My rant to Telecom (xtra)

[gav]

I had some correspondence about this, they wanted me to send details, so did some speed tests and emailed them the results. They replied that they wanted to see results from different times of the day. Told them I'd rather show them the results from the times when I'm actually using the product, and couldnt give a fuck about the speeds when I'm at work etc. Havent actually had a reply now that I think about it......
But lately hasnt been too bad.

Last Result:
Download Speed: 4255 kbps (531.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 121 kbps (15.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

[Sam I Am]

YEP standard service continuse then form Xtra
sorry to say i have been through the same and after being where you are talking to tech dept the F*@&^*s never called me back !!!! God i was livid.
The only way i got any true responce was to calmly call them back and demand to speak to a superviser and make a complant.
I totally know where your at, best of luck

[avgas]

I know ur pain Kro.

I got the go large plan, utter bollocks. The net keeps dying, slow speeds etc.

I knew it would happen when they said they were going fullspeed.

Useless pricks

-Indy

Yeh i really enjoy looking at my modem as the ethernet lights stops flashing....then the adsl one goes out. If the average guy used 'Go Large' like this, we'd all have fake ones.
I was better off on dial up many moons ago

[Brian d marge]

Take a good long look at the contract , hidden in there ( page 57668969696~ sub clause 34 , paragraph c ) it will say something like you get what we can provide, and while we do try to provide the advertised rate alot of the time we cant unless we invested bucket loads of money , which we aint going to do just yet, So you are stuck ...

BUT in NZ you do have a fit for purpose act and consumer advocate people ..here in Japan we have the same clause , 2 kanji ( translated means u suki mi dic )

Key points, write/ record everything .( dont be slack on this you will need it )

Keep your mouth shut .let them dig the holes .

Stick to your guns.. and be reasonable if 4.999 is ok then fine
dont try for 5

treat it like a game ..have fun. enjoy playing call my bluff

Good luck
Stephen

[kro]

They tested my Broadband and wrote to me admitting that my download speed was only 2.9 Mbps instead of the 3.5 that I am paying for. (5GB/month)

I think this must have been a while back, because we were on a similar plan, but we were made to shift over to the "go large" plan, because we were told all the old plans with data caps were being phased out completely.

I havent actually read the fine print on the Go Large plan, but everyone seems to still be getting that same bullshit 128-256 upload speeds, which have been prevalent for 6 years+ now. I don't know how they get away with saying it's full speed.

[kro]

So is there anything we can do about it, at times Im getting dailup speed.

Yes there is, I know for a fact that if we present a whole list of names to Xtra, we will get seen to a lot quicker. If you are 100% certain you have a slower connection now, than before the upgrade, then pm me your name and telephone number, and I will make one large complaint email from it, to reinforce the points I made with them, and try to get some action for all concerned.

I am not going to make some bleeding heart crusade out of this, I just think that a group of voices shouting "not good enough" will be heard sooner over the rabble.

If you don't like giving names and numbers to a stranger, I still urge you to pursue it yourself. NZ as a nation puts up with mediocrity too often, and especially in the case of Telecom.

To test your line speed, goto http://www.speedtest.net (Thanks Wasp), and run the test, and include the download, and upload speeds in your pm. I know my connection is slow and I get approx 1400 down, and 124 up. A mate in Auckland is getting 4400 down, and 180 up, and he reckons his plan is good.

[What?]

Well Kro, I reckon you still don't hate Telecon as much as I do.

[MacD]

I think this must have been a while back, because we were on a similar plan, but we were made to shift over to the "go large" plan, because we were told all the old plans with data caps were being phased out completely.

That's odd. I was was given the choice of moving to Go Large, or if I did nothing I would stay on Explorer (5GB cap) but with "unlimited" connection speed? Given that Go Large looked extemely dodgy with the traffic shaping and I didn't need the unlimited cap I stayed on Explorer. The useage monitor still shows my plan as Explorer.

However, having said all that my connection speed has halved recently ! I've been watching it for a while to see if it recovers. I suspect it won't. It could just be a line fault but like everybody else I have no trust in Telecom anymore. I won't bore you with the saga of actually getting ADSL connected in the first place.

[Fub@r]

This was my rant to Xtra just before christmas, it resulted in some manager guy ringing me a few times, then told me a way to work the billing system etc by doing constant plan changes etc etc. So in the end I have now gone to Orcon and have a FS/FS flat rate plan for $59 a month and have a far better connection and no excess usage charges

To whom it may concern,

I have been with XTRA now for more years than I care to remember. You have
mucked my bills and connections up so many times but you always in the end fixed
it up. But this Unleashed Internet is just about the final straw for me.

Firstly I was happy with my 2mbit plan and 10 gig cap, even though the cap limit
was quite frankly pathetic in this day and age. Whenever I checked my connection
I always had 1.9mbit/190k. Then one day Xtra Unleashes the internet which I
didn't want to be a part of because even to a lay person like myself even I
could see exactly what was going to happen.

Now after being changed automatically to the Unleashed Go Large plan I now look
forward to speeds of 0.6mbit/128k to 1.8mbit/128k. My usual download speed of
250kb now on a good day is lucky to hit 120kb. My stable gaming ping in New
Zealand has gone from 45 to 130's. This is quite frankly bloody ridiculous.
People in Australia use New Zealand servers and ping around 30!!!!!!!!

Now I complained immediatley as I was involved in a National Gaming tournament
which was about to start and due to you unleashing me I was going to have to
withdraw as a ping of 130 spiking to 800+ is unplayable. Now your helpdesk
switched me to a FS/FS plan and surprise surprise my ping to NZ servers drops
back to 45.

Now from what I can gather is the following:

I was paying $59 a mth for a stable connection and 45 ping in NZ

You Unleash me and now charge me $49 a mth for a completely unstable connection
and a 130+ ping in NZ

I suppose you now expect me to pay $89 a mth to get anything near what I was
getting prior to you Unleashing me?


I have been doing ping traces on my connection tonight and nothing has changed
from when I was last on Go Large, on the 2nd or 3rd hop the connection falls
over and leaps from 45 ping to over 100.

Now my question is, is Xtra going to do anything to rectify this situation? Or
will I get fed the usual contract small print which I never signed on for in the
first place as my plan was "grandfathered" by you. If you are going to come back
to me and say that I need to "upgrade" to a fullspeed/fullspeed plan to get
anything near like I had before, then quite frankly I will take my business
elsewhere. The way I see it if you are prepared to rip me off on the internet
then xtra/telecom must be doing exactly the same to me on my mobile and toll
calls.

Now I would prefer to stay with Xtra even though you are more expensive than
other ISP's. But I will not pay a premium for third world internet through this
countries main provider. If this connection is the best you can give me then I
will be far better off paying for third world internet through another ISP who
charges substantially less than XTRA for a similar product.

Just to finish. I may not be a large Telecom customer but on my calculations I
have spent the following on Telecom/Xtra products over the years.

$4400 Internet (approx)

$5300 Landline (approx)

$6000 Mobile (approx)

It may only be a drop in the bucket in your end of year profits, but it will be
one drop less if all I'm going to get is a substandard service!


I await your reply.

[kro]

That's a very similar rant to mine Fubar, your's is very well written too I might add.

And to clear the matter up, I just rang my wife, and she says we were told we HAD to go onto the full speed deal, as our plan was being "phased out". I would have stayed with my old connection otherwise.

[kro]

Well Kro, I reckon you still don't hate Telecon as much as I do.

I gather you have major issues matey. I don't hate them per se, I just want a decent internet connection, at a reasonable price. Telecom are incapable of supplying me either at the moment.

With the unbundling happening, these guys need to be doing everything bigger, badder and faster, than all these other fledgling companies that already exist, or are emerging.

[Fub@r]

The guy at Xtra admitted to me that they knew the system couldn't handle being "unleashed" but they had to do it due to political pressure. I said to him that was bollocks as they have done more damage to themselves by unleashing than if they had just done away with caps and reduced the price most people would have been happy.

Also with the Xtra traffic shaping on the Go Large plan I heard a rumour that the commerce commission has told telecom that they can't do that as you are placing limits on an unlimited plan.

A mate of mine in Mangere is leeching 24/7 and downloads 120gig + a month on Go Large and has not been placed in the limited pool restriction yet. So maybe there is something to this?

[Lteejay]

Lets all say a big thank you and f*ck you to Ruth Richardson and Roger Douglas then We are lucky we dont have the same problems with power - well apart from those power cuts a while back. The evil empire (Telecom) were handed their profits on a platter by our illustrious government in the 80's. They really need to be sent to the naughty chair

[Grahameeboy]

I had an issue with Xtra and told them that they worked for me not themselves....they sent 2 guys over in 30 mins....

[jrandom]

I'd be happy if Xtra DNS just start working at least 99% of the time. It's gotten flaky to the point of major frustration over the last couple of months. I can never guess whether a hostname is going to be 'not found'. I've had to issue general instructions to the family that if at first DNS won't talk, just query again...

I have the exact same problem with our Xtra connections in Auckland and Dargaville, so I don't think it's anything to do with my modems or local [whatever].

I'm seriously considering switching to another provider.