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Broadband ISP Betrayal Forces Homeowner To Sell New House
New submitter knightsirius writes: A Washington homeowner is having to sell his new house after being refused internet service from Comcast and CenturyLink despite receiving confirmation from both that the location was able to receive broadband service. The whole process took months and involved false assurances and bureaucratic convolutions. The national broadband map database frequently cited by Comcast as proof of sufficient competition lists 10 options at his location, including a gigabit municipal fiber network, but he cannot subscribe to it due to Washington state direct sale restrictions.
When I bought my home, I was assured by AT&T that they provided Uverse up to 18mbit at my address, and the employee on the phone actually directed me to the National Broadband Map.
After I moved in, I ordered service, and what do you know? I can only get legacy DSL at 768k. I filed complaints with FCC and FTC over the false claims and false representation on the broadband map, only to receive "thanks but we don't care" letters from both agencies, along with a courtesy call from AT&T confirming that 768k was the highest speed I could get.
The county fiber network runs right past my house, but since AT&T was able to get a municipal network ban passed as state law in SC (fuck you very much for signing it, Nikki Haley, you steaming piece of shit), I can't connect to it (only people who have NO Internet options from a major ISP can connect to it, and since I can get 768k DSL, I can't connect to the county network).
Fuck you AT&T
Fuck you FCC
Fuck you FTC
Fuck you Nikki Haley
Fuck you South Carolina
Didn't we see this yesterday?
Yes we did
This is a repost.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
America has no citizens. Only mindless massive consumers.
He specifically said no fines, that they have to provide the service as the fine.
When you cant win, ad hominem.
We live in a somewhat rural area. Fiber isn't even close, and DSL service (6mbit max) only became available a year or two ago. Cable internet through Charter has been available for over a decade though, and we've had Cable TV since the early 1990's. About 5 years ago, relatives next door finally caved and wanted cable. They are literally one house before us, and equal distance from the road. (100ft or so). Every time we called they said it was not available for their address. It took 6mo of fighting, and a call/complaint to the local cable/communication oversight committee, to get them to send a survey crew (A single guy), who immediately got out of the car, looked, said "The f**k, there's no problem here you can get it" who then went on about a rant about how their database is so messed up and inaccurate.
In Europe we have this thing called 3G and 4G which both brings you reliable wireless broadband without wires. Approx $30/month.
... and capped data allowances - often at very low limits
I moved into nice apartments in Westlake Village, California. Called Verizon, had them hook up DSL. It was fast and worked well... for 12 hours.
My service was shut off.
I called and they said "Service is not available in your area.
I told them I had service yesterday, and they confirmed that I did, but that it was a mistake, and service was not available.
We went around and around, I finally gave up after 2 hours on the phone, vowing to sign up with someone else. No other service available, and since I was at the bottom of a valley, EVEN SATELLITE was not available.
After a few more days of phone calls and escalations, I finally straight up asked them "Is the CO/RT full and you didn't realize it until you hooked me up?" they admitted that yes it was.
I made a deal with my neighbor, bought her network equipment and paid her phone bill every month just for letting me use her wifi.
THEN to add insult to injury, I got a contract cancellation fee bill from Verizon in the mail, because I terminated my contract for DSL before a year was up.
Just describe the situation in writing and request them to install either U-verse or DSL according to their own choice immediately. Do it with registered letter with proof of delivery. Correct bureaucracy makes wonders.