* * * * *

              “We're the Phone Company … we don't have to care!”

> The new second line they gave us had a Valencia area code, which would have
> been good if IXd needed to call Magic Mountain several times per day. As it
> was, that number somehow cross-linked with our old phone line so that we
> couldn't even call our next-door neighbor on either phone without dialing
> 11 digits. The DSL started crashing all the time. The voice mail either
> wouldn't work or would deliver messages days after the fact. Sometimes an
> obliterating static would wash over the line; other times voices would
> echo.
>
> Well, we werenXt going to take this one lying down! We called the Sprint
> Ion service center in Atlanta, Georgia, and talked with Artie. And with
> Margie, Mark, Barry, Bob, Eddie, Kiewan, Abid, Emily, Carlos, Robert,
> Brian, Isaiah, Corey, Carl, Gerald, Debra, Barbara, Sylvester, Tom,
> Jeanette, Michael, Randall, Dan, Adam, Allen, Shavonne, Lynette, Hawk,
> Cornell, John and others.
>

Via Jerry Pournelle, [1] Lost in OC: Days of Our Lives [2]

Except for the NorthPoint failure [3] and that day [4] a week and a half ago,
I haven't had much problem at all with my DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
connection, unlike Mr. Washburn up there. But his story wasn't nearly as bad
as Brad's:

> **June 19, 2000:** Well, after nearly two months of waiting for my DSL
> service to be installed, I'm ensconced here in my home office, perching in
> front of the computer, surfing along at a zippy … 56K. Yep, sure couldn't
> see that one coming, could we? …
>
> Manuel returns after 10 minutes more of Mangione with the following news:
> the “wire center” serving my area is closed, and has been closed since late
> April. My order for DSL should never have been accepted and, should I wish
> to request DSL service, my order will have to be resubmitted.
> Unfortunately, Manuel is not permitted to accept new orders or even
> resubmit mine until the wire center reopens, which will be “on or after
> July 14.”
>
> “Why did Carl schedule me for an installation appointment today?” I ask.
> Manuel asks me to hold. Fifteen minutes of cool trumpet later, he returns
> with the news that the tech center has no record of an install order in my
> name.
>

ADSL Hell [5]

It's as if the telephone companies don't like DSL. Go figure.

[1] http://www.jerrypournelle.com/
[2] http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/02/11/lost-washburn.shtml
[3] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2001/03/29.2
[4] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2001/11/14.2-15.1
[5] http://www.bradlands.com/misc/adslHell.html

Email author at [email protected]