You really have to hand it to Qwest. They’re finding all new ways to take customer service to unheard of depths. I’ve had some horrible service before, I’ve had people hang up on me, I’ve had people be rude to me, I’ve had people lie to me, and I’ve dealt with general incompetence. But what happened today is a whole new low.
Qwest cannot tell me for sure whether DSL service is available without installing phone service, which will cost me a $31 setup fee. I have no use for a landline, except for DSL. So if DSL is unavailable, I’m going to cancel the landline. If this happens, they will not refund me the installation fee. But they also cannot tell me for sure if DSL is available.
In summary, they expect me to pay them $31 just to find out if DSL service is available.
Goal
I want to move my existing home phone service and DSL connection here in Portland to our new apartment in Puyallup. I want to keep the same phone options, but I have to change my ISP and downgrade my DSL speed to a more affordable one. I want to do this as soon as possible, to ensure that I have broadband connectivity on November 1st, the day I start working from our new apartment.
Previously
Over the course of five previous phone calls, various Qwest representatives have told me that I can accomplish all of my goals. Not only that, but I won’t have to pay any DSL or phone setup fees again, or buy a new DSL modem, with the exception of one $31 setup fee due to crossing state lines. I am happy with this situation, and I have told the last guy I called to start the process by placing the phone order, which he assures me I can call back to modify at any time.
This process was not without hiccups though. First of all, we couldn’t place the order right away, because the existing phone service in our new apartment hadn’t been disconnected. After a week of phone calls with the apartment manager, this situation was resolved. Secondly, due to my work situation changing, I was not originally going to put my DSL on the home phone line - I was going to transfer it to a second (work) phone line, which is no longer going to happen. This sounds simple, but it took a couple weeks to figure out the best course of action.
Today
With my phone service already ordered, my goals are to add the DSL to my existing order, change a couple of details for the DSL, and change my installation date to be as soon as possible. Previously, it was the 25th to avoid conflict with the existing phone service.
The guy I spoke to today said that none of that would be a problem, and told me that everything would be installed and ready by the 25th. I ordered (what I thought was) the most basic DSL service - 128K.
Then I called my new ISP to confirm the order. While speaking to them, they reveal that no one has 128 connections anymore, and I should have been offered 256K service.
So I call Qwest back, and (after getting hung up on by another guy and then calling back again) get a new girl, who sounds competent. Unfortunately, she also immediately locates some problems.
First of all, she can’t “stack” orders. Since there’s already an order to establish phone service, she can’t attach an order for DSL. Apparently there’s no way to just add DSL to the existing order. So we would have to wait for the phone to be turned on before the DSL order could be placed. Secondly, she says I can’t use my existing modem (despite the fact that I’m using it right now). Finally, she says her computer shows that DSL is not available in that apartment. She runs the apartment manager number, and that shows as available, and since no one mentioned this initially, she is 95% sure that it’s just due to trying to place two orders at once, and that DSL is actually available.
But there’s no way to find out for sure. What she suggests is that I push my phone order up so it gets installed on the 21st, and then call her to see if DSL is available that day.
The problem is that I have no use for a landline outside of DSL. And since there’s a $31 installation fee, I don’t want to pay to have a landline installed if there’s a chance that DSL isn’t even available.
We go back and forth about this for a long time. Basically, there is nothing she can do about this, and there’s no way they can refund the installation fee if DSL is unavailable and I install phone service for no reason.
The “good news” she says, is that I can continue to use my DSL modem, though I should really think about upgrading to their new wireless modem!
Conclusion
So, my options are as follows:
Stick with Qwest. Despite this horrific situation, the odds are something like 95% likely that this is just a setup problem, and that everything will work out fine, and DSL will still be available by Nov. 1st. I’m offended and horrified that I’m gambling money just to answer a basic service question, but the odds are that it will work out.
Or I could just cancel my landline entirely, add myself to Annie’s cell phone plan, and get broadband through Comcast. Cable isn’t quite as reliable as DSL, but I don’t need a separate ISP so there’d just be one bill, and best of all: No Qwest At All!
Right now, I haven’t decided. I don’t want to make this decision because I’m mad at Qwest, I want to make sure that it’s the right thing to do, and that I’m not shooting myself in the foot by getting rid of the landline, and having cable broadband.
PS - I see that fuckqwest.com is actually available - it might be worth $10/year to me to point that domain to this post. I could easily afford it with the money I would save by canceling my landline.
Other Stories
I'm a 30-year-old 
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission deals with this kind of stuff and already has a major action going against Qwest.
Check:
http://www.wutc.wa.gov/webcommt.nsf/WebSiteConsumerComplaintForm?openform
October 18th, 2004 at 8:30 pm
If you can afford comcast for cheaper, I would say go for it, since cable is usually a huge speed boost. On the other hand, that might not matter so much, since you’re already looking at downgrading your dsl speed.
Also, once it’s installed, I know very few people who’ve had problems with their cable connection, vs. the many many people who gripe about their dsl.
October 19th, 2004 at 11:57 am
Just to interject here - I have yet to meet anyone who had problems with their DSL once it was turned on. True, the setup process is a nightmare, but it’s solid and stable and consistant once it’s working.
Whereas I know many people who suffer through poor connections, dropped connections, and parts of the day where the connection speed drops to nothing due to sharing the bandwidth with the whole block.
The opinions I’ve heard on cable internet has been mixed at best, which is why I’m hesitant. But I’ll admit I have no first-hand experience.
October 19th, 2004 at 12:53 pm
I can offer some first-hand experience with my cable connection. When I was in Ellensburg, I had cable, and we shared the limited bandwidth with everyone else in the whole city. I think in the year we had cable, the connection went down once or twice, for short periods (hours, not days). Even at peak usage with the greatest degredation, it was still MUCH faster than dial-up.
Now, in Seattle, we have cable again. We’ve only been wired for the last couple months, but again, no issues to speak of. I had some trouble with the setup, but a phone call got that resolved within half an hour. I don’t notice any difference in connection speed from one time of day to the next, even evenings and weekends.
I did have an issue setting up auto-payment, but it seems to be resolved now. It’s funny to me that I haven’t had any problems setting up the service I get from them, but when it comes to them getting money from me, they’ve had issues getting that setup. Oh, well. Their loss. :)
I recommend cable wholeheartedly to anyone. It’s WELL WORTH not dealing with Qwest.
October 19th, 2004 at 2:05 pm
Well, that’s promising. I’ve also heard from Annie’s parents (who have cable internet) that’s it stable and consistantly fast for them as well.
October 19th, 2004 at 2:45 pm
Rose’s parents also have never had a problem with their connection or if they did, it was nothing resetting the modem or router didn’t fix.
We got lucky with our dealings with Qwest (having had bad experience before). We had a guy say that he wasn’t sure if we could get DSL without a landline and to double check he checked what our neighbors could get.
Also, we are on the standard DSL only offering from Qwest (MSN as the ISP) and we got a package for $39.99 a month and a 1.5 Mbs line. We couldn’t get slower or cheaper if we wanted to since they didn’t offer it. I don’t know how they can offer you anything less, especially 128k.
http://www.qwest.com/residential/products/qcdsl/msn_deluxe.html
October 19th, 2004 at 7:46 pm
I hatesss Qwest . . . hatesss it foreeever.
Cable is worth it — especially if you have good cell phone service where you live. Sometimes, Comcast will give you a deal on your cable television, as well (which AT&T did not, before Comcast took over).
When we lived in Bremerton, we used my cell phone as our primary contact and bought cable internet through Comcast. Later, I got basic cable through Comcast that actually lowered my cable bill by a penny (woohoo). It was only a six-month deal, but I was leaving in three months. ;)
Totally worth it, man. We have DSL right now, but SBC is actually less evil than Qwest, we don’t get cable internet here, and Verizon wireless internet apparently sucks igneous rocks. We require a landline, however, because our cell phone gets little or no connection out here. DSL happens to work for us.
But up north, cable is SO worth it!
October 21st, 2004 at 9:21 am
I have been using a ATT (Cingular?) cell phone for two years, and Comcast internet for the last 3 at 3 different locations in Portland. Total downtime for Comcast during that whole time has totalled maybe 1.5 days, in about 3 or 4 incidents. The rest of the time it has been rock-solid, and frankly it kicks the snot out of a dsl connection. I have never once had a problem with the upstream bandwidth, and the setup is a breeze. I will never go back.
Sasha
October 21st, 2004 at 2:12 pm
If cable is set up properly so that you don’t end up sharing bandwidth with the entire neighborhood, get it. I’d check with some of the other tenants in the building you’re moving into and see how their experiences with it are.
All those horror stories I was told about the cable company seem to pale in comparison to dealing with the phone companies of today. I will never, EVER, deal with SBC after my experience with their DSL. If Qwest is giving you problems, let them know by not giving them your money.
October 21st, 2004 at 8:00 pm
Nice, I actually thought about getting fuckqwest.com as well. I have a friend that has saveonqwest.com and he just got registered letter from Qwest saying he was hurting their image they worked so hard to attain and he needed to surrender the domain to them…..give me a break.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:43 pm