The Dukkha that is Xfinity
Dukkha is the Sanskrit term for what we in the West call “suffering.” In reality, dukkha might be defined as our dissatisfaction with the human condition. I cut my hand and then I cannot use the hand while it heals. I feel frustrated and discouraged. Holding on to these feelings causes me dukkha - or suffering.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my children came to visit me for the holidays. It was a lovely visit. My children however, complained that my internet was way too SLOW. They were correct. If one of us was doing something on the internet then someone else would struggle to connect. My children were frustrated. You could say they were having a bit of dukkha over this challenge.
I had known my internet was not working very well. From time to time, I would get a locked screen when I went to meditation on Zoom. Sometimes, the Netflix streaming on my tv would just spin. Still, I pretty much sat in that challenge and didn’t worry too much. Most of the time, I am here alone in my house. Still, my son pointed out to me that I was paying for a specific level of service and not receiving it. He said that the FCC was concerned that people were being cheated out of the services they were paying for.
Then one day, the city I live in sent out an email. They asked that city dwellers go to a specific website and test their internet speed. The speed would be recorded, because now the state was checking to make sure people were getting the services they were paying for. I went ahead and tested my internet speed. The response times were awful, especially in comparison with what I was paying for. 3 days later, I got an email from my internet provider, Xfinity. They were raising my rates $3 a month. What?! I was getting charged more for lousy service?! I had had enough. I was going to call the next day to complain.
I called the next day. I had to go through a few bots until finally, I got a live person. Her name was Stephanie. I told Stephanie about my disappointment with Xfinity’s service. I said I was paying enough for poor service and now they wanted to charge me even more, and that was unacceptable. She gave me her apologies and then told me I could actually get a better service for even less money. Currently I was getting 100 Megabits per Second (Mbps) for $58 and she was offering me 600 Mbps for $45. Then she said, “Wait! You are enrolled in automatic bill pay! We can knock off another $10. Now it will be $35!.” I thanked her for what seemed like a good offer and said that if my speed rates are terrible at 100, how will I get anything near 600? She checked my system connections and informed me that my modem/router was no longer supported. Did I want to rent a new one from Xfinity for just $14 a month? I told her no way. I currently owned my own modem/router and figured I would just buy a new one. Then she tried to sell me the Xfinity cell service. Again I told her no way. After signing up for my new 600 Mbps for $35 a month, I hung up the phone and ordered a new modem and router from Best Buy. They were scheduled to arrive the next day.
The next day I plugged in my modem. I downloaded the modem set up software and followed the steps. Step 3 of the instructions said to call Xfinity. It even gave a phone number. When I reached Xfinity, I was connected to more bots. The bot couldn’t do anything for me. Every time I said, “Install new modem,” it responded with, “We did not send you a new modem. Would you like to order a modem?” Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated. Finally after biting my tongue and saying the same phrase louder and louder into the phone, I hung up. Luckily I’m a Buddhist right? I mean, imagine what I would have done if I was a more reactive person 🤪.
I went to my web browser and searched for Xfinity’s website. Then I selected “Contact us.” From there I was connected with...an online bot. I requested a customer service call. Magically, my phone rang just a few minutes later. This time I was connected with Suzy. Suzy was very cheerful and said she wanted to help me the best she could. Her cheerfulness did not do much to dampen my frustration. Still, I worked on my non-violent communication practice and did not raise my voice. I shared that I just wanted to get my new modem installed. She asked why I wanted to install a new modem. I explained that Xfinity had just told me the day before that mine was no longer supported. She asked if I was sure that this new modem would be supported. I explained it had the word “Xfinity” was right on the box. She went ahead and did what she had to do on her end to install my modem. After 25 minutes on the phone, we determined that she could connect to the modem, but she was unable to get it working. She would have to set up a technician visit. While I was waiting for her to set up the visit, she asked if I wanted to get signed up with Xfinity cell service. She wanted to know how much I was paying for my current cell service. I told her, “No I will not share that information!” She asked why I wasn’t interested. I said, “I am very happy with my cell service. I am happy with what I pay for my service. I never have any problems with my cell service. I currently don’t trust Xfinity to provide their internet service, so why would I want to switch my cell service?” She went back to looking into setting up my tech visit. She let me know that the visit would be free. She explained that I would need to follow Covid-19 protocols with masking and social distancing. She verified that no one in my house had Covid-19. Then she went silent. The call wasn’t disconnected, but I could no longer hear her. I hoped I was on hold. After 5 minutes, the line went dead.
Now I was fuming. Maybe it was better to just sit in the dukkha of slow internet service?
I got back on my web browser and convinced the bot to send me another phone call. Now I was talking with Nicki. Nicki said, “I hope you are doing fantastic today!” I chose to not respond. Then she asked why I was calling. (Shouldn’t all of the details of my calls with Suzy and Stephanie be logged on my account?) I explained the entire process and how I was waiting for Suzy when the call was dropped. I even explained how I did not appreciate being told I could purchase other services from Xfinity. Nicki seemed undaunted. She chose to go through the same testing of the modem that Suzy did. During the testing, do you know what she did? She asked, “Would you like to hear about Xfinity’s cell service program?” I really let her have it. I told her I was not interested in buying any other services from Xfinity, and I just wanted to get the internet service I was paying for working. She informed me she wasn’t trying to sell anything; she was just offering information. Whatever. She then told me that she forgot to pay her internet bill last month, and her internet got shut down and she couldn’t do her job. So she understood my frustration. How is this similar? I pay my bill! Then she told me that normally I would have to pay for a technician to come out and set up the internet. She said that she was going to do something nice for me and give me the appointment for free. What? Suzy had said it was free. Anyway, she managed to get me a technician appointment set up. It was for the next afternoon. Would that work? “Yes,” I told her. Luckily our phone call only last 15 minutes.
I went off to live my life for the next day, realizing I wouldn’t have my internet service. Xfinity does offer a free hotspot service with my plan. It’s not as strong a connection (did I have a strong connection anyway?), and it isn’t as secure as my own modem/router devices, but it’s internet. So I figured I would slog along with that until the technician came the following afternoon. A few minutes later, Suzy called back, apologizing that we were disconnected earlier. I let her know I had talked to Nicki, and I had set up my appointment. Then I just hung up.
About 30 minutes later, I received another phone call. Normally I don’t answer phone numbers I don’t recognize. Under the circumstances of Xfinity challenges, I decided to pick up. Sure enough, it was Eric from customer service. He wanted to know if we could try something else on my modem problem. “Sure,” I said. I mean, why not? I was already craving the cheese I had banned myself from a few weeks ago. What other stressors could come up?
Eric and I played around with the modem. After about 20 minutes, he insisted he had it working! I just had to plug in my router. Since the router was brand new, that took a few minutes. We couldn’t seem to get the router going. We tried various tests. He even had me reset the router. We had been on the phone for 30 minutes. Then he said it would take a while for the router to reset itself, so he would call back in 30 minutes. Once I hung up with Eric, I picked up the manual for the router. I downloaded the router app and set up the router on my own. Voila! I got the router working. Now I was on my new internet wifi, and things were at lightning speeds in comparison to my old wifi service! My dukkha was melting away, and I had only spent 3 hours, some coconut shrimp, mixed nuts, grapes, and a piece of dark chocolate on this problem. I’m grateful it was finally resolved. I’m grateful I didn’t need a technician to come to my home. Eric never called back though. Perhaps I should find the bot to cancel the technician appointment.
PS- It took multiple tries with the bot not understanding my request to finally get a live person. Ryan answered the phone and cancelled my technician appointment. May this internet connection last and last...
