A Saturday Night With Verizon Techs David Isenberg blogs his FiOS and DSL adventure Wednesday Apr 25 2007 18:37 EDT Former AT&T Labs technician and networking expert David Isenberg (who?) has been blogging his experience with Verizon FiOS, and comments on his recent Verizon DSL installation: "I spent over two and a half hours of my Saturday night with the nice Verizon people. Party animals, not. Educational experience, not. Redeeming social value, unfortunately, severely limited. I did learn that Verizon trouble tickets could be closed without the problem being fixed, and conversely, tickets could remain open even when the problem was resolved." He also offers up an interesting read on PON (Passive Optical Network) technology, and opines on why incumbents prefer PON to Point-to-Point (aka Direct Fiber). |
|
My experiencewas very different from David's. The local techs knew what they were doing but trying to get the puzzle palace, aka Verizon Central, to understand what was going on was a nightmare. At one time, I had three trucks and a supervisor in my driveway at 7:00 p on Friday evening. He was none to pleased with the way things were/weren't progressing. Once they id'd the right version ONT things lit right up!
Somebody got their knickers knotted latter that evening! | |
| NyQuil Kid8f The Nyquil Kid join:2001-01-06 Brick, NJ |
Interesting, but...It should be noted that the "Party Animals" reference appears to be referring to his experience with _DSL Tech Support_, not FiOS. From my experience with both FiOS and DSL, it _appears_ that Verizon is putting a greater effort on QA with respect to FiOS.
[8F] The NyQuil Kid | |
| klamer join:2000-06-09 Fort Worth, TX |
klamer
Member
2007-Apr-25 5:48 pm
...Hooray for the "not" jokes Borat. | |
| | MaxoYour tax dollars at work. Premium Member join:2002-11-04 Tallahassee, FL |
Maxo
Premium Member
2007-Apr-27 11:58 am
Re: ...said by klamer:Hooray for the "not" jokes Borat. That was the first thing I thought of. Haha! | |
|
|
sucks that 20mbit = 14mbitI suspect the caps may be around 15/5 and not 20/5 (their new upgrade speed which they've taken to 90% of their network). The upstream speed seems about right, 5megabits upload gets you around 3.9-4.5megabits, nowhere near or over 5.0 megabits (4.6-5.25 megabits would be better). My upload stays around 3.8 megabits to just under 4.6 megabits (around the high limit on a GOOD day). Anywho, thankfully for Verizon, I'm not an avid uploader | |
| | nozzer join:2004-06-25 Winchester, MA 1 edit |
nozzer
Member
2007-Apr-25 5:59 pm
Re: sucks that 20mbit = 14mbitI get 20/5 (ish) Are you trying to test over wireless, or using another router in the chain? | |
| | | |
Re: sucks that 20mbit = 14mbitI get around that speed too (20.x/4.4), I was referring to the poster. On wireless I can get nearly my full wired speed with an external wireless-g usb adapter. Internal gets a few megabits less. | |
| | | N3OGHYo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano Premium Member join:2003-11-11 Philly burbs |
to nozzer
said by nozzer:I get 20/5 (ish) Are you trying to test over wireless, or using another router in the chain? Did I mention I hate you? No, I REALLY HATE YOU. Damn speedy internet connection.. | |
| | | |
to nozzer
i think hate is too strong of a word let us say #@(#)% You and you're area. if verizon came here i would seriously consider calling that day national FIOS day.
4mbps upload is something to drool about
mmmmmmmmmmmmm | |
|
|
Really ?This happens at every company ! Trouble tickets accidentally closed and some accidentally left open. | |
| CrzyCrakr Premium Member join:2005-06-24 Edgewater, MD |
There is always one bad seed...And it takes 20 "that a boys" to erase one "bad boy". Which is a shame. I have nothing but glowing things to say about Verizon Techs. They were great at work when they installed the DSL and they were great at my home installing the FIOS. What is funny to me is how Verizon Techs that I have met seem to know what they are talking about...The Comcast Techs that I have met don't seem to have a clue. Leaving me to have to take matters into my own hands to get it fixed. I don't mean to sound like I am hating on Comcast cuz I am not. I just have had to take more of a..."supervisory role" with Comcast to get things done properly. I don't think they are the devil. I just think I need to keep any eye on them is all.
That is my $.50 worth and now you may flame away. lol | |
| | N3OGHYo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano Premium Member join:2003-11-11 Philly burbs
1 recommendation |
N3OGH
Premium Member
2007-Apr-25 7:06 pm
Re: There is always one bad seed...That was my experience as well. The Verizon tech that installed my DSL seemed like he knew his stuff, was professional, and had a "service" attitude.
The Comcast guy that installed my buddy's cable, internet, and phone was a bit, um... shady....
Of course everyone's mileage will vary. I'm sure Verizon has shitty techs out there, and Comcast has stellar performers.
I think your flavor of tech with Verizon varies with who your legacy Baby Bell provider was. I rarely hear people in the old "Bell Atlantic" territory bitching, but it seems like folks in the old "Nynex" areas have a lot to bitch about.
Or, maybe I'm just full of shit on all fronts, who knows.... | |
| | | CrzyCrakr Premium Member join:2005-06-24 Edgewater, MD
1 recommendation |
Re: There is always one bad seed...Nah I don't think you are full of crap. I think you really hit the nail on the head. | |
| | | | |
| elveySpamassassin join:2001-02-17 San Francisco, CA |
to CrzyCrakr
They do have a BBR Gold award.
BTW, how come you haven't reviewed 'em? | |
| | | CrzyCrakr Premium Member join:2005-06-24 Edgewater, MD 1 edit |
Re: There is always one bad seed...said by elvey:They do have a BBR Gold award. BTW, how come you haven't reviewed 'em? Which are we talking about here? FIOS I am assuming. To be honest I just haven't gotten around to it. Though I would only repeat what most people say. They are great and I love it. Though it doesn't take much to please me. (shrug) | |
|
| |
notacontractor to CrzyCrakr
Anon
2007-Apr-27 12:38 am
to CrzyCrakr
That's cuz Comcast techs are usually contracted and poorly trained, not their fault. The phone company techs have a structured training program and other techs usually follow up and straighten out any 'slack asses' that don't do the job properly. You'd be surprised just how much pride most of us take in our work, then again we are paid a union wage that makes us feel more obligated to earn that decent living. In most areas the cable techs are way overworked and way under paid, I wish they would get in the union and get treated with a little more respect and they could lose the untrained contractors. | |
|
Hpower join:2000-06-08 Canyon Country, CA |
Hpower
Member
2007-Apr-25 7:31 pm
hahaI just tried calling Verizon FIOS order phone #. Busy for over 20 minutes. Funny, they really must be getting lotta calls. | |
| | | | |
to Hpower
Re: hahaHell yea, if FiOS is available why not? | |
|
gwionwild colonial boy
join:2000-12-28 Pittsburgh, PA |
gwion
2007-Apr-25 10:59 pm
My experience:Tech showed up precisely on time. Ran the fiber and had me up and running in less than two hours. Excellent workmanship. I set up the computer and router while he activated me. I was online and running, and I have been since June, last year... zero downtime, no trouble tickets, no problems whatsoever. It's not a problem I've faced, so I can't really comment. The install I had was flawless, and the service, so far, from the Pioneer AV CO, has been equally flawless. That's just my own experience... | |
| |
My installMy primary install went great--for the most part, since we wired the Ethernet cables ourselves (an extra one for redundancy), everything took slightly more than 2 hours They were working in tandem with someone @ the central office AND the node to 'get it right' but had some minor difficulty (lit the wrong fiber)although everything worked out. Let's not forget this was late 2004ish.. when they were first learning to DO installs right. Of course it was 15/2 back when some of the bellsouth, sbc, att people were getting sub 1 megabit cablemodem/dsl still... I bet that makes you madder! The guy that came to install the TV later on was a prick.. sorry to say. In EVERY company there are people who are just lazy, or will do the ABSOLUTE minimum to get things working and leave. Since 2004, each of the phone, internet AND tv have crapped out once or twice in a blue moon.. but I don't really hold that against them. :->
My downstream is great.. the only real complaint is that I would like my upstream more rock solid and closer to or dare I say a few kilobits over 5 megabit please.. now it goes from 3.9-4.6 depending on NODE traffic, and the wider Verizon ISP backbone (90%)& related internet congestion (10%). I guess this will be fixed somewhat when they get around to doing GPON upgrades. | |
| nekote join:2000-12-16 Hopkinton, MA |
nekote
Member
2007-Apr-26 6:13 am
Techs great; call center person occaisionally lostMy install, now a year old, was text book good stuff.
"Guys" were happy to show a geek a "good time", so to speak. Patiently answering my peppering of questions. Providing a bit of "show and tell" explanations / background. I loved it.
They, and I, encounter most of the trouble at the other end of the phone line, when needing support - sometimes a newbie / first tier person just isn't in the game.
OTOH, I usually get OK support, and now and again just outstanding support. On those outstanding occasions, I try to send a "kudo" email to their boss, hoping it might help for a (better) raise or promotion. Well, at least an "atta' boy" pat on the back. | |
|
| |
|
|