Looks like my only choice for broadband is Covad DSL (possibly others, but I know it's available through them -- IDSL, not ADSL). What is everyone's opinion of them? I spoke to a couple people there, and the service was good. Proof is when the bills start coming, though. Any thoughts?
Covad DSL -- opinions?
- Thread starter AndrewR
- Start date
Covad = bad
Service might be okay, usually, but repair times are horrid, at least for business service (I work at an ISP).
Service might be okay, usually, but repair times are horrid, at least for business service (I work at an ISP).
Minor follow-up: If you think they are terrible, do you have any recommendations? I'm in Atlanta, and this is most likely business-class DSL (at Covad, I have to use their TeleSpeed [pseudo-business], not TeleSurfer which is for residential).
My wife works there, she is in the CS/Dispatch department. email me and I will send you my phone # you can talk to her.
well i know of several people that have had bad expireances with covad (buissnes and residantial) here in chicago so i can't say too much about them. have you looked into cable internet?
Get a frame relay or T1 or frac-t1. More reliable and the telephone company gives it MUCH higher priority when it comes to repair.
DSL is NOT a business class service, despite it being sold as such. It is useful to a business only if they do not depend on their internet service being up all the time.
If the DSL goes down, will you be frantic trying to get it fixed, or will you be one who allows the provider to get it fixed as quickly as they can without hounding them every hour? The answer to that will determine whether DSL is right for your business or if you need something more reliable. The lower speed per dollar of a frame relay or T1 goes to paying for the priority given to it by the provider. A high speed DSL isn't worth much if it's down, no matter how low the cost.
NO DSL provider is going to be able to provide you with true business class service. You'll always have to deal with the possibility of waiting a full day for a repair dispatch, or many days if the telco has to get involved and has to do a major repair.
I can't say for sure that anybody is 'better' than Covad. Covad does have their downsides, but a lot of that is due to the nature of the product they sell and the providers they have to deal with. They do have some customer support problems that they can't seem to get resolved, to the degree that my department doesn't like having to deal with them and a good portion of our day is spent doing it just to get minor things taken care of. Northpoint is worse in many ways as far as repair time and dealing with their customer support, but again, they're only selling DSL. There are a couple more providers, but I don't remember the names and I have never dealt with them.
Getting DSL directly from the telephone company eliminates one step in the support process though, so you may consider that.
But again, a reliable and higher priority service like frame relay or T1 would be highly suggested. We've had to fight to get our sales people to even consider selling something other than DSL these days, because DSL is an easy sell for them, which means a quick commission (DSL=supposedly high speed and low cost, easy sell).
DSL is NOT a business class service, despite it being sold as such. It is useful to a business only if they do not depend on their internet service being up all the time.
If the DSL goes down, will you be frantic trying to get it fixed, or will you be one who allows the provider to get it fixed as quickly as they can without hounding them every hour? The answer to that will determine whether DSL is right for your business or if you need something more reliable. The lower speed per dollar of a frame relay or T1 goes to paying for the priority given to it by the provider. A high speed DSL isn't worth much if it's down, no matter how low the cost.
NO DSL provider is going to be able to provide you with true business class service. You'll always have to deal with the possibility of waiting a full day for a repair dispatch, or many days if the telco has to get involved and has to do a major repair.
I can't say for sure that anybody is 'better' than Covad. Covad does have their downsides, but a lot of that is due to the nature of the product they sell and the providers they have to deal with. They do have some customer support problems that they can't seem to get resolved, to the degree that my department doesn't like having to deal with them and a good portion of our day is spent doing it just to get minor things taken care of. Northpoint is worse in many ways as far as repair time and dealing with their customer support, but again, they're only selling DSL. There are a couple more providers, but I don't remember the names and I have never dealt with them.
Getting DSL directly from the telephone company eliminates one step in the support process though, so you may consider that.
But again, a reliable and higher priority service like frame relay or T1 would be highly suggested. We've had to fight to get our sales people to even consider selling something other than DSL these days, because DSL is an easy sell for them, which means a quick commission (DSL=supposedly high speed and low cost, easy sell).
ulfwald: Thanks, I'll drop you an email tonight from home.
bigvince: I have cable right now through a subsidiary of the power company. See my thread entitled "My new 'high speed' internet service is absolutely horrible!!!".
Lord Evermore: I guess I should have made my statement a little more clear. I am not using this for business, it is for my personal use at my apartment. However, I think that IDSL is considered a "business" DSL while ADSL is the residential standard. Due to the condition of the phone network in our area, however, ADSL is unavailable. What I was trying to say is that if someone were to suggest BellSouth Fast Access or Earthlink DSL as an alternative to Covad, that isn't the case since they only offer ADSL and are therefore not available at our number. I didn't mean for you to launch into your recommendations for an internet connection for a business, but thanks!
bigvince: I have cable right now through a subsidiary of the power company. See my thread entitled "My new 'high speed' internet service is absolutely horrible!!!".
Lord Evermore: I guess I should have made my statement a little more clear. I am not using this for business, it is for my personal use at my apartment. However, I think that IDSL is considered a "business" DSL while ADSL is the residential standard. Due to the condition of the phone network in our area, however, ADSL is unavailable. What I was trying to say is that if someone were to suggest BellSouth Fast Access or Earthlink DSL as an alternative to Covad, that isn't the case since they only offer ADSL and are therefore not available at our number. I didn't mean for you to launch into your recommendations for an internet connection for a business, but thanks!
andrewR
Not all cable internet services are the same. I read your post and have to say that you are suffering from bad C/S amog other things. I have had cablemodem service with @home thru my localcable provider and have had almost no problems. I get 2mbit up and 1mbit down averaging about 1.3mbit asec D/L speed from fast servers so i can't complain.
Not all cable internet services are the same. I read your post and have to say that you are suffering from bad C/S amog other things. I have had cablemodem service with @home thru my localcable provider and have had almost no problems. I get 2mbit up and 1mbit down averaging about 1.3mbit asec D/L speed from fast servers so i can't complain.
AndrewR, according to your other post you DON'T have cable, you have a shared T1. That's much different than cable, unless I misread the posts.
It's impossible to guarantee 256Kbps bandwidth using a shared T1, once you have more than 6 people in the building, that's the full T1 speed already guaranteed.
If you got Earthlink DSL, you'd still be using Covad, that's the provider that Earthlink uses. Be careful with your ISP selection, as most are NOT the direct provider. Only the telephone companies or someone like Covad or Northpoint provide the actual DSL service, and Covad and Northpoint still have to lease the lines from the telephone company. Your ISP is essentially just reselling Covad or Northpoint service and providing the IP connectivity and the connection to their backbone or upstream provider.
A shared T1 to an apartment building is very common. Basically a T1 comes into a router, which then connects to a network of some sort to which each apartment is wired, just like an office building.
It's impossible to guarantee 256Kbps bandwidth using a shared T1, once you have more than 6 people in the building, that's the full T1 speed already guaranteed.
If you got Earthlink DSL, you'd still be using Covad, that's the provider that Earthlink uses. Be careful with your ISP selection, as most are NOT the direct provider. Only the telephone companies or someone like Covad or Northpoint provide the actual DSL service, and Covad and Northpoint still have to lease the lines from the telephone company. Your ISP is essentially just reselling Covad or Northpoint service and providing the IP connectivity and the connection to their backbone or upstream provider.
A shared T1 to an apartment building is very common. Basically a T1 comes into a router, which then connects to a network of some sort to which each apartment is wired, just like an office building.
Lord Evermore has an excellent point when he says DSL is not a business class service. Many of the supervisor calls I take are from businesses who are pissed off because of the response time when their DSL goes down. I hate to break it to you, folks, but $40/month isn't going to get you one hour response times. It's fine for residential use, but I wouldn't recommend ANYONE base their business around it.
If someone's going to insist on having DSL for their business, I'd recommend having at least two DSL lines, and at least three routers. Two slower lines gives you the failsafe if one line goes down, & three routers gives you a replacement if one of your primaries goes down.
Bottom line is DSL sucks for business. I'm sorry what the advertising says, but that's the truth.
Viper GTS
If someone's going to insist on having DSL for their business, I'd recommend having at least two DSL lines, and at least three routers. Two slower lines gives you the failsafe if one line goes down, & three routers gives you a replacement if one of your primaries goes down.
Bottom line is DSL sucks for business. I'm sorry what the advertising says, but that's the truth.
Viper GTS
Residential DSL packages can be flakey.
I actually had the Small Business Gold Plus Package from Verizon. It cost me almost 200$ a month, but that was 1.5 Mbps throughput, with a guaranteed low of 1 Mbps. Static IP plus 5 email accounts. In 13 months, it never went down. I did have to sign a contract, but the contract guaranteed a very short turn around time should problems arise. Luckily, in 13 months, I didn't have to see if that stood.
Basically, I'm just saying residential DSL service and business DSL are different. At least for Verizon. I presently have residential level service, because the business service wasn't available where I am at at the speeds I wanted.
So, it depends on how much you want to pay as to the quality of service you get. Go figure!
I actually had the Small Business Gold Plus Package from Verizon. It cost me almost 200$ a month, but that was 1.5 Mbps throughput, with a guaranteed low of 1 Mbps. Static IP plus 5 email accounts. In 13 months, it never went down. I did have to sign a contract, but the contract guaranteed a very short turn around time should problems arise. Luckily, in 13 months, I didn't have to see if that stood.
Basically, I'm just saying residential DSL service and business DSL are different. At least for Verizon. I presently have residential level service, because the business service wasn't available where I am at at the speeds I wanted.
So, it depends on how much you want to pay as to the quality of service you get. Go figure!
You're right: I don't have cable, but it comes through the cable jack and uses a cable modem though it is a shared T1 (actually two, from they say -- hardly seems like it). The provider is also the cable company for this complex so I cannot sign up for cable service through another provider -- they have a lock on the services at the complex (cable companies sign up complexes in total -- I already tried to switch my cable to BellSouth Digital Cable, no go).
So, my use of the cable jack is limited to this one provider. My only other option is DSL through the phone line (satellite, even if available, is not an option -- I need ping times) so that's where I'm looking. I understand that Covad is the CLEC though I wonder if Telocity or some other provider also has lines in the area. I'm not sure if they divide the areas amongst themselves.
I have to call Covad back and talk to them about cost. Only 144/144 is available.
Hey, DaBoneHead, watch that sig.
So, my use of the cable jack is limited to this one provider. My only other option is DSL through the phone line (satellite, even if available, is not an option -- I need ping times) so that's where I'm looking. I understand that Covad is the CLEC though I wonder if Telocity or some other provider also has lines in the area. I'm not sure if they divide the areas amongst themselves.
I have to call Covad back and talk to them about cost. Only 144/144 is available.
Hey, DaBoneHead, watch that sig.
The cost for the service will depend entirely on what ISP you get it from. You won't be using Covad directly, you'll be using a regional or local ISP (or national, like Earthlink). Same with Northpoint. Telocity seems to be a direct provider, but their site may simply not specify who they use. (By the way, very cute girl on their main pages. )
IDSL may still be available as a residential service. It's definitely not worth paying business class prices for 144k speeds, unless you compare it to ISDN pricing. You can bond a couple of fricking 56k modems and get almost the same speeds (though higher ping times).
)IDSL may still be available as a residential service. It's definitely not worth paying business class prices for 144k speeds, unless you compare it to ISDN pricing. You can bond a couple of fricking 56k modems and get almost the same speeds (though higher ping times).
Well, I really don't want to have a second phone line installed because of the installation cost and the hassle. Since I do have a valid, legal claim against my current provider (I'm in the catbird's seat, really), I am going to push them for a settlement that involves their payment of the Covad (at least partial, above what I'm paying now). I'll probably have to file a small claims action, but so be it. They've pissed me off like few have before, and they will pay for my trouble.
I just checked my connection at MSN -- 40K / 5K download. :|
I just checked my connection at MSN -- 40K / 5K download. :|
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