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RMAntala01
join:2002-02-14
Bourbonnais, IL

RMAntala01 to telcotech6

Member

to telcotech6

Hey, Telcotech

Hey, Telcotech...

Since you live in Crown Point, I assume you work for SBC/Ameritech, right? I live just north of you in Merrillville on the east side of Broadway. Since everyone on this side of town is to far from SBC's Merrillville C.O. (I personally am 21,500 feet away), we can't get DSL service at all. And AT&T Cable doesn't have cable internet service out here either.

How about telling someone you work for to get off their butts and get some remote terminals installed in this part of town so we can get DSL service. I can't even offer an opinion on the ILEC / CLEC issue, since my ILEC won't even bother to put up any RTs out here to give me a chance to even try DSL for myself.

If SBC would get off their a$$e$ and put in a few more RTs in areas that are too far from their C.O.'s to get service; maybe then they will have an opportunity to collect more income from the areas they are currently ignoring.

I've tried to have DSL service installed back in February of this year, before I found out I was to far away to get it. After the SBC tech left my house, I was paid a follow up visit by a customer service rep a few minutes later. She explained the she just had a few question to ask about my service call earlier. A she was leaving I told her about my problems with getting DSL service at my house. She told me that SBC was currently in the process of installing an RT in the east side of Merrillville, so I should be able to get DSl sometime in the 2nd half of this year. She said the current hold up was in getting the cable run between the C.O. and the RT because the ground was too frozen (remember this was back in February) to bury the line. I told her I was tired of calling the same number at SBC every few weeks to check on DSL availability & being told to call back again in a few weeks because they didn't know when it would be available. I asked her for a telephone number for someone higher up that I could talk to who wasn't just a sales rep answering calls for availability of service. She took down my number & said she'd call me later that afternoon to give me the info I requested.

I'm still waiting to hear back from her... I should have known better and gotten her name & called one of her superiors.

So, tell me... Why should I support my ILEC, when they won't get of their a$$e$ to even offer me service???

Should I just stand outside and wave my CAT-5 cable in the air and hope it eventually snags me a broadband provider???

Or will SBC quit whining, get off their a$$e$, and finally install an RT out here???

I'd be willing to give my business to SBC, if they would offer to give me DSL service at my home. I also know of a lot of residents & businesses in my part of town that also want service but can't get it because it's not offered.

Nothing pisses me off more than a company that moans and complains about competition hurting them, when they turn around and ignore a huge customer base just waiting to sign on for service with them. They're only hurting themselves by ignoring us.

If they continue to do nothing, maybe we should change the definition of I.L.E.C. to IGNORANT (to customer's needs) LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER.
[text was edited by author 2002-12-20 18:45:25]

telcotech6
join:2002-02-02
at&t

telcotech6

Member

I would assume you live just North of Rte 30 East of Broadway between 77th and 80th Place.

If so, you are right, the loop is about 21K, you also have a bridge tap.

One of two things will happen in that area, either the cable will be rerouted to an existing RT, that needs to be upgraded, or a new RT will be placed, either option will cost about the same and take about the same amount of time. I would give an educated guess that you will have to wait 12-18 months.

Your area has dialtone and is fully built up. There are other areas that are just now building up, that do not have dialtone at this point, these areas have a first priority, and since they are putting everything in new, they are installing the state of the art equipment, just as they did when they built your subdivision 30 or so years ago. They upgrade areas as needed, primarily based on the condition of the cable, and due to the proximity of your area to the CO, the existing RT and businesses, you stand a much better chance of having the necessary upgrades done sooner.

RMAntala01
join:2002-02-14
Bourbonnais, IL

RMAntala01

Member

12-18 months, huh? That's the same message I've been getting from SBC for over the last 2 years.

I've given up waiting for a new RT after reading the following article in the Times Newspaper this past Sunday:

»www.nwitimes.com/article ··· dc92.txt

Here's a brief message from that article:

******
SBC Communications Inc. will open four new central switching stations this weekend that will "light up" most of Gary. Despite weak penetration of personal computers in the market, Ameritech said it was moving forward with a plan available to more than 23,700 businesses and residents.

SBC of Indiana President George Fleetwood said broadband is the "communications tool of the future." The company connects customers to the Internet through a digital subscriber line that runs on the same equipment as regular phone service.

With a 2.7-mile radius for each switching station, most of Gary should have access, Fleetwood said. Government regulations that require former Bell companies to share their networks create a disincentive for the company to expand service across the region, he said.

"Outlying remote terminals could extend our DSL range," Fleetwood said. "But when we build terminals, we have to make them big enough to house our competitors' equipment. So our response is, 'Screw it.' "
******

So I can give up on a new RT in my part of town because the President of SBC Indiana's opinion is "Screw it."

Those are his words not mine. So basically a large viable potential customer base in my part of town will be ignored because he basically said we're screwed because if he can't be the ONLY one to offer us DSL, no one will be able to.

So he is saying that if SBC can't be a DSL monopoly they'll just continue to force users like me to pay for a second phone line or use my existing line so that he can keep collecting my money to support his phone monopoly.

I'll be sending out a nasty letter full of complaints the the state regulatory commission and few local governments along with a copy of that newspaper article with his comments highlighted. I won't be happy now until one of those agencies serves his head up on a platter to us forgotten customers who desire broadband access.

P.S. Isn't it nice to know that you work for a company whose own president has the opinion of "Screw it." when it comes to providing DSL access to customers in the state of Indiana who don't live close enough to their C.O.
[text was edited by author 2002-12-21 03:48:09]