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I feel your pain. I hate it too when laptop companies preload viruses that prevent us from connecting :)

The Technical Support Rep almost had it right about the separate entities. He should have said: “They (customers) don't care that we're our own separate entities - little small companies within a huge company. They just want service quickly and without a headache.”

Hi Bill!

The crazy thing is...after all that drama the guy had given me the wrong information!!

Maria,

Why not send an old-fashioned business letter to AT& T,Randall L. Stephenson, Chairman and CEO,One AT&T Way
Bedminster, NJ US 07921?

I'd include a hard copy of your post and perhaps you might mention that other bloggers (me, for example) are linking to it.

Regards,

Glenn

Internet connections are the worst for technical support because none of these companies wants to admit that they're responsible for it. I tried connecting a wireless router last year and had trouble. After calling Gateway, Linksys, and AT&T, I learned that all three felt it was one of the other's fault. Finally the Linksys tech-support person sent me back to Best Buy where I'd purchased the router. Thankfully the tech guy there couldn't just transfer me away or get me off the phone; he had to deal with me face-to-face and to his credit he worked out the problem. But I can definitely sympathize with your situation.

if I hadn't spent another hour before that with AT&T's cell phone customer service trying to get a bill straightened out.

I understand fully about the frustration when dealing with big companies. However, with respect to a wireless network in a home, the technician on the other end of the phone would be concerned only with the AT&T part of the problem which was likely just providing the internet access service. The laptop and wireless router would need to be set up by you or some other person so they actually communicate with each other. Every operating system is a little different in how to do this. So, that technician may well have done all that he could do for you over the phone. There is a lot more to setting up a home or business network than just plugging it in. There are IP addresses to be assigned (sometime automatically, sometimes not), passwords to be created, and in some cases port routing to consider. It can be a bit complicated and involves a lot more than just the internet service itself. I am a field service engineer for computer numerical control industial machinery and have been in that technicians position myself where the problem wasn't our equipment or service but something else entirely out of my/our hands.

Hope this helps you at least understand how frustrating is was for that technician, it was every bit as frustrating for him as for you.