ADSL problem, or is it my ISP?

[vacanthead]

Yesterday afternoon, I was completely unable to connect to my ISP on my ADSL connection at home (It was OK that morning). It goes through the dialling, connecting to remote computer etc in the connection window, then stops at the 'Verifying user name and password'. I notice the activity of my modem halts (obviously). This is in WinXP. Removing and re-installing the modem doesn't fix it. Booting into Win98SE, I get a similar probelm, but the connection protocol stops at 'Connecting to remote computer'. The fact it happens in both OS leads me to the belief it may be the ISP's fault. I was just wondering if I should check anything else before biting the bullet and dialling their (very expensive, Sfr 1.00 / min) technical hotline. I've got a feeling it would have been maintenance work, as yesterday was a holiday here and the business user demand would have been low.

*Rant on*
This leads me to a beef about their technical hotline; twice in the past I'd been unable to connect, or it was very slow. The first time I rang this line to be told that it was routine maintenace work. Now what is wrong with an email to all ADSL customers forewarning them, so saving them time and money on farting around with their PC and/or hanging around at Sfr1.00 / min, waiting to be connected to a technician? The second time it happened, again it was maintenance work, that they were changing the IP settings and I would have to change my connection settings. Which I did, but nothing happened. I tried again the following morning to be informed that I had been given the wrong info the night before. I was provided with the correct settings and everything was OK. Again, a forewarning with details of the necessary changes would have been much simpler and saved me (and others, probably) a lot of time and money.
*Rant off*

[EzyStvy]

Have you looked on their web site? Most have a schedule of system maintenance and or system status...

[vacanthead]

Well, I did finally ring my ISP and right enough, there are problems with the ADSL in my area. Thing is, it's now been 5 SODDING DAYS!!!! and it still isn't working. I've rung up every day (to the free info line, I might add) and been told it'll be fixed later/this evening/tomorrow, but it's still down. I'm so mad, along with all the rubbish I've had to put up with them in the past, I'm gonna demand some kind of compensation or something. Thank God I don't run a business which relies on the Internet, cos I'd be screwed good and proper. I'll see what happens. Apart from the problems with them I mentioned above, they had a habit of cutting my old dial-up account because they said I hadn't paid a bill, when I could prove to them that I had. It's just getting plain ridiculous.

[vacanthead]

Update:

I DON'T ***ING WELL BELIEVE IT!!!!

I called them again, spoke to a very nice lady.......and she couldn't find the connection under my number! It seems my account was 'lost' and it will be another 4 days (at least) till I'm back up and running again. I told her I would expect some kind of rebate or something and she said she would note it down for me and try and expedite my re-connection. I'm getting to the end of my tether with these people. I think I'll write a s**tty (but polite) letter to them. What do you think I should demand? Just a rebate for my downtime? One month's free connection? Free upgrade to 512kbps (currently at 256)? All three? I'm going to list every single problem I've had with them over the last 3 - 4 years or so. Funny thing is, I have very few complaints with the actual service per se, but the technical back-up and customer services leave an awful lot to be desired. We're with the same company for telephone and mobile phone services too, both of which have been exemplary.
Now to open up my letter-writing wizard............

[MadMax]

You have every right to be steamed. And if you think the letter will help you to relieve the pressure then by all means write it. Certainly some kind of compensation on their part is in order. I'd be asking for pro-rated billing based on the downtime, or maybe a month free. Good luck getting it.

But here's my attitude towards ISP's and connections. You're either willing to pay for the service and put up with the aggravations or you're not. If you're not, then find another ISP.