Internet Customer Service

[sammy ominsky]

Hi all,

First, apologies to those on the other lists I'm posting this to.  I'm  
so excited I had to tell everyone :)

It appears that someone somewhere is listening to what we need, and  
doing something about it.

This morning I had a local customer who is not technically inclined  
enough to set up their own VoIP router, so I went over there to do it  
for them.  They are an older couple with an older PC and no real idea  
how it all works. Their adult son had set them up and is out of the  
country at the moment.

So I went there, together we phoned their ISP, 012, to tell them we  
were installing a new router.  The tech on their end said to set the  
router to "Obtain IP address automatically", and call HOT with the  
confirmation number they gave us, in order to change to an account  
that doesn't need a dialer.  We phoned HOT, gave them the confirmation  
number, and it just worked.

This is a HUGE change from a few years ago, when I had to call and  
explain to the customer service rep what I wanted to do, who couldn't  
imagine why anyone would need an account without a dialer.  Then I had  
to wait a week for HOT to set up MPLS, and spend hours and hours on  
the phone with level after level of customer support and technicians  
to make sure it actually got done.

Israel has entered the modern age!  Yay!

I realize this isn't directly linux-related, but it's certainly  
relevant to those of us not running windows and our ability to get  
what we need from the service providers who've locked us out in the  
past.

--sambo