Today is the second full day we are experiencing life without Verizon Internet service. My husband and I are both self-employed; he, a writer, and I, a designer, and as you can imagine, we rely tremendously on the Internet for our daily business.
Fortunately, I am able to post from my iPad because Joey suggested uploading the WordPress app and because I have a separate cellular AT&T plan for my iPad. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to send photos from my computer to my iPad without Internet service.
I would love to know of GMG reader’s experiences with Verizon and also with the other carriers-Sprint, At&T, etc. Are you happy with the service provided by your carrier? Do you also regularly experience outages as do we with Verizon? Thank you if you write with your recommendation – it will be very much appreciated!
Good Morning Gloucester 
Hi Kim: do you have Verizon DSL? We have Comcast and have no problem with the internet, our business and house phones on the other hand have no voice service and also if someone tries to call us it states, All circuits are busy. If you need to use my computer feel free. I guess there was a fire in Lawrence and it is affecting customers from Cape Ann all the way to Natick. Have a good rest of the day.
LikeLike
Hey Kim, We have Verizon voice and slow speed internet service at home in Rockport. This morning we had no internet, but the phone worked. The DSL came back in a few hours. At work here on Main Street, where internet and phone are super important (think credit card processing), I have a Comcast business package for voice, internet, and TV (which I don’t use). It’s very reliable, tech support is exceptional, and the internet speed is extremely fast. When I had Verizon service here, outages were frequent and long-lasting.
LikeLike
I had the unfortunate experience to deal with Verizon this past spring in NYC and in my opinion it is the worst company I have ever dealt with as far as customer service is concerned. Missed appointments with no call to say they weren’t coming (2 consecutive days- no show). I will never do business with them again.
LikeLike
Hi Kim, We also have a Comcast Business Package and the internet is super fast and reliable. We use a Google Voice Number as our “land line” and those number are free. Hardly any problems with that either. Hope you get back online soon!
LikeLike
Typically, I have no problem with Verizon, the past 2 days have been tough though. Yesterday it was just my email (it would ask for my password each time) This morning it was the entire internet that was down, it was back on by 11am though.
LikeLike
I also use the bundle package (internet, phone, television) offered by Comcast and have had great service. Very fast internet and when I have had to call if I had a problem, the person on the other end spoke English. That’s a plus believe me. Sorry you’re having problems. So frustrating!
LikeLike
Now that I switched from Verizon to Comcast and have Att for my cell phone NO PROBLEMS.
With Verizon I had no service at home and in many places.
I have phone, internent and Tv bundle with comcast and I love it.
LikeLike
Verizon provides only DSL service here on Cape Ann. Their other service (FIOS) is not going to be available here in the forseeable future. DSL is a digital component that rides on top of a POTS (Plain Old telephone Service) copper line and therein lies the problem. These lines are victim to all of the problems of landlines such as hum, etc that are caused by Wet or Cold weather & critters chewing on or making nests in the lines. All of these things make them prone to outages and severly impact the speed (which is typically no better than 3 megs).
Cables are thicker and do not go through those distribution boxes (critter boxes) that you see beside the road. Typical cable speeds start at 10-15 meg and can go higher if you subscribe to particular packages. The downside of cable is that they work on a “node” system in which a neighborhood may share a node so that your neighbors activity may affect your available bandwidth (but it is still bettter than DSL). Of all of the options, FIOS is best because it is (at least) as fast as cable and does not share the connection with anyone else. However it is not an option for us on Cape Ann.
The outage this week was caused by an incident in Lawerence that took down not the local DSL lines (did you notice that your DSL light was on solid?) but backend services that connect the local offices to the Internet itself. We had a customer in Natick affected as well as one in Essex so it was pretty wide spread.
For what it’s worth … we prefer Comcast for Internet services; no opinion on TV or phomes (other than they ALL cost too much !!)
LikeLike
Absolutely Comcast in Gloucester is a bajillion times better than Verizon. since we switched over here at the dock there have been very very few outages and when there are they are usually fixed within hours.
LikeLike
I had Verizon and fired them. Delays and outages got worse and worse, from minutes to hours. Now I have Comcast, which is not only much better, but much faster because it is broadband cable. Verizon also allowed cramming, for which they are now involved in a class-action suit. I saw this in the third-party charges on my bill for a service I never ordered.
LikeLike
verizon is a big mess…spotty service in Lanesville and other Gloucester places, and when I was through with my contract of two years, I apparently still owed $200.00 more. Unbelievable! Ugh!
LikeLike
I have Verizon phone service and I regularly lose calls. There are also dead zones on Main St. In Gloucester and in Lanesville. Those I talk to from other parts of the country say I am the only person whose calls go in and out. It is VERY frustrating!
LikeLike
We have had Verizon telephone/DSL service for the 9 years we have lived in Gloucester and this is the first time I can remember when the Internet went dead for 38 hours or so.
LikeLike
Wow and thank you to everyone who is writing in with your suggestions. Sharing about your experiences with Verizon and other carriers, and your recommendations, is so much appreciated and so very helpful–thank you again!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very helpful to see everyone’s comments on Comcast vs. Verizon. Thanks for asking the question, Kim!
LikeLike