PenguinREPORT

Ever hear of a “slow news day?” We’ve definitely got one going in Penguin Shell.

I told you a few weeks ago about the difficulty of getting Qwest to provide DSL service in any useable way in our offices. I wish that had been the end of it. We’ve now received five modems from Qwest - 3 Windows-only Intel 3200s and 2 Cisco 678s. We didn’t want the Intels, for the obvious reasons (Win only, USB, no networking, yadda, yadda). The Ciscos were either bad out of the box or were fried during the configuration process, simply by following the instructions of the tech support person. The second of the Ciscos was a refurbished unit, for which Qwest is charging full price. When I raised the question, I was referred to the user agreement which stipulates that refurbs, in the eyes of Qwest, are as good as new. Funny. That’s the one that failed out of the box. I’ve been so ground down by countless dozens of tech support calls - all to no avail - that we’ve finally given up the ghost with Qwest. We’re looking into a local DSL provider at higher speeds and lower cost. At that point, I’ll be glad to return the $1200 in modems Qwest has provided, never looking back. In the meantime, office work means a Win2k box if I want a ‘net connection - all the better reason to work from home where Linux now rules the roost.

Have a great Tuesday.

Tony
Steidler-Dennison