Telocity DSL

Tell your employees what you are doing.

I shared DSL service from Megapath that my house-mate setup on his phone line. He is moving so I want to get the service setup on my phone line and in my name. So I went to Megapath's site to sign-up for their service, on their site they say Telocity has taken over their residential service and links off to Telocity's site.

So I go to Telocity's site and fill in the availability form, and it says that DSL service is available in my area. So I call them up and place my order. I explain to them that I currently am sharing Megapath DSL so the circuit is in place so it shouldn't take that long to get setup. They didn't seem care. So I figured it would shake out anyway when they checked the line and placed my order.

Telocity's web site and ordering process is actually quite nice. They setup a username/password for your order which gives you access to their website. This site gives you a step-by-step list of the ordering process and let's you know where you are in, and the estimated time for each step. The Apple Store also has a nice step-by-step order process map. Unlike Barnes and Noble who's order just says "In Process" for the last 2+ months (see Weak! article on B&N)

A few days after placing the order and following my status on the site I get an e-mail which says my order was canceled and that they can not provide me DSL service. Baffled by this I call up Telocity.

I explain my order was just canceled and that I have DSL service from Megapath right now. The lady looks up my order and researches why it was canceled. She tells me that Telocity can not provide service to me because I was too far away from the whatever I need to be closer to. So I explain to her that I have DSL service right now from Megapath and it says on both Telocity's and Megapath's website that Telocity is taking over Megapath's residential service. Her response, "I don't know anything about that." I was baffled, said thanks and hung up.

Now, what the fuck! How can Telocity take over Megapath's residential service but not provide me with the same service I currently have? How come their Customer Service Rep. knows nothing about taking over their service? Weak!

I've since called up Megapath and ordered their SOHO business service at twice the cost of Telocity's service. Megapath was extremely helpful and I hadn't had any problems with them before. Unfortunately, since I didn't start off ordering with them, I'll probably now be without a connection for a week or so. damn!