Too big to fail? I hope not.

I am too damned old for this stuff!

I get my Wi-Fi through Comcast – or  Xfinity, I can’t keep them straight.  Lately it has been less than satisfactory – crappy, to be blunt.  The problem is that my “devices” (iPhone and iPad) lose contact with Wi-Fi at irregular, but frequent, intervals.  However, as both are 4G whatever I am doing – emailing, Facebooking, etc. – goes on undisturbed, until I receive a message informing me that I have used up all my “data” (whatever that is) and will be charged if I use any more.  This requires me to unplug my router, then plug it back in.  Plug and unplug will restore my Wi-Fi, but only for a few hours.  

Thus, finally, lacking a teenager to fix my problem, I decided to appeal to Comcast for help.

Well, what an exercise in frustration!  I first ended up “chatting – over the computer – with Velda, in Biloxi, Mississippi.  After a lengthy conversation she sent a pulse down through the airwaves, purportedly to punish my modem into better behavior.  It worked, but only for a few hours.  Next I used 20^th Century technology – the telephone – to contact the company.  I had hoped to talk to a local technician.  Silly me!  Instead I spent 20 minutes with a female robot in Cairo, Illinois.  I tried everything I could think of to get a human being on the line.  No dice.  The best I could receive was a second version of the death ray Velda had unleashed.  So far, so good – but I had better hurry and post this before it all goes to hell again.

So, if some banks can be too big to fail, it may be that some companies become too big to be useful.  I can understand how economies of scale increase profitability (building cars hundreds at a time on an assembly line rather than by hand will produce a cheaper product – although maybe not a better one.)  However, even if getting so big as to require robots instead of people may be our future,  it still is damned annoying.  I would pay a little more for a product or a service, for a little less frustration!  

Where is Teddy Roosevelt now that we need him most?