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Review by Unreasonable 
Posted: 81 days ago
member for 319 days, 37 visits, last login: 14 days ago
 Portland,Multnomah,OR
 Business customer
 $60 per month (36 month contract)
 Qwest
 "Nice and slow"
 "Mind boggling support policies"
 "The etf is a bargain!"
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
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We have multiple locations where we use Integra/Eschelon dsl to provide free wifi for our cafe customers.
As Integra has taken over Eschelon, their support policies have taken a serious turn for the worse.
It used to be that the installers would put a sticker on the router showing the various parameters including ip, subnet, gateway, dns, login/pwd.
Now, not only do they not do so, they've changed the passwords to lock the customer out of the router.
So....couple of weeks ago I get a dmca letter from Integra, advising me that someone had downloaded HBO copyrighted materials.
Ok, so I need to turn off some ports and reconfigure dns.
Can't get into the router.
I called in to get access and was first told No.
Then told that I could only get access if I signed and returned a waiver.
Fair enough. There are enough settings on a dsl router that I could easily waste a lot of their time if I went in and played with certain ones.
I know what not to screw with - some people don't.
The provider wants me to acknowledge that if I mess with stuff, they're going to charge me to unscrew it.
Perfectly reasonable.
I give them the fax number and my cell number and email address.
Never heard from them again.
When I call a week later, I'm told they've changed policies and I can't have router access.
I ask how I am supposed to determine the offending client to comply with the dmca letter?
[silence]
I need at least logs with mac addresses so I can cross reference the letter.
Then the helpful phone rep offers to get me the mac addresses.
I get this:
"Hello Robert,
Here's the list.
Active 00:13:e8:1e:c7:ed 192.168.0.53 Cody Wireless
Active 00:16:cf:3e:b0:7a 192.168.0.54 DCKWMQB1 Wireless
Idle 00:1c:bf:1c:f9:37 192.168.0.55 AMPLUSD Ethernet
Idle 00:1c:b3:bf:ba:4e 192.168.0.56 unknown Ethernet
Idle 00:0d:93:87:20:b9 192.168.0.57 unknown Wireless
Active 00:11:24:91:fe:4e 192.168.0.58 unknown Wireless
Active 00:11:24:99:d3:5b 192.168.0.59 Macintosh-4 Wireless
Idle 00:1a:73:23:58:f9 192.168.0.60 CharlesGambi-PC Ethernet
Active 00:14:a5:a3:e3:60 192.168.0.61 Insolent_Minx Wireless"
I asked what I was supposed to do with a list of who's on the network NOW as opposed to when the supposed infringement occurred.
[silence]
I also emailed the person at the provider who sent the dmca letter in the first place.
[silence]
Integra's answer is to put my own router in front of their router.
sigh....ok - can you put your router in bridge mode?
Nope - it doesn't support that.
Hmmmm.....I thought the GT701-wg supported bridging.
The manual says it does.
Of course, the manual downloaded from Eschelon has Qwest all over it.
I can't say for sure that Eschelon didn't further lobotomize the router in addition to what Qwest ripped out of it.
In any event, I'm not going to layer router upon router just because a provider can't sort their policies out.
So, I have replaced the dsl connection with Comcast service at one location so far, and I am going to replace the rest just as soon as Comcast gets the contracts to me.
Am I overreacting?
Nope.
Eschelon has set us up for large potential liability as there is no way I can effectively secure an ap with an unknown configuration that I cannot access.
I've also spent several hours on the phone bouncing from one person to another.
I also do get requests from customers to open a particular port, and I accommodate these where feasible. Having to make a call to a provider just to open a port just isn't how I'm going to operate.
We would have gone with Comcast initially, but their TOS at the time didn't allow for us to use it for free wifi access.
It does now, and Integra/Eschelon is fired fired fired!
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Integra Telecom
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