A Very Good Reason Not to Bundle Technological Services

When I got home late Saturday afternoon, the Internet and cable TV services provided by Suddenlink  http://home.suddenlink.net/ were not available. I checked all of my cable connections, and disconnected all of my equipment from power sources and then re-established power to all of my equipment.  A phone call to Suddenlink resulted in my getting a fast busy, so I knew there was a systematic problem.  A later phone call resulted in my getting a recorded message that Suddenlink services for my area were down, and of course the requisite apologies were made. 

Fortunately, I have cell phone service that is not connected to Suddenlink. This is a good reason not to bundle.  If my only phone source was also Suddenlink, I would have no access to the outside world, including for emergency services.

Throughout the evening, I checked on the Internet and TV service, and it continued to be unavailable.  At about 10 PM, I dialed into Suddenlink, and stayed on line 45 minutes before I was able to talk to a live agent.  He acknowledged the problem, and said it was the result of an accident in the area, and Suddenlink had crews working non-stop, even overnight, to remedy the problem. He said the crews could not project a time to fix the problem, and acknowledged that with the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, this was a serious issue in terms of customer satisfaction.

I had plenty of other activities to do that did not require TV or Internet:  I worked on the Catholic Charities board meeting minutes, I read, I reconciled my check book with statements of bills received (although I could not pay the bills on line, as I usually do), I wrote a letter to a local charity about my planned donation.

I have been a Suddenlink customer for years, and while I have had some minor problems with Suddenlink , mostly because my secondary email account gets locked out because of too any returns, I am not dissatisfied with Suddenlink.  I will not abandon them because of this problem, but if their track record in the future diminishes, I might abandon them.

So now it is after midnight, and guess what, the cable and Internet service has been restored! Yeah! Wow! Just like that!