fedward, tumbling

The saga of the DSL continues.

This morning a Verizon tech called to say he was on his way, and that he’d been told to make this his first stop. He showed up a little before 9:30 and was gone by 10:00, having been to the main telco closet and tagged a circuit.

I headed over to the old apartment not long after that, and at 11:45 I got a phone call from that same Verizon tech saying he was on his way back, but he didn’t need to get into the unit, just the telco closet.

And then about 1:00 I got a call on the home phone from a number the caller ID couldn’t quite figure out, that turned out to be somebody with “Speakeasy” in India (I think), saying that their technician was at the building and he couldn’t get into the telco closet. So I hopped in the car, drove back to the new apartment, and found that it was once again Tony the Verizon guy, on his third trip of the day.

So I went with him and the building facilities manager, down to the telco closet (which is on the G1 level, not the G2 level as the previous “Speakeasy” guy had said it was). He connected up his special phone guy orange phone, called a number, was on hold for a while, and eventually found himself on the phone with somebody named Gaurav. Gaurav said the loop wasn’t there. Tony said it was, and there began a back and forth where Tony would short a pair, Gaurav would initiate a test, and the test would fail. Eventually Tony asked if Gaurav could send a tone down the line, and it turned out he could. So Gaurav sent a tone, but Tony had to go to his truck to get the piece of equipment that actually detects said tone.

Once Tony returned, he found the terminal that was producing the tone, they ran a couple tests open and short, and called it done. He then tagged that terminal and left, presumably for good.

Now. Tony WORKS FOR THE COMPANY PROVIDING THE COPPER LOOP, and he initially tagged THE TERMINAL THAT COMPANY SAID WAS ACTIVE. Note that (1) there was no tag before Tony got here, despite what Verizon had initially reported, and (2) Verizon also reported that they tried to come yesterday and had no access to the building DESPITE THE PRESENCE OF A FRONT DESK STAFFED TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY. Also note that (3) TONY WAS GIVEN NOT ONE, BUT TWO INCORRECT TERMINAL NUMBERS. It was only after somebody on the other end tried to test the loop again that they found out the circuit wasn’t really there.

Now. Verizon doesn’t get all the blame here. The “Speakeasy” guy mentioned in the last post said the Telco closet was on the wrong floor, and he also couldn’t manage to find the correct closet for my apartment (which is on the third floor). But this is a brand new building, with fresh copper everywhere. There is no justification, at all, for Verizon’s inability to deliver and tag a circuit in brand new wiring.

It’s funny sad because it’s true.

I signed the paperwork today on a new apartment, although it still doesn’t quite feel real.  There are several contributing factors:

1. I was just in the building for the first time yesterday.
2. This turned out to have been the first day the office was even open.
3. And by the office being open they mean that there are people in the office space while contractors are still patching drywall and painting.  Their computers are a couple mini-PCs sharing an EVDO card.
4. The apartment it self was a bit surprising, as it’s basically a one-off in the building.
5. When I went back today, it was already unavailable.  It was, in fact, snapped up maybe two hours after I saw it yesterday.
6. You might note that yesterday was the first day the office was even “open.”
7. Today I decided to stick around and look at a few more units the next floor up with the manager, and by the time we were done, the woman who rented this particular apartment was on the phone to say she had changed her mind (ironically, to the unit I had wanted to look at first).  No backsies!
8. I didn’t actually have any checks in my checkbook, so they’re holding it until I get back there tonight with a check (and probably with Kate so she can have a look around).

So none of this is real until they cash the check I haven’t actually taken them yet and we move in next month, but it’s moving in that direction.  Details:

• Park Place building directly on top of Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station (we’re moving one stop up the Green line).
• It was built as a condo building (in fact, the folder for marketing materials the manager handed me yesterday still said “condominium”).
• One of only two apartments on the first floor, accessible just off the crazy plastic hallway with the multicolored lights (that’s not going to get old AT ALL).
• The first floor itself is only half a floor; at the end of the hallway you go up a couple ramps and find yourself in the “second” floor, with retail beneath you.
• Since it was built as a condo, it’s got fancy everything: Grohe fixtures, GE Profile appliances, nice gas stove, deep double-basin sink, washer and dryer in the unit.
• The apartment has 10’ ceilings, windows and a glass door facing west, and its own private, split-level patio.  It’s located underneath the terraces of the 3rd floor, so there won’t be much in the way of noise from upstairs neighbors.
• The apartment is just under 796 square feet (well, officially it’s 796 but that includes some dead space so it comes out around 780); the patio is a whopping 488 square feet.
• For code and safety reasons, gas or charcoal grills are prohibited but electric ones are OK.  There are all-weather outlets at several places in the walls of the patio, plus built-in lights.  I guess the housewarming gift should be an electric grill.

I’m psyched.  It’ll be nice to see the sky.