I recently moved into a high rise with my girlfriend in the Gold Coast area of Chicago. Her last experience with Comcast was unpleasant enough for her to insist that we not go that route. So we try calling RCN to transfer the service package to our new residence. After some fumbling around on their end we are informed that they do not service our building.

Next in line is AT&T -- they have an appealing U Verse package and supposedly are laying down fiber in the city and plan to roll out some extra-fast connections soon. In the meantime they offer an explicityly “not-DSL” package of “3 gigs a month for 19.95,” according to a service rep. (It most definitely is DSL.) When asked if that meant gigabits or gigabytes he returned with a sheepish, “I’m not really sure, let me ask my manager.” After a brief dialogue with his higher up he came back online happy to report that it is indeed a 3 gigabyte connection. Wow, I thought to myself, 3 gigabytes/second download is quite a deal for only twenty bucks a month! So we sign ourselves up and wait for the hardware to arrive.

Three days pass and we don’t receive anything from AT&T. We’re starting to get a bit worried, and in the interim check on the order status. Lo and behold our invoice lists our connection rate at 3 megabits/second -- speeds barely faster than dee-aww-deeawwww dialup. One last double check with RCN brings us to another delightfully confused sales rep who informs us that, yes! Our building is wired for RCN! They have it in the workout room, the pool room, and -- Wait. Our building has neither a workout room nor a pool. Wrong building. Still no service for our abode.

At last, we weep. After exhausting all other options we are ready to come grovelling back to Comcast. I ride my bike over to their distribution center, pick up a cable box and modem, and within the hour have both 25 Mb/s Internet and a cable box connected and running. On top of that, the building includes cable TV already, so our Internet package counts as a bundle and is even cheaper. Aside from a shortage of DVRs (we had to forgo one until they get more in stock) and a lack of formal help setting up a wireless network (costs 80 bucks for a one-time phone helper), I have no complaints. Now I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.