’t wait long on the phone), and found out that basically it was “never set up” the way that I was told it would be done. Apparently due to something about one phone on the plan not being “compatible” with the $10/mo plan and requiring a $30/mo plan. I sure wish the employees at the AT&T store had been properly trained to know something as simple as this… would have saved me 30 minutes of my time, some frustration, and further hate being spewed regarding AT&T.

In the end, this got corrected, but my wife had just paid the bill without noticing the overcharge. Our Wireless/Internet/etc. bills are large and it’s actually easy to miss $200 here and there. It makes me wonder how much money AT&T is sucking away from people from stupid mistakes like this.

I am seriously thinking of breaking our contracts early and eating the $300 fee…

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The Hate for AT&T Continues… Let’s Count the Ways They’ve Screwed up.

March 5th, 2009

Things that AT&T have screwed up, just over the last 2 months. Keep in mind, every one of these issues involved 20 to 120 minutes on the phone with their customer service, dealing with crappilyy designed voice prompts, multiple transfers, etc.

  1. I cancelled AT&T Uverse on January 23rd and moved to an area where AT&T Uverse is not available, they sent me the RMA kit to return the equipment, which I did, but yet they have still billed me for February and March for a service that does not even exist at my current location. It was funny how the person on the phone said, “but I see you are getting service at …blah … location”, and I said, “but Uverse does not exist at that location”… I’m still waiting on a the “manager” to correct this case.
  2. I tried to cancel AT&T bobile broadband since I don’t need it anymore after a job change, but I was still on a contract. Fine. I lowered the data rate to save money for 2 months with the plan to cancel. Guess what, they retro-actively billed me for like 15 GB of data on the lowest data rate plan and billed me for $6,702.36. This was fixed, but only after a week of calls to check up on it.
  3. I originally ordered AT&T DSL at my new location (believe me, I had no choice, it was this or dial up). They set me up with the 1.5 mb/s data rate even though I ordered the 6 mb/s data rate. This took one month to resolve and was unable to stream movies from NetFlix which I do often.
  4. Related to the new order of AT&T DSL, I ordered the WiFi modem which supposedly is reimbursed. I got a regular DSL modem; spent a few hours on the phone to get the modem I originally ordered; was supposed to get a box to send back the first modem but have not and now I have a bill for $250 for both of these modems and I’m told I somehow don’t qualify for the rebates any longer… I hung up when at least trying to get the stupid RMA box sent to me - after being on the phone for 30 minutes while at work with patients waiting in the office hearing me yell at the AT&T rep about them wasting my time.
  5. Again related to the AT&T DSL at our new home. This was supposed to be turned on February 1st. But the dumb fuck on the phone activated it the day that I placed the order (mid-december) so we had to pay 1 1/2 months of bills for a service we did not use..
  6. Every time I call AT&T the stupid fucking bitch on the voice prompts wants a phone number… but we don’t have a phone number because this is the 21st goddam century and we use cell phones… then I just scream at the phone and push digits on the keypad until I get to someone and then I’m on hold or transferred 3 times until I get some jackass who “might” know what they’re doing. Every once in awhile I get someone nice. Why in the world are the jackasses still employed? I wish I could tell someone the 2 or 3 nice helpful people so those guys/girls can get a fat raise… I do thank those couple people.

 

There’s 3 or 4 more issues, but have to get back to work… not that I haven’t wasted about 40 hours of my life with fucking AT&T anyway. I should send them a bill, I wonder if I can bill Medicare (or whatever their corporate health insurance is) for my time.

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AT&T FUCKING SUCKS !!!

January 7th, 2009

Oh let me count the number of times I wish I could just slit my wrists after having spent 2 hours yesterday and another hour today just trying to talk to AT&T.

Yesterday, I disconnected AT&T Uverse from a residence in Texas and then tried to confirm if service would be available in Pesacola, Florida. Those two seemingly simple tasks took an hour each of mostly waiting on hold and required two separate phone calls (because, of course, some jackass in a cubicle in Texas could not possibly be cross-trained to do anything for services in Florida…)

After much investigation for alternatives of internet service in the Pensacola area, it is obvious that this town is still behind the curve technologically and the only real choice is DSL vs. Cable. And, since the Cable companies in that area also seem to be offering circa 1990 level of technology, I will be using DirecTV. I am unlikely to get a landlord to allow me to fully install another cable outlet (holes in the wall, etc.), so it looks like DSL is the only choice. You can imagine my joy when I see that Bellsouth (aka AT&T) is the only provider.

So, I tried to sign up online for DSL only (no phone required), but that did not work and so I just wasted another hour of my life with a goddam phone to my ear blaring horrible elevator music just to set up a shitty DSL service (a “yawn” 6 mbps down and a very disappointing 512 kbps up).

Oh, and the kicker: They are forcing me to take their piece of junk DSL router, which costs $75. Apparently, there is a rebate, but I went to their website and I am told that there is no rebate available. Well, the upside ot this is that I won’t be anxiously waiting by the mailbox for said rebate…

Please never let me meet the CEO of AT&T in a dark alley…

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A Workaround to View DVD Movies in Windows Media Center on the Xbox 360 using Windows Home Server and the My Movies Add-in

November 12th, 2008

The basics of my current setup:

  1. Xbox 360 Elite with the latest updates from MS Live (as of 11 November 2008)
  2. Windows Media Center (WMC) on this Xbox was setup through a Notebook PC running Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 along with Windows Media Player 11 (WMP)
  3. After setting up WMC, the Xbox was then set up to view shared media from a Windows Home Server (WHS) on an HP EX475 [see my guide on how to do this here]
  4. My Movies for WHS (v2.49) is installed on the WHS. The x86 client (v2.49) is also installed on the notebook PC for easier metadata editing. I think settings in the WHS Home Server Console are basically the default settings (ie just set up to watch my /Videos share)
  5. I have setup “//SERVER/Videos/Movies” where I have individual folders for each DVD in my collection, within which I have the ISO for the DVD. This works fine on WMC on the PC’s in my house, but this will not work with the Xbox (and apparently with any other extender), thus the following steps have helped me get around this

  Read the rest of this entry »

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Convert DVD to WMV: Focus on Streaming from Windows Home Server to Xbox 360 Media Center via the My Movies Add-in

November 11th, 2008

NOTE: I started this project, but may not fully complete the instructions because I have found a much better work-around that I have posted here.

Background:

I have a Windows Home Server (HP EX475) in my home and I want to back up my DVD library for playing on other PC’s and Media Extenders (an Xbox 360) in the home over a combined wired and wireless LAN. I am currently using Windows Media Center on these PC’s and on an Xbox. I have My Movies set up to distribute full .ISO copies of my DVD’s. However, I also need to serve media to an Xbox 360, which will not accept streaming directly from an .ISO copy and has specific media requirements for playback.

 

Introduction:

The following is meant to be a very comprehensive and geeky “step by step” guide on how I have been able to back up a small DVD collection for storage (and streaming to my Xbox 360). The Windows Media file format is used for compatability purposes and I have tried to emphasize quality of the end product over size (these are stored on a large server) because I want these movies to be nearly indistinguishable from the original MPEG-2 source. I am sure that there are methods to do this conversion that require less steps, but I have tried to incorporate various steps that I have found to make the best quality end product possible. Plus, this is an exercise in pure geekage.  Read the rest of this entry »

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How to add folders from your Windows Home Server to Media Center on the Xbox 360

November 9th, 2008

Let me say that I’ve been searching around to find a way to do what I am about to detail below for a few months now. Maybe I’m stupid or blind, but I could not find this anywhere, and what I could find had nearly convinced me that the following is impossible to do.

1. Set up your Xbox 360 to access Windows Media Center on a PC (Not your server, a different PC with MCE 2005, Vista HP, or Vista Ultimate - Instructions are found here). You will need to keep this computer on while setting up your Xbox with your server, and also at any time that you run media center on your Xbox (I have confirmed this by turning off my PC and then losing my connection to the server from within MC on my Xbox).

2. Open your Windows Home Server Console

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Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - Final Tracklist

June 29th, 2008

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was released this morning. Took just a couple hours to beat on Hard. There are 32 total songs; 30 regular songs in Career Mode with a 31st which is a battle Vs. Joe Perry. And then the 32nd song is unlocked after completing Career Mode and is made available in The Vault.

The general format for each venue is two random songs (as if a gig is being opened by a cover band) followed by a few songs by the main attraction: Aerosmith.

Here is the complete tracklist for your enjoyment.

Getting the Band Together:

1. “Dream Police” - Cheap Trick, 1979
2. “All the Young Dudes” (Cover) - Mott the Hoople, 1972
3. “Make It” - Aerosmith, 2007
4. “Uncle Salty” - Aerosmith, 1974
5. “Draw the Line” - Aerosmith, 1977

First Taste of Success:

6. “I Hate Myself for Loving You” - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, 1988
7. “All Day and All of the Night” (Cover) - The Kinks, 1964
8. “No Surprize” - Aerosmith, 1979
9. “Movin’ Out” - Aerosmith, 2007
10. “Sweet Emotion” - Aerosmith, 1975

The Triumphant Return:

11. “Complete Control” - The Clash, 1977
12. “Personality Crisis” (Cover) - New York Dolls, 1973
13. “Livin’ on the Edge” - Aerosmith, 1993
14. “Rag Doll” - Aerosmith, 1987
15. “Love in an Elevator” - Aerosmith, 1989

International Superstars:

16. “She Sells Sanctuary” - The Cult, 1985
17. “King of Rock” - Run DMC, 1985
18. “Nobody’s Fault” - Aerosmith, 1976
19. “Bright Light Fright” - Aerosmith, 1977
20. “Walk This Way (Run DMC)” - Run DMC Feat. Aerosmith, 1986

The Great American Band:

21. “Hard to Handle” (Cover) - The Black Crowes, 1990
22. “Always on the Run” - Lenny Kravitz Feat. Slash, 1991
23. “Back in the Saddle” - Aerosmith, 1976
24. “Beyond Beautiful” - Aerosmith, 2001
25. “Dream On” - Aerosmith, 2007

Rock ‘N Roll Legends:

26. “Cat Scratch Fever” - Ted Nugent, 1977
27. “Sex Type Thing” - Stone Temple Pilots, 1992
28. “Guitar Battle Vs. Joe Perry” - Joe Perry, 2007
29. “Mama Kin” - Aerosmith, 2007
30. “Toys in the Attic” - Aerosmith, 1975
31. “Train Kept a Rollin’” - Aerosmith, 1974

Bonus Song Available in The Vault:

32. “Kings and Queens” - Aerosmith, 1977

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Diablo 3 Live Demonstration at Blizzcon Paris

June 28th, 2008

Wow… Just friggin’ “WOW” is all I can say.

This is what we’ve all been waiting for years. Diablo 3 has just been announced by Blizzard at Blizzcon in Paris. I’m uploading the live demonstration video which just looks plain awesome.

The demo starts out with the Barbarian class who cuts through waves of mobs like a hot knife through butter specializing in powerful melee attacks along with some AOE stun attacks.

As the demo progresses, they introduce the Witchdoctor class who seems to specialize in disease based attacks (through a swarming cloud of locusts), summoning small minions, and lobbing big ‘ole fireballs. The locust cloud looks particularly cool as it blows out in a cone shape and then swarms to nearby mobs leaving only their bones falling to the ground.

The third phase of the demo simply introduces Femal toons for the Barbarian and Witchdoctor classes. It’s a little difficult to make things out in this movie, but the detail in these characters and in the armor/weapons is really blowing me away. It is obvious to me that the guys at Blizzard have been working a while on this game, and in typical Blizzard fashion, everything looks highly polished!

The final part of the demo shows all 4 of these live characters take on a humongous boss. Very cool; I think two of the Blizzard players die. And then… a swarm of (I’m guessing) 50 skeletons begin to climb out of the ground where the boss died in order to exact revenge on our heroes.

Just friggin WOW man….

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I Made a Post on GameSpot on December 31st, 1969?

May 31st, 2008

OK, this is just plain funny to me. I posted a response to a news article on GameSpot regarding Netflix partnering with Xbox Live, and I noticed that my post was “Posted Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm ET”. I think that’s before the “Internet”, LOL! It is definitely before I was born…

I think it is clear in the preceding post, that the current date is May 31st, 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

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How to remove ActiveX Controls in Internet Explorer 7 (Windows Vista)

May 31st, 2008

I was having a problem with a website, and thought it might be due to an incorrect installation of an ActiveX Control. I found two sources from Microsoft; the first of which did not seem to address my question, the second one did. But I wanted to post screenshots because it was not entirely obvious how to do this.

This refers to Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

METHOD 1

The first post that I found from the Microsoft Knowledge base has you go through the control panel. For one, this KB needs updated because it refers to Windows XP terminology and could be confusing to those using Vista.

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