Community Beat

[#1]

 As our community continues to grow, I’m going to try to highlight a new community member a few times a month. This week, I got to talk to Smith6612- one of our Community Leaders and most active users on the board.

Here is what he had to say:

Heather_VZ: Hi Smith6612- happy Friday! Thanks so much for talking to me this week!  Let’s start with the basics- how long have you been a Verizon customer and what Verizon services do you have?
Smith6612: I've been a Verizon customer for ages. I don't remember how long I've had Voice service via a POTS line specifically under the Verizon name- but I do know it dates back to the days of this area being serviced by what was known as the AT&T Monopoly before it was split up in the mid 1980s and became Bell Atlantic!

 As far as other Verizon services go, I have had HSI (formerly DSL) service since roughly 2005, when I subscribed to basic 768kbps/128kbps. I still have the same services, POTS and DSL today, all I’ve changed is the speed of the HSI, which was updated to 1Mbps three years ago.

 I am also a Verizon Wireless customer since 2003, coming from Sprint who we used from 1997. Nothing special with Verizon Wireless, just a bucket 'o minutes for calling while on the go and cannot reach an open Internet connection to call from. No mobile data, no text.

Heather_VZ: No texting?! I know a few people who would argue they couldn’t live without texting! What do you think about your services over the years?
Smith6612: The landline service, while it is pricey in some eyes, is pretty darn reliable which is what has kept me with the service. I've not really had issues with the voice service. It's always been clear, I've not had issues with dropped calls (except to Mobile phones or VoIP calls, understandable since mobile relies on wireless, and VoIP calls are at the mercy of an Internet connection), and the line has never given up in any of the frequent, severe storms we've had in this area over the years. It easily survives extended power outages, with the exception of one storm which damaged equipment. I do prefer using the landline over a mobile phone mainly due to sound quality, which is a little more natural and clear compared to cell service out here. What outages I have had with the line were things that did not completely hinder the use of the service, and they were fixed literally the next morning of reporting them.

 I've outgrown my HSI connection to be honest, placing further demand on it while I hold out hope for FiOS to arrive. However, just like the landline it is seen as pricy for the speed but it is just as reliable. I've not had an issue with night time slowdowns, something I find fortunate to not have to deal with, and I've not had any issues with running what I want on the line. It's been a pretty open service that caters to people who like to experience the net without dealing with port blocking (minus those security-related port issues, like Port 25 for e-mail), NATs, or throttling and data limits. It's why I'm with HSI and why I chose it when I did back when I was shopping around for services to replace my old dial-up connection. What problems I have had with the service were things I've needed Verizon to solve. While I don't go through usual support methods due to the amount of troubleshooting I do myself, the problems get solved almost on the spot which keeps me going.

Heather_VZ: Kudos to you for being able to deal with your technical issues! You’re one of the Forum’s most active users. What forums do you frequent the most?
Smith6612: Within the Forums, I mainly frequent the Verizon High Speed Internet and Dial-up board, along with the Verizon FiOS forums. Occasionally I will stop at various other forums if there is a lack of posts to provide help when I can, but pretty much that's how I roll around here.

Heather_VZ: I am so glad you are rolling around these boards- our users are lucky to have you! What keeps you coming back?
Smith6612: I enjoy being with the Verizon Community due to the people I see here on a day to day basis, and for the fact that there is always something new to help out with over here (or be helped with). I like helping people solve problems or answer questions to the best of my ability, and the regulars who I see around here along with the staff are great people to talk to. I've never gotten into heated debates over issues with the administrators or moderators, never been flamed, and that is something that makes this forum a place I'd want to visit and post on. The lack of spam and useless threads that serve no purpose is also what keeps me coming here. It's a true community, especially when you stick around and get to know everyone.

Heather_VZ: You can’t spend all your time on the boards- so what else do you do for fun?
Smith6612: When I’m not here, I'm either off playing some sort of video game on my PC, off servicing and building computers for people in my area, off at my job, sleeping, watching YouTube, researching a problem for someone that I cannot answer, experimenting with tech, or posting around on other forums. I might also be out and about, or I might also be taking much needed vacations from time to time to break away from the troubles of the technological world (although that's hard to do these days!).

I’m also a fan of hockey, football (American), baseball, Lasertron past midnight, video gaming, and movie watching. I also like watching TV  when there's something good on, but since every Stargate series, Battle Bots series, and many of the awesome Sci-Fi/Story intensive shows and movies were taken off, I rarely ever pick up the remote or sit down for a movie anymore.

Heather_VZ: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me! It’s been my pleasure getting to know you!

[#2]

beautiful ... I love your forum full of great ideas, in fact I just signed up for yournews, if you want to do the same, it is with pleasure, I wish you good luck