[Tfug] Dilemma: Qwest or Comcast?

[Matt Jacob]

The running saga continues. I called up Qwest again today to clarify the 
terms of the service visit, and I spoke to someone more knowledgeable 
who said it's actually management's (of my apartment complex) 
responsibility to wire the two jacks together. The new guy at Qwest said 
the second line wasn't showing up for him, which means it's probably not 
connected to anything.

Can anyone familiar with telco stuff confirm this? I see the wire coming 
out of my apartment at the point where the wall jack in the office is, 
but now what? Is the burden on management to switch over the wiring pair 
in the switch box? Obviously, inside wiring is their responsibility, but 
I thought Qwest owns the switching equipment at the complex and not the 
other way around.

Ideally, both jacks would be wired together for the same line and 
everything would play together harmoniously. Should I submit a 
maintenance request to make it happen, or will they think I'm crazy?

Matt

Matt Jacob wrote:
> So, it's been about a month since my original post, and I ended up going 
> with Qwest. The service has been decent so far, with a few exceptions.
> 
> The most glaring problem is that service was connected to my primary 
> phone line (running into the kitchen) even though I explicitly asked for 
> a hook-up to the secondary line (running into the office). I have no 
> desire to station my networking gear and servers in the kitchen, obviously.
> 
> When I called Qwest to get the problem resolved, the tech said I might 
> be charged $85 if the dispatch guy has to come inside my house to check 
> the wiring. I told her I would absolutely refuse to pay the fee on the 
> grounds of the problem being their fault and not mine. She said the fee 
> would be added to my bill whether I wanted it or not. Knowing that the 
> technician will have no need to check any internal wiring, I told her to 
> send a guy out, and that I would most definitely fight the fee if it 
> showed up on my bill.
> 
> Also, the service level I'm paying for is 5 Mb/s down and 896 Kb/s up, 
> but actual speeds are 4100 Kb/s down and about 650 Kb/s up (it varies, 
> of course, but those are the top speeds I've achieved). I'm planning 
> another call to tech support to address this issue after my wiring 
> problems are taken care of. And who knows---the second jack has much 
> newer wiring than the first one, so the problem might just fix itself. I 
> realize that quoted broadband speeds are always in terms of "potential", 
> but I'm only getting 70-80% of what I'm paying for.
> 
> Two weeks in, and I'm not completely sold yet, but I feel I'm happier 
> than I'd be if I had gone with Comcast.
> 
> Matt