@geerlingguy They weren't much better for high dollar business accounts, even years ago. Automated responses blamed it on your CPE, which often took hours if not days of level 5+ escalation to get any attention whatsoever. Every now and then the decision was rip and replace with a new circuit from a different backbone provider and LEC.

I try to not blame employees personally for stuff like this though. They're all overworked and underappreciated. AT&T is not alone in this regard either.