considering XO or ATX for T1 - concerned about reliability. Anyone know which if either is more reliable? I deal only in legal matters and reliability is crucial as I'll be using the T1-PRI as an integrated solution. Thanks for your help.

I have had better luck with XO than ATX in the Washington/Baltimore region.

Although I have not personally worked with either provider, I was very impressed with XO Communications' "above and beyond" efforts that you can review in this recent discussion.

While both of them have the ability to provide service, they both "suck" when it comes to getting something done with Verizon. There doesn't seem to be enough sense of urgency from both parties.

XO Shut down one of our T3s a long time ago due to a billing error in their system and made no attempt to contact us in advance to resolve it prior to disconnecting it. We had to argue for 7 hours before someone got enough desire to re-enable the circuit.

ATX doesn't seem to have much data clue from my previous dealings with their NOC but then again, I eat tier 1 guys for breakfast usually.

That's just my 2 cents from my own experiences of course.

You are correct, Majestic. XO takes prompt payment very seriously, especially since they use a third party to handle their billing. If there was an issue with an account's service, you had best pay the amount due and collect a credit on the back end. Most CLECs are using third party billing, so I am not going to throw XO under the bus for that, yet.

You are also correct that when Verizon is handling the last mile, they will move at a pace within their regulated turnaround time, only to arrive at 3 hours, 59 minutes into the report to tell you "it's a facilities issue and we will have to refer this to cable". Don't blame this on XO or ATX. This is the poor attitude of Verizon's people in the field. These folks enjoy "throwing a pie" in the face of the competitor, almost as if they are punishing them for trying to step into VZ's gang territory.

Unless you find a way to get a carrier that provides service directly via fiber or via coax (cable TV providers), nothing is going to change. Verizon is the common denominator and they are in no hurry to make their competition look any better.

Ed, I agree that Verizon is the problem and they aren't in a hurry to make us look better but I've found that being extremely persistent with them can help make things go faster. I just don't get the impression that some people are all over Verizon when there is a problem. Many of them open a ticket, wait for "Verizon" to call them back (sometimes FOREVER) then take whatever Verizon tells them and rest with it.

When it comes to Verizon, I'm sure you all agree. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and Verizon needs a lot of grease sometimes.

With the way things are going in Telecom, pretty soon, Verizon will be just like the old AT&T.

I personally like ATX over XO. I'm a reseller for ATX and out of the 30 or T1's that I've sold for them I had zero installation problems. I think their reliability is awesome too...no system outages(well...no complaints that I've heard of) since I became a reseller.

I've been on a dozen or so XO cutovers & more than half were a disaster. Some, the T's were never even tested beforehand. Others were delayed days(1 account was delayed 2 weeks).
Not too mention about 2-3 months ago, my customers that use XO in the Philadelphia area were out without service for 24 hours.

As far as ATX & Verizon, I've had absolutley no problems with the cust. service between the two.