OT: c2/cavtel/cavalier

[Bill Park]

Verizon sucks. My DSL sucks. I want a change. Comcast is not an option. Anyone using C2, or got any insite or options?

Bill

[Ian Alexander]

Just got Verizon FiOS here. Seems like a different animal from DSL, even though it's from the same evil empire. To be clear, I have never had DSL. I came from Comcast for price reasons, but I've heard lots of complaints about DSL from neighbors, etc.

So far, FiOS is rock solid, but it's only been a little over a week. We'll see what it's like when they stress the system with too many new customers, etc. I opted for the lower-priced 5Mb down/2Mb up service. The 15Mb down service has the same upload speed. I mostly upload anyway and I'm seeing upload speeds around 1.8 Mbps.

Also, the DVR and the remotes work better than Comcast's did.:o Interesting to see the phone company do cable better than the cable company.

[Bud Johnson]

Verizon sucks. My DSL sucks. I want a change. Comcast is not an option. Anyone using C2, or got any insite or options?

Bill
Comcast sucks too. I presently can access any site that doesn't use comcast to connect in my area. IE:small businesses, like my bank across the street. And for some reason, my home page! Spent hours thinking first it was vista, then when my XP machines had the same problem, I visited my router. Then I called comcast. Automated message saying probs in your area, no need to report. Arrrhhggg.

[Bud Johnson]

Apparently comcast reads this BB, now it's up!

[Mike Bizanovich]

Bill:

Is FIOS available where you are? I have a couple clients in Bridgeville who've been using it for about a year with nary a hiccup. We're 5 yrs away from getting it here, but in speaking with a Comcast business rep the other day, she lamented the penetration that Verizon has gotten in Pittsburgh.

Mike Bizanovich
Wheeling, WV

[Bill Park]

Bill:

Is FIOS available where you are? I have a couple clients in Bridgeville who've been using it for about a year with nary a hiccup. We're 5 yrs away from getting it here, but in speaking with a Comcast business rep the other day, she lamented the penetration that Verizon has gotten in Pittsburgh.

Mike Bizanovich
Wheeling, WV

Mike,

I'm just getting fed up with Verizon, the company that caress less. Constant loss of signal, and (really wierd) strong DSL signal but no computer can connect... the problems started on the day I moved into the new house, and have not stopped. When things are working well, I can count on having to turn off and reset their wireless router at least once a day.

Their system did not work, right put of the box. When they came to fix it, it took two days. (and yes, I had to skip work...pretty costly right there)
It took a lot of complaining to get them to check the wiring, and sure enough, they discovered a problem with the wire from the pole to the house, and ended up getting two trucks out here and replacing a length of wire, not just from the pole to the house.

On the second day I had to leave at 7PM, so I left the guy there with my wife, and I said, "Do NOT let this guy leave until you are connected to the internet." I went to work, he blew her off and left.

FIOS is not only available, but they offered to wire the house for free. My wife didn't want to go with the upcharge (our Verizon DSL downtown was fine, and in my old house 2 blocks up the street from here I am now it was fine, and in the studio it was fine). But now, I can't get an english speaking support tech, I can't get a support tech who listens to what I tell them, and I can't get a support tech who knows as much as I do about networks. Know what I know about networks? Zilch.

I don't know about you, but I am tired of being treated poorly by peole who want my money. I'm trying to spend my money at vendors who appreciate my business.

Bill

[MMP]

Please let us know if you find any.:rolleyes:

Regards,

MM



I'm trying to spend my money at vendors who appreciate my business.
Bill

[Cary B. Cornett]

I have never tried any of the DSL carriers (partly because I don't want to give ATT any money). I have always used cable for my broadband, and both of the carriers I have used sometimes have service problems. Of the two, however, WOW acts like they actually want my business, where Comcast did not. WOW actually gives me a decent rate (which I call up to "re-negotiate" annually to prevent increases), and I don't have to pay them a surcharge for not carrying their TV service (which frankly is not as good as that offered by Comcast). Oh, and the ISP service is the ONLY thing I buy from WOW. I make a point of using 3 different carriers for ISP, TV, and phone.

[TotalSonic]

I had Earthlink as my DSL carrier for a little bit but service was horrible - tons of downtime - and the customer service was horrible as well as I had to deal with semi-rude and barely competent call desk people situated a hemisphere away. I switched to Verizon a bit ago and things have been a lot better since then. I think problems with particular carriers are often regionally based though - i.e. they might provide good service in one area but be horrible elsewhere.

Bewst regards,
Steve Berson

[Cary B. Cornett]

I think problems with particular carriers are often regionally based though - i.e. they might provide good service in one area but be horrible elsewhere.

Bewst regards,
Steve Berson Based on what I have heard, I would have to agree with that assessment. Consider that, although business and phone support policies are centrally determined, the reliability of service in a given area is only as good as the intelligence, training, and diligence of the technicians working in that area.
I once had a service problem with Comcast that was ultimately traced to the local OTN (whatever that is). I was later told that my insistence about the problem enabled them to forestall what would have been a much larger failure. Equipment that was going flaky was apparently on its way to a catastrophic failure. To find it, though, a service supervisor had to assign a specific tech to focus on the problem until it was found.
A bit of irony here is that fairly early in the process I had run some tests from home that localized the difficulty to the OTN than needed service. :rolleyes: I am not an IT professional or anything like that, I just knew to run some simple tests that the tech support guy at my VOIP provider (packet8) had explained to me. For those who know this stuff, the tests used "ping -t" and "tracert" from the CMD app in W2k.
So yeah, the quality of the local service tech crew is IMPORTANT.

[Ian Alexander]

Based on what I have heard, I would have to agree with that assessment. Consider that, although business and phone support policies are centrally determined, the reliability of service in a given area is only as good as the intelligence, training, and diligence of the technicians working in that area.
I once had a service problem with Comcast that was ultimately traced to the local OTN (whatever that is). I was later told that my insistence about the problem enabled them to forestall what would have been a much larger failure. Equipment that was going flaky was apparently on its way to a catastrophic failure. To find it, though, a service supervisor had to assign a specific tech to focus on the problem until it was found.
A bit of irony here is that fairly early in the process I had run some tests from home that localized the difficulty to the OTN than needed service. :rolleyes: I am not an IT professional or anything like that, I just knew to run some simple tests that the tech support guy at my VOIP provider (packet8) had explained to me. For those who know this stuff, the tests used "ping -t" and "tracert" from the CMD app in W2k.
So yeah, the quality of the local service tech crew is IMPORTANT.
FiOS installed what they called an ONT or Optical Network Terminal on the outside of our house. I believe that some of Comcast's network is also fiber optic. Because what came to our house from Comcast was copper coax, perhaps the Comcast ONT is at their office or in a large box somewhere else in the neighborhood.

Or maybe they didn't mix up the acronym and an OTN is something completely different, like a man with three...

[Bill Park]

I had Earthlink as my DSL carrier for a little bit but service was horrible - tons of downtime - and the customer service was horrible as well as I had to deal with semi-rude and barely competent call desk people situated a hemisphere away. ....

Bewst regards,
Steve Berson

That was my experience with Earthlink too... plus hold times of 45 minutes, support people hanging up because I reached the wrong department (GREAT after a 25 minute wait on hold..) inability to quit their service (they woud send me to 'quit' pages that were blank), inability to stop their monthly credit card billing (to the point where I cancelled the credit card), multiple letters asking to remove the service unanswered and ignored, multiple papers filed with the credit card company trying to get the issue resolved, and other insanity, to the point where they had a lawyer threaten me, and I gave him chapter and verse, said that I could not be the only one experiencing this, and he should expect a class action suit should he really want to play, bring it on . That was the last I heard from Earthlink.

Bill