[Tfug] Providers?

[mike]

Hey there Don please feel free to contact me there are ways to make sure 
that you do not end up in my place if this works it works great and 
there is a way to test your location before you sign up! That is were my 
comment of if it works you are good. So feel free to write off line and 
I will help if you feel that this is the service for you! Mike




On 11/19/2012 02:45 PM, Bexley Hall wrote:
> Hi Mike,
>
> On 11/18/2012 7:19 PM, mike wrote:
>> I am a Wi-power user and let me let you in on a secret, customer service
>> is non existent
>
> <frown>  I suspect that is true of many companies.  I recall
> hearing horror stories from folks (ages ago) trying to contact
> their local CATV provider and facing long hold times on the
> phone.  Of course, if you called their *sales* number, the
> wait times were non-existent!  (is my cynicism showing?  :> )
>
> My first dialup (think PEP) provider here had reasonably good
> service, long hours, etc. (helpful given that I tend to
> work weird hours).  But, they went away...  and the
> technology moved forward so perhaps I wouldn't have needed
> as much help ("Modem bank needs to be reset, again...")
>
>> If it works you are golden if your location has problems
>> like mine does well your not in good shape.
>
> From your email address, I'm guessing you are technically
> competent to offer an opinion on where the problem *might*
> lie?  I.e., bad equipment?  technology?  alignment? *topography*??
>
>> for a yr I had the Voip
>> offered with there package never worked right from day one. After 11
>> months I canceled service and was told I would have to pay a 50 fee to
>> change my contract.
>
> "Early termination fee"?
>
>> I started using the non working phone that they
>> provided on all calls to them with no alternate # and we got past the
>> fee to change service. over the 11 months that I had worked with them to
>> fix the problem I was told that a refund would be made once the problem
>> had been fixed! Since it was never fixed, well there will be no refund
>> given I am out 220.00 for a none working service.
>
> Did any of this rely on equipment/software that you had to maintain
> (i.e., install software on a Windows machine to control or interface
> with their service)?  The point of my question being:  if it was
> *entirely* their equipment, then one would *expect* it to work
> pretty near "out of the box".
>
> [To be frank, the appeal of *keeping* our land line -- even as
> little as we use it -- is that POTS on the PSTN *tends* to be
> pretty damn reliable!  IIRC, there has been exactly one case
> in the past ~50 years where I picked up a handset and didn't
> get dialtone -- after a lightning strike *at* the house toasted
> one of the non-WU station sets!  Actually, a very disturbing
> sensation...]
>
>> About the Internet,
>> well you best read the fine print it is bust speed of 6mb and a
>
> But isn't that true of all providers?  I.e., they should rightly
> advertise as:
>    "your speed will NEVER EXCEED..."
> rather than
>    "speeds of UP TO..."
>
> And, of course, much depends on your client as well as the
> remote end of the connection (and everything in-between).
>
> Speed only really comes into play if you're doing lengthy
> transfers (streaming multimedia, FTP, etc.).  Otherwise,
> its more a *latency* issue (which is harder to pin down).
> In our case, I expect the difference between time to
> visit a web page and actually having it available locally
> is probably largely independent of the connection speed.
>
>> guarantee that it will not fall below 1.5mb my service has jitters of
>> .48mb during most test and that is better than it has been in in the 11
>> months prior. and when I ask about lowering my package I am told that if
>> I do that I will be charged to change my service and that the bottom
>> side will be lowered to 1mb. I have the 6mb package I see burst of 5mb
>> never any higher and my 1mb upload never gets faster then .6mb.
>
> Hmmmm... our current (Qwest) service is 12Mb.  On the few lengthy
> file transfers (CD ISO's, etc.) I frequently see ~10+Mb average
> rates.  But, I could easily live without the high end as I am
> at the library daily and pulling down big files from there would
> not be an inconvenience.
>
>> Since I
>> am in a contract well they feel that they have all the power P.S. they
>
> Understood.  OTOH, your comments here can cost them a potential customer
> (or more).  Sad that so many firms *punish* their customers -- then
> wonder why they *lose* them!  :-/
>
> [A friend has a clever saying to this effect but I can't recall
> his eloquent phrasing]
>
>> can make it run at the contracted speeds and have for small amounts of
>> time and then they just neck the service back down. I am retired so I
>> have time to call and complain do you have that time every week? I have
>> never had a service that I have been so unsatisfied with in my whole
>> life in fact just writing this has raised my blood pressure to think
>> that when I get around a tower not at my house I have much better speeds
>> on my cell and that service is a shit load cheaper well you get the
>
> In what part of town are you located?
>
>> picture. I wait my time looking for a better answer. It will come 7 yrs
>> ago All I could get out here was dial up. when a new idea comes I will
>> be on that train. DSL is full in this area so I can't get back on the
>> qwest service sat is not for me so I am stuck for the moment. good luck
>> to you and think long and hard before you look at this choice. Read the
>> reviews on-line wish I had.
>
> Thanks!  We're trying to make a smart choice -- though it is always
> a crap shoot.  I suspect Qwest has to see the writing on the wall:
> find some *other* use for all that copper wire before *everyone*
> abandons their land lines in favor of cell phones!  You would
> think they would be more aggressive in finding and *keeping*
> customers given this reality...
>
> Can I contact you off-list?
>
> --don
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tucson Free Unix Group - tfug at tfug.org
> Subscription Options:
> http://www.tfug.org/mailman/listinfo/tfug_tfug.org
>
>