I am going off topic today thanks to my satellite company deciding to cut me off
for a 24 hour period yesterday. Since this was my first experience with paying
hard earned money to be unjustly punished, pardon me while I rave on!
Yesterday morning, I poured my first cup of coffee, posted my article and went
back to correct something when I received the deadly web acceleration error.
Since I had not rebooted my laptop or reset the modem in a while, I cold booted
both of them. Everything lit up like a charm. I tried accessing the internet
and again received the web acceleration error. So, Stupid me, decided to call
customer support to find out the nature of the problem.
The phone rang and was answered on the other end of the world, I knew I was in
trouble. Of course, the customer support call center is located in a new millennium
sweat shop. Where the big corporations have “relocated” the jobs of the truly
professional customer service and support teams to the most impoverished areas
of the planet. Why not? The monthly pay scale there equates to a half day’s
pay here (maybe). And those folks are happy to get it. I would be. How altruistic
of the big corporations. These folks are given three weeks of training where they
learn every spoken language on the face of the Earth, given a SOP (Standard
Operating Procedures), a phone, table, PC, and a chair with a wheel and pedals
attached to generate the electricity for the PC. EVERYTHING by the book. There
are no gray areas and should you ask a question, and it is not on their list, you
are SOL. Should you want to go up the ladder to management, the same process.
You cannot get to Level II or III support unless you go through their process.
Once you go through the process, you find yourself caught in a loop, “deja vu all
over again”! I truly believe they have a directive that NO calls get through
unless it is an actual dish issue! Especially cases like mine.
Oh, I forgot to tell you the good part! They hit me with a Fair Access Policy
Threshold exceeded or FAP! This is an arbitrary tag that I and many others were
never advised of when we signed up for this service! When you get this tag, you
are shut down for 24 hours to the speed of 28 kbps or less, worse than dial-up!
What can sneak through on this speed? Email, and it struggles to get through,
wheezing and breathless on arrival!
Some activities are more likely to exceed the download threshold and trigger the
application of the Fair Access Policy. Several examples are listed below:
1. Full-length movie downloads
2. Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs such as Napster, Kazaa or
LimeWire
3. Continuous downloading or viewing streaming media content such as audio
or video programming
4. Hosting of server devices such as email, FTP or Web servers
5. Hosting computer applications such as Web camera feeds
6. Automated computer to computer connections used for archiving of local
computer content
7. Extensive downloading of Usenet Newsgroups (NNTP)
8. Use of Bit Torrent applications
9. Simultaneous file downloads
10. Downloading large files (i.e., file sizes that are close in size to the
download threshold of our service plan) Excessive downloading or use of
the services described above may cause subscribers to be affected by the
Fair Access Policy, or in severe cases, to be terminated from the service.
What did I do to deserve this tag? As God as my witness, absolutely none of the
above! Who in the hell knows! Could I talk to anybody who, one: could explain
this to me, and two: I could defend myself from such actions? NO. I was denied
access to management, higher level support, and totally blocked from seeking
further assistance. I was made to feel that I had been accused, tried, convicted
and sentenced!
I could see getting the tag if I was downloading videos, music or many pdf files.
But I am not doing that! I read blogs, visit sites, and read more blogs! Does
accessing a blog constitute a download? I don’t think so! They willy nilly,
arbitrarily hit users with this tag to either free up the traffic they have or
relieve the load by trying not to put up another satellite, or buy more space or
existing satellites due to the expense. But my goodness, gracious, they get
$70.00/month for the service they are suppose to provide me which is the highest
they offer and now I hear I get to have this type of fun (24 hour penalty) at
least once a month or more!
Being totally frustrated (grrrrrr.. factor times 100), I decided to check out my
options and do some due diligence. Being in a rural area, my choices are slim.
The other satellite company is invoking the same FAP tags, the DSL lines are not
ready to come down my road for another year or two or ten, and it just leaves me
where I am today. The dialup option is just not feasible for me. UGH! Road
Runner, how I cry for thee!
So it is time to name the Company………… hughesnet
They do not get the proper etiquette of spelling or capitalization cause at
this point, as far as I am concerned, they are rip-off artists to the rural
communities across the United States.
Now for the clincher! I was advised to HANDWRITE a letter to the CEO of
hughesnet and snail mail it to him. Of course, they could not provide his
name, address or phone number. So, I will be sending him a letter and
spending 47 cents on a stamp to get it to him!
It’s companies like this who have transformed the meaning of customer
satisfaction into an oxymoron!
If anyone out there has a better idea for access to the internet in very
rural areas, besides the options I have laid out above, PLEASE, PLEASE feel
free to let me know!
This post has been revised 7 times to give you a hint of my exasperation.
