Two consumer products/services to avoid like a plague are Verizon DSL and CallWave Internet Answering service. After an extended battle with customer service personnel and supervisors, I finally got rid of CallWave. CallWave was of good idea back in the days when I had dial up internet access, but once I switched over to DSL (unfortuantely Verizon was my only local phone service option), CallWave was an obsolete service. CallWave is one of those services that piggy back on to your local phone bill through a private billing agency. When you go to cancel CallWave, you discover it is a near impossible feat to accomplish. CallWave customer service personnel lie through their teeth, offer alternative services, and refuse to honor verbal and written requests to cancel their service. It took nearly 6 months of persistent effort to cancel - coordinating messages back and forth between Verizon, CallWave, the independent billing agency, and the PA Attorney General's Office. Avoid CallWave!!!

Verizon DSL service - intitial installation and "line readiness" are a joke, especially the line readiness ploy. I made the mistake of using the computerized ordering routine. I entered my home phone number and waited about 2 minutes for their program to determine if DSL was available in my neighborhood (geez, I knew it was - several neighbors have the service) and was informed on the following computer screen that it was available. I placed an on line order for DSL. The initial installation package arrived 2 days later . . . no problem, until you get to the installation screen that checks "line readiness" . . . you guessed it . . . my line wasn't "ready". After 3 weeks of "death by conversation with customer service droids", I finally get a call back from a supervisor (incidently, real person contact with Verizon is not easy to establish by simply making a phone call). The supervisor explained to me that they have a "crew" scheduled to get my line ready the following week . . . that's week 4 of this process. I still wonder what took this crew a month to make my line ready and exactly what their mission actually entaled? I did manage to get another "free month" of service out of Verizon for all my bitching, but the damage was done and when my annual contract expires you can bet a cable modem will replace this service!