Verizon DSL: Unless you like headaches, don't bother
Written: Apr 27 '05 (Updated Apr 27 '05)
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Pros: Frees up the phone line, much faster than dial-up
Cons: Horrible customer service - they need to hire people that KNOW what they are doing
The Bottom Line: Find yourself a better Internet Provider. The only thing Verizon is good at doing is giving you a migraine.
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| djdizzy28's Full Review: Verizon Online DSL (Eastern US) |
I spent many years as a Cable Internet customer and over that time the price went up many, many times. Because of this I decided to downgrade to DSL. I figured that it wasn't really THAT much slower than cable and it would still free up my phone line which is what I really needed.
After doing some research, Verizon seemed to be the best deal for DSL because they offered the first month free as well as a free wireless modem which would help me eliminate yet another one of the many wires coming from my computer.
Ordering my Verizon DSL
Ordering my Verizon DSL was about the only easy part of the whole process. All in all it took about 5 minutes to have it ordered. I decided to order it online through Verizon's website so I wouldn't have to deal with the wonderful automated systems that we all love as well as slow customer service that it seems every company has nowadays. So with just the info needed, I was told that I would receive my modem and set-up kit in the mail within 3-5 days.
Set-Up
Now given that Verizon does supply you with a set-up CD that you use that will walk you through everything that is needed to do to set up your new DSL connection but it's not as easy as they make it seem. After using the CD that they gave me my DSL would not work. So I figured I'd go through the basic uninstall and reinstall process that will work alot of times but that still didn't work. So began my experience with Verizon customer "support". After spending almost 15 minutes waiting for the "next available customer support representative" I finally got through. Now for those of you that don't know this, the majority of customer support people for these kind of companies are nothing more than people that sit in front of a computer and read a troubleshooting program with no real knowledge of the problem you are presenting. So that being said, upon presenting my problem (and hearing the clicking of computer keys over the phone) the representative started walking me through a 25 minute long process to get me up and running. To save you from boredom I'll just tell you that I had to manually configure my computer to accept the DSL connection. Mind you, I don't have some one-of-a-kind computer or some alien technology. My computer is just a basic 3.0 gig store bought computer with a video and sound card along with some extra memory added. I did switch it to a new case but that has no effect on the functionality. So is the story of the first problem I had with Verizon.
Ease Of Use
First off, as with most internet companies, Verizon takes over your Internet Explorer with their own homepage (I use Mozilla FireFox anyway) and they automatically put the Verizon email that you originally picked while ordering directly into your Outlook Express email program. Now some may like that it is automatically set up for you but I still like using my Yahoo and GMail accounts so I didn't bother with the new Verizon account that much.
Verizon's homepage isn't all that bad but it is really cluttered and crammed together. Most of the essential links (email, etc.) are very small and all crammed together like a bunch of cheap sardines. If you have any kind of eyesight problem, don't even bother with the Verizon homepage.
I did take a quick look at their email page but wasn't impressed. The different buttons that are essential are just throw about the page with no real order at all. If you use their email, stick to using it through Outlook Express.
Verizon's connectivity is as good as advertised to an extent. As with all DSL, you have an always active connection where you don't have to dial the connection before using the internet. Not once did I have any downtime with Verizon. However, they do advertise a 3.0 Mb connection and my connection was far from that speed. After using many of the internet's connection speed testers, I found that my speed was barely half of what was advertised. It was still fast but not as fast as it should be. After inquiring about the speed problem with Verizon, they just blamed it on the phone line (which is also their problem). That was a fight I just wasn't willing to get involved in.
Customer Support/Technical Support/Billing
Now as I said before, customer support and technical support is not all it should be. This also follows through to their billing department as well. I spent a month on Verizon DSL (which was my free month with their special) before one day I got on my computer to find I had no internet connection. My first instinct was to reset the modem to see if that wasn't the problem but as I expected, it wasn't. So back to the phone and the wonderful customer service of Verizon. I first went through to technical support. I was then forwarded to someone that could help me with this specific problem. After spending over 45 minutes on the phone with this person and changing a million and one settings for the modem and my connection I was still no further along than I was when I started.
So I figured I'd take a shot at the customer support department. After a few minutes with this representative, I was informed that there was a billing problem and my account is slated for disconnect. I had my billing coming straight from my bank account so I knew there was no problem there being that I had about 100 times what the monthly billing charge is for Verizon. After telling the representative this she then tells me that she is not sure what is wrong so this is where I asked to speak to a supervisor. After explaining the whole problem once again she confirmed that my DSL account was suspended and slated for disconnect the following business day which just happened to be Monday morning so I would have to straighten this out plus wait at least the weekend. Then I asked exactly why my account was suspended. She informed me that Verizon DSL does not accept debit cards and can only be paid for with a credit card. Now way back when I signed up for the DSL there was nothing saying that it HAD to be a credit card and nothing else. I explained this to her and she agreed that I was correct. She also admitted that this problem was entirely their fault and my connection should have never been turned off.
So I thought this would all be straightened out being that this was admittedly all Verizon's fault, but I was wrong. After another 20 minutes of arguing my point that I shouldn't have to wait for my connection to be turned back on, I was informed that it will take at least until that Monday (3 days away) for the line to clear before they can begin reconnecting the DSL connection for me. After that it would take an additional 5-10 days before I would be connected to the internet once again. Now I don't know if it is just me, but I found this to be totally unacceptable. After some more arguing I was forwarded to the customer relations department.
I thought I finally found someone that would do everything they could to help me. This representative told me that as soon as the line cleared on Monday she would have my connection back for me that day and would call me personally to confirm it that morning. So Monday came and I received a phone call from her that she was still waiting for the line to clear but would let me know the minute it did. And then Monday was gone. Tuesday afternoon I receive a call from her once again telling me that the line cleared that morning but it will take 5-10 days to have the connection back up, so back to square one obviously. After a bit more arguing that first I'm told that I will have a connection on Monday then I'm told once again that it will be 5-10 days I finally decided to cut my ties with Verizon DSL and sign up with Earthlink which seems to be a more customer friendly company.
So after this short book I have just written to tell you my Adventure With Verizon you can see by my review, among many other great reviews on Epinions, that Verizon is far from a reliable company. There are much better out there that offer you better deals and actually care about their customers. If I have any other contact with Verizon, I will add them here as they occur.
Thank you for taking the time to read my review of Verizon and please check out my other reviews that I have written over the months.
DjDizzy
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 29.99/ month
Version Number or Year: 2005
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Epinions.com ID:
djdizzy28
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Member: Scott
Location: Lansdale, Pa
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 2 members
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