What a real ISP should be like?

[Snoopdog608]

I would like to find out what everyone's perception of a real ISP would be?

For instance, do you think that we should know the Technical staff all by name? Should we as customers be on a first name basis with the management of our ISP?

These are simple questions but very important to establish what we believe is a good ISP or service provider.

Please post your comments and ideas. This will help not only our forum or section of the MY ADSL forums, but it applies to all services in the IT industry.

My personal opinion is that a service should work invisibly, it's customers should not have to engage in any kind of personal relations with management or it's technical staff. And should only be contacted in emergencies, or when you are having technical difficulties which you cannot solve.

You expect that the company you are dealing with conducts itself in a proffesional manner, and not become personally involved with its customers.

So far, I have seen a lot of personal engagements by not only forumites, but also people that represent the Service we are paying for.

Please post your opinions, but make sure you are proffesional and conduct yourself in that manner. Forumites as well, this forum was established to relay our experiences with our various ISP's and services, and to try and resolve and create a community where we can get things resolved.

An excellent example of this is the current ICASA hearings that are taking place over the course of a couple of days.

Please, post only what you would think is the role of an ISP.

 

[native]

Snoop, trying calling the iBurst helpdesk and see if you can get a straight answer from the helpdesk agents who are supposed to be the frontline support but you will be lucky if you get a direct answer.

I dont think users should interact with senior technician if everything is in place.

 

[ic]

I think the bigger a company is, the less transparent it will be with its customers - regardless of whether it is an ISP or some other business. What is clear to me though is the reason we know all the names of WBS' helpdesk agents is simply bcos there are soooo few of them, i.e. WBS needs to employ more people to handle the workload at times like last week when a serious problem starts.

It is also clear to me that with only 6 helpdesk agents (unless some names have not been listed), 7 in fact if you include Dylan the Helpdesk Manager, there is absolutely no way that WBS can provide 24*7 support at this point in time.

Coming back to the topic of this thread, like I say it's an issue of us customers being able to cast a hairy eyeball in WBS' direction & to see what is there to be seen, I assume that when there are more customers and WBS grows larger, there will be less transparency - that's how companies work.

Until that happens, I suggest that as consumers and customers, we are actually at an advantage - we get to observe that which we would not otherwise be able to observe .

 

[DFantom]

do you think that we should know the Technical staff all by name?

I should not have to spend that much time with them to know them by name

Should we as customers be on a first name basis with the management of our ISP?

Um, no. Once again you should not be having to deal with management. It should work.

My personal opinion is that a service should work invisibly, it's customers should not have to engage in any kind of personal relations with management or it's technical staff. And should only be contacted in emergencies, or when you are having technical difficulties which you cannot solve.

Lovely dream, and I share it with you. The real world is different though

Please, post only what you would think is the role of an ISP.

An ISP should provide the service it is paid for. Anything else like being open and honest (see www.cluetrain.com) or extra services or staff posting on forums is a bonus. But at the end of the day it's business.

 

[Crash]

I have always got a direct answer from the support desk. You just need to ask the right questions.

 

[Darth Garth]

My ideal ISP would be one where I would never need to call their helpdesk as they should be proactive enough and resolve any technical issues before it impacts me as a customer (making sure there is enough bandwidth etc ...).

Yep some things are beyond their control but they should acknowledge the exact nature of the problem (no lies like a mysterious virus on the network) and give a reasonable estimate on how long the service will be impacted (no WBS style by Monday ... uhhh maybe next week ... okay definitely Friday).

 

[Gatecrasher]

If there is a problem with any service I am paying for, I want to know why, what is being done to fix it, and I want an ETA of when it will be fixed.

Helpdesk responses have been vague and contradictory. WBS has not even acknowledged that there is a probem on their incident page.

It is this kind of vacuum that has made us all aware of who's who at WBS. Simply because, as users, we want answers.

If there had been timeous, clear, distinct communications with their clients when problem arise, the WBS organisational chart would have remained a mystery to us.

Reputational risk should be the principal concern of any company dealing with the public, and yet WBS does not appear to have anyone responsible for PR, just a hodge podge of shadowy characters, principal of which is Shaun Green. They desperately need an official spokesperson/press officer giving us the official take on any problems that arise.

While I'm sure they are all working their butts off, that's just not good enough. That's not what we need to know. What we, as users, need is clear, direct, official communication addressing the way forward. And that is completely ellusive right now.

 

[guest2013-1]

Okay, my perception :

An ISP should keep to being an ISP and not the provider as well.

Okay, I see a bunch of confused people, so let me try and explain in the best way I can....

Internet Service Providers should supply you with internet connectivity and bandwidth. This is totally seperate from the actual means of connecting to such a service by means of wireless modem/cable/satelite.

The ISP in question should keep it's business focussed by supplying the actual internet connectivity portion as a service.

Now, this is where the lines get blurred for providers such as WBS and Sentech, because not only are they the ISP's, the rollout their own infrastructure for you TO connect to their service. Most of them focus too much on their network infrastructure that they forget their main core of business is supplying it's consumers with the INTERNET.

So, if WBS wants to learn, I'd say split iBurst into two seperate portions, 1 being the network infrastructure and physical layout of your towers etc, and the other being your internet service provision to the consumers.

If those are split correctly, you could have Internet solutions/UUNET/SAIX resell iburst without having to worry about going through a specific set allowance of bandwidth that they're just buying and reselling.

IS/UUNET/SAIX/MWEB etc would therefor concentrate on what they do best, be an ISP (providing internet service and bandwidth to their consumers) whilst WBS would basically be like Telkom, providing the means TO connect to the service by way of wirelessnessnessness (whereas Telkom has physical phonelines...)

You would then have a choice as to who your backbone internet SERVICE provider would be, and not care HOW you connect to it.

I think this is the major flaw of all wireless ventures today. They try to be an "all in one" company, rather than specializing in getting their network 110%.

This said, the reason why I feel like this is with the recent developments of ADSL choice, all you can eat, uunet uncapped etc etc etc. Basically, Telkom provides the physical means to connect to the INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER of your choice. That way you can look for the best service provider without having to cancel your "wbs line" etc etc etc

 

[BicPen]

Right on Noone!!!
We need more options to chose from!!
I for one would like to choose my own shaping features. For example : I would like unshaped P2P, but don't mind slow browsing. So i would prefer my browsing restricted to 64k and not adding to my cap, so my bandwidth is used more efficiently.

Would anyone sign up if i started a service like that?

 

[Gatecrasher]

You would then have a choice as to who your backbone internet SERVICE provider would be, and not care HOW you connect to it.

Good post. So for example, you could get your Iburst technology from MWeb with whatever packages MWeb might offer, and then keep all the benefits of a large ISP, like 24hr support, email, web hosting etc. Then WBS would have to answer to ISPs rather than Joe Public. That's probably what they would have been much better geared for than the current PR shambles.

 

[guest2013-1]

Yes, and if you decide to cancel your Mweb subscription and take on a SAIX subscription, you keep the iBurst modem like it is, and only switch providers. It's like cellphones (that aren't locked onto a specific provider), if you choose Cell-C above MTN, you just switch, you don't have to give your cellphone in or buy a new one...

The cellphone is just a means to connect TO a service, that service could change, but your cellphone stays the same...

 

[tsruBi]

To become a “Premium iBurst Partner” with WBS, they require you to sink R250000.00 into their UTD’s. [bridges] You then can package iBurst with your own services, eg mail, web hosting etc plus you do your own billing and support.

As an ISP would you want to associate your good name with WBS [or Sentech] with their unstable service and poor internal administration? Not me!

 

[ic]

To become a “Premium iBurst Partner” with WBS, they require you to sink R250000.00 into their UTD’s...

ROFL - that has to be the joke of the day - no wait - Telkomonopoly was the joke of the day, but this R250K has to be a close second !!!

 

[guest2013-1]

Dude, if I would be able to use their technology with my own ISP servers (authentication and bandwidth) I would jump at the chance, but because iburst is both the provider of the service AND connection, I won't trust someone else with something that would be out of my power to handle when the **** hits the fan.

I'd wait at least 3 years before even thinking going that route, to see what the industry has in store for us.

 

[DFantom]

To become a “Premium iBurst Partner” with WBS, they require you to sink R250000.00 into their UTD’s.

And this is surprising how? To be a VISP with SAIX or IS you need a diginet line to them of a min size. It's the norm.

 

[guest2013-1]

What minimum line? Don't you just resell their pops?

 

[jmn]

SAIX: The last that I knew of you needed a 64kbps Diginet and had to provide mail server

Edit: About R6000-00 / month for 64kbps local and 16 kbps international