[clue-tech] Switching to Qwest DSL soon, any suggestions?

[Jed S. Baer]

On Tue, 12 Jun 2007 07:26:46 -0700 (PDT)
Keith Christian wrote:

> My broadband provider is raising rates, and I've not been too happy with
> the service lately, so I'm switching to Qwest DSL at the house.  Hope
> I'm not making a mistake.

After being offline since about noon on Tuesday, and having the most
brain-dead awful experience with Qworst support, I'd consider your
options.

A tenant here moved from one apt. to another. The tech who moved his
service just unplugged my line.

I give Qwest my office number, because my mobile phone doesn't work inside
the building.

The first tech called the wrong phone number to see if I was here (I
wasn't, because I didn't need to be, and I told their phone reps I
wouldn't be). That was Wednesday AM. He left a note.

The next tech also called the wrong phone number, but close enough to when
I left work that I was able to call him back while he was still here. He
was supposed to have arrived before noon, but showed up at 3:45. To get
access to the phone panel, the tech has to call my apartment mgr. and get
a keypad code. She wasn't available at that time, but would have been had
he showed up at the right time.

I scheduled a 3rd visit for today, and explicitly told them when my apt.
mgr. would be unavailable. During that phone call, the service rep said
something about them needing to order equipment. I not exactly calmy
explained to them that it was impossible for them to have made that
determination, since neither tech had been able to access the panel to
check the connection.

I stayed home from work today, because it'd been handled so poorly, I
wanted to be here. By 2:30, nobody had showed. I called Qwest and was told
that my service was scheduled for tomorrow. I very strongly suggested they
get someone here tonight. Tech showed up at 6:30. He discovered exactly
what I suspected, that my line had simply been unplugged. He told me that
supposedly a tech had been here this AM at 8:30. Since I was here, I know
that didn't happen.

So, after at least a couple hours on the phone, and 3 or 4 visits from a
Qwest tech, it took maybe 10 minutes to fix the problem. And, I really
didn't have to be here.

I will note that this isn't the first time that the Qwest service
operators have screwed up my service orders, or maybe their system doesn't
forward essential information to their field techs. Well, the snafu I had
in 2002 doesn't fit the latter category -- the people on the phone were
just plain wrong.

Beats me if Comcast is any better, but I'll sure give them some serious
consideration next time I change service.

jed