They, in the mix of ISP's, are squarely in the middle. The service is fine when it's up, but when it's down and you call in they have you go through this ridiculous troubleshooting procedure. I spent 28 years in IT and Engineering, and know points of origin within my system, and when issues are coming from outside. Every time I call there are long wait times, if you're not hung up on. The worst is when you select to have a technician call back and five hours later you still have not heard from them (this happens regularly). We have been with them for seven years, and have almost grown accustom to the issues, and if there are short outages I only call to let them know. Each time I get "it's your equipment." After I go through the childish redirect of pointing at my equipment, I easily refute their accusations, and sometimes when i have them on the phone my speed tests start producing results, or my previously downed service comes to life.
Before our last power outage I had them come to the house because I told them their UPS battery was dead, and I believe their outside board was the issue. Nope, it's your modem (router/switch), a NEW Netgear X12 (so not the issue). Their first trouble shooting steps are to come into the house with a laptop, and tell me it's fine. They leave and I call them about 10 minutes later telling them I can get out to the world. They come back and repeat the same test, but this time the tech says "that does not make any sense." Now he can't get out, so he goes out to their end point to the house and tries to get out. "That does not make any sense." So he finally comes in to the UPS and says the whole thing is dead, and replaces it. He still can't get out. They replace the outside board, and he still can't get out. Turns out it was wired incorrectly (FOR SEVEN YEARS), and he rewires it and BOOM, magically back up and running.
A couple days ago we had a massive wind and rain storm that lasted a couple days. We were without power for about 10 hours, and when my fiber connection came back up I was connecting at 4 down and 6 up. So I called and left my number for a call back. 6 hours later I get a call when I'm in the middle of repairing a roof, and they don't even leave a message. The next day I was getting 10 down and 12 up. Today I called and the lady I spoke with said I had to be by my system so I could repeat their childish tech support trials, when I knew the problem was on their end. Every time you call their initial recording tells you all systems are functioning normally, even when your service is down.
A couple months ago we upgraded to Gig, and went from $59 per month to $99. For a few days after I call and they finally get their issues worked out, I'll consistently get 750 - 840 Mbps (and that's OK), no matter what their excuse is 220-400 is not, and when you're down in the low tens it's beyond reprehensible.
This morning I was as I said getting about 14-20 mbps, and for the 12 hours I was away from home it magically repaired itself, now I'm getting 750. I sat on hold for what I was told would be a 2 minute hold, after 28 minutes I hung up. I was only going to tell them that the system magically fixed itself once again while I was away.
I'm going to be downgrading to my previous speed, and looking for another carrier. If they would just take responsibility and not try to blame-shift, I'd gladly continue our relationship. read more
