How do i convince Verizon to bring either DSL to my area? What can i do?

[Liana]

Their is no broudband where i live, their are enough people out here just nothing here, im not sure what to do.

I wish i could just try getting DSL from Verizon and see what kind of speed i can get, where i live dialup is useless no matter where the access number

is.

Verizon is the only phone company where i live to, they own the lines for crying outloud.

I would willingly pay twice what others have to pay just to get DSL here.

Im so despirate.

I need something fast.

And do not sugest wireless, i refuse to be slammed with limits.. i need at least 2 gigs a day 30 days a week for all the things i need and have to do.

I tried satalite and it was a joke.

Is their a number for the main office of Verizon where i can talk to a major higher up and cry my eyes out to them?

Im at my wits end.

And no i can not move, it simply is not a choice.

Help please.

[angeltony0]

I came on verizons site for the same reason you are, I cannot believe if you have verizon phone service you would not be able to get their dsl!! But where I live they still dont have call waiting caller id and not sure when they will get it. But our population is around 2000 so they would definetely get customers. Right now I have satellite and its 60.00 a month, and have limited bandwidth, with that kind of money there should be no limit. Please Help someone

[Liana]

I know, its nuts, their at least that many here, i sware if another phone company comes into the area im switching, especialy if they can offer DSL.

I had satalite, it is worthless for someone like me, i do a lot of heavy surfing and gaming and more, i mean.. i would pay 100 or more a month for DSL.

I do not understand this.. i must be the only person willing to say anything, but i know their are others with computers around here where i live.

What i really do not get is how they can expand a service like FiOS to places where their is already competition while we sit here waiting, they have no competition here where i live, satelite TV would lose big time around here if FiOS TV was here, people here only got satelite cause it was the only choice.

As soon as FiOS or DSL is in my area i am possitive people here will drop the wireless BS, and i will convince them to.

Come on Verizon.. right now you guys are the only ones, give it time though and it will be too late for you here where i live Verizon, because cable will beat you to the punch.

[Ucamuk1]

Hi Liana

I don't work for any phone company, but I think I can answer your question.

DSL is only effective within a certain distance from the Central Office of your phone company.  Back when I initially signed up for DSL, the number of miles was 20.  Any more than that and the 'line' is not strong enough to support a DSL signal.  And I'm guessing we are talking "copper wire" miles and not 'distance a bird flew' miles.

Now, perhaps with advances in technology distance limits have changed since then, but if you live out in the sticks, the odds are not in your favor.

[Liana]

They could bring FiOS then.. their are enough people here for it.. or i could go over Verizons head and provide a service for my area and cut them out completely, maybe start a local cable company and provide digital phone and cable and broadband and cut off any buisness Verizon does make here.

They dont seem to care about us here anyhow, im always having hell with the lines messing up and hearing voices from other people down the way on my line.

We are a growing community that needs better comunications technology.

I have been living here for over 10 years now and it is getting to be rediculous.

Not only are their plenty people living here but their are a lot of people in the surrounding towns of where i live.

By the time Verizon makes a move, it will be too late for them, they are digging their own grave.. so to speak.

People are not going to wait, i know im not.. im tempted to just cut them off and get a cell phone through sprint or AT&T.. Verizon has been nothing but a  pain since day one when i moved out here.

Anyhow, thankyou for your reply, you were very helpfull, more then Verizon themselves.

[Ucamuk1]

your reply pretty much confirms the reason DSL can't be offerred to you.  If your phone lines are getting that much interference it would be very hard to create a reliable broadband connection on them.

Give it more time, technology is changing and becoming more profitable every day.

[mtpalms]

[quote]Hi Liana

I don't work for any phone company, but I think I can answer your question.

DSL is only effective within a certain distance from the Central Office of your phone company.  Back when I initially signed up for DSL, the number of miles was 20.  Any more than that and the 'line' is not strong enough to support a DSL signal.  And I'm guessing we are talking "copper wire" miles and not 'distance a bird flew' miles.

Now, perhaps with advances in technology distance limits have changed since then, but if you live out in the sticks, the odds are not in your favor."[/quote]

Your information is either faulty, or Verizon has been holding out on me. I'd like to see some literature to back up the "20 mile rule"

I live 15 road miles from the main office, and 1/2 mile from an exchange buiding served by fiber optic and dsl is unavailable for me, according to Verizon. However, my neighbors 20+ miles from the main office, with their exchange, can get dsl. The only reason for this that I ever got was from 2 former employees, a line repairman and maintenance supervisor, and their best guess was that the exchange in my neighborhood was too outdated for dsl, but not old enough to be upgraded and Verizon probably couldn't be bothered to do it anyway for a mere 5000 residents. In fact, the retired supervisor remembered when the building was put up, about 15 years ago when Verizon was known as GTE in California.

Line condition has nothing to do with connection availibilty either as far as I can tell. My lines at home are good, they replaced all the lines a few years ago - with  new copper, so I guess we will never have FiOS either. My lines at work, where I do have dsl (which is reliable too), are very staticky and there is a Verizon repair van outside our building at least once a month. When I moved in a year ago the Verizon installer said I was lucky my lines even worked and he dreaded making repair calls to our building.

I pay $80 a month for a 1.5 mps satellite connection at home, but  if I could get dsl, I could work from home instead of paying $600 rent for an office in town in addition to a phone and dsl account which is $125. The disparity of broadband 'haves' and 'have nots' in this country really hits me hard in the pocketbook.

Even if there is some criteria about a 20 mile range, it doesn't matter because there is no way to contact anyone at Verizon in a position to make decisions, let alone actually help a customer out, if they are in fact, eligible for a dsl connection.

[lprice]

I agree it can be aggrivating.  The last house I lived in we couldn't get it for about 3 years.  I used dial up for my banking and went to verizons web site every day and did the check for availability thing and after about 6 months of that they sent me a questionairre about was I interested in it (only told them every day for 6 months).  We were able to get it about 3 months after that.  We moved about 2 years ago and people living 3 houses down from me can get it but I still cannot get it here at this time.  If I understand correctly it is because of the way that the phone lines were actually wired.  It seems that they more or less spliced us onto another line rather than running a new one.  I still go in as often as a I can and do the availability check.  I dont have the means to start my own cable company so that is not an option.  I don't even have a clear view of the southern sky so satellite isn't available to me either because I can't cut down 2 acres of my neighbor's trees.  If you find a way to get them to bring it to you, please post something so I can try it.

[highwaystar50]

All I can say is don't get your hopes up even if you do finally get DSL service. I live 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles and if I get a decent

connection once in a while it's a miracle. Decent for me would be one continuous hour of connect time, yet it rarely ever happens. I've been logged on since 7 AM (it's now 10:04 AM) and I haven't been able to get through my email yet as my connection has been down at least 20 times in those

three hours.

Karl

[chuckfl]

There does not seem to be much we can co. A few years ago Verizon stated I qualified for DSL, one of there people even teste3d my line and said

it qualified (real short distance). They gave me a start date than kept moving it for 5 months before they decided my line did not qualify. Dial up or

satilite have been my only options. So I will be going to satilite and probably cell phones. After 23 years with this same account and never a late

 payment or problems Verizon would want to keep customers.

[luv2quilt]

They did this to me three times a couple of years ago.  I would call the 800 number to find out why my order was cancelled; they did not know, so they would resubmit the order.  I ended up with three modems in the end, before they finally told me the service was not available.  Six months later, my neighbor has DSL.  They live west of me, on the other side of the road, and my neighbor who is east of me, also on the other side of the road qualifies for DSL.  Now my road is only a couple of miles long in total, with 8-10 houses on it, and the substation is at the east end of the road (about a mile from my house).  I spoke with a DSL serviceman who happened to be on site this weekend.  He was unsure why I was not able to get service and took my phone number.  Today I spoke with Verizon (local and tech support) and they hung up on me! Great customer service.  They keep trying to tell me there are not enough circuits available.  Well then -- duh -- install more!!!!

By the way - today they told me there is no signup/call back list - so to those who are filling out the form that says to let you know when service is available in your area - FORGET IT.....  you just have to keep hounding them.  Me -- I think I'm going to call Hughes Net and get me a cell phone too!  I may have to pay more, but at least I won't have to put up with Verizon's poor service.

[mtpalms]

Hughes Net is definitely a viable stop gap measure (I have Wildblue myself with few complaints - it is what it is - and both services are nearly identical), but paying $80 a month for a 1.5 mbps maximum connection is horribly expensive and it doesn't even qualify as broadband these days.

I get the maximum connection at 5:30 AM when most people are still snoozing, but the latency hits hard in the afternoon through the evening and on weekends. Once a page loads, it usually loads fast, but it often takes several minutes to even start. Especially with websites that use flash - particularly news and media outlets that automatically start loading video and video stream advertising - and that would be about all of them.   I also end up downloading video streams I want to see whenever possible so they are viewable.

For a phone company, this corporation is a miscommunicative mess and no one ever really seems to know what is going on.

[Provider7]

Wow...so much to cover here.  The first issue:  Population in the community.  We have a couple small towns here with populations of around 2000 too.  They most likely will never get Dsl and Verizon won't consider it unless the community can come up with a petition of individuals that would suscribe to having the service.  You need to take into consideration the massive expense of equipment needed to be installed in the office to overlap the Dsl service onto your existing phone line.  Not to mention conditioning the cables going down the road and removing Loads; which way back when were useful in re-amplifying the dialtones.  (Loads will block the Dsl signal)

In most small town like we have here you can basically call it "living in the country"  which brings out the second issue.  Distance...you have to be within 3.5 miles from our office or some of our remote hubs...so distance is very important. When I say remote hubs, some require extra equipment to be wired to make the remote hub act like a central office. (DSLAM)

Next line conditions...They definately matter...If your getting static on the lines it will greatly effect the quality of service you will recieve with upload and download speeds.

Finally FIOS...why not bring it to your area?  This is a new product.  They estimate that it cost the company roughly $800. per house just to run the wire past the home.  This does not include the expense of installation time the installer has at your home which can be anywheres from 2 to 6 hours depending on the situations he runs into with the installation.  So naturally they are going to go where they can get the most Bang for their buck so they can immediately re-coup some of their investment (highly dense popluations).  This re-vamping their network with Fiber is a major undertaking and will take some time to get established.

I hope this info helps

Regards,

Walt

Message Edited by Provider7 on 01-02-2009 09:17 AM

[mtpalms]

Walt, I appreciate Verizon's reluctance to serve their customers if it is going to cost them an initial investment, in spite of the millions they spend in advertising that say things to the contrary. A petition? Who does one contact to get a petition? Verizon has never told me this was an option, they just put me on a list and tell me they will get back to me when dsl is available in my neighborhood, which will be never according to your 'helpful' information.

Now a reality check for you, Walt:

My parents live on a farm in central Nebraska, seven miles form a small town of 2500. It has one of the last private phone companies left in the nation, and probably serves 3500 customers or less (Cozad Telephone Company, if you're interested in checking my facts). This little private company has managed to not only install fiber optics to every home in town, but to every customer within their boundary, probably a 10 mile radius, maybe a bit more.

Walt, that is customer service. If you go to Verizon's Home page, you will see a big slogan splashed on the screen "INTERNET FOR THE WAY YOU CONNECT" Well no Walt, sorry, that is obviously not the case when a multi billion dollar company cannot provide the same service to all of its customers as a little phone company in central Nebraska does. They may be able to fool themselves by pleading poverty (obviously they can afford a bit of advertising though, even if it's false), but you can't fool your customers once they know the facts.Unfortunately most of the time they are shielded from the truth, because Verizon is their only source for 'facts'. Lucky for you and Verizon, this post will be seen by only a handful of their (frustrated) customers.

Hope this helps Walt. Happy New Year.

PS Here is a link to Cozad Telephone Co

http://www.cozadtel.net/

Obviously they don't have a multi million dollar advertising budget, but they do have what people want: BROADBAND.

Edited to remove the assumption tha "Walt" works for Verizon. My apologies, I don't know if he does or not, but I still dispute his 'facts'

Message Edited by mtpalms on 01-02-2009 08:37 AM

[highwaystar50]

I've been following this thread with much interest as I am in the same boat it seems. I have considered a satellite connection using one of those USB things but I'd still have to deal with Verizon and I just don't feel like contributing to their coffers any more than I have to. Plus I'd have to stop using AOL which can be a chore in itself to do. As I mentioned in my own post, this is more of a philosophical concern for me, e.g., how can a company advertise something and charge for it when they don't have any intent to deliver it? Is it okay if no one finds out about it or complains? Is it okay to ignore those who do find out about it and complain? I reckon they own me at least 50% of what I've been paying them as that's about what my service level has been since I've had DSL.I wonder if I can consider that "loss" tax deductible?

Karl

[Provider7]

I just want to add something...I honestly understand your frustration.  How do you think I feel?...I work in these small towns and they give me this truck with "DSL, get it now!" Plastered all over my truck.  Personally, I would wish everyone could get it.  I've even had people pull me over to ask when or if it's going to be implemented.  What I find is most of those asking live too far from the office.  So even if it was in their area it wouldn't reach their houses.

[highwaystar50]

Provider7 I realize that there isn't much you as one individual can do within a giant company but you can't be the only one getting queried by the general public regarding service or lack there of. Don't you guys have a "what's on your mind" deal at Verizon where employees can anonimously (or not) input concerns to upper management? Fraud may be too harsh a term for what I consider I'm being assaulted with but what do you call it when you are promised something, pay for it and don't get it or only get it a fraction of the time? This is probably as good a reason as it gets for not allowing deregulation and mergers for service providers as I can come up with.

[KaLin]

Hi all,

Let's remember to keep our posts courteous and on topic, please. 

[Provider7]

Hi Karl,

There used to be a time where funds seemed limitless with the telco's.  I look at the current environment and i'm suprised that the progress for Fios  is still proceeding.  So before I say anything else, I want you to understand ...anything I say is my own opinion and does not relflect the views of Verizon. I figured I better put in a disclaimer just in case.  : )

Verizon is huge in it's size and all it encompasses.  Sometimes I feel like I work for the Government trying to get something done.  I give alot of credit to my manager too, for helping us guys out.   Were at a place however; where we are making huge investments in upgrading our plant to FioS for the future growth of the nation.  Some could say Right...were doing it for Verizon, but it really is the nation that benefits (competition).  From what I've seen so far... we have tightened the belt a little for future development in copper to expand our fiber base.  I'm not saying were not placing anything new...we are where it's needed...Presently we're maintaining the existing copper plant and keeping it running as best as we can.

Like the lineman who came to your house to fix your Dsl...sometimes there is not alot we can do to keep the cable pairs working great when a whole section of cable may be failing.  Naturally i'm not there to see your trouble history but from what I know, you should always have a connection...24/7.  When you loose your dsl, does the dsl light go to a blinking state ?  If so I would venture to say it's your lines outside.  Another factor that could be effecting you is the distance you are from the office.  The further out you are, the slower the connection.  If you loose your Dsl light again...demand it be dispatched out.

They just started deploying Fiber in the Buffalo roughly one year ago.  It's a slow and tedious process and I give them alot credit...they are doing it right and creating a network to allow for future growth.   The work is extensive.  I've had the oportunity to not only work on it at the customers home, but have had the oportunity to use it.  It is an amazing service from all aspects.  It won't be in my area till 2010.

In response to getting queried by the general public...sure we do...all the time.  It is sometimes dis-heartening when we as employees want to provide good service, then the budget says no.  So we work with what we have and do the best we can to make it functional.

[highwaystar50]

Thanks Provider7 for your reply. I know it must be hard to be "the face" of Verizon that people see and have to possibly suffer the ire of discontented customers. I agree that my problem is outside my home but since the copper in my town is due for replacement sometime in the distant future, I am going to have to suck it up and cope for the time being,

In case that moderator message was directed at me, I hope that I have been courteous even if I haven't been completely "on topic" for this particular post. I guess I should update the post I started as it has fallen by the wayside.

Karl

[Provider7]

Hi Karl,

Listen, you pay for a service...you shouldn't have to suck it up.  Call it back in, be curteous to the installer and ask him to make the repair permanant.  There is nothing wrong with requesting to recieve what you pay for and most of the guys will work to make it happen.

Regarding the moderator message, I missed it...What message?  I think I took it off topic after I went to look at some of your past post.  Sorry for swaying off course.

Regards,

Walt