Over the weekend, we noted that a growing number of CLEC technicians were complaining that Qwest's new FTTN/ADSL2+ upgrades were causing interference for some customers who remained on vanilla DSL (CLEC Or Qwest). According to the technicians, instead of fixing the problem, Qwest has been using the technical issue in order to upsell customers to new FTTN service. Since CLECs can't share Qwest's new infrastructure, CLECs are suggesting this is one way that Qwest could finally kill off pesky Qwest competition once and for all.

"I can confirm that this is a huge issue in the Denver area," says a CLEC tech in our forums. "If there is a FTTN circuit in the same count as a ADSL circuit, it will either kill the ADSL circuit completely, or destroy the speeds," he says. "Qwest techs are being told to cut any problem circuits to FTTN -- If you are a CLEC, you have no choice but to cut the circuit, and use Qwest as an ISP." Techs from Qwest competitors in Utah, XMission and DSLExtreme, have the same complaint. Qwest documentation confirms a problem exists.

Our goal is to make every effort to resolve the issue through technical intervention and move on. -Qwest, concerning FTTN/DSL interference

Qwest confirmed to me that the problem is power interference between the central-office generated ATM DSL and their fiber-based IP broadband (FTTN). "The foundation of interference between the central-office based ATM DSL service and the remote terminal-fed IP based DSL (FTTN) is a disparity in power levels between the two services served by the same cross box," Qwest says.

Spokesperson Monica Martinez tells me they make every attempt to repair this issue, either by making adjustments at the central office or the remote terminal. Martinez says a fallback option is to move the customer over to FTTN and serve as a "behind the scenes" provider for the CLEC. "We understand this might not seem ideal," says Martinez, "but the impact is minimal, and it allows the ISP/CLEC to maintain the end-user relationship."

With regards to the claim that Qwest is using the interference to an anticompetitive advantage, "the answer is absolutely not," insists the company. "Our goal is to make every effort to resolve the issue through technical intervention and move on," says Martinez. "However, if using Qwest to access the Internet becomes necessary this is a solution that allows the ISP/CLEC and the end-user to keep their relationship, but Qwest becomes the Internet access provider." The telco says they try to be as "accommodating as practicable to all involved."

Any technicians who work in Qwest territory (for Qwest or a CLEC) have anything to add?