Looking for success stories in Qwest/Centurylink land

Tue Jan 29 05:30:34 UTC 2013

On 1/28/13 8:06 PM, Randy Bush wrote:
>> Anybody have some happy success stories to share about service in Qwest
>> service area post Centurylink acquisition?
>
> yes.  switched my WA residential to comcast.  *much* happier.
>
Thanks, that made me laugh.  Myself, for residential, have long left
ATT/SBC/Ameritech behind, and used Comcast (nee MediaOne) for years,
but am now happiest with WOW (wowway).

On the ATT front, I had a campaign this past fall that setup its
headquarters in a strip mall.  Very time sensitive, campaigns need short
term office space for about 2 months.  Actually, *this* campaign (you
really want to watch this video):

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v52FLMOPSig

No Comcast or anything other than ATT available.  But the site was a
former bank (it moved to the other end of the strip mall), and there are
lots of T1 terminal blocks all ready to go, and the site has lots of
wiring in place.  So, no problem?  HA!

Getting them to sell you service:  No, sorry, no actual T1s anymore.  No
U-Verse available (yet I can see the U-Verse labels in the neighborhood
on the other side of the fence), they only offer business ADSL over those
lines now, 3 times the price of U-Verse at less than half the speed.

(We didn't want ADSL, because we're running our own VoIP phones and
Google Voice, so preferred symmetric bandwidth.)

Getting them to install service: I can read them the block and circuit
labels 'til I'm blue in the face, but they have to roll a truck.  The
order specifically says they have to call my cell an hour in advance so
I can get there and have maintenance open the dmarc.  They don't call.
Heck, they don't come to the right place -- apparently something in the
master list tells them the bank has moved, so they go to the bank --
wrong location and different dmarc door.  Again, and again, and again!

Finally, after daily calls for a week, and 30+ hours of my time, a very
helpful customer support Democrat in Las Vegas puts all the right things
in place, and helpfully calls me during the install to ensure it's
actually starting, as the truck rolls up.  Bless her!!!

The installer also explains that nobody likes to call in advance,
because those trips cut down on their daily total, and lots of them
are really treated like "independent" contractors.  Unlike the old days,
they don't have any responsibility for their own areas and that's why
the dmarcs have fallen into utter disrepair.

It's not the longest or worst install I've ever had -- that prize goes
to the old Bell South -- but pretty high profile nerve wracking.

Yet ATT kept trying to bill for the week without service.

Anyway, she did win the election.... :-)