Going back to Comcast--Verizon poor customer service

[kenjo]

Well, I'm going to have to terminate Verizon FIOS. I switched from Comcast, thinking the internet speed would be higher and overall service would be better, but so far my experience with Verizon has been terrible. Although (according to my contract) the fiber optic line would be run underground to my house prior to installation, it was not. In fact, on the day the service was installed, there was no cable so there was a delay of several hours waiting for a cable drop to the house so installation could proceed. A cable drop means the cable was run to the house above ground. Since the installation on April 1 (yeah, I know) Verizon has "promised" the cable would be buried on 5 different dates. Each day came and went, with no cable burial. Furthermore, there was no call from anyone to let me know the cable would not be buried on the day as promised. This has been a problem, because they require our dogs to be kept out of the back yard so they can do the cut over with the buried cable. This means we either had to stay home so we could confine the dogs when the installer showed up, or keep the dogs locked in the garage for several hours if we had to leave. Don't bother calling their tech support line to resolve the problem--their standard response is to say they will contact the department that schedules the in ground installation and I would get a call back withing 24 to 48 hours. I've been told this 3 times on 3 different occasions, and never had a call back. Yesterday I was told that the contractor would be out today to bury the cable, and they even had a work order number to confirm the appointment. Nobody showed up today, and no call back.

Now, Comcast may not be superior to Verizon FIOS, but in the 2 years I was with them they never lied to me. Verizon has lied to me (unintentionally, perhaps) at least 5 times so far, and no one has ever had the courtesy to contact me when an appointment was broken to let me know it would not be kept.

I plan on terminating the agreement with Verizon and going back to Comcast. According to my contract, Verizon was required to install the FIOS cable to my house--prior to installation--in the same manner as the copper wire; aerial or buried. Well, the copper phone line and Comcast cable are underground, but the FIOS cable is still lying on top of the ground. Breach of contract.

PS--although the service I signed up for promises internet speed up to 10 Mbps, the fastest I've seen so far has been closer to 5. Comcast was faster.

[Kathleen]

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DarkCobra wrote:
Well "props" to Techman28 for being a man of his word and getting this moving.   Please continue to keep us all posted until this is done.    It's too bad that this took so long.   However, it's good to see that this forum was the instrument for getting it moving.

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Agreed, DarkCobra. Techman28 is definitely "Da Man". 

[Arthur_Dent]

I have Verizon FIOS using Westell 9100OEM Router.  I was unable to connect to my company's website using a VPN connection due to Verizion's DNS Redirect service.   I did not see anything about how to configure this router to opt out of the DNS Redirect service on the FIOS Help web page.  I contacted Verizon Tech Support and the tech that answered my call told me he had no idea how to do this either.  I ask to talk to someone else.  He told me there was no one else I could talk to.  He also told that my only option would be to contact Verizon's Premium Tech Support service and that this was a pay service.  I told him that I thought it would be easier for me to choose another ISP than do this and he said that was up to me

I can't believe that someone like Verizon would have such poor customer service for its Internet support.  I have a Verizon cell phone and have never had any problems with this service.  I would still like to know how to opt out of the DNS Redirect so I thought I would post this here. 

[prisaz]

If you do not like Verizon's DNS you can use someone elses. DNS only resolves the Name to IP. Only time I have seen an issue with redirects was when the domain could not be found. Then it may redirect you to a search page with optional domains. You could try Open DNS. Many users say it is even faster. http://www.opendns.com/

Are you sure it is a Verizon redirect issue? Or is it an issue with not finding the server? There have been other issues with VPN that have nothing to do with DNS.

Verizon must balance support with what their resonsibility is. You really can't expect them to support every software and hardware issue with connecting to a remote site. I am sure there are many people out there that would tie up the tech lines with everything under the sun. So that is why they have the premium support available. These forums are a good resource for help, and customers helping customer. Be it something Verizon may or may not be responsible for.

Message Edited by prisaz on 05-09-2009 08:06 AM

[Arthur_Dent]

It is a Verizon redirect issue because if I go to a nearby hotel, connect to their wireless network, establish a VPN connection, and then connect to my company's website with no problems.  This is in fact what I have been doing.

The tech I spoke to could tell me how to login to the router Verizon provided but he could not tell me how to make the necessary changes to opt out of Verizon's DNS redirect.  This is absolutely unacceptable for equipment that Verizon provided.

My company has employees in every state and I am not the first person to have a problem with DNS redirect but at least their ISPs were able to help them.  One person told me they called their ISP and their tech support turned off the service and told them it will take 30 minutes for the change to take effect.  Now that is customer service.

[kingbird]

Update: (See first post in this thread) Screen name changed from "kenjo" because my old password and username doesn't work anymore.

June 9: After being told numerous times by various subcontractors from TetraTech, a crew came out today and dug 2 small ditches and used a boring machine to run the FIOS cable underground to my house. Total time: about 1 hour. Total time I spent on the phone with various Verizon representatives and talking in person, on site,  with Verizon and subcontractors and being told by 2 different subs they couldn't route the cable underground the way it is now (finally) instead of through the crawl space of my house: 3 hours. Too bad Verizon didn't send this particular crew from TetraTech out on the day it was originally scheduled (March 27).

Now we'll see how long it takes Verizon to reconnect from the "temporary" FIOS cable to the permanent underground line.

[DarkCobra1]

Unreal . . .hang in there 😞

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[sgip2000]

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@Arthur Dent wrote:

I have Verizon FIOS using Westell 9100OEM Router.  I was unable to connect to my company's website using a VPN connection due to Verizion's DNS Redirect service.   I did not see anything about how to configure this router to opt out of the DNS Redirect service on the FIOS Help web page.  I contacted Verizon Tech Support and the tech that answered my call told me he had no idea how to do this either.  I ask to talk to someone else.  He told me there was no one else I could talk to.  He also told that my only option would be to contact Verizon's Premium Tech Support service and that this was a pay service.  I told him that I thought it would be easier for me to choose another ISP than do this and he said that was up to me

I can't believe that someone like Verizon would have such poor customer service for its Internet support.  I have a Verizon cell phone and have never had any problems with this service.  I would still like to know how to opt out of the DNS Redirect so I thought I would post this here. 

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Log into the router and note what the DNS entries are.  Then manually set the DNS servers to what you wrote down but change the last number from .12 to .14.

[JHoop]

As someone who is thinking about switching from brighthouse(time warner) cable to fios, I will be watching this thread closely over the next few days. Between the limited access to usenet and this, I'm becoming a little concerned about signing a one year contract. Please let us know if your issue gets resolved.

[Techman28]

I'm not quite done with the drop being buried. I'll speak with the FT in the morning and he Did refer it back to Buried drop for another appt at which I should know tomorrow. I'll have additional info tomorrow for Kenjo.

In the mean Time if you are having problems feel free to post them so we can get your problems worked on and fixed.

[DarkCobra1]

Techman28 needs a raise!   We need to clone him so he is in all parts of the country 🙂

[prisaz]

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@DarkCobra wrote:

Techman28 needs a raise!   We need to clone him so he is in all parts of the country 🙂

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Yes I agree. Techman28 does exemplify what it means to be da tech man. I am really glad to see this issue being addressed. It is not the first time. I have about 30ft of burial cable from the box to my property line that I did myself. About one foot deep. Only line in my neighborhood behind the house. I threw the contractors off my property and did the work myself after they tried to put the cable only 2 inches below the grass, and proceeded to destroy my garden. This was supposed to be the permanent cable to replace the temporary cable that had not been burried for three months. YES I DID IT MYSELF, after the work order was closed three times. This is one that still burns me. Since 2005. I must mark the cable everytime the utilities are marked for work. No one knows it's there. Sorry but I like Verizon, but do not like some of the things that happen. Thanks to all the Verizon people here in the forums, things are getting better.

Message Edited by prisaz on 05-08-2009 08:27 PM

[DarkCobra1]

Very well said "prisaz"!    I can't believe you had to do that yourself.    Good for you.   I hope the powers that be in corporate are watching these forums because even though we've got the biggest network . . . in terms of installation nightmares, billing nightmares and some customer rep folks who "clearly" aren't ready for prime time . . . we've got a long way to go. 

This forum is truly acting as a mirror that illuminates what is REALLY going on out here.   Can ya hear us now executives?   We love the company but as you can see from this forum there are serious problems that may not be showing up on the corporate graphs and charts and bottom line dollar figures.   You guys at the top can fix this 🙂

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[prisaz]

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@DarkCobra wrote:

Very well said "prisaz"!    I can't believe you had to do that yourself.    Good for you.   I hope the powers that be in corporate are watching these forums because even though we've got the biggest network . . . in terms of installation nightmares, billing nightmares and some customer rep folks who "clearly" aren't ready for prime time . . . we've got a long way to go. 

This forum is truly acting as a mirror that illuminates what is REALLY going on out here.   Can ya hear us now executives?   We love the company but as you can see from this forum there are serious problems that may not be showing up on the corporate graphs and charts and bottom line dollar figures.   You guys at the top can fix this 🙂

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Yes in 2005 I think I would have dug a hole to China to get fiber. Since my fiasco, it was six months and a slight rework of my neighborhood before anyone else was provisioned. I guess I was one of the first, so digging a 30ft 1ft deep trench and back filling was a small price to pay. FIOS is great. In the 1990s before residential DSL was available I had a dry pair of clean copper provisioned to a third party provider for SDSL and it was $626 for the install. So many people do not realize the undertaking that Verizon has taken on and only for a service commitment. I paid nothing for my FIOS install or my equipment. Only a monthly charge that is far less then the $99 a month only for SDSL I paid in the 90s. GO VERIZON!

Go ahead back to copper coax infrastructure. Glass is da gas!

Message Edited by prisaz on 05-08-2009 09:35 PM

[JHoop2]

I'm glad I waited before signing up for Verizon. It is clear that they are just too big to do much properly. Between their salespeople lying to my elderly grandmother to make a sale, this thread about their incompetence and just having to re-register (an overly-complicated process on this site)  in order to post again, I think I'll stick with my cable modem. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences.