Laurel writes in to ask what Verizon means when they say their DSL is “full.” She’s trying to transfer her existing account to a house in the same zip code, but Verizon is saying “No.”
Hi Consumerist folks,
I just had a very strange conversation with Verizon and thought this was the kind of thing you only read about on Consumerist.
We currently have Verizon phone and DSL service. This is because we live in a town where Verizon is the only phone provider. We’re moving from our apartment to a house in the same zip code.
I call Verizon to transfer our service. Once I get through the hideous phone tree to a human being, I speak to the CSR, who is pleasant and helpful. She checks to confirm that we can keep our existing phone number (we can), arranges for the service transfer, gives me all the information about how long the transfer takes and when I can expect service, etc. Then she tries to change our DSL service over.
She tells me something’s very strange, as the new address is in their service area, but her system shows that DSL is unavailable there. She puts me on hold to go check with a supervisor.
When she comes back, she explains to me that DSL is not available at that location, even though the previous residents did have DSL. Something about the local center being “closed” and that area being “full” as far as DSL connections. Why they would run out of DSL in a residential neighborhood, especially when all we’re doing is MOVING our existing DSL, is not explained.
We’re checking to see if we can get another ISP, but since this is a ‘company town’, we may be stuck getting high-speed internet through Comcast (ugh. ugh, ugh ugh). Has anyone ever heard of anything like this before?
Thanks,
Laurel
Well, Laurel, we have no idea what this means, but we’re sure our commenters do. Can anyone explain why Verizon’s DSL is “full”?
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Same thing happened to me when I was helping my in-laws to get a DSL connection. I used Verizon’s website to see if I could order them DSL. I couldn’t, because “DSL was full” in their area.
Then a week later there was a special offer on a newspaper the in-laws read for Verizon DSL. Same exact plan, but with a better price than on Verizon’s website. I tried Verizon’s normal website again…sure enough DSL was still “full”. Then I typed in the URL for the offer in the newspaper. It’s going to the same website, just on a web page with details about the particular promotion. The order goes through, and the in-laws have had DSL for a few months now.
It turns out the DSL wasn’t “full” after all. Verizon just decided not to sell us DSL one way, but was perfectly fine selling it to us another way.
Makes no sense to me, and caused undue aggravation to us for a while.
@fever, problem is that the Comcast contractors in our area are less than stellar. We tried Comcast a while ago at our current location. It never worked right. When we called, they explained that because we had a router with more than one computer, that was “home networking” which wasn’t included in our plan, but they would be happy to sell us their “Comcast networking” package and that would supposedly fix it.
jaysyn has it right. The DSLAM switch is full subscribed. ie no more ports at the in. Here’s the bad news — Verizon ain’t buying no more. The Network Ops folks on the POTS side have had their budgets cut to the bone so there is no budget for equipment upgrades — anywhere.
@hypnotik_jello: BINGO – The server room people just told the CSR that to get them off their case. Hello, Verizon server room network tech start running wires to the next switch over…in the next cabinet? You know, the one with all those open ethernet ports in front of yo face? Yeah – it’s for that PAYING customer. Thanks…FULL refered to the current switch / hub / router the moron was looking at was full of ethernet cables going into it.
Maybe this will help:
1) Zip code means nada to the telcos. Keeping the same number is very easy no matter if you move a block away or a continent away. These mean nothing here. Many urban zip codes could be served by 3 or 4 C.O.s, or even more. You might be changing to a different CO that’s really full up.
2) That previous residents of the new place had dsl now only means the cable their qualified for it. If their DSLAMS counts are that tight, the previous resident’s DSLAM was reused for someone else immediately. Turn around on reusing dslams is often less than a day.
3) Placing an order as a NEW service might be a whole different thing than a CHANGE order. Check with the rep on if that’s why. Also realize that there may be no choice either due to various policies and systems so she/he may not be able to do a thing about it.
4) Never heard of “each customer has their own card”. The very earliest DSLAM equipment I ever saw carried 2 customers. Newer ones have something like 32 per card? 64? I forget now but it sure as heck isn’t one customer per DSLAM card. That would be an incredible waste of floor space for such a popular service anyway.
5) DSLAMS in the C.O. are connected inline usually using 22ga twisted pair. No ethernet cable. There is no way to “change it to the next cabinet” if there is no cabinet where changes can be made. Customer connections are all all done on the frame blocks. And yes, those blocks do get full up!!
6) It’s a local situation that’s extremely unlikely to be be improved on without new equipment changes of some kind. Which requires forcasting, engineering and workorders. So, the planning, or lack of it, is what really screwed this person up by not ordering enough dslams or network facilities or whatever to begin with, for stupid whatever reason.
So don’t cancel your order if they’ll take it at all, at least you’ll then be in line for an avaialable dslam as other people move and theirs gets disconnected.
The clowns try the same thing with Caller ID. Try and get it on a new phone installation, and they say there is a “waiting list” hahahahahaha ANOTHER reason to go to another company
i work in the verizon office and can actually explain this. Verizon build a certain amount of capacity in their central offices. Once they have a reached their maximum number of customers, no one else can get DSL until someone else cancels. Because she already has DSL, the system sees no availability. Once she cancels it on her existing line that will free up the capacity but the system can’t see into the future and know this. All the system does is look to see if there’s capacity NOW.
which there isn’t
That said, all someone like me has to do is override the rejection and send a request to an engineer and I guarentee you it will work just fine.
Zip codes don’t have anything to do with telephone service.
It may not be relevant, but the OP makes a point repeatedly of saying “in the same zip code” like that’s supposed to matter.
In a dense area, there could be multiple COs in the same zip code, and that’s what would actually matter. You could move within the zip code but to a different nearest CO. Or in a less dense area you could change zip codes but have the same CO.
I had the same response from Verizon. I wanted them to provide dry loop DSL; they said DSL was not available so I asked if they could provide FIOS and they said no.
So I filed a complaint with the FCC and the PA utility commission; both agencies took the complaint and in two weeks I got a call from Verizon that they had modified the central office equipment and they could now provide DSL. (Historically, the telcos take FCC and state commission complaints very seriously.)
Best
Ray
I had Verizon DSL for years and I am using my 2nd Verizon provided router. 1st one stop working after 2+ years of constant residential use. I noticed about 2% of the time now we lose service for a few minutes. It could be the new router but I much more strongly believe it is the DSL service itself. I live 0.5 miles from the phone system hub. I wonder if Verizon isn’t maxed out somehow and having to share time among all us dedicated, direct line DSL users.