[PLUG] Three questions - Google Fiber in PDX ? Consider AWS or using IPv6 + DNS + 1Gb/s @ $70/month CenturyLink.? City of Portland & Dark Fiber ?

[John Jason Jordan]

On Fri, 3 Aug 2018 12:33:49 -0700
Russell Senior <russell at personaltelco.net> dijo:

>Gigabit from CenturyLink is (afaik) currently $80. ...
>You would find further information by calling and talking
>to them, but don't be surprised if their billing department and their
>sales department aren't on the same page.  The billing department is
>the more important one.

When I got my CL Gigabit service they were having a big promotion - $50
or $100 credit (I forget the amount), but you got it only if you signed
up at their office in Hollywood District, not if you signed up with one
of their door-to-door salespersons. (I don't know if this is still
going.) Needless to say, I went to their office, where I found the staff
very helpful and nice. They assured me that there was no data cap and
that they guaranteed 85% of what I am paying for. I told them that
eventually I wanted to get my own equipment, but to start with I would
use theirs, and then return theirs after I got mine. They had no problem
with that plan. They made an appointment for their installer to come
out at a convenient time for me.

The installer also turned out to be very nice and he knew what he was
doing. As he installed their 'modem' (really a router) he explained how
to disconnect it when I returned it. He listened to my suggestions
about how to route the fiber from the street to my office (yes, I have
fiber right to the wall in my office), and he agreed with me as to the
routing. To get the fiber from the box on the side of the house to my
office meant stringing it through the attic, so I helped a bit by
standing in the attic and pulling it in as he fed it in from the
outside.

Later Russell brought me a D-Link DIR-660L which he had flashed with
open source software and set it up it work with CenturyLink fiber. He
did that for me because he knows I am not clever enough with these
things to do it myself. :)

Later I went to their office and returned their router. The fellow who
waited on me found that it had not been entered into their computers as
installed, so he fixed that and printed me out a receipt. He cautioned
me to be sure to save the receipt because it is not uncommon for
customers to not get the credit they are due - returning their equipment
meant I should get $10 off my monthly bill. But when the next bill
arrived I didn't get the $10 off. So back to their office I went, and
when I got there a nice lady agreed that the bill was wrong and
corrected it. In the process she mentioned that their billing
department is famous for screwing up and they spend a lot of time
fixing peoples' bills. So what Russell says about their billing
department and their sales department not being on the same page is
correct. 

Later I was going some work on my house and suddenly my connection
died. I called up and the next day their installer came out (same guy),
and discovered that there was apparently a kink in the line between the
box on the outside of the house and the wall in my office. He re-strung
the line (again with my minor assistance) and got it all working again.
It was probably my fault, but there was no charge. I think the
installer just decided not to charge me.

A couple months later I was continuing my house remodeling and needed
a fiber patch cable and jack for the wall in my office. I was shopping
online for what I might need and then, fortuitously, I was driving by a
McDonalds and there in the parking lot was a CL van. I pulled in and
parked right next to it. Just as I got out the CL guy came out of the
restaurant (it was my same installer!) and I told him what I needed. He
opened his van and rummaged around for a minute, and handed me all
kinds of connecting devices. No charge.

So I am pleased with my CL service. The billing department is a mess,
but the rest of the organization works as it should, and their local
people are great.

Oh, and one more thing: During all this I learned that fiber is not as
forgiving as copper. You can bend a copper wire to a 90 degree angle,
but don't try that with fiber.