[TriLUG] Request for help: residential internet service provideroptions.

[Steve Holton via TriLUG]

On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 12:47 PM, Leonard Boyle via TriLUG <
trilug at trilug.org> wrote:

> - are the other folks in your area seeing the same issues?
>

At one point I has a Windstream 2nd level support tech on the line and we
were discussing the numerous resets my DSL modem was experiencing (about 10
times per day). He said he checked the other DSL modems off the same
concentrator and was seeing similar levels of resets from their equipment
as well. Based on that, his guess was that this is a problem which wouldn't
be fixed by sending out a technician to replace the DSL modem at my house.

- have you been able to talk to the chief tech person in Windstream's support
> group.


Windstream does things a bit funky: for copper lines, the after-hours techs
can open a ticket for the problem report but cannot dispatch a technician
to verify or correct the problem. That decision is made by the dispatch
team, who are only available during business hours. If the dispatch team
doesn't understand the problem, or thinks they do but can't reproduce it,
or chooses not to investigate the problem, the ticket is closed without
contacting the customer. (Windstream 29353883)

A customer who has an open a ticket must call back during business hours to
request the ticket be escalated to dispatch status. This will only happen
if the 2nd level support can reproduce the problem, which is problematic if
the problem primarily occurs after hours. (Windstream 29393005)

Jump through all the hoops and get a 2nd level on the line when the problem
is occurring, and Windstream falls back to the old "...you old paid for *up
to* 1.5 Mbps, sometimes you'll get less..." and "...some packet loss is
expected..." without a clear definition for *some, *and "...you can take it
or leave it.."  They did offer to waive the cancellation fee if I wanted to
cancel my service. (Windstream 29412790)

I don't think talking to anyone higher in management would help. I got the
impression Windstream's strategy was to let the copper infrastructure rot
take the service fee from customers who have no other choice, and hope for
a Federal taxpayer handout to upgrade their private network to fiber.

This is based partly on the experience last weekend where we had a
neighborhood-wide power failure, and the phone immediately lost dial tone.
We had seen (and reported) the problem in the past, but there's no way for
a subscriber to check if the line node loses power until a power outage
occurs. We've also reported this to the FCC (Windstream 29449626) but the
FCC punts to the State PUC, which apparently is no longer requiring phone
service to be maintained during power failures.

*That kinda sucks for all those people who are paying for a land line on
the assumption they'll still be able to make emergency calls during a power
outage.*

Thanks for the suggestion, it's an option I haven't explored partially
because I don't think receiving the service I paid for should require
escalating to the CEO.
I've learned that if I teach a dog to only allow *me* to feed him, then
*I'll* be stuck feeding him.

-- 
Steve Holton
sph0lt0n at gmail.com