[TriLUG] OT: Arranging Employer Provided Broadband is Hard

[Len Boyle]

Scott

There may be a paperwork change to handle what you want. 

A long time ago, my employer paid for a second phone line for those on call. This is the days before folks had internet at home. 

But they did not purchase  the phone service. Every month we would bring a copy of the phone bill to work and they would reimburse us for the phone costs. Which could be variable with message unit costs? 


-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On Behalf Of Scott Chilcote
Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2014 10:12 AM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
Subject: [TriLUG] OT: Arranging Employer Provided Broadband is Hard

Hello LUGers,

My employer is upgrading their VPN. Since I work from home much of the time, they want me to upgrade my broadband connection.  They want static IP, and will cover moving up to faster service (~20 Mbps).  Who am I to refuse?

Currently we have AT&T Uverse service (in Cary), which includes cable TV.  That's where the problems start. 

I called AT&T customer service over the holidays, and spoke to them at length. 
Their answer to each of the following questions was "No".

  * Can we separate the payments for TV and broadband service?
  * Can we arrange a separate, additional Uverse connection for
    commercial broadband?
  * Can we arrange a separate, additional DSL connection for commercial
    broadband?


We don't necessarily need two broadband connections, but I wanted to see what the options are.

So, AT&T seems to have no solution.  I was transferred to their commercial "advanced" tech support, who couldn't come up with anything either.  Apparently people who work from home with employer provided broadband are a new concept.

I'm looking at two alternatives.  One is to go back to Time Warner for broadband, and keep Uverse for TV.  We had Time Warner for years, and I was happy to get away from them.  AT&T's service is far better, by which I mean just adequate.

On the other hand, the solution I like best is to cut the TV cord and start streaming what we watch.  This saves a bundle of money, and leverages the broader broadband connection when I don't need it for work.

I'm wondering if I've missed a better way to handle this.  As far as I can tell, we just have Uverse, Time Warner Cable, and EarthLink DSL serving our area.  Given my past experience with DSL I'd rather avoid it.

Thanks for any pointers,

   Scott C.

--
Scott Chilcote
Cary, NC USA
scottchilcote at att.net

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