June 13, 2006
Aarrgghhh.
So here we sit, no telephone, and according to my submissive michael, the TomatoVine Voip tech support people are saying it's a problem with our account. What the hell kind of problem can a three day old account have?
I called last week and paid for the first month on my debit card. I received the equipment on Saturday, which is when michael hooked it up. Sunday he purchased phones and set them up through a switch so that we would have a telephone in the front, back, and basement of the house.
The Spousal Unit was able to talk to his father on Sunday for a lengthy time. It was a good call. He was able to find out how his elderly and ailing parents were, and they could reassure themselves that he was surviving. Then SP's father told him about an incident he had encountered after a phone call he'd had with his sister in the Netherlands.
SP's father and his sister talked for about an hour. At the end of the call, they said their good-byes and disconnected. A few moments later, SP's dad got the strangest call. A gentleman identifying himself as FBI stated that they had observed the hour long call, but that the Dutch translator had not been available for the call, and would he, SP's father, please be so kind as to tell him everything they had discussed.
I know this man. This is the man who survived a Nazi forced labor camp by sheer will and intestinal fortitude as a young teen. This is the man who came to America with a young wife, a toddler and an infant and built a life for not only for them, but also for the four additional children he fathered after they arrived. This is the man who worked hard to attain his citizenship, who is an active member of his church and community, and who lectures groups on his experiences during WWII.
Just how do you suppose this man responded to such a request from a nameless, faceless voice on a telephone after an intensely private and unpleasant conversation with a dying sibling?
I don't imagine it was pretty.
SP and his father discussed this prying and invasive incident during their conversation on Sunday.
As of Monday, our brand new TomatoVine Voip service is, well, non-service. And they can't seem to be able to tell us anything about why it is not working. Modem's fine. Switch is fine. Cable internet service is fine. Phones have dial tone but no calls will connect through them. Nor will calls come into the house on the phones.
The only thing that the technician at TomatoVine's tech support number will say is that there is "something wrong with the account."
I believe that.
Just how long does it take to get a warrant for a tap, anyway?