Service available? ( was RE: Re: VOIP )

pctech-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>Our area code is 260.  Work phone exchange is 422, home phone exchange is
>639.  Vonage says 422 can be moved, 639 cannot.  Both are local Fort Wayne
>exchanges.  Strange, huh?


I've been an Earthlink subscriber for... long time. I've wanted to use their 
DSL offering since... hmmm, more than a couple years, maybe four years now.

But I can't because they insist that DSL service isn't available at my location 
because my house isn't within the proper distance from a switching station. 
They say that the broadband offering that they supply to my location is through 
cable.

Every once in a while, I get around to contacting their support people and ask 
why they keep telling me that DSL isn't available at my location even though 
I've had DSL (through CenturyTel) to my house for at least two years, and why 
they keep saying that cable should be used when there is no cable service along 
the nearby streets (we use Dish Network).

I suspect that all such service providers use some form of geo-coded mapping 
that is provided by local telcos. There's no way that Earthlink physically 
surveyed utilities service in my neighborhood, so they're relying on mappings 
provided by (1) CenturyTel and (2) ComCast. As it turns out, neither mapping is 
accurate; so Earthlink can't provide a correct answer.

I imagine the same is true of Vonage when deciding which neighborhoods have 
exchanges and/or area codes that work. If the mapping shows a switching center 
(or whatever) in the right place, the info is probably usually correct.

Tom Liotta


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