Verizon DSL 40% packet loss – NOBODY CAN FIX

Some users in a medium sized office told me their internet was very slow, so at first I thought it was just because they were far from the Central Office. However, they showed me what they meant and it was really slow. I did some ping tests and found that 40% of the packets were dropping.ir-leasing.ru

[Jul 12, 2011] Thankfully, they have two internet connections in this office (the backup being a 768Kbps), so I put them on the backup and started testing the modem. In looking at the transceiver stats, it looks like the lines were better than I thought, but the packet loss was the same while plugged directly into the modem. As much as I didn’t want to, I called Verizon’s Business DSL tech support and described the problem. Jessica didn’t understand the problem because the line test was fine. She kept wanting me to run speed tests (despite me saying my problem wasn’t speed), but they wouldn’t run because it would fail the latency test. While she was talking with someone else for a while, I connected my own modem that I carry with me and configured it. I had the same problem with packet loss, which I told her. A few minutes later, she said she had approval to send out another modem. I questioned her as to why she would send out a modem if I just tried another one and it didn’t make a difference. (Of course, the modem showed up the next day despite me telling her not to send one.) She had the bright idea of having me to a browser optimization. I politely shot that one down along with her other thoughts that didn’t make logical sense. She finally agreed to send the ticket to the MCO (Maintenance Control Office) and she said they would call me within 24 hours.

[Jul 13, 2011] After 24 hours of waiting, I called and talked to Dianey to find out why no one called me. She informed me that it was a 24-48 hour window. That’s nice. At 9pm EDT, Sherry called me to find out the problem (her ticket said the internet was slow). I had to explain over again that it wasn’t slow. She said she would dispatch someone out to the office that next morning.

[Jul 14, 2011] The Verizon technician called me the next morning to find out the problem. I explained and he said he would switch the card that our circuit is on in the LightSpeed (in between the far CO and our office). He did that and I asked him if he would go to the office and test it. He said the ticket didn’t allow him to go on-site. How nice.

[Jul 19, 2011] I returned to the site and tested the pings and found the same 40% packet loss. This time I spoke with Dee at Verizon DSL tech support who decided that she needed to start from scratch. I told her from the beginning that it was a dry loop with no phone service and the modem was isolated, etc. She did do a test while I was running a speedtest (was able to run them) and said that she saw the problem that I was talking about. She then asked me to remove any other phones and filters. I politely told her once again that it is a dry loop plugged directly into the modem. (Repeating what you’ve already said is a given with any VZ DSL phone call.) She said she would send a technician two days later and they can run special tests on-site that they can’t do.

[Jul 21, 2011] I received a call from a call center informing me that they couldn’t make it and wanted to know if they could come the next day. I said it was fine.

[Jul 22, 2011] George, the Verizon technician came to the site and called me. I informed him of the problem that the line tests were fine, but that packets were dropping and that I thought it was an equipment problem in the CO or LightSpeed. He then ran a few tests and said he didn’t find any problems. I explained the packet loss again and he said I’d need to talk to Verizon DSL tech support about that.

I couldn’t hold back any longer. I proceeded to get very angry and describe how terrible Verizon’s support structure is and how they are now losing yet another customer. Thankfully Comcast is available there now.

In summary, Verizon’s DSL isn’t working properly and no one in the company has any clue how to fix it.

VERIZON,

Maybe someday you will care about your DSL customers and if you decide to, here is what you can do:

Until you fix these issues, I will actually recommend all of my customers to cancel their Verizon DSL and switch to a competitor.