Over the weekend, we noted that a growing number of CLEC technicians were complaining that Qwest's new FTTN/ADSL2+ upgrades were causing interference for some customers who remained on vanilla DSL (CLEC Or Qwest). According to the technicians, instead of fixing the problem, Qwest has been using the technical issue in order to upsell customers to new FTTN service. Since CLECs can't share Qwest's new infrastructure, CLECs are suggesting this is one way that Qwest could finally kill off pesky Qwest competition once and for all.

"I can confirm that this is a huge issue in the Denver area," says a CLEC tech in our forums. "If there is a FTTN circuit in the same count as a ADSL circuit, it will either kill the ADSL circuit completely, or destroy the speeds," he says. "Qwest techs are being told to cut any problem circuits to FTTN -- If you are a CLEC, you have no choice but to cut the circuit, and use Qwest as an ISP." Techs from Qwest competitors in Utah, XMission and DSLExtreme, have the same complaint. Qwest documentation confirms a problem exists.

Our goal is to make every effort to resolve the issue through technical intervention and move on. -Qwest, concerning FTTN/DSL interference

Qwest confirmed to me that the problem is power interference between the central-office generated ATM DSL and their fiber-based IP broadband (FTTN).

Utopia is the nation's largest muni-fiber network, connecting almost a dozen cities in Utah. It sells wholesale access to providers like AT&T, XMission and MStar, who then offer 15Mbps symmetrical fiber connections for $40 to residents of participating cities.