[nylug-talk] Covad? (was FIOS...)

[Carl Friedberg]

> I can't say about other providers, but I know Covad
> resellers/affiliates
> get to play. Bway has offered bonded connections for quite sometime.

Echoing the obvious, I would no longer use Covad services.

I had a "business-class" (i.e. $110/month with an 8-IP address
block) 3.0 down, .768 up ADSL from Covad when a previous DSL
provider dropped their DSL product; they were a Covad reseller,
so I figured, why not go to the source?

First, during the installation (no option to do it myself), the
tech did not have enough Cat-3 wire to complete the job; I had to
go out and buy it for him. Then, he made some major screwups during
the install, so I had to get a new router, and install it myself.
Did I mention they charged almost $300 for the installation?

The service worked for a few weeks, as advertised. Then, the
connection quit. After hours on the phone with several techs,
they said they would have to send out a tech to my home office,
3 days later. Eventually the tech arrived, noted (as was obvious
from the very first call) that the line was down, left. Covad then
logged a call with Verizon. They showed up a day or two later,
determined that the line was down (at their central office), and
did a reset on the switch. The line came back up.

Down for a week, for what should have been a 10-second call to
log the problem with Verizon, and then have Verizon try to
reset it at the switch. Oh well, what do you expect for $110/
month? 

I now have a $xxx T1 and when the line goes down, Verizon is 
there in an hour or two. I also have a backup which comes in
automatically when the T1 fails. You get what you pay for.

FIOS is not an option in my building at this time.

Carl Friedberg