The Tale of Two ISPs and A Dilemma

As strange as life can be, nothing beats technology. And above that, nothing I know beats the hell technology puts me through. In September, I highlighted an issue regarding something that allows me to put my thoughts up here, that is the internet and my ISP (not an ex yet) which is hell bent on putting me through a series of miserable days that eventually turned into weeks and now into months.

Although I had gone ahead and subscribed to a new ISP which provided a spiffy new modem which can fit into my palm (It is very cute, I tell ya), I regret to admit that it's service has been less than satisfactory. I can't download anything - especially my i-tunes upgrade, games, and listening to songs on the online radio station is a mission impossible. The following was a comment by an anonymous reader in the earlier post where I expressed intentions in changing ISPs :

" You think Telekom's bad....try Maxis...same piece of shit with the luxury of extra price. I even had technicians who even asked me to ping 127.0.0.1 to test why my connection to msn messenger failed (for those who are slow 127.0.0.1 is localhost...basically pinging yourself like a retard!). I even had technicians who asked me to "clear my cookies" to resolve my speed problems where I wasn't receiving HSDPA but EDGE instead...apparently clearing cookies can help your modem receive full 3G coverage....such intelligence!
Almost all ISPs here are scumbags...PERIOD!"

I had this heads up, and another good review from the sister's friend. I really should have asked for a third opinion, come to think of it. In spite of not having to ping 127 like the person above, the 3.6 Mbps promised is a far cry from what I get in real life. To get a clearer picture, if I want to watch a four minute video on youtube, I can play it on one tab, open up another tab and compose an e-mail or even a blog post of medium length, and when I get back, the video will still be buffering. So much for high speed access. Argh...

On the other hand, my battle with the older ISP has seen me making countless number of phonecalls to incompetent gits who are out there to make my life more miserable than it already is as well as useless journeys to their respective offices.

The evidence I needed from my bank met with a dead end when the person on the line (a customer service moron) coolly informed me that I needed to provide them with the exact dates I made my payment so that they can lodge a complaint on my behalf. Incredibly unbelievable! If I knew the exact dates I wouldn't be asking for their help now, would I? And then there's the ISP people themselves, who say they can't help me, and my printed evidence cannot be used as evidence. Now my case is still pending and I still get charged every month although I'm not given access.

The other day, I received a phone call from the older ISP and they asked me why I didn't use their service. (apperently they have seen that I have used 0 hours since October) And so I told the lady on the line my sob story and asked her if she could help me. She said that she couldn't but informed me that my connection has been restored. (Oh, really?) A check slightly later revealed that it has indeed been restored, and honestly browsing using that particular service was so fast I had a hard time believing it, which brings me to my dilemma. Should I send the spiffy looking but slow service out the door, and make peace with the old one? I'm very tempted to do so. As for making payments, perhaps I shall have to endure lining up in the post office during my lunch break once a month to ensure that nothing disappears into thin air.