Our cable prices were going to go up in October, and after doing some of the math, we determined that we could replace both our cable TV and internet service with DirecTV and Verizon DSL (at their $29.99/month price) and have everything actually be at least $5 cheaper a month than our cable would be.
Our only potential roadblock to this plan was the availability of Verizon's DSL service at our house. We tried to keep our DSL service when we moved into this place a little over a year ago, but they said that we weren't close enough, so we figured that it was possible that they had upgraded their network or whatever since then. So I check my phone number on their web page, and it says that we're "pre-qualified". We learned last year that that doesn't really mean a whole lot, so I give the Verizon salespeople a call.
Three different times.
And each time, the salesperson assures me that we can get DSL service on our phone line. I double and triple check with each person, explaining that we tried a year ago, and we were too far away to get the service, and each time, the salesperson swore up and down that we would be able to receive DSL here. I even asked the second two reps if they could actually do a line check, and they put me on hold to do so (although now I'm guessing that they just went and got a cup of coffee or something...).
So we put in the order for the Verizon DSL. We got this far last year, but last year, we got a call within about 24 hours telling us that the service actually wasn't available on our line. This time around, we got no such thing. We received the DSL modems and then placed the order for DirecTV. We could get the DirecTV installed as soon as a couple days from then, but the DSL wasn't scheduled to be activated for another week or so.
We figured, "Hey, they actually sent out the equipment this time, so we should be ok", so we went ahead and scheduled the DirecTV installation...
The DirecTV guy comes out, installs the stuff, and in the process, we remove the cable wiring which had been in some rather ugly places around the house, due to the stupidity of the previous owner. So far, so good. We're mostly happy with DirecTV, and all that's left is to get the DSL set up and we can get away from our horrible cable service altogether.
Things seemed to be even better when we got a call a day or so later telling us that our DSL service has been activated! However, the DSL modem can't actually get a signal. I try different jacks around the house, nothing. I call tech support, and since it's a holiday weekend, they tell me that I shouldn't expect a call before tuesday at least. That's fine with me, as at this point, I figured that the activation call was just early or something.
We get a call the very next day telling us that we're way too far away to get their DSL. We needed to be within a 18,000 foot radius from their hub, and we're something like 23,000+, so it's not even close.
And now we're pretty much screwed. Not only would getting cable back require rewiring all the jacks to run back to the cable box instead of to the roof, we're stuck in the contract with DirecTV, meaning that we're now stuck paying through the nose for our crappy cable internet service because we cancelled the TV service....
And as far as I can tell through research and various calls, all the DSL companies (Earthlink, SBC, etc) use the same lines, so it's not like we stand the chance of being in range of a different network or anything....
Bah.
Our only potential roadblock to this plan was the availability of Verizon's DSL service at our house. We tried to keep our DSL service when we moved into this place a little over a year ago, but they said that we weren't close enough, so we figured that it was possible that they had upgraded their network or whatever since then. So I check my phone number on their web page, and it says that we're "pre-qualified". We learned last year that that doesn't really mean a whole lot, so I give the Verizon salespeople a call.
Three different times.
And each time, the salesperson assures me that we can get DSL service on our phone line. I double and triple check with each person, explaining that we tried a year ago, and we were too far away to get the service, and each time, the salesperson swore up and down that we would be able to receive DSL here. I even asked the second two reps if they could actually do a line check, and they put me on hold to do so (although now I'm guessing that they just went and got a cup of coffee or something...).
So we put in the order for the Verizon DSL. We got this far last year, but last year, we got a call within about 24 hours telling us that the service actually wasn't available on our line. This time around, we got no such thing. We received the DSL modems and then placed the order for DirecTV. We could get the DirecTV installed as soon as a couple days from then, but the DSL wasn't scheduled to be activated for another week or so.
We figured, "Hey, they actually sent out the equipment this time, so we should be ok", so we went ahead and scheduled the DirecTV installation...
The DirecTV guy comes out, installs the stuff, and in the process, we remove the cable wiring which had been in some rather ugly places around the house, due to the stupidity of the previous owner. So far, so good. We're mostly happy with DirecTV, and all that's left is to get the DSL set up and we can get away from our horrible cable service altogether.
Things seemed to be even better when we got a call a day or so later telling us that our DSL service has been activated! However, the DSL modem can't actually get a signal. I try different jacks around the house, nothing. I call tech support, and since it's a holiday weekend, they tell me that I shouldn't expect a call before tuesday at least. That's fine with me, as at this point, I figured that the activation call was just early or something.
We get a call the very next day telling us that we're way too far away to get their DSL. We needed to be within a 18,000 foot radius from their hub, and we're something like 23,000+, so it's not even close.
And now we're pretty much screwed. Not only would getting cable back require rewiring all the jacks to run back to the cable box instead of to the roof, we're stuck in the contract with DirecTV, meaning that we're now stuck paying through the nose for our crappy cable internet service because we cancelled the TV service....
And as far as I can tell through research and various calls, all the DSL companies (Earthlink, SBC, etc) use the same lines, so it's not like we stand the chance of being in range of a different network or anything....
Bah.
