“Jeff Gerhardt, chief executive officer of
GeekCast.Com Networks and co-host of The Linux(R) Show!! stated
today, “Although the Penguinista DSL Project
is progressing we have developed statistics that are very
bothersome. Of those who have qualified and signed up for the
service; nationally only 30% have actually gotten installed,
and here in the Chicago Metro that install rate falls to about 8%.
This is pathetic, and further evidence that the RBOCS (Regional
Bell Operating Companies) really do not have the public interest at
heart.”
“Although there are some technical issues with DSL, we attribute
these low install numbers primarily to political
games and loose interpretations of FCC guidelines by the
RBOCS. The excuses we see for the poor performance are almost
laughable. One week the installers kid will be sick and they miss
an appointment, the next week they have a flat tire, the next week
they do not have the right tools, the week after that the line is
deficient and will have to be reinstalled. And finally after weeks
of these games we are told that there are insufficient resources at
the local CO. It is all pretty much a load of BS from our
perspective. It has gotten to the point here in the Midwest that we
are now jokingly referring too Ameritech as the Evil
Empire.”
“Now, with new FCC guidelines in hand and a legal resource as a
partner, we are now launching a new test program. We are looking
for people who have previously qualified for DSL service at home or
at their business that had great difficulty getting installed and
eventually gave up. We would like to get these people to
participate in the test program to see if these new regulations and
the program developed by our new partner will work at getting these
installations completed. If you are interested/willing to
participate in the new test program, we ask that you email dsltest@geekcast.com“