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Covad On The Mend
ewhac writes "The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Covad, who filed for bankruptcy protection last year, is slowly regaining strength. With $246 million in cash, Covad claims it has enough to carry it to profitability. They've also struck a deal with AOL to provide high-speed connectivity to AOL customers. The battle isn't over, though, as Pacific Bell continues to undercut Covad's offerings. Covad is effectively Pacific Bell's only remaining competitor for DSL service. As a happy Covad customer through Speakeasy.net, I'm pleased I won't be forced into PacBell's or AT&T's hands any time soon."
So you aren't getting away from them either way.
-- Julien Pierre http://www.madbrain.com/blog
All right! Now AOL users can find out 50 times quicker how much their ISP sucks!
Calm down, it's *only* ones and zeroes.
I'm a UUNET (gasp Worldcom) customer who uses Covad for my telco. When I first heard about Covad filing Chapter 11, I immediately called UUNET/Worldcom to determine what to do if Covad were go out of business. Worldcom, essentially said I would be shit out of luck. So for the last 6 months or so, I've been a little on edge about whats happening with Covad, but now that I see Covad recovering, I'm happy.
And then Worldcom filed Chapter 11.. Luckily Covad supports more than just Worldcom in my area, unlike how Covad is the only telco that can provide me DSL.. Funny how Covad uses Verizon lines, yet Verizon can't qualify me for DSL and Covad can..
Oh well, I don't like Verizon anyway, Go Covad!
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
I just moved and needed to have my DSL moved as well. After Covad did their thing, my DSL didn't work so I called Earthlink and they said that Covad won't do anything about it. They will install once, "test it" and if it works, great and if not, oh well, they won't fix it. That's how they're cutting costs and heading towards profitability. No support whatsoever. A call to Pac Bell got me working DSL in 5 days.
I can't really say I blame them though it does suck for the ISPs that rely on Covad.
I was a completely happy customer with Speakeasy.net DSL in my old apartment. Until I moved...
:)
For some reason Speakeasy.net just couldn't figure out how to cancel my service. It took them nearly 5 months to figure it out and it cost me quite a bit of $$ in the meantime.
Overall, I was darn happy with the service. It never had connectivity problems.
The only suggestion I can make is: 1) Don't move. and 2) Don't cancel.
If you follow those you should be just fine
-brain
As a Covad tech will tell you, there really isn't much they can do if your line sucks. I'm assuming you're talking about a line-shared (consumer) service, not a 2nd-line service. The Telco in your area has a huge advantage here for shitty lines, as they have considerable control over what they can do to clean them up (pull new ones, replace filters/taps/et al on the line, etc.) Covad has virtually none of these options, as those that they can ask the ILEC to perform cost so much that they'll never make a profit on your service.
That's the way it is - control of the physical line gives the ILECs a big advantage here, and there simply is very little that Covad can do. That's why you see the "test it and go" policy of Covad - they have to take it as it is, and generally there's nothing they can do to improve it without spending big chunks of cash (I mean, is it worth it to spend $200 to remove the taps on a consumer line which you're only making $7 per month profit on? Not really....)
I would be worried about Verizon resell DSL to providers such as Earthlink and provide it customer direct. I have also heard from a Verizon employee that in the near future they plan to offer DSL for $30 i'm not sure if thats an introductury rate or permanent.
Being a customer of both Covad and Speakeasy, I have to say that I do like Covad. Speakeasy, on the other hand, is a whole different story. Maybe it's just me, but the problems I've had with them have been significant and costly.
It all started a year ago, when Covad filed for bankruptcy. At the time, I was on XO's network (having been grandfathered in, since I was a residential customer of Concentric, before they changed to XO and dropped residential offerings). I truly liked XO, but with Covad's Chap11 scare, I needed some sort of reliability, and XO couldn't give it to me. They had a fall-back plan for their business customers if Covad would kick the bucket, but we remaining residential customers were out of luck. Therefore, I began looking for a new ISP. Having heard good things about Speakeasy, it was a natural choice to switch.
This is where things started to get hairy. I went through the whole ISP switch process at Speakeasy, but somehow they neglected to complete my switch. My $90/mo 1.5mbps/386kbps line through Covad that I had with XO was switched over to Speakeasy, and they even started billing me for the extra IPs and domain hosting service I ordered. However, they didn't start billing me for what they intially told me was a $90/mo line, same as what I had with XO. (note: This is the first place I screwed up. I didn't get the 1.5/384 @ $90/mo offer in writing, since it was clearly listed on their website. This came back to haunt me later.)
After several months, I decided I didn't want to get charged a huge lump sum for back-charges, so I notified Speakeasy that they never completely provisioned my account. They were quite nice about it, and promptly finished the provisioning order. However, since August when I switched and October when I notified them about the billing problem, they replaced the 1.5/384 straight ADSL @ $90/mo offering with a 1.5/128 line-sharing RADSL @ $90/mo offering. Imagine my surprise, then, when I get my next bill and see not a $90*4 charge, but a $250*4 charge! All of a sudden, my $90/mo line had turned into a $250/mo line. Obviously this was unacceptable, and I spent the next two weeks getting passed around among the various customer service representatives at Speakeasy, all of whom promised to figure out the problem and solve it, but none of whom actually did. (note: Had I gotten the original offer in writing at the time of switch, they'd have had no choice but to give me the 1.5/384 line @ $90/mo like it was when I signed up. But I didn't. c'est la vie.)
After two weeks of bullshit and getting the run-around, I decided I would split the difference and convert up to 768 SDSL ($160/mo), if Speakeasy would reduce the $250/mo back charges to $90/mo. After another week of negotiating this deal, I finally got a useful rep, and was able to get my back charges reduced and the new line provisioned. (note: It took another several days to iron out this conversion, because first I was told my initial ADSL line, being a straight connection and not line-sharing, would be sufficient for SDSL. Then I was told it wouldn't, and I'd need to go through the whole order process again.)
In the end, I had to have Verizon and Covad both come out to run a new loop. Verizon was surprisingly prompt, arriving two days after I completed my order, and Covad, while scheduled for a week later, actually noticed that Verizon finished their work promptly and notified me that they would be out the very next day. Go Covad! At that point, I had my new loop, but I had to fight with Speakeasy for another week for them to get it provisioned and into their system, and give me back my previous IPs (easier to do that than it would be to change DNS records and wait 24 hours for them to fully propogate).
Moral of the story: When dealing with Speakeasy, get everything in writing. Document who you talk to and when, and what promises they made. If they don't keep those promises (even if it's something as trivial as them saying they'll call you in a day, and they don't), call them on it. And don't be lulled into thinking they're a good company simply because the reps act supportive. They'll lie to you through their teeth, making promises they never intend to keep.
Oh well, only a couple months left on this contract. Maybe I need to research another ISP switch. Sigh ...
I'm glad to see Covad coming back. For DSL to survive intact it needs to have numbers, both in subscribers and suppliers. Covad always provided good service to their customers and I hope this pattern continues, as it's a rare thing among telecoms today!
From the article:
Well, duh. All they needed to do is go online and upgrade from Management V1.0 to Management V2.0 and then do incremental upgrades there after.
Many parts of the areas up here in Washington are left dangling by Verizon. So the only high speed dsl type service is IDSL.
I would love more bandwidth at a cheaper price, but Verizon would rather sell DSL in high income markets. I even saw an article about a lawsuit, ATT broadband being sued for not putting cable in low income urban areas. I hope the lawsuits spreads to Telcos and dsl. I found out when the equipment arrives, Redmond is winning out over other areas. Pisses me off, Verizon says they will have the equipment in for the last 2 years for DSL. My phone line qualifies, but they are at capacity at my central office. And no cable modems in my area due to a mom and pop cable company moved in and made everyone agree to long term contracts. (screwed again...)
But, back to the IDSL, its only 144/144K, but its connect 24/7 (not like isdn), Covad even has an Sys-Admin package that lets you have 2 IPs, and allows you to run servers. Great thing about it, its the lowest ping ive seen around, 30ms to game servers in Seattle via SpeakEasy. Covad and Speakeasy has been pretty good, other than the price for idsl. (-;
What everyone here fails to realize is that SBC, parent of Pacbell, is deploying Remote ADSL Terminals based off of fiber lines from the CO called PROJECT PRONTO. It will completely eliminate Covad within SBC territory in the next 5 years or so. SBC converts Central Offices over to PRONTO ONLY, once all the lines have access to the Remote Terminals. I work at an ISP and have seen it happen at SBC and other LEC's. Covad cannot resell SBC or other ADSL service from fiber boxes/remote terminals, and thus they Covad will start to die a slow death at the hands of SBC. Anyone care to challenge my opinion?
Covad failed to show up for the first two install appointments for my Speakeasy DSL in Boston. I took the day off both times. They didn't call, they didn't email, they simply didn't show up. Corporate, monopoly-bearing arrogance at its very worst. I complained to Speakeasy and the guy I talked to admitted that they got a lot of complaints about that. When they finally showed up one night, there was no apology, no explanation, just the you're-lucky-we're-here-at-all arrogance you'd expect from a company with no real competition (at least at the time, don't know how it is now).
Aren't people like this supposed to be the first against the wall when the revolution comes? Did it come? Were they against the wall? Screw them, I say, for my experience at least.
-- http://frobnosticate.com
I doubt Covad will fall. I work at a company who delivers content to online jukeboxes. As a company who distributes online music, we have a wide variety of connection providers. Our largest provider is Megapath, and the vast majority of those connections are marked Megapath-Covad. Of something near 700 active connections 368 are Megapath. We favor Megapath and Covad because their support is by far, above and beyond, the best. I work as a liaison between the owners of the remote jukeboxes and the ISPs who serve them, and when I work on anything other then a Megapath connection a deep fear grips my heart.
I've had broadband providers tell me that it didn't matter that my DSL connection could be put to shame by a standard 33.6. If they rolled a truck, and the connection was up, it would cost us. Oh, and they didn't have to fix it either. Still other ISPs take an approach of install it, if it works great, if not screw you there are others to sell our poor service to. Not Megapath. Its almost to the point where they will hunt you down and force you to ensure the problem is solved, or their ticket isn't closed. Its this level of organization and commitment to the customer that ensures that we remain loyal to them regardless of cost. Its just a pity that they are not 100% nation wide, otherwise we would have nothing but Megapath connections.
There are plenty of things that a CLEC can do (or can get the ILEC to do) if your line doesn't support DSL out of the gate. There are usually other pairs they can try, or alternate wiring that can be used in the CO, or poor stretches of your line that can be replaced. There are also some problems that are easy to fix, but difficult to diagnose. Of course every hour they spend trying to make your line work is 6-12 months of profit they loose paying technicians, so there is no incentive for them to try and solve problems. There are commercial DSL providers that will solve the problems for you if you are willing to pay. I have worldcom as my CLEC (but not as my ISP), and they were very helpful getting DSL to work in my location in a situation that covad would have walked away from.
Experienced telco labor is expensive, and you can't have cheap broadband, free instalation, and good technicians all at the same time. You only get to pick two.
Does anyone know when will more _affordable_ DSL (20-30 dollar USD price range) services will be out? Ive always wanted to get DSL, but its average price tag is far out of my budget...
I hope they're working on making their backend as good as their ad campaign, because all I hear all day is radio spots for Covad, and every time I turn on the TV I see one.
The first thing I thought was, 'They're gone again if all they do is buy ads'. Here's hoping they'll successfully manage themselves this time around; I doubt there will be a 3rd chance.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
I dealt with Covad when I worked at Earthlink, and they were WONDERFUL to deal with! They gave us all the tools we could possibly want to monitor connection status from the DSLAM, we had access to their trouble tickets online, and they were quick to respond to problems. Plus, they offered better speed and availability than many of the ILECs.
It sounds like they may have gone downhill since then, I don't know. Now that they're back on their feet financially, I'd still have to recommend Covad if they offer service in your area (they have no DSLAM in my CO so I'm using Qwest as my LEC). Of course, the choice of ISP may be more important to you; some ISPs will only work with certain LECs (my current employer does not offer service through Covad).
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$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
I'll third this comment. Speakeasy has been great for me (I live in the Baltimore area.) In fact, I recently moved, and after rebates, I get $50 in my pocket. Now what ISP gives you $50 to move?
This is a story about COVAD the internet access provider, not Microsoft Windows.
That is unless, in the future, Covad decides to require proprietary software to connect to its network (think AOL) and refuses to make that software either 1. Linux/BSD native or 2. Wine compatible.
Such a situation is not very far-fetched. From the blurb: "They've also struck a deal with AOL to provide high-speed connectivity to AOL customers." If the deal includes gradually moving customers from Covad to AOL service, and AOL doesn't release a Linux client, Covad customers who use Linux may become screwed.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Covad,
I live in the SHADOW of the AOL building in Loudoun County, VA. My town is filled with AOL Millionaires renovating 100 year old houses.
I HAVE NO BANDWIDTH! I am paying $150 a month for an ISDN line and a stitic IP address... WHAT DO YOU THINK I'D BE WILLING TO PAY FOR a 384k DSL?
According to the rumor mill around here, the phone company's CO has a big empty room, built especially for you, just waiting for you to come in and drop all your nice equipment to give the area various DSL flavors... But you haven't done anything! Originally, people were saying you couldn't handle the capacity of installs you'd get here, with all this pent up demand. Then, people were saying you couldn't AFFORD to do anything...
Tell you what... Take some of that $245 million in CASH, and GET THE EQUIPMENT IN HERE. Hire a few people to do some installs and support the area, and guess what? THAT IS HOW BUSINESSES FIND CUSTOMERS AND MAKE MONEY! THAT IS THE PATH TO PROFITABILITY! Find the customers willing to pay out the ASS for your service, and MAKE THEM HAPPY!
Sincerely,
someone who has your money in his pocket, and all you need to do to get it is give me some frelling bandwidth!
AT&T DSL is Covad. Read the documentation on AT&T's Website.