[kelly]

The year is 2002. From home, I connect to the internet at 56k.

I had a run in with Southwestern Bell's DSL people a couple of years ago. (I'm more tolerant of ignorance and incompetence than I am of rudeness and over billing--but SW Bell had all of these traits going for them so I didn't have to prioritize my sensitivity.) So basically... I gave up on them and went back to 56k....

THINKING THAT... other forms of broadband were right around the corner. To this day, I still have no other option. No cable modem. No wireless broadband. Nothing.

To this I ask my fellow internet user WHAT IN THE HELL.

(Ok, yes, admittedly this rant was brought on by even more poor service from SW Bell because I'm stuck with them as a telephone provider. FCC deregulation? Yeah, that means I get to pay another $5 a month. Thanks, FCC! My thinking is... if ONLY AT&T or ANYONE would give me another way to access the internet, I'd be able to get a cell phone for my voice calls and send Ma Bell a hardy FOAD. But alas, no, so I'm whining about it here.)

Are any companies planning to get off their ass and roll out broadband access? Or did Telcom Valley's unemployment rate put expansion on indefinite hold? You want to know why the economy sucks? Because idiotic corporations have to obey the whims of vulture capitalists and layoff happy board members instead of SUPPLY PEOPLE WITH PRODUCT THEY ACTUALLY WANT TO BUY.

Ok, sorry. I'm ok now. The nice nurse has brought me my medication and she says I have to lay down now.

 

[gloco]

1. your name is kelly
2. you live in dallas
3. you live in texas
4. you have a avatar of a raccoon
5. you're a hard ass, sometimes
6. you decided to split from the union
7. you gave us Bush
8. Dan Rather is a Texan
9. you killed JFK
10. you're a hard on, sometimes

Ok, all kidding aside. I think de-regulation is a crock of ****, our utility bills have been shooting through the roof, and your damn right: they don't supply us with product we would want to buy.

Tele companies are total ****, their customer service is the ****s (sorry, can't help it, i just start thinking about all the problems i had with Verizon DSL). I had Verizon DSL for a few months but the amount of time i had connectivity must have been a week's worth. Constant outages with lackluster customer service ("uh, your dsl is down, how did that happen?" "YOU must've done something wrong" was the common explanation). Then it took a few months for Verizon to remove their blocks to allow acedsl to give me their service, thanks Verizon.

It's like eating some wild foreign food and spending three days on the toilet. That's what i think of Verizon, Con Ed (our local electric company) and various other dirtbags. It's beyond me why their moving so slow to offer broadband in Texas where people seem to be migrating every year, i think there's a market for it in Texas.

 

[akar]

.

 

[BeeEss]

I'm not absolutely sure but I think that if your line has the ability to carry the DSL signal you can choose from a variety of DSL ISP's. I checked my phone number with DirecTV DSL (formerly Telocity, no satellite dish required) and it said that I could get their DSL service at my place, and Southwestern Bell telephone service is all I have to choose from here (although I use cable internet access). If I'm not mistaken, it is the deregulation that allows companies to do this.

Just a thought, you might want to check it out.
DirecTV DSL

If you don't like DirecTV there are probably others; I would imagine that if you are in Dallas proper there may be some independent providers.

Peace and high speeds, BeeEss

 

[smokey]

Kelly,

I understand. I live in Southern California along with 20 million other nut jobs, and I didn't have access to broadband either. My phone company wouldn't drag a line out my way, and I've got Adelphia as a cable company.

However, I recently hooked up with Direcway satellite broadband. I have been very impressed. If you physically have room for the dish, and you have no other way, this is a very cool solution. (Although admittedly expensive.) I won't bore everyone with the specifics, but if you want to know a little more e-mail me.

I am in no way affiliated with Direcway, or Hughes Satellite.

 

[kelly]

1. But your name is gloco. Glocos get internet access an not kellys? What the hell is a gloco anyway!?
2. Dallas is a city. No, really.
3. Texas. Home to the majority of the United States' telcom industry. You know, it's not called "New York Instruments."
4. I am a racoon. I am a female asian violinist in a racoon's body... with headphones... when I'm not a sleestack.
5. I'm a hardass all the time. My name is Kelly and I live in Texas.
6. I've decided to split from the Confederacy, too!
7. You took Bush. Your other option was so delusional he thought he invented the internet. In fact, he still thinks he won the presidency.
8. Barbara Walters is from New York.
9. The CIA killed Kennedy. And the CIA is mostly yankees.
10. I don't know what your interest is in that part of me, but I think you got a little too hopeful about that "steers 'n queers" propoganda (sic; "Full Metal Jacket"-don't blame me!). I'm gonna have to pass.

Prior to the internet, Dallas was #2 for bulletin board systems. We consistently lead the market in computer hardware sales. We were not only home to the telcom corridor but home of Broadcast.com and a slew of other dot coms. In all sincerity, I have no idea why we've fallen behind on broadband. Canada has better connectivity than we do. Canada!

 

[dougli]

AT&T Cable Broadband. Nuthin' but trouble. I'm back on the 56K modem while the Broadband sits and malfunctions, waiting for yet another technician to come out and cause the problems to mutate...

 

[kelly]

I'm not sure I can get a clear shot with a dish. I used to have DSS for television but that went the way of my washer and dryer.. and tv, and the dogs. That's another story. Anyway, the canopy of trees have since grown up here and I'm not sure I could get line of site. I'll explore it, though.

I live in Dallas proper but sandwitched between an arm of Addison and Carollton. I've tried some of the search sites but haven't produced any indpendents servicing my area yet. If anyone knows of a better way to research such things (especially specific sites) please do let me know.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly 1. But your name is gloco. Glocos get internet access an not kellys? What the hell is a gloco anyway!? 2. Dallas is a city. No, really. 3. Texas. Home to the majority of the United States' telcom industry. You know, it's not called "New York Instruments." 4. I am a racoon. I am a female asian violinist in a racoon's body... with headphones... when I'm not a sleestack. 5. I'm a hardass all the time. My name is Kelly and I live in Texas. 6. I've decided to split from the Confederacy, too! 7. You took Bush. Your other option was so delusional he thought he invented the internet. In fact, he still thinks he won the presidency. 8. Barbara Walters is from New York. 9. The CIA killed Kennedy. And the CIA is mostly yankees. 10. I don't know what your interest is in that part of me, but I think you got a little too hopeful about that "steers 'n queers" propoganda (sic; "Full Metal Jacket"-don't blame me!). I'm gonna have to pass. Prior to the internet, Dallas was #2 for bulletin board systems. We consistently lead the market in computer hardware sales. We were not only home to the telcom corridor but home of Broadcast.com and a slew of other dot coms. In all sincerity, I have no idea why we've fallen behind on broadband. Canada has better connectivity than we do. Canada!

lmao

It's still beyond me why you have a total lack of broadband options, you sure there aren't any other small companies offering dsl thru SW Bell?

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly I'm not sure I can get a clear shot with a dish. I used to have DSS for television but that went the way of my washer and dryer.. and tv, and the dogs. That's another story. Anyway, the canopy of trees have since grown up here and I'm not sure I could get line of site. I'll explore it, though. I live in Dallas proper but sandwitched between an arm of Addison and Carollton. I've tried some of the search sites but haven't produced any indpendents servicing my area yet. If anyone knows of a better way to research such things (especially specific sites) please do let me know.

Have you tried www.dslreports.com?

 

[CaptBubba]

I hate the ****ing telephone company. Hate hate hate hate! They don't get off their lazy asses to do anything that relates to customer service.

The line quality is so bad at my house that we get 28.8 connection speeds, if we are lucky. Most of the time it is 24.6 or even 19.2. The line sounds like AM radio right next to a power sub-station, and they won't do a damn thing about it! They run some damn "check" over the line and say it is fine and give us some ******** about only giving reasonable voice quality, not data rates. Nevermind that I often have to hang up on people and call them back on my cell phone because it sounds better than the wired line.

Our line keeps getting stuck by lightning, which invariably blows a hole through the insulation of the wires. All they will do is come out and switch the wire pair that they are using. Out of a 30 pair cable, 21 pairs tested bad last time they came out to restore our phone service. Bad as in dead shorts to each other or broken wires. Yet they will not do what they know they should do and put a shielded cable from the road to our house. And they wonder why people are using their cellphones more and more to replace their home phone, at least my cellular service cares more about my buisness than Bellsouth even will even fathom caring.

I write this, btw, from a dorm room where I reguarly get download rates from 200-300KB/sec.

 

[Mr.PD]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly 1. But your name is gloco. Glocos get internet access an not kellys? What the hell is a gloco anyway!? 2. Dallas is a city. No, really. 3. Texas. Home to the majority of the United States' telcom industry. You know, it's not called "New York Instruments." 4. I am a racoon. I am a female asian violinist in a racoon's body... with headphones... when I'm not a sleestack. 5. I'm a hardass all the time. My name is Kelly and I live in Texas. 6. I've decided to split from the Confederacy, too! 7. You took Bush. Your other option was so delusional he thought he invented the internet. In fact, he still thinks he won the presidency. 8. Barbara Walters is from New York. 9. The CIA killed Kennedy. And the CIA is mostly yankees. 10. I don't know what your interest is in that part of me, but I think you got a little too hopeful about that "steers 'n queers" propoganda (sic; "Full Metal Jacket"-don't blame me!). I'm gonna have to pass.

Kelly, that was great!
Please don't split from the Confederacy!!!!!

I live in a town of 10,000 and I got one choice for DSL. Verizon. I have had no trouble with Verizon. Heck, they even upgraded the trunk or switch gear or something and I got about 30% faster after I rebooted my modem and router. Every time I think I lost my connection it turns out to be this cheap ass modem they gave me. I unplug it for a minute and every thing returns to normal.
Actually there are two other ISP's that try to sell DSL in my town but Verizon charges so much for usage that these ISP's can't compete. I know this because my daughter is the DSL manager at one of those ISP's.
Kinda funny that I have Verizon phone service and DSL but no wireless.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr.PD Every time I think I lost my connection it turns out to be this cheap ass modem they gave me. I unplug it for a minute and every thing returns to normal.

this is a problem i've been having since i got dsl. It even goes out on me during online gaming, which can really mess things up

Looks like i better invest in a better gateway, know any brands that are good?

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Yep, I was dissapointed with my dsl service so... I switched over to cable.

We have 2 computers hooked up to it and it has been running pretty fast, costs $40 canadian a month, same as dsl. I read dsl in the states is really costly, is that true?

Biggie.

 

[kelly]

DSL around here is about $50US/month for 768up/1.5m down limit, I think. Durign the brief time I had my DSL there was no down limit and I got 2.5m peaks. (This was better than my T1 at work at the time.)