DSL, Cable, Voip, etc.
When we first moved to PLG in 2002 a huge concern to us was some kind of of Internet access other than dialup. We had lived on the upper west side where we first beta-tested Verizon’s DSL at bargain prices — it began as “okay” but we were itching to switch a couple of years later as Verizon would drop us every night at around midnight for an undetermined amount of time. And I will not even start on their terrible tech support.
From Verizon we went to Time-Warner Road Runner, a service we loved for speed and reliability, but at the time was still quite pricey at about a hundred per month, including cable TV.
Then facing a move to PLG we learned there was no access to Time-Warner Cable. We learned Verizon had control of the local access point but we knew we didn’t wish to deal with Verizon again. So ultimately we were stuck purchasing a Verizon land line and decided to go with Speakeasy for DSL. Speakeasy, as it turns out, was and continues to be a real gem — very reliable. and for television, we went with DTV, a dish service.
With the deregulation of the landline requirements and accessibility of naked DSL, we first beta tested Speakeasy’s Voip — Covad had to come in and add wiring and modem. As much as we love Speakeasy, we disliked the Voip service and switched to Lingo. Lingo has been reliable and we are satisfied with it. And after getting rid of the land line, we are thankfully Verizon-free.
Anyway, all this really is just to point out that these services become an issue here in Brooklyn for a number of reasons. One is our neighborhood demographics are such that not all services are available. Even now some people do not have access to DSL or even Cablevision. Drive around and you will see satellite dishes all over the place here. I find the politics of cable fascinating, this part of Brooklyn has Cablevision (when it is even available) and other parts have Time-Warner (a service I consider to be much better).
So recently on the neighborhood Yahoo group someone on my street mentioned they cannot install Cablevision and a cablemodem because a certain house on the street has denied backyard access. The certain house mentioned as the cable access denier is none other than our house.
For those of you who may not know, here in Brooklyn wires are strung building to building, and in this particular neighborhood along fences in the back yard. Now, just for the record, no one has every contacted us about backyard access, it could be this was the deed of the former owner. So we have neither granted permission nor have we denied access.
When we moved in, Llewellyn spent the greater part of the weekend viewing the mass of wires attached to our fence and house — some currently in use, others old and dead artifacts from some past point. Ultimately there is a HUGE mass of wiring in the back yard. Llewellyn neatened up existing wiring — attaching it to the fence the way the installed SHOULD have; removing dead wires, etc. A few months later, a back yard neighbor had Verizon in to add a line and instead of attaching wires to the fence, the installer simply strung the wire from the house, suspending it and attaching it to our garage. It looks really crappy — it just seems they should ask and make an effort to have it look presentable.
Anyway, so now we are adding fencing in the back yard — lattice really, to help define the yard and also cover the ugly wiring job(s) — and this person up the street wants access to my backyard to run Cablevision. I don’t care particularly about access — but access to my back yard is not a free ticket to suspend wires between buildings and over driveways nor to have it show on the new lattice, etc. Plus even if we did grant access, I expect there are many houses between my house and whatever house it is up the street that desires the actual product — so many more permissions needed.
What to do — not sure. Its not about the neighbor, its about not trusting the utility company reps to do the job correctly.
The only other oddity in all of this is I am often out and about in the front yard and have made it a point to speak to neighbors. So I find it rather strange this person has not approached Llewellyn or myself and instead posts to the list.
I seriously cannot even imagine when FIOS will get here.
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