This might help some people ordering DS3s from UUnet in the future, so I'll post it here for the archives. We ordered a DS3 to UUnet last July, and after several blown FOC dates, we finally started passing packets last night. (And man, nothing like 2 ms latency and being able to measure downloads in MB/s.) Thank god the circuit is quality, or this would be an entirely different post. UUnet was amazingly slow: 7+ months to terminate a DS3 to Frederick, MD, 50 miles north of their world headquarters. The main reason they were so slow is because of the way they tried to design the circuit. They have various 'legacy' systems (worldcom isn't one big happy family) that they must check with to determine if they have the proper capacity to bring the circuit to your location. Checking with each of these legacy systems takes up to 21 days or even more. And here's the fuckup: They check each one serially, instead of all at the same time. So, with us, they hit worldcom, mci, and mfn (I believe) before they realized they don't have the capacity, and had to contract AT&T. They didn't contract AT&T to backhaul our circuit until DECEMBER. The entire time from July to December, they were checking with their legacy systems to determine if they had capacity. Had we told them to check all three at the same time, we could have saved 2-3 months. So, some things we have learned from this experience, that I would like to pass on to future people: 1) If you are not in a metro area, and are ordering a circuit of any sort with UUnet (or that touches Worldcom in any way), demand up front that they check all of their legacy systems for capacity at the same time. Request to be informed of the completed circuit design within 30 days. 2) Escalate early and often, and be aggressive. Give them a chance to deliver the circuit design, but if the circuit design isn't done in 30 days, escalate every three days until it's done. 3) Every time they miss a FOC date, escalate two levels. Believe me, once you start annoying the VPs, things start to happen _real_ fast. 4) Be an asshole when you order the circuit with regard to the SLA; demand that for every month after 90 days that the circuit is on order (but not installed), you get a free month of service. So, it was the world's biggest pain in the ass to bring up, but now that it's installed, I love it. <does the bandwidth dance> Andy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Andy Dills 301-682-9972 Xecunet, LLC www.xecu.net xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Dialup * Webhosting * E-Commerce * High-Speed Access