|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
A few reviews for businesses using
high speed circuits - 6/1/02
|
|
|
| Commonwealth
Telephone Company (CTCO) & Epix Internet Services (both
divisions of Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises - a publicly
traded company): Whether it be DSL,
dialup or the local loop of a T1 circuit being routed through
Commonwealth Telephone's network - avoid using this outfit
where "any" other choices exist. Epix has knowingly
oversold their bandwidth (over many months) in the past and
Commonwealth perpetually drops the ball in handling problems
on circuits that traverse their network. It would appear the
profits they post are derived through shortchanging customers
and providing minimal service. If they didn't have a partial
monopoly (due to their status as a regional telco), they would
not be able to keep business customers based on quality of
service. The days of providing honest services for a fair
profit appear to be long gone at this once reliable firm.
FCC, FTC and PUC should take a hard look at this company.
CT covers about 20 counties in PA, including portions of Upper
Bucks.
A few ancillary notes:
Excerpts from CTE's 2001 Annual Report:
We value honesty, integrity and accountability.
Customer service: At CTE, actions speak louder than words.
If there’s one thing that ruffles our feathers, it’s
the thought of not having every single customer delighted
with the service we provide.
Response:
Obviously this is not in reference to the many months in
the not so distant past where their business customers were
paying $1300/mo for their internet T1's and often getting
$21 dollar dialup speed because Epix was selling far more
bandwidth than they had upstream capacity to deliver. At
the same time this was going on, they were actively saturating
the market with solicitations for their DSL service.
Excerpt from CT's "About Commonwealth Telephone
Company"
By dedicating our resources to our service areas with strategically
located personnel, our highly trained team is always ready
to respond to your needs - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Response:
Guess they haven't had their corporate office T1's down
for 20 hours on a weekend due to a lack of CT personnel
on duty to make a 5 minute card replacement for a failed
Commmonwealth circuit card at their office's demark. This
kind of thing is going on right up to the present.
The only thing they'll find a good many of their business
customers agree with (in their above verbiage) is: their
actions surely do speak louder than their words.
|
|
|
| ATT:
A solid and reliable IP network with dependable service. If
one has a dedicated contract department to continually stay
on top of the volumes of gibberish in their contracts, this
company is a good choice. But for small and midsize companies
who don't, the potential exists to be severely burned by the
contingencies in some of their contracts. Read all the fine
print carefully before signing anything. You'll be amazed
at what they have managed to slip into the fine print for
an internet T1 circuit. One would have thought the venerable
ATT would be above this type of sleazy behavior. |
|
|
| Sprint
- A first rate IP network, built from the ground up for data.
Excellent customer service and monitoring of their circuits.
Good peering pipes. Fair pricing and clear contracts. Though
they are laden with debt (as are all the telcoms who built
large infrastructures), they will likely be one of the survivors
in the inevitable culling and consolidation of Tier 1 providers.
Their loyal customer base is due to their efficient customer
service, monitoring and diligence in problem resolutions (a
must for businesses who rely upon the integrity of their circuits
to conduct business). Most taught their excellence and service
on paper, Sprint actually delivers the beef. |
|
|
