Enough...and a little bit of risk
Recently I made reference to my ineffective internet connection and how it's been driving me fucken bonkers.
I use my broadband service for work, streaming movies and TV shows and to conduct my day-to-day business like emails, banking, my medical stuff, and Hive of course. It's fibre optic and is supposed to be fast and, because it comes from the biggest telco in the country, reliable; it auto-switches to the 5G network when the cable-internet-magickery isn't working which is supposed to make it "reliable."
The sad reality is that my broadband service is fucken terrible, like...fuck-en terri-ble!
I have multiple drops-outs daily, slow up-and-down speeds and the technical support is atrocious. All for the fucken exorbitant price of $129AUD per month. What the fuck!
On Monday, a technician was supposed to arrive between 0800h and 1200h to troubleshoot then fix the service. No one showed up.
At 1300h I got an automated text message telling me I had to log on to their online help service (a fucken AI mother fucker) to troubleshoot the problem for myself...I'd already done this with no positive outcome hence the technician's appointment. So no technician and I wasn't about to go through that online AI nutbaggery again...I pay them for service, not to have to do it myself.
I was furious...and I'd had enough.
I was prepared for this ass-fuckery and had already found a new service provider and chosen a plan. Time to change. It's always a little risky doing this, but I'd done a lot of research and was pretty sure I was making the right choice with this new provider.
I called up and was third in the phone queue...I was ok with that, at least I was going to speak with a human.
Whilst on hold there was a recorded hold-message telling dad jokes (instead of hold music). A few made me smile and I was feeling pretty relaxed when the sales chap answered my call. The fellow (who spoke perfect English) went through the plan I'd chosen, the process and the few questions I had around the tech-help situation, where their call centre is (here in Australia thankfully) and about the process of cancelling my current service. He was very helpful.
Interestingly, he told me that my other (current) provider actually sells 120% of their available services (bandwidth I guess it's called) hence the slow speeds and constant drop-outs. This new provider only sells 80% of theirs which means there's plenty to go around. It all sounded good and fifteen minutes later I was all done.
The new hardware (modem) will turn up in four to five days and it's all plug and play - They get notified by the postal service that it's been delivered and they call to confirm then activate the service the same day...although there's Australian based technicians available on the phone and they will visit on-site if needed. It was pretty smooth...and only costs $99AUD a month too. I did need to pay for the modem additionally because I'm not using the piece of shit the other company provided me but that's a once off payment.
I'm looking forward to my new service and, based on the research I did it will be fast and reliable as optic fibre broadband should be. Also important to me is the on-shore tech-services and call centre and the customer service, which is highly rated.
I've changed services before, a long time ago, and there's some risk I guess (the new one could suck) but I'm probably going to kick my own ass (not the easiest thing to do) once I get up and running with the new provider and find out how good it is...I probably should have changed much sooner and not just for the $360/year saving. It's very difficult to operate without internet, at least in my country, and all stress my bad service has caused could have been avoided by changing sooner. I guess the big telco relies on that, people just staying with them out of fear of changing, the risk-factor. Well...big telco, fuck you, I'm gone!
Have you experienced something like this with your broadband/internet service? Have you had to change providers? Have you been totally happy with your service and its cost? Feel free to comment below with your good or bad internet service story if you'd like to.
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Oh the cable/internet company I have to deal with here is awful too. In NY State, however, our brilliant congresspeople passed a law that has made it impossible for any other company to offer services wherever Spectrum is already operating. Even if the simplest thing is wrong (such as I was being charged for a service I wasn't receiving), it takes several hours on the phone with them to change it and then, invariably, something else is wrong when the first problem gets fixed. It's a nightmare!
Remember that old joke "We don't care - we're the phone company."?
I'm glad you got out, and hope the next company is a pleasure to deal with. But I won't be holding my breath...
It's been a nightmare to be honest. They have corporate stores all over the place but they can't do anything, you have to got to the app, which means hours in wait-time with no result at the end. I'm not the only one with this issue either, thousands and thousands have it.
The new group are pretty switched on. I've been communicated with since I called them Monday and the modem was dispatched to me within twenty four hours of my first phone call. It bodes well, but let's see how it goes moving forward. They come highly rated though so I have some hope.
Telco is horrible over here in the states because of the monopolies. They tried to make that better, but the politicians got involved along with the corporate lobby and now we all get screwed. You use to be able to call and get a deal every now and then on your service, but they don't even do that anymore. Most neighborhoods are so congested that you never get the speeds that you are paying for. The whole thing is a racket.
It sounds the same as here to be honest, just on a bigger scale. It's worrying too, with so much being online what are people supposed to do if there's no internet service? I see it as just another step on the descent into madness...but in truth, the world has already gone mad, so that statement is moot.
I'm hoping this new group are good and with all the reviews I've read and the research it looks like they will be. I was worried they piggybacked off the infrastructure of the last (current) provider but they have their own deal with the NBN (government national broadband network) so it means they're stand-alone. I'll be glad to see the end of the current provider. My new modem was dispatched yesterday and should be here by Monday/Tuesday next week. Let's see how the set up goes...and then the stability and speed.
Where I work we are part of the state education network, it's a dedicated fiber network for public school districts. I get pretty spoiled from that. I am upgrading our infrastructure to 10Gb even though we are never going to get that bandwidth from our ISP. It's just a little future proofing.
Yeah, I get envious of those with super-fast internet speeds. Maybe one day I'll get to join the in crowd.
Good luck with that!
I remember the US president saying something along the lines - 'It is inadmissible for Bucharest, Romania to have internet that is 100-200 times faster than US.'
Was funny at the time, until I moved in another country.
I said the same thing when a little village in the middle of nowhere was able to get cable Internet but my parents weren't on their side of the road outside a relatively large city. We still have vast areas that are under serviced. It's horrible.
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The chat bots are horse shit aren’t they? I recently had to call my mortgage company for something and I said “mortgage” and it brought me to the section. My question didn’t fit so I said agent and it sent me to an insurance agent number. I was like what the bloody fuck man, just give me a fucking human! The lady was good when I finally got her and gave her a great review and told them to get rid of their Walmart AI shit and put people back. Not likely but their stuff sucks.
I’m glad you’re able to switch, it sounds like you should hopefully get the better end of the bargain for sure in a few days and it’s actually better to buy your own modem and router. They lease it here and you end up paying more in the long run. Fuck them.
Where we live, since it’s a condo, we are locked into our specific provider even though they are worse than a horses ass. We pay extra for service speed that we absolutely don’t get. If you’re downstairs, forget trying to use the wifi. Fuckers man, the lot of them.
Oh man those chat bots need to die...and I'd be happy to provide the cause of that demise.
I think companies/corporations try to get away with it and for when they can't there's a (hopefully helpful) human waiting int he wings. I just don't get why people put up with it. We have an amazing amount of power, the people, but we choose not to use it. I don't mean pitchforks and flaming torches but we have the ability to send messages with the way we chop and spend but we don't (mostly), like people are too afraid to go without. Fuck that I say, I'm happy to move the fuck on, as per this post.
Of course, like your mortgage situation, it's not always a simple matter of pulling up stumps (a cricket term) and fucking off elsewhere, but I think you get my point; we don't have to tolerate the fuckassery, but so many sheeple do.
Sadly people don’t have the balls to do it. We did it with our credit card company this year. They wanted information they had no business in getting and I’ve been a customer of theirs for 10 years. They halted my card because I refused to give them the info so I said fuck you fine, I won’t use it and got a new one with another company. They can kiss my ass, I’m not afraid of your bullshit intimidation.
Totally random and side note though, I was cleaning today tossing some shit and I came across this old book series from when I was like 13 and you’ve been popular for decades man! Hail to the king! Lol. I'm not tossing this old relic, it's one of my favorite old series. My first exposure to cool fantasy books like Lord of the rings
Good on you for taking a stand, that's what it takes and if enough did it that would force the change.
It's always good to come across an old book from long ago...especially if it's something that has sparked an interest that still endures.
Ya I love old books. I brought it up because it said king Galen lol.
I love the smell of old books! I actually strangely remember vividly where I found this book, I wonder what the reason is for that in me in my life. It was in the attic of an old aunt I have, back when I was like 12 or 13. She had a bookcase and I was perusing the ones and saw this and took it home. I think I read it in a few days I enjoyed it so much lol I love that fantasy stuff, especially the old ones about heroic battles and wars against evil.
I saw that...I'm famous. It was also the name of a character in one of the Star Wars films, Galen Erso, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Of course, one of the apes in Planet of the Apes also shared the name, a less prestigious namesake. 😁
I hope you pass on the love of books (non digital) to your son E-dog. I think in times to come that appreciation will be rare and set a man apart in a good way.
I read him a book before bed every night, and the real paper ones. I hope he enjoys them as well, aside from me reading them. He’s not able to read just yet, on the right path but hasn’t been able to fully grasp it just yet but I make it a point for the last 5 years to read to him every night, I don’t know who enjoys it more him or I lol. I didn’t get read to as a kid and I enjoy being able to do that for the little dude.
That's a good start I think, I figure you'll help him acquire the right attributes. Those without them are going to struggle moving forward.
In UK they are bad also, and being born in a country where superfast internet was a given (the worst internet that I got 20 years ago was 10 times faster than the best in UK) is not helping much with my frustration. I got one of the best services in here, and for years the second place was far away from their performances, but in the last 2 years the others are catching up and I am happy to have more options.
Did you have Tesla satellite internet in your country? I heard that in some conditions is quite good, and not so expensive (I have no idea what is the AUD value these days).
That's disheartening, and I've heard the same from people in the States. My brother lives in Finland has has super-fast internet...I don't get why other first-world countries can't do the same.
We don't have Tesla satellite as far as I know, it certainly didn't come up in my searched recently anyway. I'm hoping this new provider is better, from all accounts they are.
$100AUD is 52GBP (today)
Starlink, owned by Elon?
Oh yeah, we have that. I hate Elon Musk though so he can fuck off.
Lol. :)
😜
I pay 40 GBP in here. TV and useless cable phone included.
40GBP - That's $76AUD.
I pay $99/m with this new group, that's just for the internet. I also pay $152/m for for pay TV plus then I pay for Netflix, Prime and Spotify...It gets costly. On top of that is my mobile phone at $89/m...Bloody expensive really.
So I should stop complain with unlimited calls and texts, all UK and Europe, for 17 GBP, and $76 AUD for media bundle - internet, tv, phone. Boy, we get it easy in here!
But then, a wage in here is only 1600 GBP per month, must be more in Australia.
The average wage here is about $68,000/y which is about £35,500.
The biggest telco in the country hasn't really gotten any better despite their very bestest efforts to try to convince us otherwise. The only reason we switched back to them was because we needed regional coverage otherwise we could have continued doing without them.
I guess that's the advantage to being slightly more techy, we're just like bye and thanks for all the fish if we're not getting what we want/need out of current provider XD
Hope the new service is a lot better :D
I know you know who I'm talking about and to be honest I think they've taken leaps and bounds backwards...but their charges are going up and up. I have my mobile phones with them and am happy with that service (not the customer service) and because I travel to regional areas a lot I am happy to stay, but for internet...nope.
I'm hoping the new provider is better and from what I gather they are. Time will tell the story though.
There are no changing providers here. We just went from bad to worse by changing. They are all terrible. They all lie about things, we promise you better service more... Lies! Slow speed, no speed, and ooops! No internet.
I was on the phone with a bot and put on hold, so I got in my car and drove to the business, stood in line, and reached a person before anyone took me off hold. This is appalling.
I thought Starlink would be the answer to my problems, but, he is playing the game of upping the price, the coverage blah, blah, blah.
I have no internet at the Shore House. I am not getting it either. This way, my service is just as good as the one I have here.
Yep, that's the risk I mentioned and I hope I don't have to
kill someonechange again...both of those options are on table though.It's interesting...they (whomever they are) push us online for everything and yet it's difficult to get a good internet connection...I wonder if it's done to get us hooked and upping plans and so forth so we're trapped into paying extortionate prices. Hmm...I better develop my kill someone plan a little further...it might just be the best option.
I'm just kidding though...or am I?
Edit: Oh, and yep, I'd have no internet if I could get away without it. In society (in my country and yours) that's not a reality though.
Well, I dont have it out there, the service is terrible surrounded by water. If I need something, I can find internet. Its rather freeing, but only if you don't need it.
I dislike that you must do things by internet, hooking up a cooking tool. No internet/wifi, no workie! I had to do all of my mom's things, older aunts... hello? They have taken away their independence. Some can do it, some can't. I won't make them stress over it.
No internet is not a possibility, but yet, we are living it. Go figure.
Yep, the older people probably suffer the most as it's all mumbo jumbo to them mostly, and they don't respond well to AI communication or being told by a 20 year old to, just go online when they can't get online in the first place.
Currently our Internet service is decent and have no complaints for the time being. So far the service has been acceptable. The cost I am starting to get iffy about. They have raised it by over $20 a month in the last couple of years with nothing to show for it. No improvement to infrastructure or service. I am not at a point the cost is making me look for a new provider yet, but it may be getting there if it goes up again. But I would hate do that, because I don't know what I might get for service with the next one.
I hope your service works out with the new provider. If not, you can always go cave man.
It's great that you have good service, the first person to comment that you have.
There's always risk in changing, I took one and hope it doesn't backfire on me but only time will tell. I think it'll be ok, I've done a lot of research and a couple people I know use them and are happy. Let's hope I am too or...WW3.
oh boy, they better have their shit together then. 😀
Internet service providers are a complete disaster all over. They use the same techniques airlines do, oversell, and react in the event there is an overflow issue.
In Spain, there are only a few companies that own the networks, and they close agreements with only distribution companies which resell the bandwidth services.
You basically share bandwidth with the rest of the customers so if you are lucky you may get a good service but if you happen to be partnering with "heavy users" you have a problem.
You can try to change companies hoping they have a different infrastructure if there is that option in the area you live but if not, you may encounter the same issues unless they guarantee you the service (some companies can prioritize some customers over others, similar to business/regular seats on airplanes) contracting a VPN.
Other options are Starlink satellite internet service, which at present is pretty good as it is not overloaded at all.
Good luck!
It seems like a very common issue around the world which is concerning considering the way everyone is pushed towards doing everything online. Still, people put up with it and so the companies get away with it.. This telco I mention that I'm moving away from...how would they go if everyone moved away from them? They'd be forced to do something right? Anyway, it won't happen.
I hope I have some luck with this new company, they're supposed to be very good. I'll find out next week.
I've heard a lot of complaints about the internet in Australia, mostly from my friends who moved to Australia. How does a country like Australia have such shitty service, while also costing so much?
Some Aussie gamers I know even mentioned that the closest AU servers are very laggy and not "playable". So a lot of them end up using VPN to shift to our regional servers. Crazy!
It's a lot of hassle for a service that should be readily available and stable too.
It's a bit weird from an affluent first-world country right? I'm hopeful that this company I'm moving to are much better, they are touted to be so let's see what happ ns next week when the modem turns up. If not...you might hear my war-cry from there because world war three is going to start.
Not really, but you get my point.
Definitely, and we used to think we have shitty internet over here. But to be honest, in the past 3 to 4 years our country's "internet game" has improved by 5x. For different areas there are many different service providers who have really upped their game.
Yet, we are still ranked quite low on the worldwide charts of Internet service and speeds. Which is quite an interesting fact, I thought we'd be ranked much higher. So, now I really wanna know how the top ranked internet services feel and how fast it can get over there.
Maybe not now, but someday...😂
Here's a snapshot of one of the main players with costs (in AUD) and speeds. Whether these speeds are consistently attainable is an unknown.
This second one is the largest telco in Australia...which is shite.
Note: These are home internet plans, not business ones, which differ.
The first one has the better offers I'd say. Even then, it seems that quite fortunately over here for the same speeds, we're paying half. Not sure about the service and all, but when comparing the speeds side by side, we're definitely paying much less.
Man, Australia needs to up their internet game, and they should start with lowering the price tags a bit. I think it's the lack of competition that leads to shitty service and high prices.
Over here 4 to 5 years ago not many providers were in the game, so we were paying double back then. Now there's just too many ISPs, and this competition between them gives us consumers the best deals and services. As they compete with one another, trying to rank up in the service provider ladder, we get cheaper and better internet.
There's plenty of competition in the internet provider space, multiple providers. Things are costly here, that's what the problem is, and the costs won't go down, just up.
Yup, that's slowly becoming the case here too. Prices dropped a lot at first, but we've hit the bottom here, so prices are now slowly beginning to increase.
I'm really happy about the change, you'll see it will be great... I hope so... you never know. But let's hope so, I'm optimistic!
If I have changed my internet service? Ufff many times haha
When I was in Argentina I had the most renowned company, the biggest .... a disaster. I was at that time 2008 studying graphic design, for which I needed internet all the time.... 10 hours a day I was without internet, I called and nobody solved anything. I was told not to change, because of the risk one faces, but fuck it! I went to the local company and stayed there for 10 years until I left Argentina.
Here another one .... reputable company ripped me off, I switched to the local one and I'm happy as a clam. By local I mean the one in the city, not the national ones. So far I've been with them for 2 years, it's going great and I'm always attended by a human being.
I can see you are angry .... because you are not served by a human but by an AI, it's true, that's what makes you angry, you can't send it to .... that place haha.
Everything will be fine, trust, I have it!
Why is it that the big companies are so bad at providing internet services?
Lol...this cracked me up...I don't think I've seen you swear before.
It's good you've found a decent service, I hope I have with this new one too...but, if it's not I'm going to do what you did, say fuck it, and change. Lol.
hahahahaha it escaped me hahaha I don't usually curse but that company made me angry, it didn't let me work, study, nothing!!!! It was chaos.
I curse... a few times and that's when I feel at home.
Well, if it doesn't turn out to change again, he who seeks will find and you will find him!
I have high hopes that this new company will work out and if not...I'll threaten them, tell them Amonet will swear at them on my behalf.
No problem, I've worked in an internet company.... I know what the environment is like hahaha.
i think we all have been there when you wanna a nude ISP I had my moment with them a few days ago I had slow internet and with frequent disconnecting they said they fixed it but they fu**** not
It's so frustrating and even more when we pay solid money for a service and then don't get it. I was angry enough to change service provider, I hope I've not made an error. Time will reveal the answer.
I also did in the past but after fucking shooting modem with a birdshot and email them video
Lol.
A lot of folks here are switching to
SkynetStarlink to escape bad internet. Rural areas like mine are lucky to get DSL via ancient copper phone lines even though some of the region has dark fiber optic lines that were buried 20 years ago. People move here and then consume the bandwidth like they're in San Francisco, wondering why Netflix is choppy. It's the same bastards who fear the dark and illuminate their yards all night with airport-grade spotlights so I can't see the aurora borealis anymore thanks to their light pollution, I tells ya!Lol, Skynet.
We have it here but it's not as widespread and I'm not much of a fan of Elon Muskrat.
Nice little rant, I mean that. I'm from a small rural town, originally, and living on the city fringe now, about 15km from the CBD...well, I know where I'd rather be, The sad thing though, is that my little rural town isn't as little anymore.
In Indiana in the States, the internet kind of sucks. We have two big companies that control everything so they don't feel the need to improve things and just keep raising the prices while decreasing what they offer. Everyone I know is constantly complaining about it.
Luckily here in Japan it's pretty good. Low price, around the equal of $20, for unlimited data and a faster speed than $100 would buy me in Indiana. From what I read Japan and Korea are currently tops in the world for Internet access and prices. I hope it stays this way.
It's interesting to see that the States is not very good at providing internet services, same as here. I think the UK is the same; all first-world countries. It's weird and I don't know what they're playing at, although they're playing us for fools clearly. You're lucky to have a good service and I'm hoping that I'll be able to say the same when this new one comes on-line next week.
I think these corporations all are getting too big and powerful. World wide, we gotta get them under control before they get even worse. I'm sure you know that prewar Japan had the same problem, so I wouldn't be surprised if it shows up here again before too long.
At any rate, good luck to you. I hope your new one is better.
My latest wi-fi issue struck yesterday...
Literally ⚡ STRUCK ⚡ By Lightning Bro!
Lightning Damaged Zipper Tree
Fuuuuuuk my life. Hey least I was not standing nearby right?
That tree is only about 75 feet from where my security cams DVR resides in the garage. And about the same distance to the buried ethernet cable to that detached workshop/garage.
Distance to Mancave 75'
I was standing at the kitchen sink washing the wood pellet grill grates prepping for a steak BBQ. I saw the flash and felt the concussion. I have seen many strikes up close. So startling but not that exciting at this point. The proximity was alarming. Closest one to the house/garage so far. Last zipper tree was 100' or so.
DVR survived and is still recording. I will pull the strike footage when I get connection again. Hopefully more than just a rlash if one of the cams caught it. Out trukkin' today so maybe Tuesday I can have my onsite tech trouble shoot it?
Photo of my Tech Support Guy
My onsite tech guy is a real asshole. Full time trucker, part time (i.t.) Zero time a.i. He speaks mostly english slang, Pensyl-Tucky dialect. But understandable for the most part. He is a little slow physically and mentally but tells good jokes... So he ( I ) will get around to fixing it. Hopefully just fried one of the protectors on either end of the ethernet cable.
Oh wow, that could have been bad, had it struck you on the fucken noggin. Or...might have overclocked your CPU and had you operating at greater speeds and effectiveness. Probably best not to get that out though.
I hope the footage turns up something interesting.
I got my new service today. Seems fast and so far stable. I've had communication from the provider, phone, text and email to welcome me and check the service and that's pretty damned good. I'll be terminating the old one tomorrow. Yay!