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

[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.

[cellio]

To avoid a service gap I'm taking Verizon at the moment (I'm already on their network so this should be easy...), but I have 30 days to cancel that without penalties, which is enough time to investigate Speakeasy.

When you say Verizon is awful, do you mean quality of service too, or just their support?

Speakeasy charges $50/month for 1.5/384, versus $20 from Verizon for 1.5/something (didn't look). For 3.0/something (what I ordered) it's even more pronounced -- $90 Speakeasy, $30 Verizon. Is there something I've missed? If not, are they worth that kind of multiplier? Of course support and TOS are also part of the value proposition; I'm just trying to understand why they're so much more expensive.

[xthlcm.livejournal.com]

Both quality of service and support. Mind you, I had them several years ago in Pittsburgh, but it was enough to sour me for good.

Network restrictions was my principal complaint. Last I checked, Verizon locks down their network to a ridiculous degree. You cannot send email through their SMTP servers unless your From header is an @verizon.net address. Forget about any inbound ports, BitTorrent, etc. At the time they didn't even allow my use of the MAYA VPN, insisting I upgrade to a "home office" package for $20 more per month.

Support was also terrible. I usually had to call back multiple times until I found a support tech whose English was adequate to resolve my issue and who would escalate my problem (since by the time I call I've usually gone beyond the whole turn-it-off-and-on-again script). Even then I would usually be dumped off the line with the promise that someone would call me back (they never did).

Speakeasy, on the other hand, was consistently awesome. The last time I had a major outage (four years ago) the support tech gave me his mobile phone number so that I could call and check on the repair status if I got impatient. Then there was a misunderstanding with Covad, where the Covad tech charged me $200 for a repair due to a bullshit technicality. When I complained to Speakeasy they apologized and ate the charge for me while they worked it out with Covad. The support techs respect you if you're technically competent and will act more like a knowledgeable coworker than a condescending or ignorant drone.

Speakeasy also does a great job of supporting people that run their own servers at home, and automatically gives you static IPs and wide open, unfiltered access to the Internet.

All of that said: yes, their pricing has pushed them further and further into boutique status. I have no reason to run my own services at home since it's cheaper and more reliable to do it via Dreamhost or Slicehost. I have Comcast for my home broadband now -- it's pricier than Verizon but faster and (so far) the support and services have been adequate.