[PLUG-TALK] broadband alternatives in the 'burbs

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 06:06:55PM -0700, Denis Heidtmann wrote:
> Not knowing what simultaneous ring is, I did some searching and stumbled on
> this:
> https://frontier.com/helpcenter/categories/phone/voicemail/use-fios-digital-voice/get-started/use-digital-voice-features
> They list simultaneous ring as standard at no extra charge.  I do not know
> how this might help.

Frontier's website describes services in their major
markets, not their recent acquisitions from Verizon
(like Oregon), which is different infrastructure. 
Indeed, there is NOTHING online or any written
documentation describing what they DO offer.  They
just bill me $3 extra a month for services I can't
learn about and probably don't want.

The clowns answering the phones and the online "chat"
connection have no clue either;  they have no local
knowledge.  When I ask, they hang up.

The lack of simultaneous ring service is empirical
observation by third party vendors, in the Verizon 
purchase region and some others.   There is indeed
simultaneous ring in most of Frontier's territory,
nationally.

In any case, Frontier is about to go belly up - they
are borrowing money like mad to spend on advertising ...
but not maintenance, staff training, or customer support.
What the creditors do with them is anybody's guess.  
Given the complexities of dealing with state PUCs,
they might just turn off service to whole regions.

As is, the fact that I am paying for 15 Mbps download,
and getting 0.1 Mbps (from every source besides Ookla,
including my own gigabit offsite servers) means it is
time for a change.  Probably to Comcan't, which sucks
for consumers but is pretty good (and spendy) for 
business service.  Other fiber alternatives are
spreading in Washington county, especially to office
parks and apartment complexes, but they haven't
reached the eastern edge of the county yet. 

"Global capitalism?" ... at least two of these startups
are recent and local.  These are geeks like us DOING
SOMETHING, not whining about it.  I was hoping to hear
about other geeks doing something else that I had not
found in my own research.

Regards copper;  if there is any still on the poles in
the neighborhood, it hasn't been maintained for a decade.
That is when Verizon changed everyone on our street to
fiber.  When my wife's Portland office still used
CenturyLink copper, we were changing pairs downstairs
at the building's DEMARC about once a year, as the old
copper from the central office rotted out.  That hiss
you hear on a copper line during rainy season is the
electrochemical event of copper turning into copper oxide,
the green fuzz that eventually shorts out the pair.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com