After 5 years of dealing with Pacbell->SBC-> Cingular, I never speak to the first two people I talk to. I instantly ask for a manager or level 2 tech. It's amazing how much more conciliatory they get the higher up the chain you go. If I get someone on the phone who doesn't sound nice, I ask for someone else. It's not worth the time to deal with someone who either can't speak well or obviously has no clue about what's going on. Most of the time I know more than the automaton reading the script book at the other end of the phone about how their system works. Give them a soc (sp?) code for some service and they think you are a manager yourself. =]