What Is Wrong With Embarq?

*UPDATE* Joy of Joys! Today, the Embarq technician who has done the best work for us in the past came and checked everything from the jack to the Central Office. He changed our jack, cleared some questionable connections in the house, made sure that connections on the splitter at the outside box were secure, switched our modem (which I now believe was the real problem), and switched us to a new card in the C.O. Everything is working beautifully now. Customer service is still alive at Embarq!!!

Before getting to the nitty gritty, for those of you who may not know, Embarq is the name that Sprint has given to its spin-off local phone service. First they were United Telephone, then Sprint and now Embarq. Because I was never far from home for any long period of time, they have always been my local phone company. At one point, they were even my employer. For the large majority of my life, my family and I have been very pleased with the service they have provided. However, it seems that within the past 6 months or so, something has changed. The customer oriented, quality focused company that I used to know seems to have become distracted from the values of customer service and quality.

As a "captive customer," I really have no choice about my local service if I want "landline" service. However, I have also "chosen" Embarq over satellite and cable providers for high-speed Internet service. This is where we have seen the biggest decline in service. The technicians have been very slow to admit problems when they exist. I am not certain if this is because there is a large backlog of work to be completed or if there is another systemic problem. Whatever the reason, we have become increasingly dissatisfied with our DSL service. Since a snowstorm that occurred around February 14th, our DSL service has been regularly dropping for short periods. When it returns, the speed is fine, but sometimes it will only be available for a matter of minutes before it drops again. We had been told that the problem was inside our house. No problem - we have "wireline coverage," so we had them activate a different jack for the DSL. The tech assured us before leaving the house that the jack and inside wiring were not the cause of any problems. Unfortunately, switching jacks did not solve the problem. It has been 2 weeks of this "on/off" service with no resolution. 

I strongly suspect that there is a much larger problem than the DSL service coming to our house from the "central office." When the problem first began, we were told by Embarq that there was an "area wide" issue originating from Carlisle (Embarq's main "hub" in our region). This "issue" which was never clarified went on for several days before being "cleared" according to the representatives I spoke with on the phone. However, even after "clearing" the trouble, our problems still remain. The biggest clue that the trouble in Carlisle has not been cleared is that my friends who have Embarq DSL are also experiencing problems with their service since the storm. Now, I am left with few choices, but I am pursuing all of them.

1. Filing formal grievances with the FCC and Pennsylvania Utilities Commission.
2. Encouraging my friends to do the same.
3. A class action against Embarq.
4. Deciding on either satellite or cable to replace my DSL service. I am trying to convince my friends to make this move with me. If we all move at the same time to the same company, I think we can make a much louder statement than if we leave one by one.

If any of you who read this are having difficulties with your Embarq DSL service, please feel free to contact me using the following email address. Simply replace the "at" with @. I will be happy to hear from you.

lon_diffenderfer "at" msn.com

Together we can affect some positive change.