Well, I've apparently managed to shoot myself in the foot.
Earlier in the week I had stopped by the Verizon Experience store in Fair Oaks Mall. The employee did a preliminary check and said yes, I could get DSL at my address if I wanted it. After thinking about it overnight, I took the cable modem back to my local Comcast office. They offered to send a technician out, but I told them not to bother. I already knew what they would say: The problem is that I'm splitting my signal three ways (computer and two DVR's). In fact, last summer I was having some reception with some of the cable channels, and the guy who came out went as far as to ask me why I had two DVR's. I told him it was the only way I could think of to make my cable bill even higher.
The technician's complaint ignores the fact that I have had some the same set up for over a year with no problems. So why, all of a sudden, does the size of my signal splitter become an issue? I told the people at the cable office that I didn't want to deal with their technicians any more, and to just cancel my internet service. Besides, I'm still pissed about Comcast's decision in January to drop HDNet and HDNet Movies.
So today I went back to the Verizon store to sign up for DSL, and guess what? NOW they tell me they don't offer at my address. Apparently I'm too far from the local switching station or some such thing.
Great. NOW they tell me this!?!?!
They were able to tell me, however, that they have been working on FIOS here in Warrenton. Hopefully they'll get around to my street soon.
In the meantime, I refuse to go back to Comcast. Their service is too unreliable and their employees are assholes. And when I complained about a prolonged outage back in January, their response was that "we don't guarantee uninterrupted service." Now I like to think I'm reasonable, and I could live with something like 99% or 98% reliability. But when that figure starts approaching the 80% mark, I think I'm entitled to complain.
So for now I'll stick with my Verizon aircard. Granted, if I use it here at home with my desktop, the speed is no better than with dialup service. It takes absolutely FOREVER to download porn. But I've also tried it on a new laptop closer in to DC (where Verizon has an upgraded network), and the speeds there really do rival those of broadband.
Incidentally, my laptop did detect a wireless signal, apparently from one of the neighboring apartments. But when I tried to access it, I was asked for a password.
Not that I would actually have stolen their signal, of course. I was just doing it purely as an experiment.
Earlier in the week I had stopped by the Verizon Experience store in Fair Oaks Mall. The employee did a preliminary check and said yes, I could get DSL at my address if I wanted it. After thinking about it overnight, I took the cable modem back to my local Comcast office. They offered to send a technician out, but I told them not to bother. I already knew what they would say: The problem is that I'm splitting my signal three ways (computer and two DVR's). In fact, last summer I was having some reception with some of the cable channels, and the guy who came out went as far as to ask me why I had two DVR's. I told him it was the only way I could think of to make my cable bill even higher.
The technician's complaint ignores the fact that I have had some the same set up for over a year with no problems. So why, all of a sudden, does the size of my signal splitter become an issue? I told the people at the cable office that I didn't want to deal with their technicians any more, and to just cancel my internet service. Besides, I'm still pissed about Comcast's decision in January to drop HDNet and HDNet Movies.
So today I went back to the Verizon store to sign up for DSL, and guess what? NOW they tell me they don't offer at my address. Apparently I'm too far from the local switching station or some such thing.
Great. NOW they tell me this!?!?!
They were able to tell me, however, that they have been working on FIOS here in Warrenton. Hopefully they'll get around to my street soon.
In the meantime, I refuse to go back to Comcast. Their service is too unreliable and their employees are assholes. And when I complained about a prolonged outage back in January, their response was that "we don't guarantee uninterrupted service." Now I like to think I'm reasonable, and I could live with something like 99% or 98% reliability. But when that figure starts approaching the 80% mark, I think I'm entitled to complain.
So for now I'll stick with my Verizon aircard. Granted, if I use it here at home with my desktop, the speed is no better than with dialup service. It takes absolutely FOREVER to download porn. But I've also tried it on a new laptop closer in to DC (where Verizon has an upgraded network), and the speeds there really do rival those of broadband.
Incidentally, my laptop did detect a wireless signal, apparently from one of the neighboring apartments. But when I tried to access it, I was asked for a password.
Not that I would actually have stolen their signal, of course. I was just doing it purely as an experiment.
0 thoughtful ramblings:
Post a Comment