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Review by linzta 
UPDATED: a few hours ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
 Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
 $39 per month (12 month contract)
 Verizon
 "Free month of cell phone service."
 "Worst customer service ever experienced"
 "Stay away from Verizon Online DSL in PA."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings well below consensus)
|
I'm a past owner of Verizon Online DSL and recently moved to PA. In the past I've had no trouble with it at all and when moving I hoped that the trend would continue - this was not the case.
My first attempt at getting Verizon was foiled by the fact that they were only available to setup the line during times I was at work, so I canceled the service and attempted to get Clear Wireless. After using clear for a bit I decided it wasn't for me and since my roommate had now moved in he would be available to meet the technician whenever he came so I setup an appointment.
The appointment was made for two weeks from the date I called. I made sure my roommate would be there the entire day so there was no possibility of the missing the appointment. The date came and passed without a technician showing. I called Verizon when I got home from work to see what happened and they said that he was working on the line that day and they would have to come inside tomorrow. I agreed, thinking this might have been a problem with the line... no big deal.
The next day came and I decided to do a little checkup in the morning to make sure my appointment was still scheduled. I called at 11am and was told that he would be at the residence by 1pm.
1pm came and went... I called again. "He's backed up due to heavy requests, he'll be there by 5pm." 5pm... gone. By now I'm furious. I called up to see what the deal with the technician was and I was told that he had been at the residence since 12pm working! ... what?!
After yelling back and fourth with a supervisor for 10 minutes, I was hung up on. I immediately called back demanding to speak with their supervisor and I was AGAIN hung up on. The third time I called back I asked for the billing to cancel the DSL. I also requested to be transfered to their cellular department so I could cancel my cell phone service (and all 5 lines attached.) The nice man in the wireless department actually took time to listen to what had happened and assured me that despite the name the wireless department was not connected with the landline. He assured me that they would help me solve the problem with the landline and get it fixed in the morning when the office opened.
The next morning he called me back as promised and on the line was a representative from the DSL section.
Here is the email that I sent as a result of that conversation:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Shawn,
After getting off the phone with both of them I regret to say that they were of 0% help. The person from the technical side kept insisting that I wanted to reactivate my account and set it up and in order for her to help me I would first need to goto the billing department to reactivate my account. Then at one point she told me that DSL was not available in my area - I believe the conversation went something like this:
Tech: "We do not offer DSL service in the area where you are trying to get it"
Me: "The doctors office below me uses Verizon DSL and there was a Verizon DSL modem in my closet when I arrived at the apartment, a brand new one. It's obvious that you're just blatantly lying to get a simple answer out to me so you don't have to actually answer my questions."
Tech: "Would you like to reactivate your Verizon DSL account? I could help you more then."
The other person, the one I believe that you were speaking with, was trying to decipher what the other one was saying but I believe she was just as confused as I was. The call ended with me saying that I could not waste any more time and hanging up. I feel as though I also need to mention her pointing out that my phone line was of poor quality and couldn't be heard... and while the person on the other line was able to hear me and vice versa perfectly clear.
I really don't understand how the Verizon Wireless side could have such excellent customer service and yet the DSL/FiOS/Landline side is so incredibly bad. It is the WORST service I have ever had - by far. I really wish that this would go somewhere and I could talk to someone that could resolve a problem for me but I don't think that's going to happen ( I mean you're an employee and that's the best person you could talk to! What hope is there for me?) In all honesty I've been a DSL customer of Verizon for 4 years now in NY and I've never had any problems, my parents still use DSL at home and at their business.
Unfortunately, as a result, unless I can get an actual answer from someone that can actually help me in the land line section, I'm going to keep my service canceled and I'm also going to have my parents cancel their "Triple play" package for home (or whatever it's called - DSL / Phone / DirectTV) and their business lines for work. I'm also going to suggest to my employer that we remove our DSL line (used for backup - ha!) and go with something that is a bit more reliable here in NJ.
I really do appreciate all of your help and I will be keeping my wireless account because I genuinely think it's great and so is the service. This email was written in somewhat of an angry haze and it's no way in reference to anything on your side of the house. Maybe you guys should be giving some technical support lessons to the land line people. I know at my job, if our level of customer support ever reached that.. we would all be fired instantly.
Finally, the only reason I did wish to keep the DSL and am trying to hard to get it is because of the convenience of the one bill. I really wish this could be sorted out without causing me to have to yell at the top of my lungs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------
As a result, the wireless awarded me a little incentive to stay with them and they filed a "voice of customer" complaint with their headquarters.
Do NOT order or deal with Verizon Online DSL. Worst business yet.
Followup comments:  VZ_KevinB
join:2009-10-22
Asbury Park, NJ
| . Hello, my name is Kevin and I am a member of the Social Media team at Verizon. We handle escalated situations via the web. I was wondering what the current status of your service is. If you were still interested in DSL service, and willing to work with me, I'd be more than happy to facilitate that in a timely and professional manner. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Verizon Online DSL |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by dmfree
UPDATED: 4 days ago
member for 1.4 years, 80 visits, last login: 4 days ago
Clifton Park,Saratoga,NY
$33 per month
Verizon
"Cheaper than RoadRunner"
"Unreliable, Pay for 1.5M get 1 -300K"
"Don't even think about Verizon DSL"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
Dropped RoadRunner because Verizon is $15/month cheaper.
Ordered 768K that was to be upgraded to 1.5M when available.
Initial order and install was okay.
Westell modem was supplied. After several emails and calls I was told that my modem would not run faster that 768K and that I would have to buy a new modem if I want 1.5M, but that since I had been paying for 1.5M and only getting 768K I would get a credit and would not be charged for service for the next 4 months. That lasted 1 month and then I was billed for the modem and the previous month’s service. The new Westell 6100 will do 1.5M but still many times a day I have extremely slow speeds. After many calls and a technician on site I can still have a faster dial up connection than my DSL. Verizon's out is that it is "up to" 1.5M down and 384K up. I feel really bad that I had recommended Verizon to several friends and their service is unreliable too.
Update 1.3 years into monitoring. Verizon changes my IP as few as 2 and as many as 39 times a week. What is up with that? Rarely can I watch Hulu without problems and seeing my IP address change once or twice. On the positive side my ping times are no longer in the 6000+ range and are consistently below 100. I am still waiting for the promised reduction in my monthly bill.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Verizon Online DSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by dataice
UPDATED: 5 days ago
member for 7 years, 1372 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Crisfield,Somerset,MD
$40 per month
 about 14 days
Verizon
"Connection reliability"
"Customer Service is poorly trained"
"Great, as long as everything runs smoothly, otherwise you'll be forced to deal with a poorly trained outsourced tech support."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
08/14/08: I have had Verizon Online DSL since 2004 with hardly a hiccup in all that time. Well, that was about to change. I Called Verizon billing office on August 14th to order an upgrade from 3/768 to 7.1/768. The rep says there is no such speed for FIOS?!? Um, I'm not calling for FIOS, I am calling for DSL. So, I figured that I would wait a week and try again.
08/21/08: I Called them back today to give it another shot. The rep that I spoke with was obviously from India, as her accent was so strong that I could barely understand her. I explained to her that I currently have DSL 3/768 service and was interested in upgrading to 7.1/768. She checked her system, and said that it was available in my area with a 1 year contract and that voice service was also required for $39.99 a month, then $42.99 a month after the first year was up (after renewing with another 1 year contract), at least this rep knew what 7.1 DSL was. Fine, I said sign me up. She gave me a service ready date of August 26th, said I could continue to use my current Actiontec router/modem, and that I needed to be home.
08/26/08 OK, 08/26 comes and goes, no upgrade.
08/27/08 I called them back today on the 27th and opened a trouble ticket. The rep I spoke with said that the last rep that placed the order for me, didn't enter it properly, and it was never dispatched to a local field tech. Ok, fine set me up again please. The rep gave me a new service ready date of September 2nd, and asked me to be home as the tech "may" have to do what is called a home run (place a filter at the NID). I said ok.
09/02/08 I took the day off and guess what? another no show. Ok, now I was not a happy camper.
09/03/08 Called back the next day on September 3rd, that rep said the same thing the last one did, the order wasn't placed correctly. Ok, set me up again please. The rep did so, and gave me a service ready date for September 9th (what is up with ONLY giving me Tuesday's, don't the field techs work more than one day a week?), anyway I said fine, and stayed home all day on the 9th, guess what?
09/09/08 You guessed it, NO SHOW., BUT, he did go to my local central office, and he CUT OFF MY INTERNET COMPLETELY., ok now I had had it. Called back that same day, was told that a rep would come out on the 16th some time between 8 am - 12 Noon, now I was fuming.It was bad enough I was missing time from my duties by taking off all day, but now I had no internet at all. When asking why I was cut off he said they have to do that first in order to upgrade my line to the new 7.1. That sounded fishy so I demand a supervisor, he says no that is not normal and said it must have been a mis-communication (yeah, no s*it).
09/16/08 The 16th comes, again a no show.
09/17/08 Called them the next day on the 17th and demanded a supervisor, who could barely speak english. He apologized several times and said he was escalating my problem to a dept for supervisors, and that someone from that dept. would be calling me within the next 24-48 hours to set up an appt. They actually called that same evening, and they set me up with a new service ready date of September 18th. They asked if I could be home. I said yes, I would be.
09/18/08 September 18th comes, NO SHOW! Now I am truly livid, as I have missed five days of my duties and stayed at home for nothing AND with no internet. I came here to DSLR and found a toll-free number to Verizon Customer Advocacy group, but guess what? they don't help you with a Verizon DSL problem, only a problem with your landline service. So I was back to square one. I called the outsourced call center in India and demanded to speak with yet another supervisor. Apparently none of the former reps or supervisors added ANY notes to my account, so they would know this is an ongoing issue, so I had to explain my lack of customer service issue to him from the beginning, he said to wait for someone to call me back from the same escalations dept. Finally someone from the USA got involved this time around, and returned my call a few hours later. The agent I spoke with said he would handle it personally and that someone would come out on the 19th and that I needed to be home, OK.
09/19/08 19th comes and again another no-show, called (you know the deal by now) and was given a new date of September 22nd (great,another weekend with no internet) Not like I really have a choice in the matter, Ok, fine I will be home on the 22nd
09/22/08 FINALLY a field tech shows up on the 22nd, but , not to my residence but to my local central office instead (field tech told supervisor I didn't need to be home after all, no home run required), since I reside in an large apt. complex, and doing a home run in a multi-dwelling unit can be troublesome and very time consuming, so now I had missed 7 days for nothing. This tech finally gets me up and running with 7.1/768 speed. He stopped by my apt. before heading out of town, and asked me to pull up my stats on the gateway to make sure I was getting good numbers. He was satisfied with the transtats, so all was good. I asked him if he knew what in the world happened with my upgrade. He explained to me, that apparently the first field tech who was dispatched to my local central office, moved my line over to a different card in the rack at the DSLAM but he didn't provision it properly once he moved it over. At least that was the gist of it, since it was nearly 7pm and past his normal quitting time, and the man was tired, as I was as well. So I didn't ask him to go into great detail.
09/23/08 I called Verizon Online billing/sales dept. today to complain about what I had been through and how I was being treated as a paying customer, and the retentions dept said they would give me 4 free months of service for all of my trouble, and being without internet for 2 weeks. So, I will update when my next bill arrives and let you know how that went. But I am not holding my breath with the billing dept., especially after what I had just experienced.
10/17/08: Well, bill cycled online today, and guess what? Yep. No 4 month free credit!I was charged the full $39.99 for the service. To late to call today, since the retentions dept. is currently closed. Will try to contact them on Monday when they reopen
10/20/08: Called retentions dept. today (was hung up on the first 2 times). Rep that I spoke with was very friendly and said she would handle this immediately. She said the original rep that entered the 4 month free credit, did enter it into the system on September 23rd, but she didn't enter WHEN the credit was suppose to actually begin. So, basically it just fell out of the system. She said she entered it again, for the credit to take affect asap, and that I would receive a statement in the mail confirming that my last 4 months paid service would be credited back to the account. I assume that they will just hold off billing me for the next 4 months, I could barely make out what she was saying, since I had to go through a rep in India first to get transferred back to retentions here in the states, so the connection was very bad. Hopefully it has been taken care of this time. I will update again sometime in the next 30 days to confirm if the credit went through as the rep promised.
10/24/08: Received phone bill in the mail today. Apparently Verizon Online credited the $39.99 back to my account on the same day that the paper bill cycled and was mailed out to me, just barely making it on the bill at the very last minute. Good thing I called on the 20th or I would have had to wait another month for the credit. So, I did get at least one month free, but I am not holding my breath that they will credit me for the other three. I will update in mid/late November when my next bill cycles.
11/20/08: Received latest phone bill by e-mail this morning. Verizon charged me the full $39.99 this month. So much for receiving a credit for the other 3 months. Unless they do what they did last month and apply the credit literally at the last minute before the paper bill mails out to me. I will update when I receive that bill by snail mail to let you guys know if that is what happened. At this point however, I am so frustrated dealing with them every month for the credits that I am just going to be thankful that I got at least one month free credit for the 14 days I was without service. I never did receive that so called statement in the mail, confirming the 4 months of credits.
11/25/08: Received latest phone bill by snail mail this morning. Sure enough, they charged me the full rate of $39.99 this month. So, apparently one month of credit is all I am going to see. I've decided to let it drop, its not worth the hassle of dealing with retentions yet again.
03/25/09: After not hearing anything more about my so called 4 month credit, my bill that I received today in the mail showed a credit of $171.96. Apparently I am going to get the 4 month credit after all, 4 billing cycles later. I must say I was VERY surprised after not hearing anything back from them since last November. After contacting billing, the rep said I was given a credit of $171.96 to cover 4 months of service at $42.99 a month. However I WAS paying $39.99 a month with a 1 year contract, which they were taking $3.00 off on the regular $42.99 a month, so I am not sure where the extra $3 dollars suddenly came from. I also noticed that they quietly extended my contract from September to December 2009. After the pure hell on earth that I went through last fall I will just let this slide, since by the time I fight them to get them to put it back the way that it was originally before applying the 4 month credit, my contract would have expired by the time it was all worked out. This company never ceases to amaze me.
07/31/09: I contacted Verizon Business Office today, after seeing on the portal that I was eligible for a bundle discount, by combining my POTS and DSL on one bill. Apparently I can get both Freedom Essentials and 7.1 DSL for $79.99 a month, which is called Verizon Double Freedom. I am paying $45.99 a month now for Essentials and $42.99 for DSL, so this would save me $8.99 a month off of my bill. The best part about this, is that the rep that I spoke with said I would be able to come off my 1 year contract, and would be placed on a month to month on the DSL portion. I can lock this price in for the next 12 months with no ETF if I drop the bundle. I would just go back to my previous billing. I took them up on their offer, so I guess I will see what happens to the billing when I get my next bill in late August.
08/21/09: I checked my online billing today. The paper bill went out a few days ago, which hasn't arrived yet, but I was able to view on the DSL side at verizon.net what Verizon Online was going to submit to the POTS billing as my current billing cycle before the $79.99 Double Freedom bundle reset it. Apparently I was taken off the $39.99 a month DSL billing. They reset my DSL billing by taking me off of my old billing agreement and entered me into a month to month agreement. They treated it as a new customer agreement, and basically reset my billing in January of this year under the promo that was running at that time for the 7.1 tier for new customer signups. The first 4 months are free and then it bills at $42.99 a month. I was placed on a month to month billing, which would run through December. Then the regular price would be $52.99 month to month with POTS. Of course this is all moot now since it will be reset yet again under the $79.99 Double Freedom promo that I recently signed up for. I then went to their main verizon.net signup page to find out exactly what they charge for the 7.1 tier at the full price month to month, with and without POTS. The current billing info for the 7.1 tier list it at $62.99 month to month dry,$52.99 month to month with POTS, $39.99 with a 1 year contract and POTS or $37.99 with a 2 year contract and POTS. No wonder they can't seem to keep the billing straight, they have so many different billing scenario's, there's no telling what you may end up with at the end of the day.
08/25/09: I received my bill in the mail today, and I was billed correctly under the Double Freedom bundle at $79.99 plus $12.01 in taxes and fees, for a total of $92. You gotta love those damn unfees! I can't believe they actually got it right this time on the very first try. Go Figure! 
11/15/09: Connection has been pretty much rock solid since January of 2009, with the exception of a couple of minor outages that each lasted for maybe 3-4 hours. Bottom line is this, obviously there is very poor communications between the different departments at Verizon Online AND Verizon Business Office, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and that is unacceptable with a so called telecommunications company. Usually when you want to give a company more MONEY, they don't require that you jump through hoops first to do so! As long as everything is running smoothly, and you never have to contact them for any reason, they are great, but god help you if you do have to call them! If you don't need hand holding and rarely have a need to contact support,unless something goes terribly wrong, then Verizon should do just fine. If you do need hand holding, I would suggest searching for another provider, IF that is an option.
Attachments:
Followup comments: 
Mactron
el camino Real
Premium
join:2001-12-16
CM94sv
| Well trained.. "Great, as long as everything runs smoothly, otherwise you'll be forced to deal with a poorly trained tech support dept"
Accurately their well trained to always blame the customer and say everything is fine on their end. Think of all the money they save not actually providing service. 
--
If only the Verizon CSRs worked this well.  | |
| |
dataice
Premium
join:2002-10-27
Crisfield, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Well trained.. haha. You got that right. I miss the good ol' days when they actually employed people from the U.S.A. When I recently upgraded my speed from 3 Mbps to 7.1 Mbps, the rep told me there was no such speed for FIOS., uh, duh! who said anything about FIOS? I am talking about DSL over copper! Unreal. I had to call back a total of 8 times to get someone who knew what was going on. Avoid them at all cost! | |
| 
The Blue Hag
join:2008-08-25
Winchester, CA
·Verizon Online DSL
| their teir 1 phone techs are the worst I am so tired of having to call DSL tech support and having to deal with those hard to understand robots, the voice-automated system is just as bad as the overseas employees too....
Would be nice if they brought jobs back to the USA and gave us customer service as imagined in their commericials.
I am fed up with Verizon phone support to be honest, they are the worst. | |
| |
dataice
Premium
join:2002-10-27
Crisfield, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: their teir 1 phone techs are the worst You got that right, they have gone out of their way to program the automated system to make it so difficult to reach a live rep,that you will just throw your hands up in the air and relent. God help you if you try to get your local business office involved in it, they will just refuse to deal with you and transfer you back into automated hell, but before doing so trying to sell you on at least a dozen different products and services. It's really sad to see what has happened to a once helpful customer support center, and I feel sorry for the few U.S. support people they have left, knowing if they don't push those services, they will be fired. :-( | |
| | | 
OftenOily
@verizon.net
|  Re: their teir 1 phone techs are the worst
Tech support is nothing other then an insult..11229 under dial up speed now for 3 weeks even with the modem turned on | |
|
icepunk6
@verizon.net
| headaches for sure! i decided awhile back to go with verizon dsl 3/768 on a dryloop, tech came out, hooked everything up (came at like 6am when was told they would come between 8 and noon, i know it was 6am because he left a voicemail on my phone, i never answered the door due to sleeping at that time) long story short. i was without my new service (although i had dsl connection lights on modem) for 3 weeks. ended up that they didnt have me hooked up in the hub office, this was also after literally 10 calls of me saying "this is on your end, not mine" they even told me i needed to upgrade my modem/router and it would cost 100$. HORRIBLE customer service, i got exactly the same amount of time i was out of service, 3 weeks credits. so dont hold your breath on 4 months, you were lucky getting 39.99 | |
| |
dataice
Premium
join:2002-10-27
Crisfield, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
1 edit | Re: headaches for sure! Yep, I figured that as well, that I was lucky to get at least one month credited back to the account. If they don't credit me for the other three I will probably just let it drop. I don't feel like jumping through hoops again with support and dealing with the long hold times to get them to give me what they already promised. I tend to have a short fuse when it comes to those people, and my blood pressure is already high to begin with.  | |
| 
Hpower
Roflmao
join:2000-06-08
Glendale, CA
 ·Charter Pipeline
| Damn Man I feel your pain. I'd die 3 weeks without connectivity. I already was going nuts with 2 weeks of no service for getting charter pipeclog pipeline.
Seems like Verizon does a horrible job with their DSL service but does a much better job with FIOS.
--
The Internet is about to go down....it is actually. | |
|
stefanie2530
@verizon.net
| DLS Tier 3 phone# I'm truly thankful that I'm not the only person who has such problems with Verizon...I'm not happy about your problems, I'm just happy that these things don't only happen to me!
Does anyone have the Tier 3 DSL phone number? I had it and now a friend needs it and of course I can't locate mine...she's calling Tier 1 asking for Tier 3 help and they claim to have no clue what she's talking about and hang up on her...
Thanks! | |
| |
dataice
Premium
join:2002-10-27
Crisfield, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
4 edits | Re: DSL Tier 3 phone# Those Tier 3 direct #'s don't work anymore. Since Verizon now outsources its entire DSL support overseas. They use to work when they were still based here in the USA, but I haven't reached a US based CSR since at least 2007, much less a Tier 3 based rep. So, unless you subscribe to their premium support plan, which I am not even sure if that isn't outsourced as well, you probably will be unsuccessful in getting one of the Tier 1 CSR's in India to transfer you to a Tier 3 rep. That's if they even have any Tier 3 reps on the staff in India, and even if they do, I seriously doubt they will know any more than the Tier 1 script robots manning the front lines. Most of the reps that I spoke with when I had my recent problems, didn't know anything more than what was on the script in front of them, no matter how high up the ladder I climbed. | |
| radiomaze
join:2009-10-25
Curwensville, PA
·Verizon Online DSL
| Tech Support, yeah if you want to call it that I called not long ago for some help with modem/router issues . The tech said, in that barely understandable broken english, sir I'm going to send you toour expert support. Well I knew there was a fee but didn't know how much so I asked the "expert" how much will it cost? She replyed its a one time fee of ONLY $89:-() I said no way I think I can figure this out myself. You have a nice day. Then hung up the phone. | |
| |
dataice
Premium
join:2002-10-27
Crisfield, MD | Re: Tech Support, yeah if you want to call it that I would keep a VERY close watch on your bill for the next few billing cycles. It would not surprise me in the least bit if those clowns tried to bill you anyway for the $89. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Verizon Online DSL |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by Commander
UPDATED: 6 days ago
member for 2.3 years, 475 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Keeling,Pittsylvania,VA
$30 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
Verizon
"Connection is stable and reliable - Good speed - Low latency"
"Your overall experience with tech support is like rolling dice"
"Get it if you can"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
My experience with it has been good. Normally I have a good solid 2.8+ Mbits/sec (350 KBytes/sec) down and 720+ Kbits/sec (90 KBytes/sec) up. For whatever reason(s), the Flash test performed at DSL Reports returns slower results than those of other speed tests. The Java test returns a better result.
Verizon is now blocking SMTP port 25. Change this setting to port 587.
Technical support could be better. You might get lucky, or you may fine yourself speaking with an idiot.
By tweaking your computer's settings, you can get more bang for your buck. Verizon DSL users should optimize their connection for best results. Verizon says, "Note: You only need to run this optimizer if your Verizon High Speed Internet service speed is greater than 3Mb/second." My speed is about 2.8 Mbps. I ran the optimizer and it did improve the performance of my connection.
Optimize Connection »www2.verizon.net/help/dsl_settings/
Followup comments: 
gsuburban
join:2000-02-29
Glendora, CA
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Verizon Optimize My Connection I've been with Verizon (GTE) ever since they offered DSL service in 2000. From day one, download speeds were always on target 768kbps then 1500kbps and now 3000kbps. Also from day one the upload speeds using any email client such as Outlook, Outlook Express or Thunderbird etc the upload speeds were always 45 to 50% of the target up speeds. Beginning from 128, then to 384 and now 768kbps these up speed portions of the speed packages suffered but only when using an email client. File transfers with windows messenger, cute or ftp and web based email via internet explorer hummed right along at the max speed target.
After 8 years of continuous questions with Verizon Online tech support/level2/level3/letters of complaints etc and finally having a discussion with the guru's in the email server section with Verizon, I was told there is no fix for this problem. I have heard that for the last 4 years every time yet I personally knew they had it wrong all the time. I used several windows machine new out of the box, old ones etc etc and the same performance when it came to an upload via email clients. Interestingly, Outlook Express is the default email setup Verizon prefers to set up its users with when using that CD installation method.
When I just happened to stumble on the "Optimize My Connection" in December 2007 while looking for details in Verizon's web pages, I pretty much fainted when I clicked on the button and view the next page "your connection has been optimized". Right after that, I opened an email message, attached a 2mb jpeg and sent it to myself. The upload speeds doubled and the software I use to monitor connection speeds up/down showed the up speed to be in the area of 800kbps. That quick and that easy.
The worst of this story is obvious, Verizon knew about this yet none of the highly paid customer service tools had any clue about it.
Your comments state Verizon told you about this tool on their website, is that true? In all my time with them, not one of them had known about this ! | |
| | | | |
gsuburban
join:2000-02-29
Glendora, CA
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Verizon Optimize My Connection You may want to correct your post that you were the lucky VOL customer who had to find this tcp/ip tool to get the correct settings sync'd up with their servers.
Funny how the default install process with VOL is outlook express via the CD that comes with the self-installation kit. I don't recall being told the upload speeds on port 25 would be half of the HTTP speeds (port 80). | |
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 Review by legendNYC
UPDATED: 8 days ago
member for 6.4 years, 2342 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Jamaica,Queens,NY
$34 per month (12 month contract)
about 4 days
Verizon
"Steady Eddie; currently 3M/768"
"No News Groups"
"Happy Camper"
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Nov. 2009: Not much has changed. Verizon dumped ALL news groups, but this is the trend for most ISPs. Highest speed available is still 3M/768 although some folks report getting 7M. I would love to see FIOS here. We hate paying Time Warner for cable TV and will gladly switch when it is available.
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July 2008: We've moved, but are still in the area. Verizon transferred our telephone number and DSL connection (3M/768) as scheduled. Completely painless. It looks like speeds are a bit more consistent. It's a shame Verizon dumped the alt.* groups :-(
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Feb. 2008: I check the connection daily and it usually performs as advertised - 3M/768. If not, a reset sets things right. Verizon works well for our home network and on-line games.
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Oct. 2006: Nothing new to report. No need to call customer service, but sometimes the connection is slower than expected.
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Dec. 2005: Current connection is 3M/768 and it is pretty smooth sailing most of the time. VOL sent a new Westell modem without any hassle the last time I called tech support.
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Original Review: We made the jump to DSL from dial-up in May 2001. The Westell Modem kit arrived within a week with plenty of filters (about six). Installation was very straight-forward. I was connected at 640/90 within 20 days of my order, and that's how it stayed until the recent bump to 1.5M/128 in May 2003. I called Tech Support and the upgrade arrived the following week. We currently share the connection between 3 computers and the extra bandwidth is a blessing.
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Thank you, Broadband Reports, for all the great information!
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 Review by Doomsayer
UPDATED: 9 days ago
member for 7.1 years, 998 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Brooklyn,Kings,NY
$33 per month (12 month contract)
about 6 days
"Speed has been pretty constant at 3mbps."
"The modem went dead for a little while, but they're ready to replace it"
"Good for the money, though I miss my cable :(."
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It sucks that you get charged more for not having a house phone, but I guess that makes sense. Overall, it's been good, though I sure miss Earthlink's 10mbps speeds with no issues. I get service loss whenever there's a bad storm (they haven't upgraded the neighborhood's wires in a LONG time). But, since FIOS is not available, I'm stuck with it unless I want to pay more!
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Review by Bob61571
UPDATED: 11 days ago
member for 1.2 years, 533 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Washington,Tazewell,IL
$34 per month (12 month contract)
Verizon (ex GTE)
"Fixed big 327W problems thru DSLR"
"Bad online support documentation, third world support. Midwest waiting years for FiOS (only 240 miles away)"
"Fairly reliable 3Mbps/768 connection for $34/month, better than Dial up"
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Have 3Mbps/768 DSL from Verizon DSL. Part of a hard wire POTS bundle. All done online, never had a truck roll here.
Speed tests usually around 2.8Mbps down, and 600 kbps up.
Live in a metro area, 10 minutes from world headquarters for a Fortune 50 multinational corporation. No fiber choices available(though in 2000, the old Williams Communications installed a major cross country dark fiber line within 1/4 mile). Local options are 3/768 Verizon DSL, or Comcast. No 7.1 Verizon available here. Wow, what a choice!
Aug 2008-Had major problems w/Westell 327W gateway. Found that Verizon kept updating firmware to 4.4.3 every day. That firmware caused 327W to continually reboot every 20 seconds. I kept rolling it back to previous copy of firmware. Finally, could not roll it back any more. After weeks of trying to solve problem w/third world Verizon support , I discovered "Verizon Direct" here on DSLReports. "Verizon Direct" replaced 327W with a Westell 7500. Works fine now.
Major gripe: Entire Central Illinois area(Peoria, Bloomington/Normal, Champaign/Urbana, Decatur, etc.) is being ignored by Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse. The only Midwest Verizon FiOS is in Ft. Wayne(and 2 suburbs), Indiana. That's 240 miles away. Central Illinois used to be a major part of GTE, with a regional HQ. Now, we're the forgotten stepchildren. No AT&T U-Verse in Illinois yet(as of March 2009) either, outside of Chicago area.
Comcast took over area from Insight Communications in Jan. 2008, during swap of Central/Northern Illinois 50/50 partnership. Comcast has quickly earned a bad reputation, throughout this new territory.
Verizon rarely advertises their DSL here, and has poor customer communications. Poor/outdated online support. Website frequently does not have correct local information. Bundles not always available here. Have to read DSLR to find any Verizon news/info.
Thought that Verizon execs had stated in 2008, that they had ignored DSL customers, over FiOS. And, that they would devote more resources to their DSL. If so, have not seen it yet.
November 2009 update - -
1) As of June/July 2009, AT&T U-Verse has officially launched in SOME parts of these Central Illinois towns: Champaign-Urbana, Danville, Decatur, and Springfield.
2)June/July 2009 - Verizon caused 7 week delay in street construction in Washington, IL. They failed to promptly relocate their underground phone lines to allow for expanded street/storm sewer work. They also caused an 8 week street construction delay in nearby Morton, IL, by failing to relocate underground phone lines there.
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Review by RokHed
UPDATED: 13 days ago
member for 9.2 years, 1288 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Pennsville,Salem,NJ
 Business customer
$79 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
Verizon
"Stable"
"A bit slow"
"Ill keep it"
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I had comcast for years. When the bill for tv and net broke the $200 I freaked!
I figured id come back to verizon. The connection is solid and I get the same speed when I need it most Id hafta say I can move more data during that time now. Not to mention im saving 15 bucks on the Phone/Dsl bundle.
Had a few issues the first couple month until the Business tech support got involved once they took over my ticket they kept me informed on how they were handling my issue. Once the issue was resolved they refunded my 1st 3 months and the service has been awesome. the residential side is a bit flakey but business side is no joke
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Review by ourumov2
UPDATED: 17 days ago
member for 22 days, 6 visits, last login: 7 days ago
Hackettstown,Warren,NJ
$29 per month (12 month contract)
"Nothing really"
"Started charging me even though there was no phone line from the pole to my house"
"Support is useless"
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Ordered 3.0 Dry Loop DSL for my new house about 2 weeks ago. I made it clear that there was no NID on the outside of my house and no line from the pole to my house - they said it would be installed free of charge and asked if I needed inside wiring. I said I would do the inside wiring myself to curb their $120 charge.
Come today I get an email a day after my service ready date saying that the service is active and I will start being billed. There is still no NID on the outside of my home nor a line from the telephone pole to my house. How can I possibly be active and billed when I dont even have a physical line to Verizon???
They ran a Line Test and said that I would have to install my modem for the line test to be accurate so I will update later on today when I get home to see if they miraculously installed a NID from the time a left for work to now.
Update 10/29/09 430pm
Well what do you know, there is no NID. I called Verizon again and the first person did not know what a NID was and I was transferred to my local business office. The local business office said she cant get a NID ordered since I have dry loop, so she transferred my back to customer service. The customer service guy wanted me to plug my PC into a phone line, after clearly explaining several times that I do not have a phone line hooked up from the pole to my house he transferred me to someone that was able to schedule a technician to stop by. This 'scheduler' then asked what I needed and he then transferred me to someone who knew the schedule. Finally, this last person asked me when I would be available - so I said tomorrow and then he told me the technician would stop by anytime between 8 am and 8 pm. ARE THEY KIDDING ME??? I told them that I have a job and a NID install is on the outside of my house- he said I had to be home regardless. So now I left a big fat note on my door telling the technician to just install a NID and that I would take care of the inside wiring. I will update tomorrow.
Update 10/30/09
Surprisingly a Verizon technician came out and installed a NID outside my home. I tested as soon as I came home from work and there was indeed a working DSL line!. I then wired the inside of my home and am getting some great speeds for being 2.5 miles away from the CO - 2.9mbps down and 300~ up.
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Review by kubus
UPDATED: 17 days ago
member for 8.9 years, 852 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Irwin,Westmoreland,PA
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 14 days
Verizon
"Works as advertised"
"nothing"
"Good value and better then my previous ISP - Comcast"
| Pre Sales information:
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Did a self install, connection was on before the ready date, which made me happy. Wish they would let me know before hand that it takes up to 3 weeks to actually get connected, but it worked in 2 weeks, so I guess is sort of mid point.
Connection speed is as advertised 1492/374, slightly under, but close enough to call it exact.
I got the Westel wireless hub from VZ, works fine, however I didn't try the wireless yet, no need for it at this point.
I didn't use the Tech Support, so the rating is based on CSR that I placed the order with.
The open relay blocking is bad, I'm watching the thread in VZ forum on it. I just had one of my friends forward me the return e-mail so I'll be contacting VZ about the blocking.
UPDATE: 1/18/06
I downgraded to the lower 768/128 plan as cost saving measure. At this time, VZ DSL is probably the best value out there. I really don't notice a difference in the speed until I download a large file. E-mail attachments (3-5mb) take few seconds longer, windows updates download just fine. I play BF1942 and I don't notice any major lags or differences either.
I'm not sure if the e-mail blocking is still there. I switched over to yahoo and the only e-mails going to verizon mail are the official stuff.
One stupid thing about VZ is their security package, that they tried to push on me. I had e-mails coming about it almost daily for about a month after the upgrade. Now I get snail mail cards to download it. No thanks, doing just fine on my own.
Update 4/12/07
The price went up to $17, however it is still a good value. No problems to report, except cat chewed on the cat5 and had to be replaced.. cable that is.
I've since started using wi-fi and that is also working pretty good, although the Westel range is not that great, but I can still sit on the porch and get very good signal.
Update 02/08
I had to move up to 3/768 level as uploading pictures was painfully slow. When you have a newborn, that's pretty much all you will do, upload pictures or send them through e-mail. Upgrade was painless, and took about a week, all done at CO. I had some initial problems with speed, but it turned out that one of my cats chewed through the wire. Took me 15min to fix and speed was up. Last I checked the upload was around 2.5, download over 700, so pretty close and good enough for me.
So now I have 3 years and counting of solid performance from VZ.
Oh an the cat now has 2 strikes... but I'm not sure which one, so I guess both will end up as General Tso Chicken one day.
Update 11/09
Make that 5 years and counting without a problem. Even the Westel modem is still chugging along. I did use the wireless for a while but then my laptop crapped out. The Wi-Fi worked OK at best, not a very strong signal even in next room. Was enough to do light browsing, and to push updates to PS3.
Followup comments: Neoistheone
join:2007-01-13
Tornado, WV | Cat Kill the cat :P | |
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Verizon is not playing square with DSL customers
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