I realized moving to a new apartment would require a temporary period of being without the Internet. Thanks to the good people at Verizon, it’s turned out to be even longer than I expected.

Over at the old place, we had broadband Internet through our cable company. Verizon didn’t offer DSL broadband in our old neighborhood. They do offer it in the new neighborhood. I figured I would go ahead and try DSL. Not only would it be much cheaper than cable, it supposedly is even faster.

Big mistake.

I placed my order with Verizon on February 17. I was informed it would be activated on February 25. Someone from Verizon would need to come out to my apartment building and connect some hardware. I didn’t need to be there when it happened in that they did not need access to my apartment to make the changes. I received the Verizon self-install kit on February 23. It included the software as well as the DSL modem with a built-in wireless router along with the necessary cabling.

On the evening of February 25, I tried getting online through Verizon DSL. I followed all the instructions, but I could not get online. No matter what I did, the DSL light on the modem would only blink. According to the instructions, it was supposed to remain illuminated.

I called the Verizon help desk. After bouncing around from one automated menu to another, I finally got a live person. He claimed his name was “Carl”, but it was obvious from his accent that was from India. I told him everything that was going on and he had me do one absurd task after another. He had me reboot my PC. He had me power down the modem and then power it back up. He had me disconnect the DSL cable from the wall to the modem and then connect it back up. He also claimed that he was able to test the line and everything checked out.

He told me that he would have to escalate the problem to another department and someone would call me within 24 to 48 hours. Huh? I asked him at what number would this person call me at. He recited the number Verizon assigned to me for DSL. The same number that cannot work as a voice line and according to Verizon, is only capable of handling data.

It was then that I decided to just cancel Verizon and go back to my cable company. I informed “Carl” to transfer me to the department that handles cancellations because that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to cancel.

I was then connected to someone from the United States. I explained what was going on and how this whole experience had just been a giant waste of my time. At this point I had already been on the phone talking to “Carl” for over two hours and other than raising my blood pressure, I got nothing accomplished. He apologized and told me that if I waited one more day, he would credit my account one free month of service. He also promised me that my service would be up and running by 8am or 9am the next day. I agreed to wait.

The next evening I tried to once again get online and I had the same problems. Again I called Verizon. This time I spoke to someone claiming to be “Ray”, but once again, he had a heavy Indian accent. He had me do the same things “Carl” had be do the night before. He also had me move my DSL router to each of the phone jacks through out the apartment. After spending yet another two hours on the line with “Ray”, I was disconnected.

The next day (Friday), I called the Verizon billing department and told them that unless they sent a tech to my apartment that same day, I would be canceling my service. I relayed my experiences of speaking to “Carl” and “Ray” and what a colossal waste of time it had all been. The person from billing offered to connect me to the help desk in Canada. I told her that I was done with talking to people on the phone. Either she sent a tech out to my apartment that very same day or I would be canceling.

She placed me on hold and after listening to jazz music for about 20 minutes, I was disconnected.

I began disconnecting the DSL modem. I noticed that when I removed the DSL cable from the wall jack, the DSL light on the model flashed exactly the same way it did when it was attached to the wall.

I decided to go outside and find the junction box for my apartment building. I quickly found it on the side of the building. It was not locked. There are 12 individual apartments in my building, four on each floor. According to the chart located on the inside of the junction box, my apartment is wired for terminal #9. I looked at terminal #9 and it had no wires going to it.

Verizon had never sent anyone out on February 25 like they said the had. My DSL service was not working because it had never been installed.

The next day (Saturday) I got a phone call at a little after 7am. It was a Verizon tech who had been sent to look at my problem. He wanted to let me know that he would be there in a few minutes to take a look at the problem.

After looking at the junction box, he conformed that my apartment had never been connected on Wednesday like Verizon said. He also had to go somewhere off-site and make a hardware change.

When he came back to my apartment, he shot the line from my wall jack and it tested good all the way to the off-site facility and that I was testing good for DSL. He had me run the software on my PC that would set up my account with Verizon. Shortly into the process, I got an error. The tech called someone at Verizon and after a few minutes, he learned what the error meant.

I could not activate my account because my account had been canceled at my request.

When I had called Verizon billing department and told them that unless they dispatched a tech to my home that very same day, I wanted cancel my account, they took me at my word. Why then did they bother to send a tech out to my apartment early on a Saturday morning if my Verizon DSL account was being closed?

After the Verizon tech left, I called Verizon and spoke to many different people in many different locations. After explaining my situation, I was placed on hold for an extended period of time. When someone else came on the line, I would have to explain my situation all over again. I was even transferred back to the technical help desk in India where I spoke to “Shawn”.

Everyone I spoke to at Verizon informed me that once my account was canceled, there was nothing anyone could do. If I wanted Verizon DSL, I would have to order it all over again. I was told that it would take another 5 to 7 business days. It didn’t matter that I already had a DSL modem and that a Verizon tech had finally wired up my apartment, the process must be allowed to flow, whatever that means.

Everyone I spoke to told me that they did not know why a Verizon tech had been dispatched to my apartment early on a Saturday morning if my account had been closed. Of course they were probably only lying. That is what Verizon does. They lie. They assured me that someone had come out on the 25th and wired my apartment for DSL. That was a lie. They promised me that my DSL would be up and running by the next day no later than 8am or 9am. That was a lie. When you call the Verizon tech help desk located somewhere in India and the person on the line tells you that his name is “Carl”, “Ray”, or “Shawn”, that is a lie too.

Lying is just something everyone at Verizon does.

On Wednesday, someone from my cable company is coming over to install broadband Internet. I cannot even begin to count the hours I wasted dealing with Verizon. I don’t know what I am now supposed to do with the DSL modem they sent me. I can’t wait to see if they actually charged me for any of this. I would call the billing department and ask, but they would most likely only lie to me. I think I’d better wait for the paperwork to arrive in the mail and read it in writing.