DSL
Several years ago, when SBC was still Southwestern Bell, I ordered DSL service from SWB. One option with the SWB DSL service was your choice of ISP's. So, in effect, SWB provided the wire, and the ISP provided the service. I selected Grapevine at the time because they had a better web site hosting service for hosting a personal site.

Later, SWB changed to SBC, and somewhere in there, my DSL service was transferred completely to Grapevine. Instead of paying some money to SWB and some to Grapevine each month, I sent the entire amount to Grapevine. That worked great for a few years until this month when Grapevine folded up their tent and left town.

They sent me a letter a month ago advising me that they were discontinuing their residential DSL service and that I needed to find a new provider.

I called SBC and placed my order. The problem is that as long as Grapevine has the line, SBC cannot do anything. The customer sales rep described it as a one car garage. You can't pull your car in until they take their car out.

Yesterday, out of the blue, my DSL was turned off. I tried to call Grapevine to verify that they had switched me off, but their numbers are disconnected.

My next call to SBC resulted in that verification. They can now turn on the SBC DSL service since the Grapevine car had left the garage. But, of course, it's not as easy as turning on a light switch. It takes a week to turn it on. So, I'm without internet service at my house until next week.

It's a crazy business. Hopefully things will be smooth once the new service gets switched on.