- Location: El Dorado Hills, El Dorado, CA, USA
- Cost: $49 per month (12 month contract)
Given the choice between PacBell's DSL and a sharp stick in the eye....
from the people that brought you Dilbert...
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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I just had DSL installed three weeks ago by PacBell. Never mind the fact
that it took over three months to effect the installation or that no
less than six (6) servicemen came to visit on six separate occasions to
complete the job the previous one didn't know how how to finish. Forget
the fact that it took countless calls to to the special DSL group at
PacBell to explain that 'Yes' the service people came but 'No', I still
didn't have the service - and 'Yes', I would almost certainly know if I had it.
Forget all of that and concentrate on the fact that my 'new' line stays up for approximately 20 minutes at a time (less at night for some reason). I've been told (after hours on the phone) that this is principally due to:
- my line being 800 feet beyond the 12,000 ft. limit
- my connect speed being too high (it's capped at 1.5). I've never even seen 1 Mbs.
- a 'bridge-tap' somewhere in the line.
note: I especially like this last one because it introduces unfamiliar terminology - i.e., "Why no, Mr. Smith, you don't have a brain tumor...you have a oligondendroglioma. Oh yes, you're still going to die...but technically it's not a brain tumor."
All of these explanations are great but none of them, it seems, will correct the problem. "DSL is very mysterious Mr. Smith. Even we don't know sometimes why it works." You gotta love these people. They sell a service that doesn't work and they can't support and they still have the brass cohonies to be condescending.
In my opinion, PacBell's DSL service sinks to new lows - even for Pacbell, the record-holder for the old lows. Ordinarily when dealing with PacBell I am content to settle for one-half to one-third of the product they claim. In this instance one third of a product is all I'm likely to get and damned lucky to have it at all thank you very much. Hell, I wake up feeling lucky that I'm connected at all.
Am I likely to call them back for another service visit? Does the pope use Deja News? At least on their first six visits Pacbell was nice enough to bring their own lubricant and ask me to bend over. I have no assurances that they will be so considerate in the future - particularly if I become querulous.
Bottom line: after three weeks of operation (if you can use a word like that in
describing PacBell) I would say that this provider's DSL service borders
on criminal. Given the choice between PacBell's DSL and a sharp stick in
the eye - I recommend the stick. It'll only hurt you once.
(review was emailed from domain embion.com)
lodged 21.2 years ago
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It works now though?WAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHWAHblow nose wahwahwahwahall better now.
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If you can read this,your not illiterate | |
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whew!!whoa dude, do yourself a favor... lay off the Jolt and gummi worms for breakfast. | |
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| System |
Education Is Sometimes FunI wouldn't exactly call trying to fix your problem "criminal". And another thing man, you should really educate yourself befoer you drop a review here.With knowledge you would know what a "bridge tap" is and why you line is more that likely not going to ever work correctly. | |
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BigMal
Anon
2000-Dec-11 11:35 am
Re: Education Is Sometimes FunWell, I can tell you right now I can see where he is coming from. So, to enlighten everyone. Here ya go:
bridge tap
A bridge tap is an extraneous length of dangling, unterminated cable on a communications line, usually left over from an earlier configuration, that can cause impedance mismatches and other undesired effects in transmissions. In a given cabling arrangement, allowance is usually made for a certain length of bridge taps.
I have about 600 feet of bridge tap on my PACBELL DSL line which they have never removed nor are they going to try. I have dealt with them on numurous occations as I experienced 32 days of downtime in a 2 month period awhile back. Most of this due to their DSLAM which I guess was having major problems. This seems to be fixed now as I have had maybe only 1 day that I know of since the last repair to their DSLAM. Also, it has been documented by many sources that during pre-qualification bridge tap should have been seen and dealt with prior to the install. I work for a DSL ISP and I can tell you right now from what the field tech's have told me DSL and bridge tap = LONG RUN TROUBLE! It's like fire and water for some. They just don't mix! | |
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| |  pocky9
join:2000-08-09
Kirkland, WA |
pocky9
Member
2000-Dec-11 2:34 pm
I had a bridge tapWhy is a bridge tap like the kiss of death for DSL installation... It seems to me like the phone company can fix it if they want to. I got my ADSL from GTE who is my local phone company. I had not one, but two bridge taps on my line. As soon as they noticed that they had a guy out fixing it... I didn't even know until they called me at work to tell me. For the phone co. to say that you can't have DSL because you have a bridge tap, that sounds to me like a cop out and really stupid if you're ordering directly from them in the first place, maybe they don't want your money. | |
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| | |  ksuki
join:1999-10-28
Pomona, CA |
ksuki
Member
2000-Dec-11 4:50 pm
Re: I had a bridge tapKeep in mind there is a difference between what a company can do and what it is required to do. The telco delivered to the DSL provider, a pair that, although it had 2 bridge taps, were still what was called for - a voice grade line. Now, if there are no other pairs available to attempt finding one with no bridge taps, the DSL provider has two choices - have the bridge taps removed (at their expense) or tell you they can't deliver DSL because they can't justify the expense of removing those taps. The first is unlikely if it requires a dedicated truck roll unless they (the DSL provider) will recoup the cost in the long run.
In your case, what *may* have happened is there was another pair without bridge taps available - so, they wire you with that pair instead of the one with bridge taps. Poof - no bridge taps physically removed, but same effect and it makes them look good. Or, maybe a telco crew was working in that area and removed the bridge taps during the course of another job - at no, or very little, cost. I've had PacBell crews who told me they have done this while conditioning data grade lines for some of my clients. With the need for more bridge tap free lines, it seems the telcos are becoming more attentive to cleaning them up when they encounter them. But, IMO, to expect a DSL provider to pay a telco - whether it's PacBell, GTE or whoever - to roll a truck to remove bridge taps on a voice grade line is not a reasonable expectation. It can happen, but it's not owed. For dedicated data grade connections, yes, it's required, expected, owed and paid for (by the customer).
Ken | |
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| | | | pocky9
join:2000-08-09
Kirkland, WA |
pocky9
Member
2000-Dec-11 5:18 pm
not quiteSorry if I didn't make this clear, GTE is both my telco and my DSL provider. They took the bridge taps off because they felt like it was in their interest to absorb the cost and get me up and running. The techs and the phone reps both told me they do that as a matter of policy rather than reject someone's order.
In contrast to the person who posted this review, it looks like their DSL provider and Telco who are both PacBell, would rather save themselves the time and hassle of making it work. | |
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| | | | | ksuki
join:1999-10-28
Pomona, CA |
ksuki
Member
2000-Dec-12 4:24 pm
Re: not quitesaid by pocky:
Sorry if I didn't make this clear, GTE is both my telco and my DSL provider. They took the bridge taps off because they felt like it was in their interest to absorb the cost and get me up and running. The techs and the phone reps both told me they do that as a matter of policy rather than reject someone's order. In contrast to the person who posted this review, it looks like their DSL provider and Telco who are both PacBell, would rather save themselves the time and hassle of making it work.
Remember the teacher who told you, "You have to share with everyone, not just who you want."? Different states, so maybe different situations. PacBell was forced to separate their roles as a telco and DSL provider by spinning off the DSL operations. So, although the money may go into the same corporate coffer, each division operating independently with no special favors or secret handshakes (although they may exist, unofficially) - they have to do it that way or else other DSL providers would demand PacBell (the telco) remove bridge taps from circuits they order. During this spin-off period, PacBell has been very cautious (maybe overly) about not giving what may appear to be preferential treatment, such as removing bridge taps, to their DSL division. At the same time, DSL installers who had been PacBell telco installers before are now very hesitant to do what would be considered elementary telco work - not because they can't or don't want to, but because it could violate a guideline separating the two operations. So, here in California, PacBell may want to "share", but that evil teacher says they can't unless they do it for everyone. Ken | |
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 ylen131
join:2000-02-09
Canoga Park, CA |
no problem with dsl herei have no problem with my dsl from pacific bell. i had it for about 6 month it works great. this thrusday night my modem died. i called pacific bell on friday afternone. Friday morning a guy was already checking my line and sayd that the line works okay. On sunday i was intached with the dsl person that ask me to tryed several different thing on my comnputer and when that fail he sayd that he would send a rapair guy on monday. Today the guy came and fixed my problem in about 10min. The problem was that the modem died. | |
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| Sameer
join:1999-07-24
Yorba Linda, CA |
Sameer
Member
2000-Dec-12 3:20 am
Re: no problem with dsl herehad pacbell DSL for over 2 years... they've been stellar. i'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with them. | |
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