eric@cs.utexas.edu (Eric Schnoebelen) (08/31/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0330m05@vector.dallas.tx.us> pf@ti-csl.csc.ti.com (Paul Fuqua) writes: -> From: John Higdon <zygot!john at apple.com> -> Subject: Re: BOCs and Regionals - -> Is it any wonder that there are people who literally red-line areas of -> the state and refuse to consider living in any area served by GTE? - -I feel the same way. Many of the Dallas suburbs are "served" by GTE. I can -always tell whether my sister is calling from her home in Grapevine (GTE) or -work in Arlington (SWB) -- I can barely hear her when she calls from home. I live in one of the Dallas suburbs ( Lewisville ) served by GTE.. I have never had any problem with them, and certainly not recently.. Case in point, one afternoon, my modem decided it would be a grand time to take its line off hook, and then die in that state.. I called GTE about my line being busied out, assuming that it was a CO problem ( since I *never* have problems with my equipment.. :-) at about 5:30p, and by the time I discovered the problem *was* my equipment, I had been called back by a tech at GTE saying that they could find no problem at the CO, and if I would carefully check all of my equipment.. I ( somewhat sheepishly ) told her that I had just discovered the problem, and that it had been corrected.. Needless to say, I was very satisfied with the service, and said so on the little card that GTE sends out after any service call.. ( nice touch, GTE ) GTE has seemed far more responsive to my requests here in Lewisville, than Northwestern Bell ever did in Ames, Iowa.. For that matter, GTE in Nevada, Iowa was more responsive than Northwestern Bell.. I can't make any comparisons with Southwestern Bell, having never been served by them in Dallas.. I guess I don't understand all the GTE bashing, just like I don't understand all the Sprint bashing.. ( Sprint is my long distance carrier.. No problems in recent memory.. ) Just my two cents worth.. -- Eric Schnoebelen egsner!eric@texbell.swbt.com now playing: eric@egsner.cirr.com
doug@letni.uucp (Doug Davis) (09/01/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0335m02@vector.dallas.tx.us> Eric Schnoebelen <texbell!egsner!eric@cs.utexas.edu> writes: >In article <telecom-v09i0330m05@vector.dallas.tx.us> pf@ti-csl.csc.ti.com > (Paul Fuqua) writes: >> From: John Higdon <zygot!john at apple.com> >> Subject: Re: BOCs and Regionals >-> Is it any wonder that there are people who literally red-line areas of >-> the state and refuse to consider living in any area served by GTE? >-I feel the same way. Many of the Dallas suburbs are "served" by GTE. I can >-always tell whether my sister is calling from her home in Grapevine (GTE) or >-work in Arlington (SWB) -- I can barely hear her when she calls from home. > I live in one of the Dallas suburbs ( Lewisville ) served by >GTE.. I have never had any problem with them, and certainly not >recently.. You are one extremely lucky person. Don't let them know you have a working telephone line from them, that cost extra ;-) My site 'letni' feeds news to two sites serviced by G.T.E. (Generally Too Emptyheaded). The telebit feed (Plano) on a good day will make 400 characters per second, and the normal 2400 baud connection (Lewisville) gets 140 cps after about 10-15 attempts that didn't connect due to random line noise or just generally very attuated line volume. Also a company that I consulted for who runs voice paging systems for that area ended up installing a microwave link between a site in Arlington and Lewisville just becase GTE couldn't keep the noise off the trunks... Now to page in Lewisville you call a number in Arlington and it beams your page back to your city. Too bad this isn't an option for most people. Just for the record I had a really interesting conversation with the so-called head of network engineering for GTE in the north texas area. The topic was why I never could get a good modem connection at 2400 baud. He informed me unequivocally that 300 baud half duplex was all their telephone system will handle and all that they would talk to me about. Btw, I'm looking for a house in North-Dallas right now, and the primiary requirement is the telephone company NOT be GTE, schools, shopping other-things come secondary. -- Doug Davis/1030 Pleasant Valley Lane/Arlington/Texas/76015/817-467-3740 {sys1.tandy.com, motown!sys1, uiucuxc!sys1 lawnet, attctc, texbell} letni!doug "GTE sucks... Then they charge you for the privledge."
john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (09/01/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0335m02@vector.dallas.tx.us>, texbell!egsner!eric@cs. utexas.edu (Eric Schnoebelen) writes: > I live in one of the Dallas suburbs ( Lewisville ) served by > GTE.. I have never had any problem with them, and certainly not > recently.. > [...] > I had been called back by a tech at GTE saying that they > could find no problem at the CO, and if I would carefully check all of > my equipment.. I ( somewhat sheepishly ) told her that I had just > discovered the problem, and that it had been corrected.. Well, you did get their standard line, "We can't find anything wrong. It must be in your equipment." In your case it happened to be true. In most cases, not so. Seriously, I reflected for some time, and then conferred with a number of my associates. We concluded that to list all of the screwups performed by GTE (that other companies seem to avoid) would require more space than could ever be afforded by this forum. General categories include: 1. Arbitrary leased line disconnections 2. Outdated routing in local COs 3. Excessive time to repair simple outages (weeks) 4. Total local switch failure (one lasted two days in Los Gatos) 5. Feature offerings far behind other operating companies 6. Service reps not trained properly I have dealt with Pac*Bell and independents all over the state. From this experience it has been possible to formulate minimum standards of performance. GTE falls so short of these standards in every area that they have become known as the longest running telephone practical joke in history. GTE is America's answer to third-world telephony. I do have an open mind, but from the last twenty-five years of experience, it will take more than one customer satisfied with one repair call to convince me that GTE has become worthy of even the slightest amount of respect. > I guess I don't understand all the GTE bashing, just like I > don't understand all the Sprint bashing.. ( Sprint is my long distance > carrier.. No problems in recent memory.. ) Perhaps I can offer enlightenment. Many of the readers of this group have needs that are more sophisticated and complex than the average single-line residential customer. The real measure of a service provider is how well they can respond to diverse needs and situations. In my previous GTE story, I simply wanted a single telephone line for three days. This was so strange to them (apparently) that they stumbled and fell. Sure, I have friend in Los Gatos that has had service with GTE for many years. We talk on the phone and can hear each other just fine. And (except when his CO crashes!) the calls always go through. But this doesn't tell us much about how the company *really* performs. Glossary term for the day: _reorder_ ; GTE end-of-dialing signal -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !
klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) (09/05/89)
> 4. Total local switch failure (one lasted two days in Los Gatos)
My brother used to live in Honolulu on Bishop Street, which is the heart
of the business district in Hawaii. A couple of years ago, the CO which
handles the entire business district crashed for two days!
Imagine what would happen if NYNEX announced that one of the CO's in
Manhattan was going to be down for two days!
*Turn on rumor mode*
I had heard that GTE was abandoning their Central Office Switch
manufacturing and would be replacing their CO equipment with AT&T
5ESS's. I can't find the source, so I guess that's what makes it a
rumor.
*Turn off rumor mode*
Kevin L. Blatter
AT&T - Bell Labs
Disclaimer - I speak for myself, not AT&Tgoldstein@delni.enet.dec.com (09/08/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0353m06@vector.dallas.tx.us>, klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) writes... >Imagine what would happen if NYNEX announced that one of the CO's in >Manhattan was going to be down for two days! Where were you in 1969? It practically happened! Actually, something worse happened that year. The whole Manhattan business district network went into congestion collapse. I forget which book it was written up in, but briefly, NYTel was trying to milk every last ounce out of its COs, and was installing 1ESSs. Nobody had really seen how a 1ESS works in severe real-world overload conditions. A crossbar goes down more gently, they found out! Also, the stock market was booming (lots of calls) and the state had just allowed welfare recipients to have phones (instant demand) and you can guess what happened. It took weeks to get unglued. And a lesson was learned by all. (Well, almost all.)
john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) (09/08/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0353m06@vector.dallas.tx.us>, klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) writes: > I had heard that GTE was abandoning their Central Office Switch > manufacturing and would be replacing their CO equipment with AT&T > 5ESS's. I can't find the source, so I guess that's what makes it a > rumor. I have heard that rumor, also. Specifically, they are supposedly dumping the GTD5 (you know, the world's most modern switching equipment). In October, GTE Los Gatos is retiring the last of their EAX. Let's see what they put in. Speaking of rumors, a few years ago there was a major rumor (even saw light of day in the newspaper) that Pac*Bell was buying out GTE's Los Gatos operations. You should have seen the smiling faces in Los Gatos, not the least of which belonged to members of the Town Council. To my knowledge, the Los Gatos Town Council is the only governing body to have passed a resolution declaring that they wished they had a different telephone company serving their town! Now that's not a rumor; that really happened! You see, when the EAX crashed for two days, it put their fire and police out of business, since both are "served" out of that office. Glossary term for the day: preventative maintenance (GTE); work performed on a functioning system to prevent it from functioning further. -- John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@zygot.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !