With DSL, waiting is hardest part; Users say Bell moves too slowly on fast Internet service.(unhappy customers, long delays, frequent service failures spark competition to get into gear)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Crain's New York Business, June, 2000 by shannon, meg

Steve Rubel, an account supervisor with Schwartz PR Interactive in Manhattan, waited weeks for Bell Atlantic to install his DSL service. It blinked out the next day. Three more weeks passed before the three service providers involved could fix it. They had to crawl through the sewer pipes under Mr.

Rubel's building to get to the problematic line. Mr. Rubel's experience illustrates the added difficulties that New York's aging infrastructure and dense population place on what is already a frustrating and lengthy process: getting hooked up to a Digital Subscriber Line, that lightning-fast Internet connection service that operates over existing copper phone wires. Unhappy subscribers A glance at the postings on a DSL message board might give the impression...

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