Sprint BB Direct → Saturday Visit From Paul. The RF Engineer

Had another "truck roll" scheduled for last Saturday-was supposed to be a supervisor visit- but the Sprint folks decided I might be better served with an engineer visit, so out he came.
Very nice guy, as are most Sprint Employees (except maybe Paul, the Tech Support guy,a.k.a. jerkous-maximous) he tried a modem changeout. He tried another sector switch (I think.) He tried changing frequencies. He tried messing with settings. Conclusion: "Yep, it sucks."
He could do nothing for the timeouts (which were HUGE when he was here-"gee, it's dead," said Paul) or the bad pings, or the slow upload speeds.
He confirmed that no REAL sector split had occurred in San Jose, only "virtual" ones, and that no new hardware had been installed but that "the guy they hired to install the new antennas starts work on them Monday (today) and that "things should be a lot better in about 2 weeks when he is done." Uh huh. He then strongly suggested that I call the GM's office (again) on Monday and ask for another month's credit, which I did, and that after 1 month if things weren't better, I might want to throw in the towel if I had had enough of the frustration (which I will if it isn't a lot better.)
Paul also confirmed that the planned rollout of the new system utilizing cell towers which would not require direct line of site "isn't gonna happen" due to the present financial concerns and status of the company which had a horrible quarterly performance.
So...
1 more month of SBBD. I really doubt things will be any better in a month. Sprint has a way of always taking way longer to get anything done than they say they will. I haven't seen an upgrade put in place since I signed on to this service-EVER. They promise this, they promise that, nothing ever actually happens, and there is always an excuse for it-a good excuse, too.

I finally got a DSL line into my house. AOL, in their infinite stupidity, put it on the wrong phoneline but SBC tells me they are also activating the correct line TODAY so I will have 2. Funny. Even AOL's DSL, which is routed retardedly to the East Coast before it goes out to the net, works GREAT when compared to SBBD. SBBD IS faster for raw downloading but that is where the advantages stop. The DSL has steady pings and I get 0 as in NO lag in Unreal Tournament. I am getting about 1 meg down and 150 up with it. Only problem seems to be the fast that they sent me a USB modem to use, and USB and DSL don't mix all that well. The modem gets VERY hot and the service interrupts a lot. I hope to cure the situation by getting an Ethernet based modem to use for the service.
I had hoped to keep SBBD for speed and ease of use (always on vs PPOE DSL) and use the DSL just for gaming and VPN and Netmeeting but not if SBBD doesn't improve a LOT by the end of this next month.

Comments?

If you've got DSL available, why would you want SBBD? I'm in Colorado Springs, and the service isn't nearly as bad as everybody is saying it is... but its not great, either. If I had another broadband option, I'd have gone with it a long time ago. But until that happens, this is just fine. Its a whole lot better than a modem...

I keep asking myself the same question. I like the "always on" feature of SBBD that I don't get with AOL DSL, and it is faster for downloading.

I probably will dump the SBBD because I really doubt they will do anything to improve it, and it REALLY sucks big hot dogs the way it is now-20-40% packet loss, severely overcrowded sector with no hardware to support all these users, and pings that make my old DPC sattellite's look good.
I mean, who needs it when it is this bad, you know?

If I do drop it, I will scream and holler until I get my equipment removed and my costs refunded.

Yeah, the minute cable's available in my area (two months on the outside supposedly), I'm going to dump SBBD. I went with the month to month. I'm going to try to sell my equipment to the neighbor. And if she doesn't want it, maybe I'll take it out into the woods and have fun with my new sledgehammer. I've always wanted to see what the inside of those things looked like.

If your only complaint with DSL is the fact that it must be PPPOE, then maybe you should consider other DSL isps in your area. Take, for example, my area of Colorado Springs. You pay Qwest for the DSL line into the home and all other aspects of your connection are handled by the ISP. If you choose Qwest as the isp you are given a PPPOE or the option of PPP with static ips and a Cisco router. That's the way I have it and the only time the Cisco has to actually dial in to the DSlam is when it looses power or I tell it to retrain.

Other ISPs here offer different setups (all over that same Qwest line) like bridging. And, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe that the telco HAS to let other ISPs in on the DSlam otherwise it would be monopolistic (the ISP handles everything past the DSlam including the DNS).

Options are very few. Fixed IP DSL from PacBell is too expensive. The only real affordable alternative is Telocity, but if you read their forum on here you would be very afraid to order it.

I dont mean to be mean, but when your you leaving? Infact, when is everyone leaving? Let me know...so I can enjoy the wonderful features SBBD told me I would get.

Probably a month-they gave me another free month to wait and see if it gets better, so after that, I'll likely be gone. It won't help you, though. I am not in your sector and there are 50+ more installs a DAY in the south bay.

said by Sothy:

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I dont mean to be mean, but when your you leaving? Infact, when is everyone leaving? Let me know...so I can enjoy the wonderful features SBBD told me I would get.

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Thats too funny! It's the truth to so please everyone let us know when you leave so we can appreciate the speed of Sprint.

=====Works for Telocity.

Whiteice

Who works for Telocity, you? They offerred me a job once-I said NO.

Yeah that would be me. I work for the call center for them right now.

Whiteice

Is it still in Cupertino? That place was SO screwed up when I went for an interview a couple years ago.

Hey, if I sign up, can you make sure I get the best hookup?

SMJSC, with this many truck rolls, shouldn't you be able to get out of the contract withour penalty? BTW, Sprint never credit me for the days that I cannot used their damn equipment. They said they did but when I look at my Credit Card statement it shows s full amount charge of $49.99. Does anyone actually get the credit that they have asked for?

I ask for the credit from the local management office, not Sprint's stupid, foolish, and moronic idiots in their billing dept. What toads they are. I always get it.

I have no contract with Sprint. Got them to do M to M with the same net fees as a contract.

If/when I leave SBBD, I will be asking for a full removal of the equipment and a refunding of my costs for the equipment.

How about the holes in the side of your house? I have siding so I will have to replace a panel or 2 and don't even know if I can find the same kind.

Frankly, I'm fed up with the stupid service. I complain on how crappy the service is more then I do acutally enjoy. I will give them another month myself (will get a credit each day it sucks...and if they charge me for the full month I will complain harder). At which point I will go ahead and get on another DSL provider and get ISDN. Might cost more and lot slower. But, I dont have to pull my hair out eatch day. I dont have much hair left on my head.

I got no holes except the one where the cable comes through the wall-easily patched up with putty.