 Review by funchords 
UPDATED: 49 days ago
member for 7.2 years, 1785 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Hillsboro,Washington,OR
 $35 per month (12 month contract)
 about 999 days
 Verizon (ex GTE)
 "Install kit arrived quickly"
 "DSL install broke my phone--Repair process is a not-funny joke"
 "After all this time, how can DSL be this difficult?"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
I have a new apartment, in the same town, and I wanted to try Verizon again. This time, I'm not stopping my Cable service.
FOR THE NEW CUSTOMER, VERIZON'S WEB INFO SYSTEMS ARE THE WORST!
Two different systems gave me two different answers when checking for DSL availability at my apartment address. One says I can get 768/128, the other says 1500. My old address, which is 30 years old, where I've had multiple Verizon services before, doesn't even show up in their "can I get FIOS" database. VERIZON: This is truly awful.
Still, got the order in on March 19th. I got 5 email confirmations, some with information, some referring me to other websites for information. One key piece of information that I did try to find was my new telephone number -- which only appeared on the order screen and on none of these emails or websites. The phone was turned on March 28th. Why it took until March 28th, I have no idea. But they can't turn on DSL until the phone is on, so it's relevant. Expect 9 days just for the phone. But the phone worked and I could make and get calls.
The DSL was supposed to be turned on March 31st (Monday). Just as the phone was being turned on, I got an email notice that the new "Ready" date for my DSL would be April 1st. (A date that would turn out to be very apt.)
On April 1st, I pre-registered on the "whatsnext" page. I plugged everything in, turned everything on. Nothing. The modem would not sync. I'm not a novice -- I did some basic troubleshooting. I discovered that my telephone was no longer getting dial tone.
I called the support number, a voice-recognition system. The first time, I repeated or confirmed details through three transfers and the system left me CONNECTED WITH ANOTHER CUSTOMER CALLING IN FOR HELP. We laughed and chatted, then both hung up to try again. The second time wasn't as pleasant, the system simply hung up. The third time, even though I said "telephone" and repair, I got Verizon Online tech support. They "transferred" me to repair, which rang for a while and then the Verizon Online tech support queue answered the call again.
Persistance pays off. I just kept calling, thinking that this random behavior might suddenly accidently connnect me to telephone repair. It did. After playing voice-misrecognition for a while, I finally yelled "Agent" and spoke to a human who insists on sending out someone to my house to fix a problem that is most likely not at my house.
Arrrrrrgh. Not a good start -- and for April Fools, not funny at all.
---- from 5 years ago ---
===The Order===
Comcast is now $20 a month more than Verizon DSL, which made it worth looking at. Comcast is okay, but a bargain is a bargain -- or is it? Anyway, I placed the order knowing that if I wasn't happy, switching back to Cable would be easy. They express-mailed an "install kit" consisting of a modem, the DSL filters, a disk, and the instructions.
I also got an e-mail on the same day (today) that my line was set up for DSL.
===The Install===
I've had DSL before so I knew to install the filters. But I also had a home network, and the DSL modem would need to be on the outside of a router, not directly connected to the PC as their software expected. As a result, I couldn't use the software they sent. However, I could connect to my router and after sending the command to request a new DHCP address, I was on the internet.
Then I tried installing the MSN8 software. I'm not sure I'm ever going to like it, but I wanted to see what the hype was about. It was then that the install program asked for my Verizon user ID and password. I didn't have one. Hmmm.
Searching help told me that it should be on my welcome letter. Well, I had the letter but it wasn't on it, nor did there seem a place in the boilerplate for it. Me thinks they revised the letter and didn't revise the help file.
I called Verizon Tech Support who was baffled -- I wasn't supposed to be on until the 30th. I explained that I got the kit and the e-mail. So he activated my account and provided me with the information I was missing. Sure enough, the user name he gave me didn't exist anywhere on the materials Verizon sent.
===The Test===
So once I was installed, I used the Speed Test and got readings in the high 600s and low 700s. I contacted Tech Support again, who confirmed that I was set up for 768 down and that I'd have to call "Billing" if I wanted an upgrade to 1.5 down. Of course, Billing is closed.
===My Opinion===
This was the Verizon I left in favor of cable. Great marketing, but completely disorganized execution. If I keep it, and it is 'if' at this point, I'll be trading half my speed for less than half the money. I'm not sure I like that at all. I do notice the pages load slower, and I *know* I don't like that at all.
Grrrr.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Verizon Online DSL |
|
Verizon Online DSL
(146)
(101)
(219)
·