Fun times in India

I recently read a post by Slacker regarding his great conversation with tech support for his DirecTV service. It made remember the fun times I had when I purchased a wireless print server for our laser printer at home. The brand was SMC (didn't really know too much about them at the time), but the setup was just what I was looking for. So I went ahead and bought it, and proceeded to set it up once it arrived. The fun started from there. I set it up, but could not get it to recognize the signal from the wireless router. There are three LED lights on the front of it, and the middle one lights up once it receives a signal (meaning that the setup procedure is complete). For the longest time, I tried to get it to work, to no avail. Unfortunately, the wireless print server works on the 2.4ghz range, meaning if I wanted to call tech support, I would either have to use a cellphone, or use a wired landline phone (we didn't have a 5.8ghz phone at the time). The phones we had a home used the same 2.4 ghz frequency, so using them would cancel the signal path to the print server (argh!). So I used the wired landline in the computer room and was severely restricted in movement as a result. What's more, when I finally caved in and called their tech support, I knew from the long pause that I was being transferred to INDIA! Now keep in mind, I never really had a reason to talk to anyone in India prior to this, though I had heard horror stories from other people. Well, you can add my story to that list...everything you have heard is true! From the struggle to understand the person on the other side of the phone (and vice versa, I assume), to not comprehending what I was trying to say (again, vice versa as well), to frequent pauses as they went to talk to their supervisor. Unbelievable!!! I called back a few times after trying different things - each time I got someone different, but always ended up going through the exact same routine. Finally got fed up, and ended up figuring it out myself, for crying out loud. To their credit, though, they did get my technical thought process flowing amidst all that - so at least they did that much for me. Hearing about how tech jobs are being lost to offshoring (India, China, etc), I really don't know how much actual cost-saving there can be if the customers are being treated to (and being driven away from) the kinds of customer service experiences I've been exposed to...