[Hidden-tech] A technical question about DSL

[Bruce Hooke]

Jan,

Others have commmented on the details of what the tech said in more detail
than I can, but what they said certainly fits with my own experience, and I
went through some "challenges" with DSL that were not dissimilar to yours
(too far from the CO and resulting problems with dropped connections).

If I was in your shoes and if another call to Verizon yields the same answer
about the early termination fee I think I would file a complaint with the
Better Business Bureau. It seems to me that Verizon has failed to adequately
uphold their end of the deal you signed up for and that they should waive
the early termination fee. My experience has been that a complaint to the
BBB is quite effective at getting companies to sit up and take notice and do
something. I have only had to do this a couple of times, but in both cases,
after months of letters and calls with no real action in response, a
complaint to the BBB yielded a very speedy and satisfactory resolution.

Best of luck!

Bruce 

-----Original Message-----
From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
[mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Jan
Werner
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 11:29 AM
To: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
Subject: [Hidden-tech] A technical question about DSL

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I have been using a Verizon phone services and DSL bundle since 2004. 
Last December, I signed up for a year at a new and slightly lower bundle
price that raised my maximum DSL speed from 1.5 Mbs to 5.0 Mbs, which they
assured me my line would support.

Since then, I have had sporadic problems with the DSL service.  One is
disconnects. My router (D-Link) and the Verizon supplied modem appear to be
remain connected, but I there is no service until I perform a manual
disconnect and reconnect. This happens irregularly and I usually go for
weeks without a disconnect, but there have been a few periods during which I
have had to reconnect several times a day.

Mostly, my d/l speed has been about 2.8 to 3.0 Mbs, but last month, I
started to experience speeds as low as 50 kbs for extended periods. 
After checking and eliminating any of my own devices and connection as the
cause, I placed a service call to Verizon.

The technician verified that my problems originated with Verizon and not my
hookup and went off to investigate further.  He called back later and said
that I was about 2000 feet too far away to handle 5.0 Mbs, but that my
circuit would support 3.0 Mbs. He said the problems I had been having came
from their compensation circuitry trying to adapt to 5.0 Mbs and that if my
service were changed to 3.0 Mbs, the DSL should work much more reliably.

Verizon, however, refuses to downgrade my service from 5.0 Mbs to 3.0 Mbs
unless I either sign up for an additional 12 months or pay a $120 early
termination fee and forfeit bundle pricing.

Before I take this any further, I would like to know if what the technician
told me about compensation circuitry makes any sense to the DSL experts
here. I'm not sure I completely believe it, but I'm not an EE and he was
wearing a nice red shirt with a big V on it.

Jan Werner


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