Two years ago I switched from the worst Internet provider to the second worst Internet provider in my area. Fidium by Consolidated Communications.
Until yesterday, when I called, I got an American-based tech support person. They were all at what I consider tier II or better. Their knowledge base was good, and they treated me with respect.
Yesterday Ally pointed out that my voice communications had gotten bad. My new client is complaining about upload speeds to their server. I’m seeing 28 KB/s upload speeds.
Before I go yelling at the client about their network, I verify my own.
Download speed: 1095.4 Mbps down. This is precisely what I pay for. 0.260 Mbps up. This is not the 1 Gbit I am paying for.
To put this into units that highlight how bad this is. I pay for 1.000000 Gigabits up and down. I got 1.09500 down and 0.000260 up.
This is an issue that needs to be resolved. I power cycle the firewall and the ONT. No change.
I call Fidium via VoIP; the representative, speaking with a strong accent, can’t hear or understand me.
I hang up, take my cell off WiFi calling, and call, making my way through the prompts to reach customer support again.
The representative I reach is also not in the US. I authenticate to her. Tell her that I have asymmetrical speeds. Give her the download and upload speeds.
“That’s the plan you’re paying for.”
“No, it is not. I’m paying for 1G up/down symetrical.”
“You called technical support. You need to talk to sales.”
“I am only getting 0.26 megabits up. This is not my plan.”
“You need to talk to sales.”
“Let me talk to somebody competent!”
More arguments from her that I’m getting exactly what I am supposed to be getting
“Let me change that, let me talk to your supervisor now.”
10 plus minutes of waiting before she comes back on and asks, “What are the speeds you are getting again?”
I tell her, and she finally starts to work towards a resolution.
I ask her where is the supervisor that I asked to speak to, “He’s in a meeting and can’t respond.”
She gets me an appointment for a technician. For today at 0800-0900. 23 hours from the time I put in the call.
I tell her this is unacceptable. She refuses to do anything. I tell her to yank her supervisor out of the meeting.
When I finally get to talk to him, I use some emotional blackmail. “My VoIP is down. This means I’ve lost e911 capabilities at my site. Tomorrow is to long. I need somebody here today.”
I’ll update this posting if they actually did get the issue fixed in a timely fashion.
Damn, I miss US-based support.
we are stuck with them too just for internet. started out $41 a month
now $93 and ssssllloooowwwww
ah well
Interesting. Comcast is certainly not particularly good. I remember one time I tried to report a damaged cable (splice loop dangling, swinging in the breeze on the trunk line along the road). Ended up talking to some brainless person who told me to bring my modem into the office. I decided not to bother further; if the fiber breaks at some point they can fix it then.
Consolidated told us about fiber coming, which sounded interesting. Not much sign of progress (in New Boston); I can see some stuff that looks like new wiring along a portion of the highway out of town, but no further action for about 12 months. Maybe they will reach our house some time this decade.
A boss at DEC, many years ago, referred to these companies as “wire stringers”, to indicate they could be trusted to hang wire and use those to deliver voice calls or TV signals, but that you shouldn’t expect them to be competent to do networking. I’m afraid that hasn’t changed much in the decades since.