[Cialug] [Slightly OT] High-speed DSL availability in DSM metro

[David Bierce]

I've lived in Ames, Urbandale and now Altoona.  The fasted DSL connection I've ever been able to have was just under 1.5MBit.  There doesn't seem to much upgrading in the older parts of towns.  There are lots of good reasons why it would be expensive, but it does mean Mediacom wins in those areas for people that want more than a meg.

--

Qwest has been doing silly things, (at least in Ames) that just diminish their service.  It took me 10 phone calls and about 4 visits from a qwest contractor to convince them that regardless of what their system and their marketing guys say, south Ames has no Qwest fiber.  It's all copper from the dmarc to the CO.  After that, the contractor made sure there was a pair at the panel but didn't tag them.  Overall worst DSL install ever, until I need a second line and had to go through the same process, except the new line's pairs were terminated in a box no where near the lines for the building so the cross connect runs bare over over a gas pipe over  5 other pairs for 10 feet.....(This was November 2010).  I have little hope of them upgrading their old facilities in the places I'm going to be living anytime soon Des Moines or otherwise.

--

Having worked at CenturyTel (Now CenturyLink) I don't know what this merger/stock swap will do to Qwest.  CenturyTel has been in total denial about the trend for the incumbent carrier to be bit pushers and not a premium voice carrier™.  As recently as 4 years ago, in all markets, the company mantra was it was technically impossible to just get DSL service without dial tone.  That said, as a company they've kind of woken up to the fact they might want to be a good ISP and hope to make premium bundling but they've spent the last 30 years exempt from all monopoly laws and in most of thier markets been able to make money through astronomically high Tariffed rates.  They are a little late to the party, but it'll be interesting to see where the merged beast goes.

They recently they have been getting a little better and have been trying IPTV in a few markets which required them to upgrade their networks, but they've suck at data transport so the services fall flat.



On Jan 19, 2011, at 2:11 PM, <bofh at visi.com> <bofh at visi.com> wrote:

> Lucky you.
> 
> Last November, I spoke with the CSR/sales person at 
> Qwest's Jordan Creek Mall kiosk.  She told me more than 
> I'd heard over the past couple of years:
> 
> 1) Qwest had a DSL upgrade plan for the past couple of 
> years.  However, the floods of 2008 decimated much of 
> their infrastructure along the Cedar River (think Charles 
> City through Iowa City), and the majority--if not all--of 
> their capital budget from '08-'10 was blown on 
> rebuild/replace.
> 
> 2) Qwest is no longer Qwest. Qwest is merging with (read, 
> being acquired by) CenturyLink, and Iowa was the first 
> utilities board to approve the merger. Other Qwest service 
> states' util boards are following rapidly.  The company to 
> be acquired almost always goes on a spending freeze. 
> (http://news.qwest.com/IowaApproval) 
> 
> Although CenturyLink is promising to spend "a minimum $25 
> million in broadband deployment in Iowa over the next 5 
> years", I'll believe it when I see it.  Of course, 
> CenturyLink's residential Internet page lists their 
> highest speed at 10 Mb/s.
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:36:35 -0600 PAUL COWLEY 
> <pncowley at msn.com> wrote:
>> 
>> What I don't quite understand is why Qwest seems so unwilling to make ANY investment into their 
>> infrastructure, even in core areas where the payoff should be relatively fast.
>> Paul
>> KB7VML
>> 
>>> From: bofh at visi.com
>>> To: cialug at cialug.org
>>> Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:19:31 -0600
>>> Subject: Re: [Cialug] [Slightly OT] High-speed DSL 
>>> availability in DSM metro
>>> 
>>> I just called Qwest, and received the runaround again: 
>>> "With the New Year, they're looking at upgrades, but we 
>>> don't know where or when".  As I told them, I dislike 
>>> Mediacom (left them due to the outages), but I'm about 
>>> ready to leave Qwest--and will drop the voice line.
>>> 
>>> Seems like everyplace I go outside the Des Moines metro 
>>> area has no problem with getting high-speed (7 Mb/s+) 
>>> connections--metros and rural areas alike. Des Moines 
>>> has 
>>> become an even worse technology backwater than it was.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:53:09 -0600
>>> jrnosee <jrnosee at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> I concur. I live on the border of Waukee and 
>>> Clive/Urbandale. Every time I check it says I'm only able 
>>> to get a 1.5 > connection.  (Although I have gotten some 
>>> reports that it may be due to no open 7mbps+ ports free 
>>> on our
>>>> DSLAM?!).
>>>> 
>>>> I REALLY want to drop Mediacom. We loose our 
>>> connection or most of our bandwidth on cable at the drop 
>>> of a 
>>>> hat. I got home Monday night to .9mbps downstream. 
>>> 0.9!!!!! on a 12mbps connection! Does anyone know any 
>>>> outdoor cable monkeys for mediacom? They were supposed 
>>> to come put a new line in for us MONTHS ago and 
>>>> never did. They just keep sending the indoor guys who 
>>> scratch their (butts) heads and say "well, it's fine 
>>>> right now."
>>>> 
>>>> Seriously... Any takers? $20 on that being the outcome 
>>> of yet ANOTHER mediacom appointment I've got 
>>>> tomorrow morning.
>>>> 
>>>> At least they dropped my price for all the hassle I've 
>>> had.
>>> 
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>>> Cialug at cialug.org
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>> 		 	   		  
> 
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