Broadview Networks customer service is horrible. Find a local provider instead, and you'll be much happier.

In the summer of '99, I was leaving the company that had provided me with frame relay internet access from my home, so I looked into the DSL offerings. I ended up with Telesurfer Pro with DNAI as my ISP. And all was wonderful. 768/384 24x7. Email, DNS, and News servers that were always available. Best of all, intelligent folks who answered the support line and knew what was going on.

Then RCN bought DNAI, and I thought I was in trouble. Turns out I wasn't - RCN (wisely) kept the DNAI support and tech staff, and my net access experience continued to be superb.

At the beginning of this year, I received a notice that RCN was selling all of its DSL customers to Broadview Networks. Uh-oh, I thought. But I decided to wait and see.

Strike one was when the net access went down, and I had to navigate voicemail hell (I dialed 7 different numbers!) until I ended up talking to someone who didn't know exactly what was going on, but would open a ticket for the network folks to look at the next morning.

Strike two was when they screwed up my billing, trying to charge me $200/month instead of the promised $90.

Strike three was the customer service rep who told me that she was doing *me* a favor in trying to clear up the billing error, and that I was lucky that anyone was helping me at all.

So I did a little research, found a local ISP that got good reviews, and signed up for an account. That was on a Thursday. By the following Tuesday, I was up and running with 1.5M/256K ADSL. Email, News, DNS, and NTP servers which worked just fine. Best of all, everyone I talked to on the phone was friendly, smart, and helpful.

Now I just have to get Broadview to close my account. They won't do it over the phone, and I think I'm going to have quite a battle on my hands. Sigh

My new ISP is http://www.rawbandwidth.com/ - check them out if you are in the SF Bay Area. Or find the good local ISP in your area. But stay away from Broadview Networks.  2:05:51 PM