DSL Deadline

Well, damn it all to hell. Earthlink and Verizon have failed to fulfill yet another promise to get my DSL working. If you’ve been following the drama you’ll recall that the last I heard from them was a promise that my DSL would be working today.

Sure enough, I checked when I got home, and there was no DSL signal. So I called Earthlink to find out what the problem was this time. The best they could do was tell me that the last message they had from Verizon, around 3:30pm, was that they were working on it and that it would be resolved by close of business today (Monday). I got home and called them at 6:30pm, and it still wasn’t resolved. Earthlink couldn’t call Verizon because it was after business hours and no one would be there to answer. So it appears Verizon is working up to their usual standard of service.

Maybe I’m a little extra-miffed because yesterday our air conditioning decided to go on the fritz, as temperatures rose above 95 degrees. Anyway, I decided it was time for an ultimatum.

I explained to the Earthlink tech support guy that I have been an earthlink customer for about 8 years. I then explained that my next call would be to Comcast to schedule an appointment for them to set me up with cable access. It would be at least a week before Comcast could get out here. If Earthlink can get my DSL working before then, I’ll cancel the appointment with Comcast. If Comcast comes to the house and is able to get high speed access up and runnnig, I will then cancel my service with Earthlink, thus terminating a nearl 8 year relationship.

If I wanted to be really bitchy, I’d call Earthlink daily between now and then, and let them know how many days they have. I may just do that, if only to get the status of my connection.

All in all, my experience with DSL service has been s0-so. It’s great when it works, but it’s a bitch to get up and running. Never, ever have I had an experience where starting DSL service has been fast and easy. It started with AOL, when they began offering. They managed to get my DSL service working for about a week. Then for three months afterards it didn’t work, and I waited for them to fix it.

After AOL failed to do that, I switched to Earthlink. It took them a couple of weeks, but they managed to get it working. When I moved, I wanted to take my Earthlink service with me. It took a month of negotiating with them and Verizon to get it working, and even after that there were stretches where it stopped working for no explicable reason, and when neither Earthlink or Verizon could get it working.

Now it appears we’re going through the same thing again. And if I keep Earthlink DSL I’ll probably go through it again when we finally move into the new house. So, maybe it’s time to try cable and see if the start-up period is any better or easier than DSL.

Comcast is coming on Friday, the 17th. We’ll see what happens between now and then. Meanwhile, I’m still using dial-up, which—given all the stuff I do online—is like trying to jump rope with anvils strapped to your feet.