bandwidthlost
join:2000-11-21
Los Angeles, CA
|  The Bad News keeps coming....
Flashcom, Covad, Zyan....who is next?
Good, hardworking people are losing their jobs. It is not gonna be a very Merry Christmas. The MBA's will say that attrition was inevitable in the DSL business, and the strong will survive, the weak companies must die. This is little comfort to the married worker with two kids to feed and a mortgage due on the first. I hope that everyone sees the human side of the DSL business, and the suffering that must be endured by laid-off workers and their families. Sure we can all say, "hey just go out and get another job", but during December and January job prospects are slim. I do hope that all who are out of work, find gainful employment soon. I believe that the FCC and the FTC needs to investigate some of these DSL failures. A bit more regulation may be in order. We don't need thousands of people out of work, and thousands of consumers with inactive DSL. |
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Anon
| You must be joking. I hope Zyan employee's have a horrible christmas. I have never, ever talked to a intelligent one yet. I suppose they may have stayed in business if they knew what dsl was.
Just for reference for all you former Zyan people: DSL
is a digital subscriber line.
[text was edited by author 2000-11-28 16:15:11] |
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cshaffer
join:2000-06-05
Addison, TX
| Now that is not a very nice thing to say. You should blame the company not the employees. The company hired the people you say are not intelligent, and because of that, it is not the employees fault that they were not properly trained or informed. Based on your grammar skills you don't seem to be to hot yourself. |
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Anon
| I would not expect to have perfect grammar, as I
am a system administrator, not a english major. Very ignorant assumption if you ask me. The employee's were very unwilling to help or troubleshoot, and some had severe attitude problems. I can say that 2 of the techs, Arthur
and Isaac, were friendly, but other than that everyone at Zyan I spoke to loved to make up stories and procrastinate. I am simply implying that in the dsl world, they will not be missed.
[text was edited by author 2000-11-28 16:16:31] |
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chris
focus
Premium
join:2000-08-13
Middletown, CT
 ·NETPLEX
|  reply to Anon
Normally I would whole heartedly agree with you. I mean, I am the first one to jump on the 'you shouldn't be in the business if you are an idiot' band wagon but hey, it is close to Christmas.
What I do hope is that these people find some gainful employment in whatever fields they excel at, even if it isn't DSL. |
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DigitalDan
@telocity.com
|  reply to bandwidthlost
There actually is at least ONE clec that was beaten pretty hard in reviews over the past year but is doing alright. Rhythms has been much more conservative in about every way compared to the other clec's. It would appear that stance has left them less exposed than the others (stock price excluded), and they are meeting projections. That and lucking out in the ISP gamble- major ISP Telocity is flying right & paying bills.
Here's to hoping Rhythms can hang on, and set an example for the other clec's |
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mind
@zyan.com
|  reply to Anon
Listen Mr. Paper MCSE, for one thing lets get something straight. You base your assumptions on a few conversations with tech support people who may or may not have any latitude in addressing your DSL issue. There are many people involved in delivering service to you. You have your CLEC, ILEC, ISP, Backbone provider, etc... In most cases tech support can only open trouble tickets with these providers. For the ISP, there really is only one point of failure for most of their services. So, if you were anywhere worth your weight as a "Systems Administrator" you would know that 1. DSL should not be used for anything mission critical. 2. If you are using it for anything mission critical than you should have redundancy or fail-over capabilities. 3. Dail-up is a whole lot cheaper and the support is good. Perfect for your 3 computer peer-to-peer network at Buford's Tropical fish and Reptiles.
Get out of my face you Po' dunk paper MCSE. My guess is that you are pissed off because the manager at your pet store made you wait 2 hours on the phone to speak to tech support only to find that you could not intimate the type of problem you were having - 'uh, I caint git my eee-mail-thing-a-ma-jibogger'. You $uck.
Oh, and by the way, the great thing about living in the city is that there are plenty of jobs out there to be had. Unlike your three pet shop town.
I will have a very merry Christmas, Thank you! |
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Anon Y Mous
@216.234.x.x
| reply to DigitalDan
said by DigitalDan:
That and lucking out in the ISP gamble- major ISP Telocity is flying right & paying bills.
Telocity is paying their bills today, but they are about six months behind Flashcom on their spending. They are to run out of cash in April or so unless they get more funding.
Let's face it, DSL is the ISP unemployment service of 2000. It's impossible for anyone except the ILEC to make money at $39.95 unless you're facilities based. |
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HungryWKidsAtXmas
@216.34.x.x
| reply to bandwidthlost
Well, it happened . . . yesterday all of us hard working and trusting employees met with our fearless (yet still income receiving) leader. Zyan fired all of us today, without warning. Hell, we didn't even get severance pay. Nothing, just a hungry belly during this "special" time of year. So it really doesn't matter if you're happy with Zyan or not, because soon they will be no more, much like my job. Zyan promises are as empty as the space under my Christmas tree will be this year. And just for the record our President Crosby Haffner, promised all of us face to face, that we would be well communicated with and there would be no surprises. Well, we can see how good his word is, too bad I was one of the few who believed him and didn't look for work elsewhere. And to think they actually fired people who's resumes they found on monster.com, talking about loyalty. What kind of company does these things? Crosby Haffner must be the Devil incarnate, because his soul is just as black. From what I know all of you disgruntled customers out there have two people to blame Mr. Crosby Haffner and Mr. Steven Barbee. But what can you expect from a guy named after a girls doll. He must have thought that this was just one big party in the Malibu Beach House (TM). |
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reseller
@advdata.net
| reply to mind
Actually the person who posted the remark above about all the techs sucking is true. They know as much about networking as my grandma. The individual above works for a Zyan reseller just like I do. I am also a systems administrator. The excuses that the Zyan techs gave were non-tecnical excuses. I have been on the phone countless times... not just a few times AS HAS EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS A ZYAN RESELLER. You know its true. Your blatant disregard and denial of this problem is probably one of the HUNDREDS OF REASONS WHY ZYAN SUCKS AND HAS FAILED. I dont wish anyone harm or suffering though and i think the statements of the above individual were uncalled for. Im not just an mcse either. I am cisco certified and built the ISP that I work for so I do know what I am talking about. The individual above is also a well certified network engineer not just an mcse... they are usually stupid... usually. |
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Anon
| reply to mind
Unfortunately, even though you
have multiple ignorant assumptions,
which I would expect from a Zyan
employee, I will end this with this: I still
have a job. We are still in business.
Just to clear one more thing up, I work primarily on Slackware, not
anything Microsoft related.
[text was edited by author 2000-11-28 16:17:42] |
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Zyanite
@zyan.c
| reply to Anon
Hey Mindwarp.
I just want to offer you a counterpoint. It's true that not all of Zyan's employees were intellectually superior to the general population. However, for the most part, they were all hard-working, dedicated people who, like those in any other startup, put in 60-80 hour weeks, and forsook friends and family to make Zyan work.
I know you don't mean it when you hope that Zyan's employees have a horrible Christmas. None of them would wish it upon you.
For the record, I hope you take this opportunity to note that you have just talked to an intelligent Zyan employee. Perhaps not all of us have your "mental strength" but perhaps what they lack in mind, they make up for in heart and spirit.
Bandwidthlost has the right tack: regardless of whether you're still with Zyan as an employee or a reseller, or if you're an ex-employee or former reseller, having to lose your job during the holidays stinks. My sympathies to all my friends and former coworkers. I wish you all well. |
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Mind
@zyan.com
| reply to Anon
Mind warped, you work for a reseller, a reseller that is a down stream partner of Zyan. Sh!t flows downstream! If you haven't figured it out yet that you are next. I wouldn't be talking so much trash my friend. Karma is a powerful thing!
Oh, and by the way, I just checked, Livonia, Michigan has 2 pet shops and 1 ISP... working out of a pet shop! |
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Anon
| reply to Zyanite
I totally understand where you are comming from,
and you sound very reasonable and intelligent. Unfortunately, you are not one of the people
who on a daily basis I had to talk to on the
phone. So I will make a retraction, that I do feel bad
for those Zyan employees who were hard-working, and were caught by suprise by this. For those of you who were involved with contract violations, and the technicians who I had to explain how dsl works .. I guess its
Christmas, I just hope that in business I never
hear from you ever again.
[text was edited by author 2000-11-28 16:23:02] |
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reseller
@advdata.net
| reply to reseller
I was just contacted by the ISP I work for regarding my earlier comments (2000-11-28-13:51:00 EDT). I was informed that I do not
have permission to represent my ISP in any way. Any comment made was from personal experience and I was wrong in sharing them. I
am sure that any person working in the DSL industry has frustrations. I do however want it noted that my comments were in
defense of a personal friend whose posting although may have been harsh were rebutted by Zyan employees in a less than
professional manner as well. It would probably do us all well to concentrate on repairing what problems exist with DSL and not
just engage is a pissing match on this message board. |
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Anon | reply to Anon
Very cool of you to own up to slamming everyone at Zyan and retracting that every individual there was not intelligent. As a former BAE (sales rep) at Zyan (I resigned 2 weeks before the carnage), I encountered many intelligent, competent and caring people at the company. There were however, people of the opposite characteristics. What irritated me the most about working with some of these people and their managers was that they were not held accountable for their actions or rather the lack of action. As a sales rep, if I had accounts cancel, my accountability showed up as a chargeback to my paycheck. Thank goodness I only had a few chargebacks primarily due to lengthy installations that were even beyond Zyan (Telco & CLEC issues) control. Even then, it was food on the table for my family that was lost. I never got to speak to or had the opportunity to get to know top management at the company so it's challenging to know what's on their minds. As with any company, Zyan and other DSL ISPs strive to provide a service that is in demand. Unfortunately, like other Internet only companies that grew too fast and lacked cost controls, profitability went out the window and the market has reflected that. Who loses the most from this? Investors. For the most part, I don't feel sorry for them. From what I know, most are wealthy individuals or companies that knew they could gain or lose on their investment. I went into the company with my eyes and ears wide open and knew what I was getting into. We sold and spoke based on what we were given from above. However, there came a point in my mind that what was coming from above no longer made business sense and prompted me to seek other opportunities. I've started my own company (thank goodness it doesn't rely exclusively on the Internet)and also landed a lucrative position with a fitness and nutrition company so that I can still earn a living and help people with their lives - not just their connectivity. There were a lot of valuable lessons learned at Zyan that I take going forward and hope not to make in my own endeavors. As a techie I would watch your back too where you are. Who knows how this fallout will affect you. Keep being cool and keep moving on !!!
--
movingon |
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Anon
| reply to HungryWKidsAtXmas
Hey Hungry - I know it's only been a day but do you have something on the table (either another opportunity or food for your kids)? If not, email me at dsc@zyan.net and I'll see what I can do for you. I'm a former BAE who resigned when I saw the writing on the wall a few weeks back. |
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Anon
|  reply to HungryWKidsAtXmas
Anyone have any job opportunities for Hungry...
HungryWKidsAtXmas and others like him need some help.
I would like to send an open message out to eveyone who frequents DSLR. If you have any job opportunities, employment agency tips or any type of assistance (even toys for the kids), please post it here.
We cannot let people suffer during the Christmas holidays. |
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Anon | reply to Anon
Re: The Bad News keeps coming....
mindwarp
If you were half the system administrator you say you are, then you would know that Isaac is the stupidest tech you could ever speak with. He can't even tell the difference between a crossover and a straight cable or their application in computer connectivity, much less about DSL connectivity to your network. I just thought you should know that before you open your mouth. In the future make sure that you actually know what you are talking about. |
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Anon | reply to DigitalDan
My question is how Covad and Northpoint had to report these Troubled ISP's. Yet Rhythms has remained silent. I know for a fact that flashcom is a huge partner for the smaller Rhythms. Why have they not released anything. |
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