DSL :-(

[cellio]

Damn. The last local ISP in Pittsburgh, which has provided us excellent service, is going away. (I hadn't realized it had gotten quite that bad.) Our choices are Verizon (DSL) and Comcast (cable), so I've just submitted the order with Verizon. This should be a simple transfer (our ISP was reselling Verizon), but they have no apparent process for simple transfers, so we'll see. (No, not going to do Comcast, and not interested in switching technologies until the day Verizon deigns to offer FiOS in our neighborhood.)

With Nidhog (current ISP), service has been excellent, I had the owner's cell-phone number, and the very few problems were dealt with quickly and easily (even the ones that weren't really theirs to fix). Verizon claims 24/7 support but they mean online chat, which has obvious limitations. Getting a phone number at all was harder than it should have been, and I don't yet know the hours when it's staffed. (Not at 10PM on a Saturday.)

Edit: This wasn't clear from the mail I got on Friday, but tonight I learned that Nidhog is not going away completely. They are just ceasing to offer DSL. (I'd love to know what happened there...) If FiOS were available to my address I could buy it from Nidhog (so when it is I will, should it ever be).

Comments

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

You could probably also do Earthlink over Verizon (we did that, now we're Earthlink over AT&T), but its close to the same thing.

How's you Hindi?

[tc-tick.livejournal.com]

Most likely Verizon's "support" will be out of India. I've been using Speakeasy/Covad since my previous ISP (Verio) became commercial (T1 or better) only. They have provided excellent service over the years. You might check them out at www.speakeasy.net.

[dsrtao]

Speakeasy continues to provide exceptionally good service -- my business has been a customer for 3 years now. The price is higher than VZ, but pretty much every plan includes a static IP address and the right to do just about anything you want with it except send spam.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

No Comcast.

And, consider GetHuman.com (or org?)

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

Verizon claims 24/7 support but they mean online chat

Ahahahaha.

I used to wonder how you could call the phone company to tell them your phone service was dead. Online chat to discuss connectivity issues are just as silly. "Are you at your computer, ma'am?" "Duh, no, it can't connect!"

[xthlcm.livejournal.com]

Hmm, it may be too late, but I'll third the speakeasy recommendation. Verizon DSL is absolutely awful. Speakeasy "feels" like a local ISP in terms of great support and personalized service.

[gregordv.livejournal.com]

Just to throw more FUD into the mix, I was speaking to a FiOS installer who said they were going to be rolling out to "the rest of Pittsburgh" Real Soon Now. I assume that meant Sq.Hill also, but didn't specifically ask. If so, then the compelling bandwidth buys them out of a whole bunch of bad service, in my book.

[fauxklore]

I have Verizon FIOS and mostly like the service, but their customer service sucks. The last time I had an outage, they kept insisting it was because I had a power outage and would not believe that: a) I had power, b) none of the circuit breakers had flipped and c) the backup power unit was not in my basement because I live in a condo and don't have a basement. It took the condo management calling to get things fixed.

[foxxydancr.livejournal.com]

fyi, in the year+ that derrangedferret and I have had verizon, we have never had a single problem. Initial installation (it was FIOS) took half a day or so, but was reasonably efficient, the guy seemed pleasant and knolwedgeable, and we've never, to my knowledge, needed to call Verizon for anything. So for all the horror stories people tell, there's a flip side too.