I Want Wireless Broadband And I Want It Now!

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Andrew Seybold <Andy () outlook4mobility com>
Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2003 11:43:12 -0700
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: For your IP list if you want

Commentary July 6, 2003

 

 

I Want Wireless Broadband And I Want It Now!

 

Over the course of the last few months I have become a veteran of the battle
to get broadband wired services to my house and my office. Here are my
stories. If NextWave or someone else starts selling broadband wireless for
home and office I will be the first one to sign up!

 

The Good

 

When we bought our house in Santa Barbara a few years ago I tried to get
Verizon's DSL service. Verizon took the order and then told me that the area
of Santa Barbara in which we live is wired with 26-gauge telephone wire so
DSL was out. I then turned to Cox, our cable provider, and did manage to get
a cable modem and service. However, every three or four days the service
quits and I have to reboot the modem. Cox has been out and replaced the
cable modem three times, checked the signal strength and told me the problem
was corrected. Our service is still going down on a regular basis and now I
am in a battle with Cox to get a static IP address so I can use my Virtual
Private Network (VPN).

 

The other good news is that for the town home we just purchased in San Jose
(we are leaving our mountain retreat after more than a dozen years and I
will be splitting my time between our Los Gatos office and Santa Barbara), I
discovered that I could get either DSL from Pacific Bell (excuse me, SBC) or
cable service from Comcast. I was in luck!

 

The Bad

 

I logged onto the Comcast Web site and tried to order cable TV and modem
service. The only services available were high-priced digital TV programming
with a cable modem. I contacted customer service and found that I could get
analog TV ($50 per month cheaper) and yes, a cable modem. But I could not
order the service in advance and would have to wait until I was living in
the house.

 

So I decided to order two phone lines and DSL from SBC. I went to the SBC
Web site and tried to sign up for service. I filled out the extensive forms
three times and three times the site dumped me before I could complete the
order. So I picked up the phone and called the order desk. I got a real
person but he told me that he was just an "overflow" operator and could not
take an order so he would have someone call me back‹no one did. I tried four
more times and got an "overflow" operator each time.

 

Finally I sent an email to a PR person at Cingular Wireless I know and asked
how to get help. The next day I received a call from his counterpart at SBC
who had a supervisor call me. I was then able to order the two phone lines
and the DSL service. I am happy to report that the phone lines are installed
and the DSL modem showed up and is ready to install. Will the DSL service
work? I will let you know.

 

I don't have a clue how folks get SBC's attention if they don't resort to
optional tactics. And I am not alone. When Barney, my business partner,
recently needed to terminate phone service in San Jose and obtain new
service in Grass Valley he ended up having to call the main San Francisco
number and move through a number of people until he got someone who could
help him. I guess SBC, the half-parent of Cingular, would rather we all
simply opt for wireless services!

 

And The Ugly (VERY)

 

This brings me to the latest set of problems. In early June we were told
that we needed to move our office across the street from where it is. The
landlord had a new place for us and needed our space for another tenant. We
planned to move the day before the July 4th holiday so we had plenty of time
to organize things. Ruth, our admin, and Susan, our bookkeeper, know how to
keep our business running and are great coordinators so they coordinated our
move.

 

We had Covad DSL at our old location so our IT man called Covad and was told
that our 384K service could not be moved across the street--we could only
get 144-Kbps service. This sounded strange to me so I called Covad myself
and got the same story. I explained that both of these offices were served
from the same central office, but Covad insisted it could not provide us
with 384-Kbps service.

 

Ruth then called Verizon (the wired folks who provide our telephone
service). She was told that we could get a Verzion DSL circuit. A DSL modem
would be shipped out and the circuit would be installed a week prior to the
move. Well, a week prior to the move I went to the new location and found
the new phone line that Verizon had installed, labeled and ready for our DSL
service. But we had not received the DSL modem. Ruth called her contact at
Verizon and was told that we could not get DSL service after all, she was
sorry to say, but she did not give an explanation as to why.

 

I started calling both the wired and Internet side of Verizon and got
several different stories about why we could not get DSL service and why, if
Verizon folks knew this, they had installed a line and set things up to
provide DSL service. After a half-day of wasting my time I remembered what I
had done to get SBC's attention and fired off an email to a man at Verizon
Wireless whom I know well and who knows his way around the organization.
This got some action and I received a call from a VP on the Wired Internet
side of the business who explained to me (for the first time) that the
Verizon central office in Los Gatos that serves hundreds of small to medium
businesses is not equipped for DSL service!

 

The Day Before Our Move

 

It was then the day before our move. I was facing having our Exchange Server
and email down after the move with no way to get service. Fortunately, I was
able to make a deal with the landlord to leave the servers in the old
location for a short period of time. But that means we will have to dial
into an ISP to retrieve our email--a long and tedious task!

 

Meanwhile, I went back to Covad and was told that 144 Kbps was all they
could provide. I asked our landlord, who is in the same building, what
company he used for DSL service--XO Communications. So I called XO, gave
them the phone number that Verizon had installed and was told they could
provide me with 384/384 service but that it would take a "week or two" on an
expedited basis. I placed the order and guess what? The next day I was
notified that XO's wholesaler, Covad, would be doing the install. The SAME
Covad that told me it could only give me 144/144 service!

 

The Final Straw

 

The day of our move my IT man said that the Verizon installer was at the new
office and that I should talk to him. When I did he said that since the
existing Covad circuit and the new one we needed were terminated in the same
central office, if I could get him a work order he could go to the central
office, swap the two pairs and bingo, we would have our existing Covad
384/384 service moved over. (I learned a long time ago that field guys
really know there stuff.)

 

So I started calling around to get a work order. After talking to seven, yes
seven, different Verizon folks I was asked by one woman for the name of the
installer because what he was suggesting was unlawful according to both the
PUC and the FCC! She was rude and told me in no uncertain terms that I could
not get what I needed done even though it was Verizon's fault that I was in
this predicament.  

 

Then I called Covad and ordered a service "move order" from the old address
to the new address and gave them the phone number that had already been
installed. They told me they would enter a work order but it could take up
to two weeks for Verizon to tell them that the circuit was installed!

 

So here I sit, more than a month after I ordered a new DSL circuit. My
office has been moved, my servers remain where they were and I am without
direct email. All someone at Verizon has to do is to go to the central
office, identify the two lines in question and swap them! But I am willing
to bet that for the next two weeks our new offices will remain without DSL
service while Verizon, XO and Covad try to figure out how to swap two pairs
of wires.

 

I Want Wireless Broadband And I Want It Now!

 

 

Andrew M. Seybold

 

 

 

Andy Seybold

Outlook 4Mobility

www.outlook4mobility.com <http://www.outlook4mobility.com>

 


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