Telephone/Internet Reliabilty

[kremit]

I live in a subdivision, in Illinois, a few miles from the nearest town and the phone companies equipment is not up to par. Every 3 months a part in one of the boxes goes bad and I have no phone service while they replace it, which should only take 1 day but they add in their corporate bs so it's usually about 5 days. Every time I have a problem they immediately think that it must be the electrical in my house, although I live in a 3 year old house and have been having these problems as soon as the house was built. Every time they find that it is the same part that has gone bad 1/2 from my house. I use dialup for internet and I connect at 26.4k, while the normal connection rate is about 48k. I am frequently disconnected from the internet and it is not the ISP's fault. It is the cheap faulty equipment of the phone companies. I've complained many times with SBC and have talked with the foreman, but nothing has been done. As soon as I mention anything about my internet connectivity I am basically ignored and told that 26.4k is the standard connection rate. How can this be the standard connection rate when the people living 3 miles away in the city are connecting at 48k? Because of SBC's equipment I am not even available to order SBC's dsl. You'd think with the recurring charge of replacing the part that they would simply fix everything for good so they can have a happy customer and also a DSL customer. I'm frustrated and am basically trying to figure out if there is a way to force SBC to replace their out-of-date faulty equipment.? Thank you.

 

[scmarshall]

Every 3 months a part in one of the boxes goes bad and I have no phone service while they replace it, which should only take 1 day but they add in their corporate bs so it's usually about 5 days. Every time I have a problem they immediately think that it must be the electrical in my house, although I live in a 3 year old house and have been having these problems as soon as the house was built. Every time they find that it is the same part that has gone bad 1/2 from my house.

Is the house your own property? If so, then you'll have to check with Illinois state law to see who exactly is responsible for the upkeep of the telephone line, either you or the local phone company. But, if the company is at fault for bad installation, then they may be held liable for it. Look to see if there was a type of warranty for that. If not, you could end up being responsible for a new phonebox/wiring.

I use dialup for internet and I connect at 26.4k, while the normal connection rate is about 48k. I am frequently disconnected from the internet and it is not the ISP's fault. It is the cheap faulty equipment of the phone companies.

Dial-up can be notoriously unreliable. Even more so, if the land line used by the IP is old/outdated. There's not much you can do other than "ask" the phone company to replace their lines. You can guess the odds of that happening.

I've complained many times with SBC and have talked with the foreman, but nothing has been done. As soon as I mention anything about my internet connectivity I am basically ignored and told that 26.4k is the standard connection rate. How can this be the standard connection rate when the people living 3 miles away in the city are connecting at 48k?

SBC can't really do much (unless they own the telephone lines, could you clarify if they do or don't?) about your connection rate. Basically, the closer you are to the internet server, the faster your connection runs. Here's a link to help explain in further detail how dial-up works: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/high-speed.htm

Because of SBC's equipment I am not even available to order SBC's dsl. You'd think with the recurring charge of replacing the part that they would simply fix everything for good so they can have a happy customer and also a DSL customer. I'm frustrated and am basically trying to figure out if there is a way to force SBC to replace their out-of-date faulty equipment.? Thank you.

Assuming it's SBC that own the telephone lines: It could be possible that SBC may have to assume responsibility for full repair/rewiring for your house ONLY. Beyond that, even with everything fixed on your end, you could still have crappy dial-up.

Also, you may not have been able to order DSL because is may not be available in your area yet.