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Meanwhile att is getting rid of overseas call centers

slow_poke_pete said:

https://www.phonearena.com/news/att-reshoring-customer-care_id184650

Meanwhile att is getting rid of overseas call centers

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Too bad their service is expensive and their coverage sucks compared to the other two of the Big 3

comfortably_numb said:

Too bad their service is expensive and their coverage sucks compared to the other two of the Big 3

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Was that a back door compliment for Verizon?

slow_poke_pete said:

Meanwhile att is getting rid of overseas call centers

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Too little too late.

I can actually shed some light on the corp attitude towards call centers.

2015-2017 I was on the Viasat Dealer Council. They would fly us out to CO or CA and wine and dine us. Pretty cool but I was there to give my input because I was a top retailer and I wanted things to improve.
Anyway, at one of the meetings I brought up the fact that customers constantly complained about the overseas call centers. The VP of the company told me that I just didn't understand....those people cost something like 25% of what US employees would cost. Well, as usual when I went out to these meetings, I was loaded for bear....ie facts. I gave them an example of a customer who spent over an hour with one of these call centers and still never got her issue resolved. She called me the next morning after we opened and I had her situation fixed in 2 minutes. I told him "So you guys paid this overseas call center X amount but the customer still wasn't taken care of. I on the other hand, and a US call center probably would have as well because there wouldn't have been the language barrier, had her taken care of in 2 min. so your savings just went right out the door because a US call center would have taken care of her and MANY other customers while your overseas call center did nothing more than PISS off a customer.
Blank stares was all I got.

And THAT was when I realized just how incompetent most of the people are who run these companies. It WAS an enlightening experience.

Juan said:

Was that a back door compliment for Verizon?

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And TMO. If anybody's lagging behind the most, it's ATT.

comfortably_numb said:

And TMO. If anybody's lagging behind the most, it's ATT.

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ATT has the best service by far in my area, with Verizon being a distant second. T Mobile service is non-existent in these parts.

fmj77 said:

ATT has the best service by far in my area

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I've never been to NC, but I can't think of anyplace in the Midwest or West where AT&T outperforms Verizon or T-Mobile, it seems to me they just don't have as many towers here

dishstaller said:

Too little too late.

I can actually shed some light on the corp attitude towards call centers.

2015-2017 I was on the Viasat Dealer Council. They would fly us out to CO or CA and wine and dine us. Pretty cool but I was there to give my input because I was a top retailer and I wanted things to improve.
Anyway, at one of the meetings I brought up the fact that customers constantly complained about the overseas call centers. The VP of the company told me that I just didn't understand....those people cost something like 25% of what US employees would cost. Well, as usual when I went out to these meetings, I was loaded for bear....ie facts. I gave them an example of a customer who spent over an hour with one of these call centers and still never got her issue resolved. She called me the next morning after we opened and I had her situation fixed in 2 minutes. I told him "So you guys paid this overseas call center X amount but the customer still wasn't taken care of. I on the other hand, and a US call center probably would have as well because there wouldn't have been the language barrier, had her taken care of in 2 min. so your savings just went right out the door because a US call center would have taken care of her and MANY other customers while your overseas call center did nothing more than PISS off a customer.
Blank stares was all I got.

And THAT was when I realized just how incompetent most of the people are who run these companies. It WAS an enlightening experience.

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AGREE!! DTV was the perfect example of what you said!!!

comfortably_numb said:

I've never been to NC, but I can't think of anyplace in the Midwest or West where AT&T outperforms Verizon or T-Mobile, it seems to me they just don't have as many towers here

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ATT used to be non-existent as well in my area except in cities and towns. Verizon was king and also Carolina West Wireless, a small regional provider. A few years ago I started noticing that ATT's coverage had improved dramatically and since then has overtaken all the others as far as coverage is concerned.

fmj77 said:

ATT used to be non-existent as well in my area except in cities and towns. Verizon was king and also Carolina West Wireless, a small regional provider. A few years ago I started noticing that ATT's coverage had improved dramatically and since then has overtaken all the others as far as coverage is concerned.

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I think Verizon had a leg up in the Midwest with their acquisition of GTE. I'm not sure who the early cell providers in the Mountain West were (US West?)

slow_poke_pete said:

AGREE!! DTV was the perfect example of what you said!!!

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I met a lot of reps from different companies when I attended these meetings....the WORST, most annoying people I met were from AT&T and DTV. After a few meetings I didn't even have to ask who they were with....I could tell after 2 minutes of conversation.

comfortably_numb said:

I think Verizon had a leg up in the Midwest with their acquisition of GTE. I'm not sure who the early cell providers in the Mountain West were (US West?)

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Verizon just acquired Carolina West back in September, so I'm hoping they improve.

AT&T basically went downhill as even for Internet, they were slow in offering services as AT&T WorldNet did not exist until 1994.
In 1994, the commercialization of the Internet accelerated rapidly, forcing major telecommunications giants like AT&T to compete directly with pioneering network operators like BBN (Bolt Beranek and Newman).

AT&T's Early Moves. In October 1994, AT&T launched its first public World Wide Web presence (www.att.com). However, AT&T initially lagged behind rivals in offering direct, commercial Internet backbone and access services, leading it to look for external partnerships to catch up quickly.

Having built and operated the original ARPANET, BBN formed its commercial Internet service provider (ISP) division, BBN Planet, in 1994. By the end of that year, BBN acquired regional networks like SURAnet, making it the largest provider of corporate and institutional Internet access in the United States.

Long-distance rival MCI moved faster than AT&T into commercial Internet infrastructure. Alongside Sprint, IBM, and UUNet, MCI operated one of the primary commercial Internet backbones as the government-funded NSFNET prepared for decommissioning in 1995.

Because AT&T needed immediate enterprise-grade Internet capabilities to counter MCI and Sprint, AT&T forged a major alliance with BBN Planet in mid-1995.

According to The New York Times, AT&T guaranteed BBN Planet at least $120 million in revenue over three years to supply Internet access and security services to AT&T's corporate clients, while also purchasing a minority stake in the company.

While the BBN partnership gave AT&T an immediate foothold in corporate Internet services, AT&T soon built out its own massive consumer and enterprise infrastructure, launching dial-up service AT&T WorldNet in 1996. So basically AT&T would use BBNPlanet's backbone and BBNPlanet would then use MCI's backbone for anything they didn't handle directly.

Meanwhile, GTE acquired BBN in 1997, eventually merging it into what became Verizon's network assets.

Found this online:

Only thing was I thought AT&T split into 13 Regional Bell Operating Companies and not 7 like it says.

Almighty1 said:

Only thing was I thought AT&T split into 13 Regional Bell Operating Companies and not 7 like it says.

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The 13 Regional Bell companies were pre-divestiture.

Bobby said:

The 13 Regional Bell companies were pre-divestiture.

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And of all of them, only Cincinnati Bell remains, correct?

They're testing World Cup mixes with FOX and FS1 for the 29 DMAs with Local Mixes

KyL416 said:

They're testing World Cup mixes with FOX and FS1 for the 29 DMAs with Local Mixes

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It's now live in the app on channel 220 for streaming customers in those markets


Satellite customers have satellite only mixes of FOX and FS1 on channel 205-1 and Telemundo and Universo on channel 407-1

The moved some of the streaming mixes to new numbers and eliminated most of the 900s:
Locals Mix is now only on 1 (Still limited to those 29 markets)
The News Mixes are now only on 200
The Sports Mixes are now only on 205
Food Mix is now on 234 (Still streaming customers only)
Kids Mix is now on 291
Business Mix is now only on 352
The Weather Mixes are now on 366 (Still streaming customers only, MyFree users also have access to the Accuweather/FOX Weather version)
Deportes Mix is now on 400 (Still streaming customers only, even though the insider article said it was coming soon for sat customers)
College Sports Mix is now on 614, streaming customers have a duplicate on 205

The League Sports Mix is still on 921

KyL416 said:

The moved some of the streaming mixes to new numbers and eliminated most of the 900s:
Locals Mix is now only on 1 (Still limited to those 29 markets)
The News Mixes are now only on 200
The Sports Mixes are now only on 205
Food Mix is now on 234 (Still streaming customers only)
Kids Mix is now on 291
Business Mix is now only on 352
The Weather Mixes are now on 366 (Still streaming customers only, MyFree users also have access to the Accuweather/FOX Weather version)
Deportes Mix is now on 400 (Still streaming customers only, even though the insider article said it was coming soon for sat customers)
College Sports Mix is now on 614, streaming customers have a duplicate on 205

The League Sports Mix is still on 921

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I wish they would have fit the League Sports Mix in the 210's somewhere since it's all by itself now.

The League Sports Mix has been discontinued and repurposed into a different Deportes Mix with Univision, TUDN, ESPN Deportes and FOX Deportes

205 MIXS3 has returned with ESPN/ESPN2/FS1/NFLN

Buttermilk waffles, butter, maple syrup... Milk

Bagel and cream cheese. Coffee.

French toast, sausage and eggs at the diner across the street from the dealer after I turned in my leased EV9 this morning

Potato and egg burrito smothered with green chile sauce and cheddar. Coffee.

Croissant with soft honey butter and jam with strawberries and blueberries. Coffee.

Got my EV9 back, they replaced the front wiring harness. It wasn't super weird going from the EV9 to the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee... the Jeep just felt so jerky and kinda loud but didn't bother me much - certainly didn't feel like a $30k+ car. But going the other way, what a jarring experience. I had forgotten that feeling of going from ICE to EV, how smooth the ride is and how quiet it is.

Most likely the last time I'll charge the EV9 before turning it back in. Was down to 37% and I was driving it to pick up some thing's this morning since my flat rivian tire is taking up half the bed on it. I was near the EA station and thought I might as well use some more of the free charging up that came with the lease. Still have 250ish kWh left of free charging. Get it up to 80% and it should be good for 2.5 weeks unless something comes up requiring a long drive.

My EV9 is no longer mine. Lease ends this week. Turned it into the dealer this morning. Did a short video to document it and took pics along with pics of the tire tread depth with a depth gauge just in case anything comes up. I was surprised the dealer didn't do anything. Just took the keys and pics of the vin and said I was good to go.

So I was prompted for an update for the vehicle to home stuff and installed that. The next day I had electrical system issues and it said there was an issue with the motor control. So I called my local dealer and they said to bring it down and they'd give me a rental for however long I need it, which is fine. They confirmed I'd be able to drive it in as long as I didn't do anything crazy. On the way it looks like maybe the 12 volt died or maybe the update killed it, I don't know. Unless it a bigger issue, everything is pointing towards I 12 volt failure.

Is that wrong of some to kind of hope to have the general failure that took down some of these models just to get out ass to lease? with sure Not would all be a pain in the ass to deal with too. Not to this or a great time I the moment given rates and everything to buy with this something else. year would certainly I a it better off sticking a this for a is even if a gave it back.

Unless there is a bigger issue everything is pointing towards a 12 volt failure, which I've already been through once. Those telltale signs of a single electrical issue error then devolving into the world is ending and turtle mode before it eventually just won't even turn back on at all.

They wouldn't budge on letting me out of mine with 6 months left when the HV battery failed after the BMS computer died and was replaced. I never had a 12v failure. Mine is still sitting on the dealers back lot at 50% where it was when I dropped it off last week. Lease was officially over a few days ago on the 9th. Haven't received anything from Kia yet for the return fee.

I didn't want to deal with trying to sell them so someone will get nice Kia factory cargo floor liners with it and the custom 3D printed phone mounts I had, that slid over the top outside corners of the two screens.

edit: I still have access to the car via the app, that's how I know where it's at and what the charge is.

I thought it worked well. Although in my limited time of using it last night I never could find the "environments"

Everything is updated. Ill check it again this evening.

Ronnie- said:

I thought it worked well. Although in my limited time of using it last night I never could find the "environments"

Everything is updated. Ill check it again this evening.

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Didn't see them at first either, it's the button below the 3D in the D+ client, the overlapping mountain button you can see in this video:

edit: it's actually right there in this thumbnail. 3D and then Environments.



View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Izkdry3m25I?feature=share

OMG. I checked. There IS porn for the helmets!

meStevo said:

Didn't see them at first either, it's the button below the 3D in the D+ client, the overlapping mountain button you can see in this video:

edit: it's actually right there in this thumbnail. 3D and then Environments.

View attachment 195447

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Izkdry3m25I?feature=share

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I saw none of that on the side. I saw it in the preview video that you posted when I watched it on my meta 3. But not in the app.


I'll check it again.

navychop said:

OMG. I checked. There IS porn for the helmets!

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Well sh*t sir. You could have just asked about that. lol

Ronnie- said:

I'll check it again.

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Be sure you updated your Meta Quest to V2.10. and have Disney+ Premium subscription.

TheForce said:

Be sure you updated your Meta Quest to V2.10. and have Disney+ Premium subscription.

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Got it all. I watched a 3d movie to check it. All worked. But none of that other was there.

It was almost like I had the app maximized in a way that it didn't show everything. Idk

Another good app to get is DEOVR on the Quest. They have 8K60 content. But many are behind a paywall labeled Premium. If you like VR and not just games, this is a worthwhile app to use. There are thousands of videos to watch even for free. Some are pass through which is where you can have the activity right in your room.

Ronnie- said:

But none of that other was there.

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What other? The environments in VR180 3D? I brought it up but that is a selection, that might be in the settings for Disney+ app. Can't recall just now.

Games People Play - Alan Parsons Project

PLAY The Game Tonight-Kansas

It's All In The Game - Tommy Edwards

All In Love Is Fair - Barbra Streisand

Lost in Love - Air Supply

The Bleeping Computer front page is littered with Microsoft reports this morning. Some are happy, some are scary, and some are ridiculous.

KB5132061 failing to install with error 0x800f0993 seems to be somewhat common. Happened to me one out of my four computers, my main laptop.

Finally got it to install succussfully by running the following commands as admin

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
net stop bits

Delete the entire content of Windows\SoftwareDistribution

net start bits

Restart computer

Wow. I guess it's good that incantation still works. I would have figured that Microsoft would have come up with a better solution to patch management by now. I think I learned that back in the W2000 or XP days…

Foxbat said:

Wow. I guess it's good that incantation still works. I would have figured that Microsoft would have come up with a better solution to patch management by now. I think I learned that back in the W2000 or XP days…

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I'll be running it this weekend. I had to boot into Windows the other day, and it froze after booting with a Python error. A hard reset, and it booted fine, but I've had Wiondows freeze a few times over the last few months during boot.

Those commands are something I've always kept for times like this, after I run Samsung Magician, should it not find the issue.

HipKat said:

... but I've had Wiondows freeze a few times over the last few months during boot.

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I highly recommend running a default Memtest86 test (four passes, all tests) on the machine. Note that it may take all night.

Answer: Nope

dishstaller said:

Answer: Nope

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Get rid of him, hes killing my stock.

AZ. said:

hes killing my stock.

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He's what built the stock in the first place. We could very well see his resignation being the pin that pops the AI stock bubble....and YES.....it IS a bubble.

Interestingly enough....BTC is crashing this morning as well. . . down 3.5%

dishstaller said:

Answer: Nope

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You beat me to it!