Most of us have been taught that by cutting
out the middle man
we can save money, but is that all you save? When it comes to
Internet access and phone service working with the incumbents
or Baby Bells is a mixed bag.
Certainly there are competitive companies that can give you the
same or better phone service than the Baby Bells which suffer
from years of a monopolistic market but is it the same for Internet
service?
DSL service is actually quite different than phone
service. Besides
the obvious difference of one being data and one being voice,
competitive carriers generally use their own equipment which is
kept at the phone company's facilities. In this case, asking your
phone company to make changes to your service is dependent on
your phone company and depending on how smoothly they run their
operations you could have a very pleasant experience.
Internet service, however is different. Many baby bells resell their
service which is then sold under a different name. You may be
buying Internet access and not realize that you're really buying
Qwest DSL under another name.
In cases where companies purchase Qwest DSL and resell it
under their own name, many of the advantages of changing
carriers disappear. If the carrier does not own their equipment
they will need to contact the provider to make any changes and
as they are not the provider you have added another layer of
complexity to any request you may have.
Is it really worth the $5 or $10 you're saving by going with a
competitor?
Often times it's not. Think about cutting out the middle man when
looking for Internet service. If you know the company is simply
reselling Qwest DSL, why not just go with the source?
American International Telephonics, LLC
9903 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 373
Beverly Hills, California 90212 USA
1 800 600 6151 US & Canada +1 310 281 5539 +1 310 424 7149 Fax
