[iDriveX]

So here's a story of me trying to get internet in my new house:

So I decide to buy a house. This house happens to be in a monopoly-zone where Verizon controls all of the phone lines and Adelphia controls all of the cable lines unless you decide to use some form of alternative communication. So all I really wanted was broadband and TV. I use my cell phone for my land line and I figured if I could get away with it I would just get a cable modem. That way I'd be able to avoid buying a phone line that I don't use for the DSL.

So I call Adelphia up and here's the package they gave me:
1 HD TV Reciever with HD Programming
3 Digital Cable Boxes with regular digital programming
1 High Speed Internet Cable Modem
(3) Months of Free Showtime, Cinemax, and HBO
$80.00/Month

Sounds good to me! So I make my appointment, Thursday between 11-1 PM. I told my manager that I would have to take an "extended" lunch to wait for the cable guy and he said it was no big deal, Thursdays tend to be slow.

So I get home right at 11 AM and wait, clean the house and do chores around the place until about 1 PM when the guy hasn't shown up. I decide to call Adelphia just to find out where the guy is:

Me: "Hi, My cable guy hasn't shown up yet. My name is - and my address is -"
A: "I'm showing you have an 11-1 PM appointment"
Me: "Yeah, It's 1 yet and I was just wondering if I could get an update on when he would be arriving"
A: "Well sir, It's only 1 PM, I would suggest you give him a little while longer"
Me: "Right, I was going to do that, but the appointment was from 11-1 PM, and that's why I was asking"
A: "It's only 1 PM sir, he's not that late"

They got really defensive like I was asking some sort of super special favor. So 1:30 PM rolls around and still no cable guy. Then 2 PM when I decided to call again:

Me: "Hi, My cable guy still hasn't shown up yet. My name is - and my address is -"
A: "Ok, he might be running late, I can call the dispatch center and check and see if he is"
Me: "Well, I think he is running late because he was supposed to be here between 11 and 1 and it's 2 now."
A: "Again sir, he might be running late and I'm not sure of that, let me put you on hold and check with dispatch"
---Insert piano muszak hold music---
A: "I checked with Dispatch, he is running late sir"
Me: "Uhhh...Right, so when will he be arriving"
A: "Well as I said, He is running late, so it will most likely be after 1 PM"
Me: "Are you in another time zone?"
A: "No Sir, why"
Me: "Because it is already after 1 PM"
A: "What is your point sir?"
Me: "Nevermind, I'll wait"

This happened again at 3 and then again at 4 PM until I just said screw it and called them back:

Me: "Hi, I'd like to cancel my service, my name is - and my address is -"
A: "Ok, I'm showing that you had an appointment with a technician between 11 and 1 today sir, how did that go?"
Me: "It didn't. He never showed up and I'm a little sick of waiting so I'd like to cancel my service"
---Typing---
A: "OK sir, all cancelled, have a good day"
Me: "That's it? What about my wasted day and you trying to retain my business?"
A: "We do have a $20.00 On-time guarantee but since you are no longer a customer, we cannot credit that to your account."

I just hung up. I can't believe my afternoon is worth $20 to those idiots.

So I call Verizon, and order DSL. They were atleast friendly and knowledgeable on the phone. I ordered my DSL and they said the modem would arrive in 5 business days and then I'd be able to turn it on and go.

5 Business Days came and went and I called them back and the guy said that the order had been cancelled and that someone called me and spoke with me and told me that my order was cancelled. I told him that no one spoke to me and asked him why my order was cancelled and he said that DSL is not available in my area.

I live in Thousand Oaks, CA. Verizon is headquartered in the next town over in Westlake Village. The busiest freeway in America runs about a mile from my house. DSL is not available in my area.

So with no other options I walked into an Adelphia warehouse in Newbury Park (next town over). Told them I wanted to pick up a Cable Modem myself and not have anyone install it. They gave me some crap about testing the lines and I told them I would take my chances. One of the technicians called some guy in the back office, they created a new account for me, gave me my cable modem and I got home.

Inside the box there was 2 Installation CDs and a manual. Page one had the system requirements, "If you are a Macintosh user, please call our back office. Our Cable modem is not supported on a Macintosh System". Of course.

So I call probably the only English speaking, knowledgeable, actually courteous person at Adelphia, one of their Cable Internet Techs. Suprisingly, the phone number in the manual doesn't make you sit through a phone tree or on hold or anything, a tech actually picked up the phone on the second ring. I told him I had a mac and he told me to hang tight for a sec. The cable modem restarted itself and then he said "Open Safari". So I did and a webpage loaded. I asked him what he did and he said that since they don't have an installer for the Mac, they just have to give me a static IP and "turn it on". No login, No Password. Good solution.

Anyways, while I was in the Adelphia warehouse, there was a big smiling man in a picture and underneath it had his name and "Area Manager". I'm going to write a strongly worded letter to him, maybe he'll get it, maybe he'll care. Probably not. Maybe I'll get my $20 credited to my Internet account.

[iDriveX]

Oh yeah, in all that time, DirecTV was able to come over and do a 4-room, mutli-satellite install the day after I called them and have it work perfectly. I'm not a big fan of the satellite solution because sometimes it doesn't play nice with my TiVo, but it works I guess. More HD TV channels anyways.

[CharlesS]

Hell, I just bought a cable modem at Office Depot. Usually it's quite a bit cheaper than the one they sell you, even if it's the same brand, and you can just set the thing up yourself - it's not as if you need a technician to come over just to set your TCP/IP settings to DHCP.

[MacGorilla]

Adelphia has do it yourself kits but all you need to do is buy a cable modem and do it yourself. Tell them to turn on the service and give you the DNS info.

That said, I've used Adelphia for 5 years and I'm happy.

[iMOTOR]

I think they did you a favor by not showing up. Adelphia is by far one of the worst companies out there, terrible service, their employees are brain dead. My experience with Adelphia has been way worse than yours, an absolute nightmare.

[cjrivera]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
Oh yeah, in all that time, DirecTV was able to come over and do a 4-room, mutli-satellite install the day after I called them and have it work perfectly. I'm not a big fan of the satellite solution because sometimes it doesn't play nice with my TiVo, but it works I guess. More HD TV channels anyways.

You could always get a HD DirecTV/Tivo machine. I know they're expensive now, but should come down in price at some point in time.

[synthfiend]

Originally posted by iMOTOR:
I think they did you a favor by not showing up. Adelphia is by far one of the worst companies out there, terrible service, their employees are brain dead. My experience with Adelphia has been way worse than yours, an absolute nightmare.

Mine's been bad as well.
My service goes out at least once a week. Cable TV and Modem.
You hit it right on the head about the brain dead thing.

I've had 6 appts for repair not show up.
Every time I called them on it they claimed they had no record of me calling.
Going to the office cleared that up fast.

Since I can't get Verizon DSL either, they have my nuts in a salad shooter.

Gosh, deregulation was such a good idea, wasn't it?

[sideus]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
Oh yeah, in all that time, DirecTV was able to come over and do a 4-room, mutli-satellite install the day after I called them and have it work perfectly. I'm not a big fan of the satellite solution because sometimes it doesn't play nice with my TiVo, but it works I guess. More HD TV channels anyways.

Get one of the DirecTV branded Tivos. With dual-tuners you can record one channel and watch another at the same time. Or you can record two channels and watch something else listed in the Now Playing list. I have one, it is great.

[D'Espice]

Isn't Verizon owned by the German Telekom? Not sure if they are, just checking.

Anyhow, when I first ordered DSL, it took the German Telekom seven months (yes that's right) to set it up. First, they said it'll be available within two months. Since nothing happened in these two months (no calls, no letters, absolutely nothing) I called them.

"Yeah hi, this is ... and I'm calling to ask if there's any news on my DSL account"
"hold on a sec... you were scheduled to receive your DSL modem last week"
"well I didn't"
"I'll take care of it, you'll have your modem next week"

Of course nothing ever happened, so I called again and again for the next two months once a week basically having the very same conversation over and over again. Then suddenly something happened

"'Yeah hi, this is ... and I'm calling to ask whether there's still no news about my DSL"
"Hold on... sir, DSL is not available in your area"
(At that point I was like WTF!!!!
"Uhhh..... could you check again? I'm pretty sure it is"
"No sir it isn't. Never has been"
"That's odd.... could you explain something to me then?"
"Sure sir"
"If it's not available in my area, how come my neighbor had his DSL for about a year now?"
... silence ...
"Sir are you sure?"
"Yeah"
"Hold on"
** music playing **
** click **

That was it, they hung up on me. Needless to say I was rather pissed at this point so I called again just to have them tell me the same thing. This time I asked for her supervisor who, what a coincidence, was out for that day. So I asked for his address and mailed him what the **** was going on.
Two days later he called back and apologized, promised me to take care of it personally and that I'll have my DSL within the next two weeks.

Now guess what? DAMN RIGHT! Nothing happened so I called him again - but turns out that guy wasn't with the GT anymore so I was pretty much screwed. Once again I had to call the hotline and ask what was going on and they said, I was scheduled to receive my modem in about two months (!!!) and they'd call me to make an appointment with a technician, not to set it up but to install new outlets. Two months later my DSL modem arrived yet I didn't get a call for another two weeks. Called again, scheduled an appointment which pretty much went like IDriveX's day. Scheduled for 10-11am, the guy arrrived at 5pm without apologizing whatsoever. The hotline didn't really care, said their technicians are usually very busy and happen to run late sometimes.

At this point it was still not working for another two weeks because they "accidently" forgot to activate my account. Never again am I getting anything from the German Telekom, they're a bunch of hillybillies.

[Buckaroo]

So, that's why my IP never changes. Do Window customers have to log in to the internet each time they log on?

[Scifience]

If you aren't happy with your (finally working) cable modem, may I suggest Speakeasy?

6000/768 on a dry pair (not through the telco) with 8 static IPs for $105.95. Everybody else told me I couldn't have DSL, but they were all doing lineshare. It would seem that there were "load coils" on my line. Because Speakeasy runs their own dedicated line, that sort of problem won't apply. If your address qualifies, you can get it (at least in my experience).

http://www.speakeasy.net/

I've had the service since July and haven't had a single outage. The speeds have been rock solid.

If you want to completely ditch Verizon, then you can get VoIP and use it on Speakeasy's dry pair. I use Packet8; the voice quality is 99% as good as a regular line and it is $19.95 a month for unlimited calls to anywhere in the US or Canada. Speakeasy also just came out with their own VoIP offering; it is supposed to offer better voice quaility than other services, but I haven't personally tried it.

E-mail me for a referral link if you are interested

[sideus]

I hate Sprint. They have a monopoly on the phone service where I live. I can't get anyother DSL but Sprint. It is rediculous.

[Scifience]

Originally posted by sideus:
I hate Sprint. They have a monopoly on the phone service where I live. I can't get anyother DSL but Sprint. It is rediculous.

Did you try my link above?

[sideus]

Sure did. Not available.

[MacGorilla]

Originally posted by sideus:
Sure did. Not available.

Same here. Yoo bad. Sounds good.

[SeSawaya]

I hate veriszon.

moved on the 1st of November and had called them about 10days before. Then they called and said my start date would be on the 5th, fine.

its now the 21st and I still dont have DSL. I've called them 6 times before I finally got to speak to someone who knew what they were doing. I'm supposed to have it next Wedesnday. + a free month.

I cant wait to go back to cable.

[tooki]

iDrivex, I sympathize.

I moved on August 20th. Since a friend of mine was taking over the old place, I let the cable go until he got it switched to his name. On the 22nd, he wanted to get a new account (you know, for the nice introductory promotion), so I called Comcast that very day and cancelled my service. (Mind you, the service wasn't even working at the time -- it had been out for nearly two weeks.)

But the Comcast crap was done. Or so I thought.

In late September, I get a "delinquency notice" from Comcast, saying that I owe $175. I call them and find out that they "have no record" of a cancellation request, and that they can only back-date it to the beginning of the last billing cycle, Sept 15th and that I was still liable for that month. I politely explained that there is zero percent chance of that happening, since I hadn't even been living there, and had called to cancel. It took several calls, but the rep (who, in her credit, was very polite with me) was finally convinced that I had in fact called, and she set it to back-date to August 22nd, but that that cannot happen until the service is disconnected, at which point the bill would be zeroed out. (I actually owed $3.62 for the few days the cable actually worked the previous month, so I sent them a check.) She made an appointment for disconnect. The date came and went, but the bill didn't.

I got another bill from them. It had grown to $260 or so. I call, and apparently they couldn't disconnect because they needed access to the rear of the building. So we schedule another disconnect appointment, and I call the old management to make sure they open the gate. That didn't happen until Wednesday of this past week (in the mean time, another bill came, for $329). I called today to see if the account was zeroed out. It said I owed $2.35 or something, but the lady cancelled that out for me.

So it seems that my Comcast ordeal is finally over. Ugh.

At my new place, I do have Comcast for TV only, but I am considering ditching it for satellite. It looks like I could get twice the channels for $10 less.

Oh yeah, and all that mess with Comcast was after it took them a month to believe me that my old address existed. When I moved into that place, they didn't have it in their database, and could not schedule an appointment until they added it. I guess that after all the trouble it took them to hook it up, they didn't want to disconnect it.


Meanwhile, my DSL horror story:
May 2000: I order 1.5/384 "dry" ADSL from Concentric. Everything is going great with the install until Covad sends "Gary" to do the premises install. He arrived, smelling sour from liquor. He went up into the attic (the same attic the Bell Atlantic guy had just spent 2 hours in), was there for 10 minutes and declared it was too hot and left. But those 10 minutes were long enough for him to break my and my neighbor's phone lines.

I call Concentric, but all they can do is ask dispatch to send someone out at the next available appointment. I spoke to dispatch, but they were not helpful. They wanted us to wait 3 days. (In the mean time, we get a rightfully angry call from the apartment manager.)

I searched for the phone number of the regional Covad office and called it. I literally asked the receptionist if she would "connect me to the highest executive who will talk to me." I got some manager's voicemail, but amazingly, she did call me back. She arranged for someone else to come out the next morning and fix the phones, but we still had to wait for the DSL install.

At least once it was up and running, that DSL was awesome.

A friend of mine ordered Speakeasy DSL in 2002. Gary went out to his place. Apparently, Gary was still rude and smelly, and also didn't complete that job.


3 weeks ago, I ordered Speakeasy DSL for my new apartment. It's due to be installed this Wednesday. I spoke with Speakeasy and asked them to tell Covad that Gary is not to come anywhere near my home. I told them that if he showed up at my door, I would unceremoniously turn him away. I got an email back that there is no longer a "Gary" working in the Baltimore region.

tooki

[Scifience]

Originally posted by tooki:
3 weeks ago, I ordered Speakeasy DSL for my new apartment. It's due to be installed this Wednesday. I spoke with Speakeasy and asked them to tell Covad that Gary is not to come anywhere near my home. I told them that if he showed up at my door, I would unceremoniously turn him away. I got an email back that there is no longer a "Gary" working in the Baltimore region.

If your experience with Speakeasy is at all like mine has been, you'll think it is the best connection you ever had.

You did get the OSTG package, right? It comes with 8 static IPs, free hosting, a SourceForge subscription, and some other goodies that their standard packages (at the same price) don't come with.

http://www.speakeasy.net/ostg/

[SamuraiDL]

yeah cheap versions of comcast and sprint.

[BlueSky]

I cancelled Verizon when the modem/service went out and they said they'd send someone over in a week. I've had Charter cable since and all's been well. Except their "digital tv" sucks.

[tooki]

No, I never heard of the OSTG option.

All it seems to be is more static IPs... am I missing something?

I don't need SourceForge (I'm not a developer).

Since I use a wireless router, it's unlikely I'll need more than the 2 IPs I'm already getting with the Sysadmin option.

That said, if I can get more for the same $, why not? Hehe.

I'll call them and see about it.

tooki

[Gankdawg]

I have CenturyTel for DSL and POTS. Don't even get me started.......

Cable internet isn't available in my area so no competition.

[iDriveX]

Wish I had known that you could just go out and get a cable router. I thought it was like DSL and you needed their specific brand of DSL router and some PPPoE branded program to login. So far so good on the internet. About 24 hours and no outages.

As far as the DirecTiVo is concerned...I LOVE the Home Media Option and with TiVo2Go right around the corner and soon the Netflix/TiVo deal, I think I will stick with my standalone. While two tuners would be nice, being able to access my music and photos from any TV in the house for cheaper than an AirPort Express and more features than one, I'll be passing on the D*TiVo.

[wdlove]

With all the trouble that you have been through. I certainly hope that you will get your $20 back iDriveX.

I have basic Comcast Cable, which is OK.

Have thought about Verizon DSL because of the $29.95 per month. Have heard so many stories about the service as mentioned above.

So I figure that yo get what you have paid for.

[tooki]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
Wish I had known that you could just go out and get a cable router. I thought it was like DSL and you needed their specific brand of DSL router and some PPPoE branded program to login. So far so good on the internet. About 24 hours and no outages.

Any home router will support any ethernet DSL or cable modem, as well as PPPoE for DSL that requires it. You just use whatever modem the cable or DSL company gives you, plus the router of your choice. It only gets sticky when it comes to combination modem-router devices, which I recommend against getting. They don't even save you money, but can lead to hassle.*

tooki

*Comcast uses one model of combination modem-router with custom firmware for their wireless home networking option. People who bought the same unit in retail found out that when it turns on to the Comcast network, Comcast automatically and irreversibly replaces the retail firmware with the Comcast firmware and blocks you out of ALL settings for your own router!

[tooki]

Originally posted by D'Espice:
Isn't Verizon owned by the German Telekom? Not sure if they are, just checking.

Nope, Verizon is most definitely not owned by Deutsche Telekom (that is what they go by here, by the way). In fact, Verizon and DT (operating as T-Mobile) compete in the mobile phone arena.

tooki

P.S. In English, to "mail" means to send something through the post office. Email is always "email" with the E. German speakers often use English words, but not in the same way that English speakers use them!

[iDriveX]

Thank you Tooki for that interesting yet obscure tidbit....And without further ado, here is my letter to Adelphia:

November 21st, 2004


Mr. Dan Deutsch, Area Manager of Adelphia Communications:


I am writing this letter to express my displeasure for the way I was treated by the company you represent.

Roughly two and a half weeks ago, I called Adelphia after moving into my new home in Thousand Oaks. I spoke with a customer service representative and decided on getting a high-speed Internet, high definition and digital cable package. An appointment was set for a technician for Wednesday, November 17th, 2004 between the hours of 11 AM and 1 PM.

On November 17th, I arrived home from work, planning on taking a 2-hour lunch break, to wait for the technician. By 3 PM, the technician had not arrived and I called your customer service phone number. I explained to them that I was home from work and was wondering when the technician would arrive. They told me it should only be another half hour and asked me to be patient. Another hour passed and I called back again. This time the customer service agent called the “dispatch” to inquire where the technician was and how far behind schedule he was running. Someone from dispatch informed the customer service agent that it should only be another half hour more. By this time, I had to now call into work and tell them that I would have to take the rest of the day off. By 5 PM, a technician still had not arrived and I called back once more. This time I inquired how Adelphia planned on compensating me for my troubles and I was told of a “$20 On-Time Guarantee”. I was appalled to learn that my entire wasted afternoon was only worth a twenty-dollar credit to my Adelphia account. I was informed that the technician was now in fact on his way to my house and to be patient a while longer. When six o’clock rolled around, I had had enough. I called the Adelphia customer service number to tell them that I would like my service cancelled. The customer service agent asked me how my appointment went today and I told her that the technician never came. When hearing that, she replied: “I’ve terminated your service Mr. iDriveX, have a nice day.” I never even got an apology.

After this ordeal, I contacted a local DirecTV reseller. They were able to send an installer to my home within 48 hours and have me up and running in that time, but because DSL is not offered in my area of Thousand Oaks by Verizon, and I need an Internet solution, I was forced to choose Adelphia for my Internet needs. I called the customer service department and informed them that I would be doing a self-install and would be picking up the modem in person. Because I was doing a self-install they would have to charge me the first month’s bill up front plus the cost of the modem. At this point now, it had been two and a half weeks since I had called Adelphia originally. I have been billed over $70, had to do an install of my cable Internet myself and have been mistreated by your company to the point where I feel I must write a letter to you.

Something must be done to right this wrong. I am in the customer service industry myself, working for a large financial institution in the Thousand Oaks area. I see very affluent customers on a daily basis. Do not consider this a threat, but I feel that if this issue goes unresolved, I will be forced to explain to my clientele my troubles with Adelphia Communications and suggest alternative forms of communication so that they may avoid the same form of treatment that I received. I appreciate you taking the time to read this.


Sincerely,



iDriveX
A Bank Position inserted here
The Name of A Large Bank in Thousand Oaks Inserted Here
(818) xxx-xxxx