atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers Verizon gets it right

I am loathe to commend VZ due to their corporate culture of never getting anything right, BUT, fair is fair, so here goes:

I was called to the home of a VIP in my town (a former NY big politician) whose #2 line was out of order. It is assigned to his fax, and alarm, so it was kind of urgent that we get the line back in service.

Them: "We can have someone there on the 16th."

Me: "No, this is the home of ( V I P ) and you'll have someone here by noon, today, and if you don't believe me, ask your supervisor to come on the line and she can talk to The Hon. Himself."

Two hours later, a VZ repairman shows up and we determine that the short circuit is in the F1.

At that point, I realized that this was not going to get repaired today, because VZ are going on strike at midnight tonight, and there was no frame man available in the CO to run in a new cross-connection, even if the repairman and I could find a spare pair.

Then (as a friend of mine says) "Wow and behold" the repairman whips out his cell phone, scrolls to an app that allows him access to cable records, downloads a list of about 5 or 6 spare pairs, and then goes to another app that allows him to test the pairs via the cell phone. He finds a good pair, and then I say "Well, I guess 'I'll be you', and you go back to the central office, and 'you be the frame man', and we'll get this line back in service."

He gives me the look that my kids give me when I can't figure out how to put the batteries in the remote, puts his buttset on the new pair, and presses some magical buttons on his cell phone.

He says "Haven't you heard of "cut-throughs"? I say, "Of course I've heard of them...they were made policy before you were born, but the program never worked because nobody kept the records straight."

Within TWO MINUTES, dial tone is heard in the buttset.

The bottom line: VZ has lost 40% of their market share to the competition, because along the way, they were using antiquated technology and failed to embrace the new way of doing things. Today's lesson was an eye-opener to an old guy like me, who signs his messages (30 years of service, 15 years on Hold) referring to his experience in doing cable transfers the old way.

Too little and too late, but at least they will go out with a bang. It almost makes me feel sorry for them.

Very unusual, at least in these parts. We've been waiting almost three months for a new T1 circuit to be installed at the office. Every week that is missed results in yet another excuse. The latest, and perhaps most humorous one is that they need to have construction come in because we don't have appropriate facilities (apparently, a 100 pair F2 cable with 82 pairs unused isn't enough).

Do they really think that they can continue to blow smoke up peoples' tails forever?

Arthur -

Very impressive!

Ed -

Very normal.


Actually, about 15-20 years ago, when I was the Network Manager at the Bank of New York I was asked to look into wireless MDFs. I did and they were (at the time) incredibly expensive for anything but the smallest frames. The people that had them, put them in in isolated areas where the nearest tech was X hours away by dogsled/helicopter/4WD/burro.

I guess the price has dropped dramatically. Shelter Island is small, but not that small.

Good catch and good story!


Sam

A sad update to the story:

The subscriber, a former governor of NY State, passed away early this morning. He was a neighbor and a friend, and he'll be missed.

Sam, what is a 4WD burro, and where do I get one?

Burros are 4HD. Jeeps and Subarus are 4WD.

You mixed up hooves and wheels.

Sorry to hear about Mr. Carey. That puts a location to Shelter Is. However, nice small family...11 children! https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/07/hugh-l-carey-dead-dies_n_920419.html

Arthur -

When I saw that the Governor passed away in Shelter Island, I knew it must have been him you were talking about. Not to be crass, I hope you get paid for the service call.

Re' burros and dog sleds....

When I was working for GTE at the Bank I did a lot of large estimating (we once moved 13,000 people, their phones and computer terminals in 3 months!). I was pleased to discover that GTE gave a course for their Project Managers on Estimating. I took the course (which was excellent!) but also discovered they had some manuals that I could order. Some of the manuals dealt with Inside Wire, data comm and PBX/CO installs, but some of them were strictly for the Utility Side of the house:

Building a Transmission Hut.
Add x% if on top of a mountain.
How will material be delivered? Cranes needed? 4wd vehicles? Helicopters?

One guy in the class told how they actually used burros to trek stuff in for a Microwave Repeater site in the middle of nowhere.

Now do burros eat oats? What are oats going for today? How much oats does each burro need?

Not then kind of questions a kid from Brooklyn runs into every day.

Sam

:rofl:

What's the air speed velocity of a fully laden swallow?