"We basically couldn't afford to battle Verizon," said Neil Ridlinghafer, owner of DSL Designs Inc.

When asked if the company is going out of business, Ridlinghafer said, "It looks like it."

Representatives for DSL Designs and South Valley Internet, the new company that is being recommended to DSL Designs' customers, say they are working as fast as possible to make the transition a smooth one. Yet a number of customers are still frustrated with what's gone on over the past three months.

DSL Designs, which filed for bankruptcy in February, had service to some 400 of its customers shut down by Verizon for four days in April for reportedly not paying its bill to the phone company. Following a court order that Verizon reinstate service, all customers were back online by April 18, a DSL Designs employee said three months ago.

Since that time, a judge has ruled that Verizon can terminate all services it provides to DSL Designs' wholesale customers. Wholesale customers are those who pay their entire monthly bill to DSL Designs, whereas retail customers are billed by both the ISP company and Verizon.

When customers tried calling DSL Designs last week with inquiries, they received a voice recording that explained the situation with Verizon, but callers said they were unable to speak to anyone. By July 1, the mailbox for DSL Designs' billing department was full, and customers could no longer leave messages.

"I don't think that they are answering messages," said customer Maria Young. "Calling them up is not doing any good. In the meantime, we're kind of stuck here without any Internet access."

Like other customers, Young was told by a Verizon representative that there was no way for her to switch to another ISP company until DSL Designs released her line. But, Young said, the problem lies in the fact that she can't reach anyone at DSL Designs to cancel her subscription with the company.

"We are pretty irate right now because they're basically holding us hostage," said customer Tessa Arguijo, whose experience with DSL Designs parallels Young's. "It's kind of an interesting way to do business."

Arguijo wonders why DSL Designs can't automatically release the lines of its customers without waiting for customers to request it.

Switching to another ISP company could cost up to $50 in start-up fees, Arguijo said. "It's not our choice to switch," she said. "If DSL Designs is considering this a transfer, it should pick up the cost."

Bob Brentnall, president of South Valley Internet, said his company is already subsidizing part of the start-up fees. The San Martin­based company has been in business for more than 10 years and serves over 7,000 customers, according to Brentnall.

There is no connection between DSL Designs and South Valley Internet, Brentnall said, adding that he and Ridlinghafer are only business acquaintances but aren't close friends, and that's how his company came to take over handling DSL Designs' customers.

Like Ridlinghafer, Brentnall objects to how Verizon conducts business. "This is monopolistic behavior, what they're doing," he said, characterizing what he sees as Verizon's refusal to provide a smooth transition for customers.

"With Verizon's attitude, it's taken almost 11/2 weeks to transfer," Brentnall said.

Besides DSL Designs, another ISP company had its customers transfer over to South Valley Internet last week, Brentnall said. Since that company's lines with Verizon were still current, Verizon managed to transfer all 100-plus customers to South Valley Internet in approximately 10 minutes. At most, those customers' Internet access was down five minutes, Brentnall said.

In the case of DSL Designs, Verizon has chosen not to make the transition run as smoothly because the former owes the phone company money, Brentnall said.

Verizon representatives are informing DSL Designs customers they must cancel their business with the ISP company and then arrange to have a new circuit installed. The entire process can take 12 or more days.

Verizon spokesman Jonathan Davies said the phone company can't automatically transfer all DSL Designs customers, as Verizon can't presume that all the customers want to switch over to the new company.

"We're not allowed to intervene with another company's customers," he said. For now, Verizon still considers DSL Designs customers as belonging to that ISP company. So instead Verizon must first receive a work order from the new ISP company that a customer is requesting transfer before it will establish a connection.

"We just need to follow the procedures in order to preserve customer service," he said.

In addition to the sense of helplessness that some customers have expressed, they also feel that DSL Designs is not living up to its promise.

When DSL Designs was temporarily shut down in April, the company said customers would not have to pay for the time when service was down. According to Arguijo and others, they've never been credited the difference.

"They certainly weren't true to their word," Arguijo said.

Ridlinghafer said customers should either call the company or send an email to billing@dsldesigns.com and ask for credit.

Customers who would like to switch to South Valley Internet should call 408.683.4533.