I said I’d never deal with this bloody company again… but now I have to. Even though I am the person who wrote the (in)famous “Qwest In The Dumper” blog entry the day I finally got rid of them and went to Vonage, I’m now buying a home where the only high-speed internet service is through Qwest.
Double damn.
I have dealt with customer service for the last two hours, trying to explain to them using very small words what it is that I require. They refuse to understand. This reminds me why I am glad I do not work in customer service.
I am glad, on the other hand, for the lessons I learned from my friend Matt, the master of dealing with customer service. Keep reiterating what it is you want, and if they refuse to help you out, talk to their supervisor, and their supervisor above them if necessary to get what you want. Eventually, they will relent. Usually.
My experience with Qwest before, though, is lies, runarounds, and more lies to placate me. Then lies on the customer service record when I call again… and then they send me to another department.
So I gave up. Screw ’em. If they don’t want my business badly enough to understand why I want two separate DSL lines to my house, they can do without more of my hard-won dollars. I know the number of the beast, and it’s 79378 (QWEST on your touch-tone dial).
I decided to give a company called Digis a try. Reviews are mixed, but at least my technical support and sales people speak American English, give me what I want, and have a time frame for when I can get it. I’m a little concerned about negative reports on the ISP at dslreports.com, but I find it interesting to note that most of those are 2-3 years old, and they’ve changed from 802.11 (UGH!) to Motorola Canopy in that time.
Wish me luck!
Wireless Broadband
I wonder what the situation with wireless broadband tech is nowadays. I remember 2 years ago Verizon had just started offering a wirless broadband card for laptops that essentially gave you full wifi anywhere that you had cell reception, though it’s price was a bit steep (about $75 a month)
I also remember hearing somewhere that there are some wireless routers now available that let you use one of the wireless broadband cards for the internet line as though you were running a DSL or cable into the router.
2 years ago the tech wasn’t as reliable or as fast as a DSL landline, but things might have changed within the past couple years. Might be worth a shot, especially if Qwest really was the nightmare you described.
I remember something my IT manager told me he’d discovered when it came to customer service: for many companies, people working in the cancellation department have a lot more authority to answer requests than people in the support department. He resolved a lot of issues my getting transferred into cancellation and talking to them there.
Wireless Broadband
The phrase to look up is “Motorola Canopy Systems”. The Canopy system allows 5mb downloads and 2mb uploads (or more, depending on range), and is a kind of token-sharing system. It actually scales quite well and runs at a frequency which isn’t easily blocked by trees and wooden buildings.
802.11 over long distances is balls. I wouldn’t do it.
What you’re referring to is EVDO. It’s pretty good for regular web browsing and email at around twice ISDN speeds or better. I wouldn’t want to use it as my always-on VOIP connection, but it does well when traveling.
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Matthew P. Barnson