Hey, there! Log in / Register
Did I make a mistake trusting Verizon?
By adamg on Wed, 06/16/2010 - 9:37am
I've been a loyal Speakeasy DSL customer since forever. But when I went to the support site to see about increasing the speed on our line, I discovered they've decided to concentrate on business users. While I do use DSL for my business (natch), their rates are way more than I want to pay. So I signed up for Verizon DSL - theoretically, way more bandwidth at less cost than what we're paying Speakeasy now.
As part of signing up, I had an online chat with Online Support Dude, who assured me, twice, that Speakeasy and Verizon service could co-exist on the same line until I was happy with the latter and canceled the former.
Yeah, right. Yesterday, around 9 a.m. our DSL service went dead. Didn't think much of it (usually, just means we have to reset the modem), went off to a meeting downtown, where I got e-mail from Verizon congratulating me on selecting them and notifying me that my Verizon DSL service had been turned on (oh, and by the way, the billing meter was now running). Only problem: They hadn't sent out the new modem (it's now supposedly on its way). So now we have no Internet service, but are paying Verizon for the privilege (I'm typing this at Select Cafe in Roslindale, which, granted, is my satellite office anyway; will move my car so I don't get a ticket, then head for the Roslindale BPL).
So I haven't even started using Verizon DSL yet, and I'm already grumpy. Not a good sign.
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
We're having problems with Verizon DSL, but...
... it looks like it is due to a ttree branch that sags when wet -- and bwegins pulling the line out of contact. One of my daring children climbed up higher in the tree than was comfortable (for me) and put on a "sling" that is (for now) holding the offending branch up. ;~}
Update: West Roxbury BPL
Since Roslindale doesn't open until noon on Wednesdays. Good thing I drove instead of taking the bus.
I was not impressed with
Verizon's internet service of any kind. Tech support is always a nightmare if you have a clue what you are talking about. They have their script they are running through and you aren't getting to anyone who can actually help with anything complicated until you get through them.
I was impressed with their
I was impressed with their support the one time I had a DSL-related service visit. I'd been having intermittent connection problems for some time, where a reboot of the router tended to fix it. Then one time it stopped working entirely, and I called up support. I made it clear to the rep that I knew what I was talking about, and a technician came down the next morning. An hour later, after some alleged rewiring in the central office, all was good again, and it's been working since.
speakeasy
Our non-profit organization was using two speakeasy lines to offer free wireless Internet to residents of low-income housing. Speakeasy's abuse team called us about once a week for maybe 6 months to tell us that they felt our usage was excessive and was "harming other customers". We felt that the contract did not specify that bandwidth was limited, nor were we using a significant portion of the bandwidth we were paying for (typically about 1Mbps on what I believe was an 8Mbps line). I would ask them what their bandwidth cap was and I was never given a specific answer, just that we needed to lower our use because we were harming other customers. I asked them if they could provide some documentation that we were, in fact, harming other customers and they changed their story to say that we had the "potential" to impact other customers. They ended up terminating us and we switched to RCN without any problems.
Wow, yeah, Speakeasy has changed
I remember when they encouraged people to share their connections; they even set up a billing system so you could re-sell your WiFi to neighbors. Oh, well, I guess that's what happens when you get bought by a large corporation (in their case, Best Buy).
yes, they've changed
We went with Speakeasy originally because they were so friendly to community wifi. They've definitely changed.
Is Verizon available in some parts of Rozzie but not others?
I just got all sorts of excited thinking that I might be able to switch from Comcast to Verizon for my DSL, but Verizon's site is still insisting that it's not available at my address, which, btw is right off of Walworth. Stuck with Comcast. Uck.
Wouldn't surprise me
Although at your address? Huh!
It depends on your distance from a particular piece of telephone switching equipment - DSL only goes so far over standard phone lines and you get to a point where it just won't work (in our case, that means Verizon claims the service we're currently unable to actually use will hit a maximum of 5 Mbps, rather than the 7 we'd get if we lived closer to the switch).
We get 3Mbps at most
But maybe you are paying for something fancier.
Yeah, I paid for the top level
And it's still $20 a month less than Speakeasy (although, in defense of Speakeasy, their service was always solid).
I've had Verizon DSL for 5 or
I've had Verizon DSL for 5 or so years and never had an issue with tech support when I needed actual tech support, but trying to get ahole of someone who can schedule a work crew to come out to fix the physical line attached to your house is searingly painful, particularly if you don't have a Verizon land line. They don't want to speak to you, if you don't have a landline and will keep routing you back to their overseas tech support call center where no one can do anything, even if you keep telling them that the physical line that runs from the pole became disconnected from your house.
Aside from that - no complaints with the actual DSL service, and they did decide not to bill me for the 4 weeks I was waiting to have my house reconnected to the pole. Oh yeh, and they give you an 8 hour window when they make appointments, and then don't necessarily tell the crew why they are going out there. It's a wee bit ridiculous.
All is well; faith in Verizon restored
The modem came today, which I learned from my wife while eating lunch at DeNo's (West Roxbury's best wireless-enabled pizza place; OK, possibly its only wireless-enabled pizza place). All set up, vroom, vroom (4.3M download on the one Speakeasy speed test I ran). Only problem: My (non-Verizon) mail server is now refusing to let me send out mail (I can download it just fine). Now to try to figure out why ...
Which router did you get
We have a comparatively ancient Westell?
Maybe you need to open a port in the router's firewall (or something of the sort)?
Ah, yeah, that could be it
It's a newer (I assume) Westell wireless modem. Now to figure out how to actually log into the thing (I have the IP number, but it asks me for a user name and password, which I don't have).
Probably
admin/password
Fixed
Sometimes it pays to actually search knowledgebases :-).
Not sure if it's the router or Verizon, but port 25, which is typically used for mail relays, is blocked. Fortunately, my Web host has an alternate port available for just such purposes.
Port 25
I think Verizon started blocking this port fairly recently.
Yes, VZ has blocked port 25
Yes, I've had VZ DSL for 7-1/2 years and a server at home and they have been blocking port 25 since early this year. I noted it when I could not monitor a mail server at work.
For those having port 25
For those having port 25 issues with Verizon, try switching to 587 and see if that works with your mail host of choice. Many/most support this alternative port.