Aug 11 2006
Covad’s inflexible DSL pricing
Years ago, Verizon’s inept workforce couldn’t install DSL in my residence. In the end it was only Covad who could accomplish this amazing feat by removing a $3 noise filter from my telephone line. It turns out they were also the only provider to give me 1500 Kbps rather than 768 Kbps. The only catch: $65/month.
Now it seems Verizon has gotten their act together and even Earthlink offers DSL up to 6 Mbps - all for $40/month. Without much hesitation I called Earthlink and placed my order, expecting my self-install kit to arrive 5 days later. Every few days their Order Status web site said “we sincerely apologize for the delay in your order, please call our support department for more information.”
Not sure the point of a web site which can’t inform you of problems, so I called in. And waited. And waited. I started to think Covad’s short hold times were worth the extra money and finally got through to a fellow with a foreign accent.
After some research he discovered that DSL cannot be installed on a telephone line where DSL is already installed. This makes sense but I’m at a loss why no one at Earthlink was monitoring this. I could have been waiting forever for the installation to take place.
I figure I may now be in a bargaining position with Covad. I called and asked to “match Earthlink’s price and retain my business.” I was told politely that “Covad doesn’t compete on price” and I could upgrade my service to 3.0 Mbps for another $10 a month. Apparently he didn’t get that I was looking to spend less money on my service.
I told him that Earthlink would be using Covad’s circuits. He didn’t budge. They’d rather lose $65/month and revenue share $40 with Earthlink. Sounds like bad business to me but they must have a strong subscriber base to turn customers away.