Serious computer database problem at the new AT&T :
I go online drilling through a "Cingular.com" website, to see the new AT&T Unity Plan and it tells me my legacy SBC line (20 years old) of 713-xxx-yyyy is not recognized as an AT&T line. Such issues with the computer database the website ties into will:

1. Generate many, many needless support calls.
2. Guarantee to lose AT&T Unity plan sales.
3. Cause grief for Unity Plan participants, and possibly generate lawsuits when folks get
charged for calls promised to be free.

and if it today after the Unity Plan has been in existence many weeks AT&T still doesn't know which phone lines are its own it has major database problems.

Not that I'd ever get the Unity Plan. I can make all the long distance calls I need with my Cingular cell phone, so converting my $13 (base price) land line to a $40 (base price) plan to qualify isn't going to happen. Indeed if AT&T ever keeps its promises to the FCC (made as a condition of being allowed to merge with Bell South) and sells "stand-alone" (or "naked") dsl, I'd have almost zero reason to retain a landline.

Time to upgrade to 802.11n With prices dropping on 802.11n equipment it was time to upgrade my home network. Went with DLink equipment for four reasons.
1. It's worked well for me in the 802.11g paradigm.
2. Its less than half the price of Apple hardware.
3. Apple doesn't provide 802.11n hardware for PCs.
4. Dlink hardware was on sale at Office Depot, who also
accepted a $10 off Office Max coupon.
Would've been very easy but I had to go through two steps.
1. First set up as 802.11g network with new hardware.
2. Change over to 802.11n, and convert from WEP encryption to WPA encryption.
My legacy 802.11g Linksys Bridges, and Belkin PC card (in my Macintosh "Pismo")
all talked nicely to the new Dlink after reconfiguring them for WPA. I haven't been
able to identify an 802.11n PC card for the Macintosh laptop that would work;
it'd need to use a Broadcom chipset as Apple does for 802.11n.

Thank you Bill Gates: So I want to scan in a document so I can email it to someone; I was going to insert it in an MS Word document. Then my MS Word decided not to run. So I got out my Install CD for Office 2003, and "Repaired" my Office 2003. Apparently it just reinstalled it, as when it finished, I needed to reinstall 11 patches, updates and security fixes for Office 2003.

Rattling Cingulars' (The New AT&T) Cage:
Finally worked my way up to a Vice President; and got satisfaction for
Cingular sending txt message SPAM to an account that had txt messaging
deactivated.

They went through many iterations.

First the CSRs said it was an Administrative Message.

Then the head of the "Office of the President" said it was a Marketing
Message.

Today the VP called it an accident and proved to me they were sorry.

Cingular plays semantic games: "I think I've never seen a SPAM message we can't call an administrative message" they might say. Yesterday, despite having txt messaging disabled for my account, Cingular SPAMed my cell phone with a txt message SPAM promoting txt and photo messaging. I called to complain, and they're worse than Lily Tomlin now; just total arrogance.