I recently decided to try Qwest's new FTTN service. For those of you that know me, you know I'm very fair and try to be honest. Here is what happened:
- I called Qwest and worked out all the details regarding their 20Mbps FTTN service. They assured me that there was a 30 day money back guarantee. All sounded great, and they were very helpful. - The morning of installation the service appeared to operate normally. 60ms to plug.org, full 20Mbps. w00t. Install happened in the morning. - That night, round-trips started peaking in the 300ms range. Total throughput to the Salt Lake Qwest bandwidth testing tool fell to less than 4Mbps. - For the week that followed (exactly 7 days) round-trip times would become very high in the evenings around 5pm. Bandwidth was terrible. It wouldn't improve until after midnight. - I called Qwest to resolve the situation. The tech, after having me reset the modem and do all the normal troubleshooting, said something along the lines of "Well, Ryan, I have to admit something. It turns out there is a known problem with congestion in your area, and there has been for about a month. It will be fixed in [two months]." The actual date was really two months away. There was no offer made to correct the bill or handle the situation. This is something they knew was a problem, yet still decided to sell me a service they couldn't properly deliver. - I canceled the service the next morning with Qwest billing. The billing rep made no attempt to adjust the bill. When I explained the reason I was canceling was due to network congestion, she kind of gave that "ohhh" sound like she had heard it before. - I got a bill a week later for $80. I called Qwest and explained I expected to pay nothing due to the fact I had the service less than 30 days, and that there was a refund promised. Billing said to wait, it would work itself out and I would get the adjustment notice in a few weeks. - Three weeks later, I got a bill from a collection agency (ERS). Qwest wanted $64 from me. This just got a lot more aggravating. When dealing with Qwest, caveat emptor! </rant> -Ryan /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
