Comcast vs. Verizon for repair methodologies

Mon Aug 20 20:20:00 UTC 2012

I'm baffled. This is horrible! What about standards?

-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick W. Gilmore [mailto:patrick at ianai.net] 
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 3:12 PM
To: NANOG list
Subject: Comcast vs. Verizon for repair methodologies

Given the recent VZ thread, I thought I'd show why my new house has crap
Internet.

The story: A piece of underground cable went bad.  The techs didn't pull
new underground cable.  They decided it was better to do it "arial" (if
you can call 2 feet "arial").  They took apart the two pedestals on
either side of the break and ran a new strand of RG6 (yes, the same
stuff you use inside your home, not the outside-plant rated stuff) tied
to trees with rope.

<http://ianai.smugmug.com/BostonPix/2012/Comcast-Atherton-Street>

These pedestals have looked like this for months apparently.  I called
the 800 # and complained, they rolled a truck.  The guy didn't even come
in my house, just gave me his supervisor's number and said that he's a
home tech, the outside plant guys are the problem and he can't fix it.
A second guy rolled up while we were chatting and told me he had a call
around the block for the same thing.  They've been taking complaints
about this for months and are as tired of it as we are.  I assured them
I was more tired of it, given he was getting paid while I was paying,
but I understood their situation.

Of course, since the other "broadband" option at my house is 1 Mbps
Verizon DSL, I don't have much leverage. :(

-- 
TTFN,
patrick

P.S. Worst part is AT&T sux there too, so I have a picocell - which runs
over the Comcast cable mode....