Problems continued to plague the SDSL connection feeding the computer hosting this website. I authorized my ISP to slightly degrade the service and monitor the connection. After a couple of days, my contact person left a message on my answering machine stating that he had verified the degraded service ("more off than on" was a memorable understatement), and that he thought he'd found the problem and cut a ticket for BellSouth to do the debugging.
In an e-mail, he stated that, for some reason, the effective line length from the local exchange to the house was 20,000 feet. The limit for DSL (ADSL or SDSL) is 18,000 feet. However, their initial tests had shown a line length of 15,000 feet. At the same time, my aDSL line continued to hum merrily along with no problems whatsoever...
I'm not really 15,000 feet from the exchange, and neither the exchange nor my house has moved almost a mile away from each other since the connection was set up: There are all kinds of relays, ballasts, transformers, and other essential line quality "enhancing" equipment that effectively adds intereference that, due to the testing methods and the need to simplify things, is translated to "adding distance". For instance, ALL phone lines have quality enhancing filters. However, most phone lines have those filters hung on them at the exchange. When you get aDSL, they must remove the filter from the exchange end and make you put them on each phone at the other end of the line. Signal-wise, that means that, if you have aDSL, your phones are 5,000 to 10,000 feet further away from the exhange than your aDSL modem, thanks to those filters they make you put between your phone and the phone socket.
It appears that "somebody" MAY have added a filter to the SDSL line at the exchange end. Too bad they didn't know I'd kept my ADSL connection because I took my beta tester role seriously enough to pay extra for the duplicate service until the SDSL service is officially rolled out.
Vidalia has always been a hot-spot of technology here in Southeast Georgia, and the innovators in this town have provoked the hell out of BellSouth into providing services that their damn beancounters said weren't profitable but, lo and behold, suddenly become worth doing when they have to divide the customer base with competetors. I am becoming less and less sypathetic with their claims and whining, and am looking forward to yanking the ADSL service (as well as state-long distance), the moment I get the chance.
NEVER let your accountants run your business: They're blowing smoke up your ass when they say that the number they're putting into the ledger called "Good Will" is an accurate measure of Customer satisfaction and loyalty.