moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| I have seen many news articles about high speed service. I remember one in the Washington Post years ago about the new DSL service from Verizon. The reporter was treated to a full day of techs that couldn't get her service up and running followed by the usual apology with lack of resolution. It was not until she called Verizon and explained that she was a reporter for The Washington Post that she got the cream of the crop techs and the head engineer for the area working to get her online.
This brings up a valuable point. Not all of us have a grand soapbox to get things done. (Sorry, an internet blog means nothing if not read widely.) What would have happened if this reporter was only an ordinary person?
The arguments are the same:
- fees being too high vs. fees equaling the cost or what the customer will bear
- lack of service areas vs. return on investment for the provider
- lack of customer service vs. costs of customer service
- consumers vs. business
Now, you will get the cable and telco fanboys to argue over whose service is better, whose speed is faster, whose ISP is the better value, etc. The fact still remains that consumers are not that much in power and are at the mercy of a few companies that see competition as a curse and consumers as a cost. Until we get good competition going, consumers will still get the short end of the stick. |
