Print

Print


This message is from me as a member of the MSU community, describing my
experience leaving ACD's DSL service.  It does not reflect the views of my
employer.

My wife gave me an automated sprinkler system this fall.  Despite the best
efforts of Miss Dig (who turned out to be male, by the way) the contractor
managed to use his Ditch Witch to sever our voice phone line, our cable TV
cable, and the other phone line that served ACD DSL service to our house.

SBC repaired the phone line rapidly, but the ACD DSL line, a separate
physical line (not shared with voice line) was not repaired.  The sprinkler
installers replaced our cable TV cable by running a new one above ground
from the curb connection point to the side of the house.  (I later had them
bury it.)

I was in desperate need of broadband the night before a trip to a
conference, so I bought a cable modem and did a Comcast self-installation.
Since that time, I concluded that the advantages of the MSU ACD DSL offering
did not justify the $50 a month expense; Comcast is plenty fast, and I
cannot justify the expense of an MSU IP address.  (I started with the 2M ACD
service, then cut back to the 1M service because due to distance from the CO
the best I ever achieved was 1.5M download.)

When my next ACD billing notice arrived via e-mail circa November 13, I
replied that I wanted to cancel the service.  ACD replied that a customer
cannot cancel online, but must fill out an attached PDF form.  On December
14, I delivered the signed paper request to terminate service to ACD's
office.  I was told it would take 30 days from that date to cancel, "because
we have to pay for the phone line."  (Given that they auto-bill your credit
card on file, it is hard to contest them.)

The bottom line is I will pay $100 (at least) to continue a service that I
did not (could not) use for two months.  It is entirely possible that I
should have expected this outcome, but I want other customers of the service
to know what the cancellation process entails.

Plan your departure from MSU ACD DSL in advance.

/rich

PS -- I started my residential broadband experience in 1995 with 10 megabits
symmetrical TCI-METS service.  I look forward, over ten years later, to the
day when the market catches up to the mid Nineties.