My brother Johnny has been without reliable DSL service since Sunday — he’s had periods of 12 hours without any service at all, and it has been on and off at random intervals otherwise. His service provider is Telus in Vancouver; Telus technical support has told him it could be a couple of days before they solve the problem.
By way of trying to help Johnny self-diagnose, I came across this this page at Telcordia, which summarizes the technical challenges for telephone companies providing ADSL service. My favourite paragraph is:
It’s been much smarter, so far, to not even try to sign up any customer whose loop is the least bit questionable, even though you’ve already invested the cost of qualifying that loop. And if such a customer asks for ADSL, it’s smarter to just say “You can’t have it” and let the customer’s frustration end there. You’re in the very awkward and unwelcome position of having to try to discourage customers from buying a service they want and you want to sell them. You’re lopping off chunks of your customer base at both ends, maybe losing a quarter to half of your potential ADSL market before you’ve started.
About This Blog
I am Peter Rukavina and this is my blog. I am a writer, letterpress printer, and a curious person.
To learn more about me, read my /now, look at my bio, listen to audio I’ve posted, read presentations and speeches I’ve written, or get in touch (peter@rukavina.net is the quickest way).
You can subscribe to an RSS feed of posts, an RSS feed of comments, or a podcast RSS feed that just contains audio posts. You can also receive a daily digests of posts by email.
Comments
This is why I always choose
This is why I always choose cable over ADSL in places that I’ve had the choice. It is a superior technology. Of course implementations will vary, but cable technology has the advantage of not having to squeeze bits down the old copper phone lines running into your house.
I posted a comment on my
I posted a comment on my blog in regards to my recent (good) experience with telus technical support. It’s too soon to tell if the solution is permanent.
Anywho… since my blog isn’t database driven, you’ll need to scroll down to the entry “tell us”
http://www.pixeldown.net/news/…
Interesting. I am with Telus
Interesting. I am with Telus in Vancouver and I didn’t notice and problems. But then I don’t use my computer much during the weekend so maybe I just didn’t notice the down time.
Add new comment