Obvious Diversion

Om Malik recently posted that he believes Speakeasy sucks as a DSL provider. He canceled his service early (Speakeasy asks that you commit to their service for a year) and got hit with an early cancellation charge. No one likes swallowing such a thing, but I do have to disagree with his statement at the end of his post that “DSL is DSL is DSL” and that you should simply go for whomever charges you the least since you are getting the same product regardless of the provider.

I simply don’t believe that I would be getting the same thing from Qwest, my local phone monopoly, as I can get from Speakeasy and I ordered up Speakeasy’s OneLink DSL service last week as a result.

My reasons are as follows:

• a fantastic install experience where I can really follow the process (By the way, it only took four days from placing my order to up and running DSL.)
• open use policies that amount to “we don’t care what you do with the connection as long as you are not harming others” which allows me to run a server if I should desire to do so
• I can boost my connection to 6Mbps at a future date if I should find the need. This service costs dramatically less than at other DSL providers in the area.
• their tech support answers the phone in a reasonable amount of time and I’ve had no problem getting answers to all my questions
• they actively endorse Firefox and have their own extension for it. Sure, it’s not a huge effort for them, but they’re spreading the good word.
• I don’t have to install any software with my service, as opposed to Qwest who requires bundled service with MSN
• they have no problem with you having open WiFi on your connection and sharing with whomever you wish

DSL is DSL is DSL just doesn’t ring true in my case. Speakeasy clearly brings more options to the table than I would get from your usual provider. It costs me a bit more, but I want a bit more than your usual customer so I don’t have a problem with it. Also, I can sleep easy knowing Speakeasy won’t do awful stuff like this to my service. My thanks to Michael Hanscom who helped me, in part, to realize the logic of choosing Speakeasy.

Update:
It’s come to my attention that Speakeasy has a referral program, so if you do sign up please do so using this link. Much thanks.

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