The battle with Bell

This isn't really my battle, it's definitely been Andrew's. He has spent countless numbers of hours on the phone in the last month or so, getting bumped from person to person, department to department at Bell Canada; all for the privilege of getting a phone line.

I know lots of people can relate to the misery that is interacting with utility companies, but you have to admit, this is a new low for Ma Bell.

It started with the need to dig a trench. Hydro, cable and the gas companies all agreed that if we were willing to dig our own trench that they would approve and provide us with these much needed services. Even Bell agreed that we could go ahead with this plan (after a paltry 2 or so phone calls to 6 or so different departments). The plan involved Bell sending us the requisite wire, so that we could put it in the trench (that we were digging at our expense, I should add).

One week passed, no wire....

Two weeks passed, no wire....

At this point, the trench digging had been postponed as much as could be tolerated and we ended up having to buy our own telephone wire (and please note that Joe Public does not have access to the same quality wire that Bell has access to, and so we are taking a bit of a chance).

At this point Andrew called Bell to see what had happened. Their explanation was that because we don't have a phone number, their "system" had rejected the order and so nothing had happened, no wire had been sent. The woman at Bell actually had the gall to ask Andrew if we couldn't just go and ask the neighbour for their phone number to use. It might seem obvious to you that without a wire in the ground we don't have a phone number because there is NO PHONE, but this logic apparently escapes Bell Canada.

VOIP, anyone?