It's no utopia [was: Help Me Leave Qwest]

[plug.org at 2nerds.com]

Lots of folks here seem to be longing for UTOPIA.  Based on my experience, 
UTOPIA is no utopia.  I was among the first in my neighborhood to sign up 
for UTOPIA when the fiber was pulled (back in April).  I thought I was 
"trading up" from an old-but-reliable Speakeasy DSL circuit.

Yes, UTOPIA is fast, but it's down FAR too often.  In this past month 
alone I've had more downtime on my UTOPIA/Xmission circuit than I had 
cumulatively over years as a Speakeasy DSL customer.

I'm so unhappy about the frequent outages that I'm strongly considering 
switching back to the rock-solid Speakeasy DSL circuit.  Speakeasy DSL is 
slower and more expensive than the UTOPIA connection, but the reliability, 
IMHO, is worth it, especially now that I'm looking more seriously at VoIP.  
I had hoped to deploy VoIP over my UTOPIA internet connection (what could 
be more reliable than fiber, right?), but given the frequent outages, I'm 
not so sure I'd dare to do so.

Don't be seduced by the promise of UTOPIA fiber.  As I have learned, 
there's a lot more to reliable service than just the fiber.  And if 
Xmission can't do UTOPIA right, what other provider has a prayer?

Chris