Low-voltage doesn't apply under the same codes as electrical work, though there is some overlap. However, I've seen these contracts, and they never say anything about installation quality.

If you THREATEN a lawsuit, they might fix the situation. If you actually FILE a lawsuit, they'll remove their equipment and terminate their contract. (Another thing they're allowed to do in almost all of these contracts.) Then you don't have any actual damages to sue over.\

Also, they're barely in the red. They'll reclaim what they paid to their sub-contractor for the installation. The loss of customer service man-hours would be a drop in the bucket for most ISP's.

NOTE: I'm a low-voltage technician specializing in commercial locations.

Depends on if you work for an ISP or for a contractor company. An ISP, you'd make a little more starting out. A contractor company, you'd make enough, but you wouldn't have benefits and you'd pay your own taxes, so, meh.

Wouldn't work. They would just remove their equipment. As for lack of service, pretty much every ISP's contracts state that there is no guarantee on uptime. You MIGHT be able to get a month free out of the deal.

Note: I'm a low-voltage tech.

This kind of stuff doesn't suprise me. It's the nature of the industry. People don't want to pay $200 for a decent quality install, so a lot of the independent guys try to lowball where they can. Contractor companies will hire anyone to do the work, and they'll be lucky if they get a half a week of training. Most ISP's contract out their installs to these companies. (Mine is the exception to that fortunately.) This installer was probably never trained on this stuff, and his employer probably expected him to do it anyways or they wont use him anymore.

Quest probably leases the lines and contracts the installations through AT&T, who then contracts the installs through someone else. (Can't confirm this though.) That's why Quest told the customer to call their "primary phone service provider", although I think Quest should have done this work for them.

Am I missing something? A 100-pack of Verbatim DVD+R's (470 GB) are being sold at Newegg for $27, whereas a 1.5 TB hard drive is going for $100. Personally, each one has its uses. A hard drive is much easier and faster once installed, but I can give DVD's to friends, especially my less tech-savvy ones.

More importantly, someone explain to me why this is better than a T91, which has most of its features, and a keyboard, and a swivel screen so you can use it like a netbook, etc.

Pfft! That's just walking-around money! Check out BelAir wireless access points on Google Product Search. $2500 - $8000 each, and I've personally installed almost a dozen!