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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?)

fmj77 said:

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.

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I think a lot has to do with what carrier was Verizon originally in that area as Verizon was basically GTE Wireless, BellAtlantic Mobility, Vodafone AirTouch and PrimeCo. The PrimeCo was basically a PCS network similar to the AT&T Orange aka Cingular Wireless networks.

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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Same here as even in the early days, most people went the AT&T formerly known here as CellularOne because AT&T was cheaper in costs while Verizon formerly known as GTE here was supposedly better but more expensive. At least the Venture Capital Companies on Sand Hill Road chose Verizon for service reliability for a reason.

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:

All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

One of my all time favorite songs

Lovin' Me Along - Head East

Head Games - Foreigner

Games People Play - Alan Parsons Project

PLAY The Game Tonight-Kansas

Almost 5 episodes in, pretty good modern Sliders / Quantum leap concept, heh.

Enjoyable, but yeah, weak finale. Felt like it got a little lost in the Multiplicity of it all. The more there were the less I cared about them.

Sliders and Quantum Leap meets prompt engineering, lol.

This whole thing sounds a bit like David Gerrold's novel "The Man Who Folded Himself." Has anyone read that and watched this series?

I guess no one watched the 2nd season? I thought they had a couple of good episodes, but some were way out of left field like, "Huh?"

The government agent who discovered that some mysteries are best left alone was some Quantum Karma. But the season finale was bittersweet. Hopefully they can figure out how to have another season since they managed to achieve the one goal they were shooting for.

I started it, but I was so disconnected from the first season that I should have probably watched a recap or something first, because it didn't grab me so I never watched more than s2 e1.

Wild Horse Nine was fantastic.

meStevo said:

Wild Horse Nine was fantastic.

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Might have to check that out. Google describes it as a "dark comedy thriller".

Last night...

Veterans Day and business closed, so movie day and some tv on the patio. Watched several Chewed Up episodes on YouTube out on the patio until lunch time then came inside for the surround and movies.

Raise The Titanic (1980). Great musical score by John Barry of James Bond music fame.


View: https://youtu.be/KqWnM2xZ0gw?is=STWbRqNWrSZ1-z6-


Glenn Miller Story (1954). Great music


View: https://youtu.be/sMa-T71Az68?is=4YG3SQfWBjOG5305

After "VisionQuest" was over, I watched "Avengers: Infinity War" last night and "Avengers: Endgame" tonight.

There were several new updates today.

Tweek said:

There were several new updates today.

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That is correct. My late report is due to internet outages in my area. 2026-11 Security Update (KB5132061) Builds: 26300.9974, 26200.9974 and26100.9974 along with several .NET Security Updates were released yesterday. Moderate time needed for those choosing to perform a manual download/install/restart.

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…

IF they had made the cyber truck more like a conventional truck, more would have bought it. There is a REASON trucks all have a very similar layout....it's what people want AND it serves the purposes those of us who have a truck needs.

dishstaller said:

There is a REASON trucks all have a very similar layout....it's what people want AND it serves the purposes those of us who have a truck needs.

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As it is, most consumers buy trucks as comfortable transportation rather than commercial utility. The Cybertruck approach to that goal was way out in left field. It turned out to be more of an austere sedan with awful daily-driver attributes (visibility, parking). The expectations regarding truck durability were dashed early on.

EV owners could face a new $130 annual federal fee as soon as December.

• Congress is considering a new annual fee for electric vehicle owners to help fund road maintenance.
• The proposed fee would start at $130 for EVs and $35 for plug-in hybrids, potentially increasing over time.
• This fee aims to have EV drivers contribute to the Highway Trust Fund, which is primarily funded by gasoline taxes.

The truck is today's cadillac or buick

Never attempt to buy shrimp at a lumbago stand.

My wife would kill me.



Just noticed my Sony BD players support 3D. No target device. I wonder if any major brands offer 3D TVs anymore.

Are helmets considered active or passive or na?


I wonder if I told SWMBO we (I could exercise using such…… Or maybe 3D cooking classes/shows

To access you have to update your Meta Quest to the latest version v2.10 which was public released on Nov 9. This will also update the controllers as well. Then launch the Disney+ app. This comes with several environments. I tested the Disney 3D theater one and it is in VR180 3D. Watched the new Avengers Movie Quantumania.
The movie is not VR180 3D. It is theater screen 3D. But in a VR180 3D environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNFpri-Y40

navychop said:

I wonder if any major brands offer 3D TVs anymore.

Are helmets considered active or passive or na?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNFpri-Y40
I last bought a flat 3D LCD Passive screen from LG but had to order it from China. The remote control is in Chinese. You might research the Chinese websites for what is offered. I only use it in my edit suite to edit 3D theatrical Video Productions.

Keep in mind, The Disney+ app I tested is for the Meta Quest and I tested so far on my Quest 3.
My home theater uses a Sony projector so I'll test that later. I'm not even sure the Disney+ app on the Apple Vision Pro supports 3D. But I have two BluRay 3D players that also have streaming apps so may need to test with that source.

Ronnie- said:

I'll check it out this evening but 3d is not really something I'm overly interested in tbh.

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I've been excited about 3D for over a decade. Have hundreds of movies in 3D BluRay. But the image quality was never as good as with the Meta Quest or expensive Apple Vision Pro. If you have the 3 it's probably going to be the best experience of all the head mounted display. Just charge it up and go into settings and update your software over wifi. That takes about 5 -10 minutes to V2.10. If you already have Disney+ loaded you should be all set. If not you will need to install that next and subscribe.

I've been on and off with Disney+ over the years and just recently subscribed monthly based on them announcing this 3D a few months back. I'll probably switch to the annual plan Premium with Hulu now they came through with this 3D. BTW- the Dolby Atmos surround sound is amazingly good.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlNFpri-Y40

TheForce said:

I'll probably switch to the annual plan Premium with Hulu now they came through with this 3D.

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Disney does not offer an annual ad free Disney+ and Hulu bundle. It only has a monthly plan for $21.99 per month.

I wonder if it's part of my DTV MyEntertainment package

I just have no interest in what Disney offers.

Messed with it for a little bit, works quite well.

I thought the 3D craze was gone for good.

What good are 3d movies without a 3d tv?..I think the whole 3d craze ended atleast 10 years ago

Works fine on my 17 Pro. Just tested it.

lakebum431 said:

Works fine on my 17 Pro. Just tested it.

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Crazy huh? I tried everything....no go..

Anybody else trying the Veteran's Day offerings?

navychop said:

Anybody else trying the Veteran's Day offerings?

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My breakfast was free this morning at my favorite diner, but it wasn't clear to me whether the owner or another customer paid for it.

Bob Evan's was good, save for the powdered mashed potatoes.

Too bad they don't have fried okra.

Prefer Cracker Barrel. But should the previous management decisions result in their closure, Bob is it.

navychop said:

Anybody else trying the Veteran's Day offerings?

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My brother in law served as a Marine in Vietnam, 2 purple hearts, a Bronze Star Medal and several other recognitions. He got a nice steak dinner in Fort Worth, TX. Fresh off the hoof.

navychop said:

Anybody else trying the Veteran's Day offerings?

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My oldest daughter gave any Vet free haircuts. Has done this since she opened her barbershop