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Post by xr6turbo1 on Jan 31, 2007 20:28:52 GMT 12
Back when the extra speed from Telecom was apparently "Unleashed" I went from my high speed 2GB plan onto the so called go large plan. It was the worst thing I could have done. For some reason my connection got quite slow. I download large files of Flight Simulator aircraft and this site lets you down load at 30kb per second but faster if you pay for it. On the old plan I was getting between 30 and 35 which I was happy with. On Go Large I dropped doen to anywhere between 4 and 6 which is dial up speed and thats not what I am paying $50 per month for. A few days ago I switched over to there other $50 plan and that gives max upload and download speed but is capped at 2GB. So after doing so I tried downloading an aircraft and what do you know I am getting 30kb again. Very interesting indeed. I would be interested to know what you other kiwis have experienced with our so called unleashed power. I just have to be careful und stay under 2GB and when sending large photos that can be difficult but its far better than what I was getting and my connection is now a lot better  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 31, 2007 20:51:06 GMT 12
I am still on cheap Slingshot dial up and will be for some time I expect.
Mum went to broad band some time ago, on a capped limit basis, because Xtra had slowed her dial up down so much. It was so rubbish my dial up was quicker than her broad band, and they kept running out of their limit in about two weeks (this is with just Mum and my sister using it). So they decided to upgrade to an unlimited more expensive one, not sure which plan, but it's pretty good.
I hate the way when these new things are introduced Telecom Xtra deliberately slows down the old service that some customers are still comfortable with till they feel forced to go for the more expensive deal. It sucks.
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Post by beagle on Jan 31, 2007 20:58:03 GMT 12
I am with worldxchange communications, (xnet)and they are brilliant.
call anywhere in NZ off peak, max is $1.80, other tmes, it is $2.40 for 2 hours.
Gone are the $200 phone bills.
I am on a 10g plan for a spped of 4.5meg, but it usually runs at 7.5
dial up is so last century...........
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Post by ARU on Jan 31, 2007 22:38:01 GMT 12
Lots of different factors can affect broadband speed, time of the day, how far you are from the exchange, site bandwitdh etc.
But in general most broadband suppliers can not supply you with the speed that they have all to often stated.
My broadband speed has not changed since xtra broadband has been "unleashed" still only about 2-3 times faster than dial up, but at least I dont have a data cap any more.
(WORD OF WARING, dont relie on the 80% usage email if you are on a capped plan, you would be suprised how many times it arrives after you have already passed your total limit)
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Post by kiwi on Feb 1, 2007 7:56:38 GMT 12
My experience is the same as Gavins , paying for uncapped highspeed broadband. Sometimes I get 2or3 KB/sec , normally about 7.5 and sometimes if I am really lucky up to 300 . Overall I am disappointed and feel this is just another Telecom corporate con job . On top of the poor speed performance there have been a whole succession of outages , and the whole change over from Clear to Telecom took almost a month and was only achieved with numerous phone calls , though I have been told that most of this was due to hooks in the system put in place by Microsoft .
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 1, 2007 9:27:44 GMT 12
There has definitely been a slow down in broadband speed at home, most noticeable during the afternoons. Telecom are having a laugh I reckon. Dave, Slingshot are a great company to deal with, I was on dial up with them for years and had no problems whatsoever. I only terminated because the computer I now use doesn't belong to me.
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Post by phil82 on Feb 1, 2007 9:51:55 GMT 12
It's not just Telecom pulling the big con; Telstra are the same. High-speed is available; if you pay through the nose.
The worst feature of Telstra is the difficulty of trying to actually speak to someone when you have a problem. I lost my internet connection completely one day, and it took me three hours to actually get to talk to a living human being. I then noticed a guy working up a pole outside and asked him if he was the reason for my having no internet, and he said he was! telstra didn't know he was there,! The end result was I sent a letter to the CEO of Telstra, Dr Freeth:
15th March 2006
Dear Dr Freeth
I would like to start, if I may, with a quote from your website: “At the heart of TelstaClear's strategy is our focus on our customers”, which is evidently written by someone who has never, as a customer, tried to contact a real person in TelstraClear in order to resolve a problem.
Today, I lost my Paradise connection, not for the first time, due to ‘technical problems’. That is where the customer focus comes into play, except it doesn’t! The contact phone numbers refer you to an automated response system which is useless in that it leaves you suspended while listening to Musak, and from which connection you eventually give up as being a complete waste of time. This connection is, however, ever so helpful in informing you that, as you have lost your connection, you should try the website. It doesn’t tell you how to do that without having internet access however, so can be safely classed as totally useless information.
By now heading into ‘complaint’ mode, you look for another number to call, and find ‘Reception’, which is anything but in that a request to speak to someone refers you back to; you guessed it, the dreaded Musak and a long wait. When you eventually find someone, they can’t actually help you other than by referring you to, you guessed it, the Musak. You call back, and explain you don’t want to listen, but to talk, preferably to a real person, and you’re told, “we can’t afford to have people on phones”!!!
When you finally get someone and advise you wish to complain about the non-existent customer service, you are told you should speak to the Customer Services Manager, or such like. “Thank you”, you say, but are then told you can’t possibly speak to this person “as she is far too busy to speak to customers”, but “you can send an e-mail”. Disregarding for a moment that someone with the job title of Customer Relations Manager doesn’t actually speak to customers, you point out that you cannot , in fact, send an e-mail, because the website doesn’t have e-mail addresses. You then ask for the CEO, to be told, “we couldn’t possibly give you his address”, and, “I obviously can’t connect you”.
Of course not, I understand that. It would be really bad form for anyone with any authority in Telstra to actually speak to a customer! That is not what a telecommunications company is about. Instead, you provide systems which utterly contradict the mission statement of “our focus is customers”. I have never seen a statement more at odds with the facts.
Your customer service in time of need is a bag of used spanners. After almost three hours of trying, I ended up feeling I could have better spent that time doing something really useful like putting into place a move to remove myself from Telstra’s customer list.
Please take the opportunity to convince me I shouldn’t do just that.
Yours most sincerely, [but highly disgruntled nonetheless!]
He replied saying he was aware of the deficiiencies of the Voice Activated System, and they were "looking into it", [As of today, it hasn't changed], and meanwhile was arranging for a "executive' to call me. I did get a call from a guy in Christchurch {I'm in Lower Hutt!], who, despite his Executive status, couldn't explain why the system for dealing with customers was so bad, nor why they din't know the lines were being worked on. He was, in fact, about as useful as three men on leave.
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Post by kiwi on Feb 1, 2007 11:02:47 GMT 12
During one of the outages , while I was trying to get back on line the Telecom service assistant asked if I had recieved the letter that Telecom sent out to all its new customers , I said no , and was amazed to recieve a copy of the letter delivered by courier the next day . This important piece of correspondence turned out to be just a standard bit of junk mail extolling the virtues of Telecom .
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Post by Bruce on Feb 1, 2007 11:30:43 GMT 12
My current peeve with Telecom is the add that shows a Samoan girl explaining that she hasnt seen her family in Samoa for 10 years or so, and the kids havent met thier Nana etc, then showing the whole Samoan Family arrive to tears and hugs and all that stuff. (I thought Telecom was for connecting people without having to travel). I havent ever met most of the English half of my family - could Telecom bring them to NZ for me please?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 1, 2007 12:36:29 GMT 12
Bruce, I agree but it isn't half as annoying as those three teenaged brain dead moron gils who look as if they've been drugged, who say "it's like..." 20 times before every sentence. Whatever happened to good old "um" instead of this stupid teenage girl Americanism of "it's like..."
"Brainy kids have broadband" says the thickest looking of the lot!
The librarians have tried to have it banned without success. I see their point but I think that the internet is a lot more useful tahn any library for referencing material - plus it often puts you directly in touch with the aurthor and/or other experts.
Sure, the internet is great for education, but you don't need broadband to get it!! They talk as if broadband is a seperate thing from dial-up internet. Twits.
Colin, as to having trouble with customer service, I've had that with Slingshot. Their service as a provider is excellent, it's quicker than Telecom dial up, cheaper and more constant - - no sudden disconnections.
But if you have to contact them, it's murder. A few years ago after i upgraded my computer I had to reconnect to my account and had to ring them for some technical advice that I can't recall, but it had to do with payment which i direct debited to Visa at the time. I found then their 0800 freephone number was a scam as it then put you onto another exchange which was $4 a minute!
Despite my providing them with my account name and password they could find no record of my account with them, at all. I was not in the system according to them. I rang three times and got three different people, and racked up a huge bill doing so. No joy. I then rang Visa and was going to get them to stop my direct debit which they were still charging - I gopt chatting to the lady there and it turned out she had previously worked for Slingshot and SHE did know how to solve my problem. She got me to write out her instructions and i rang them back and said "The lady at Visa says you have to do this, this and this".
They fouind my account and all was well! Such a fluke I picked the right lady in NZ to talk to.
Then last year after my computer was rebuilt, I tried to reconnect. I couldn't recall the dial-up phone number so rang them, and the lady gave me the number. No problem. Cost me nothing.
I got my PC back, tried to reconnect, nothing. It wouldn't connect. Tried and tried to no avail. So I had to ring tech support. Now at last it is free, not $4 a minute, but I waited in the cue for 30 minutes and every now and then a robot told me where i was in the cue. "You are fifth in the cue..." Eventually I heard "You are first in the cue." A few seconds later the receiver is picked up, then 'click'.
The pricks had hung up on me!!!! Deliberately after my half hour wait. Man I was wild.
I rang again and waited 40 minutes. I was getting more and more furious. However I decided to let it slide and if someone does pick up I'll be polite in case i get disconnected again. I eventually did get through, and the tech guy, despite my politeness, was really surly like I was interupting his dinner or something. We, the users of their company, pay their wages and should treat every customer with respect.
He was baffled by the problem so went through everything step by step. It turned outthe office girl I'd got the dial-up number from had given me the wrong number.
It was not a pleasant evening at all. It really annoys me how difficult they make it to get good service when you need it.
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Post by phil82 on Feb 1, 2007 13:21:02 GMT 12
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 1, 2007 15:00:31 GMT 12
Well deserved
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Post by stu on Feb 1, 2007 15:04:19 GMT 12
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Post by xr6turbo1 on Feb 1, 2007 17:57:48 GMT 12
I find it frustrating when Telecom admit there are problems but dont cut the rate they charge until they get it sorted.
I saw on the morning news the Telecom has just purchased and Australian based company for $400 million and it would probably cost them a fraction to sort out the issues.
They can start by sacking the xtraordinaries.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 1, 2007 18:29:11 GMT 12
I agree, those geeks put me right off using their 'service'.
Sadly Telecom isn't going to care because they have the biggest market share, and to them (a US owned company) little old NZ ain't worth the effort.
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Post by lesterpk on Feb 1, 2007 19:35:44 GMT 12
Dave, go to slingshot tolls and then 25G of broadband costs $29.95 a month. Speeds are pretty reasonable here. I think even on my busiest month I managed to use up about 5G.
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Post by ARU on Feb 1, 2007 20:44:51 GMT 12
I dont think $400 million will solve all the problems, ideally new zealand's old copper cables need to be replaced with fibre optic cables , and it would cost heaps to do them all. unless they only do it in the major city's which is unfair to other users. (5GB in one month, I probably use that in 1 week)
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 1, 2007 22:52:40 GMT 12
Telecom needs to fix the phone cables which are still unreliable for thousands of rural people before they start upgrarding for internet in the cities. It's amazing, we've had phones for what, over a century? And some people still have major problems with them yet have to pay the same rental charges as we townies, if not more.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 2, 2007 9:18:32 GMT 12
You can put a man on the moon....
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Post by kiwi on Feb 2, 2007 11:32:08 GMT 12
Other Telecom problems are simply that , other problems . The issue here is that Telecom are promoting high speed broadband , for another $10 a month Telecom say they will provide uncapped high speed broadband . What I have ended up with is slower than what I had on a capped Clear plan , coupled to many more outages than I was used to . I feel I have been had , but then I should have learnt from Telecom's CEOs Sydney speech .
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