| Author |
Message |
    
Danielle
Citizen
Username: Danip
Post Number: 3
Registered: 7-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 9:36 pm: | 
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Hi!
I would like to get a land line and DSL. Any recommendations or advice on who we SHOULD NOT use?
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks! |
Former Cowgirl
Citizen
Username: Formercowgirl
Post Number: 153
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 7:33 am: |
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Verizon!!!
I can't tell you how many problems we've had in 6 weeks that we've had our DSL and phone line with Verizon. Their customer service is the worst I've ever experienced and our phone goes screwy after every storm. Our most recent technician claims they're going fiber optic in the fall, but I'm not holding my breath. Do you see how many Verizon vans are out on the street after every little storm?
Despite just paying huge installation costs, we're considering going Comcast for every thing or looking into optonline. |
Josh Holtz
Citizen
Username: Jholtz
Post Number: 545
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 9:14 am: |
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I'm with cowgirl on this one. We had Verizon for two phone lines, a distinctive ring fax, wireless and DSL. Verizon Wireless in my opinion is the best choice around. However, we have experienced a pathetic amount of problems with the Verizon land lines over the past 1 1/2 years and finally made the decision to drop DSL and go Optonline.
Like cowgirl - every time it rained our phone lines would go out (due to the rain water shorting out a phone cable at the main box). As a result my fax and DSL would go out as well as both were run on the phone line.
Customer service was not only bad but incredibly obnoxious. During one of my 1000 calls to repair, one agent had the audacity to say that he has had customers with phone problems for 15 years so I better live with it.
I wanted to switch my phone lines to Optimum Voice as well but chose not to as they only can support one phone line per household. Also, I was given two different opinions as to whether or not they could support a distinctive ring fax.
As for Optimum Voice a friend told me recently that about a year ago he had cable, phone and broadbrand all through Cablevision and had a lot of problems with the phone line. He suspected that the cable and the broadband could have weakened the incoming signal for the phone. I am not so sure.
As for me I am paying more money now that I have split between Verizon and Cablevision but I have had absolutely no problems since. |
fabulouswalls
Citizen
Username: Fabulouswalls
Post Number: 161
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 9:38 am: |
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I have had no problems with my phones or DSL since installing the DSL about 3 years ago. Our phones never go out and DSL only goes out occasionally. We are in West Orange though and obviously that makes a difference. |
mbb
Citizen
Username: Mbb
Post Number: 21
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 10:25 am: |
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I had Verizon DSL for 8 years and had no problems. I admit their customer service is poor and the internal company coordination non-existent, which can be a problem if you need uncommon features for your service. I recently changed to Optonline (Optimum on Line)and already had longer service outages than I had for the 8 years I used Verizon DSL.
Another point to consider is that Optonline's e-mail service is more limited. If you travel and rely on e-mail while away, you'll find you cannot use mail software to send e-mail. Their outgoing mail server does not accept mail from othe Internet service providers. You can only send e-mail with a browser. Recently they have been experiencing delays with e-mail aliases and don't behave well with other e-mail servers, such as gmail.
I am considering going back to Verizon or trying AT&T's DSL. |
peteglider
Citizen
Username: Peteglider
Post Number: 2086
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 12:04 pm: |
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Been using IDT for phone service for several years, no probems at all. The first few months billing was slightly messed up -- easily handled via phone, and then fixed.
Have Optimum online for internet -- I find it flawless. One outage in 5+ years, had a tech at the house same day. Can't speak to gmail, etc via optimum, though.
/p |
TomD
Citizen
Username: Tomd
Post Number: 578
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 1:07 pm: |
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My verizon DSL also cuts out sporadically when it rains (which is super annoying), but I thought that was a result of the physical lines around here. Wouldn't any DSL provider have to go over the same (crappy) lines?
Cable modem was better, but I can justify the cost difference. |
KRNL
Citizen
Username: Krnl
Post Number: 99
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 3:10 pm: |
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I have difficulty understanding why so many of you report that DSL will cut out sporatically and Cable won't.
My verizon land phone service seems to be available 100% of the time and my Comcast tv cable frequently goes off for hours in storms and very frequently loses half of the cable stations (or delivers the stations with poor reception).
Furthermore, I totally distrust Comcast in terms of pricing. No matter how much we reduce our Cable service, the price quickly rises above a reasonable sum.
Aside from procrastination, this cunundrum is an important reason I am still on dial-up (where any sevice issues revolve around MSN, my access provider) . |
Danielle
Citizen
Username: Danip
Post Number: 5
Registered: 7-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 24, 2006 - 11:43 pm: |
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Thanks so much for all of the info. I am worried about NOT having a "land line" in the event of an emergency - otherwise I would go with VONAGE for phone service. I think that Optimum online sounds good - I will probably just keep my Yahoo account instead of using the Optonline account. Now I have lots to think about!
Josh - I can't believe that the cust. service rep told you to "just deal with it"! Unbelievable!
Thanks again!
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