ISPs say their “excellent customer service” is why users don’t switch providers

submitted 2 weeks ago by StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/11/isps-say-th…

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28 Comments

LOL!!

I moved somewhere, where the local government owns the majority share of the teleco that provides the Internet in the area. 30% ownership is co-op, which leaves something like 15% that's private interest. The ISP runs amazing, 1Gbps fiber to the house for $45/mo and the co-op just forwarded a motion to the local government for consideration to upgrade to 10Gbps.

I moved here from a place that was a Comcast monopoly zone that gave max 350Mbps for $70/mo.

In a better society the CEOs of AT&T and Comcast would have already been dragged out into the street, long before we got to this point.

2 weeks ago

Yeah, I have 1.2 Gbps from Comcast for $80, plus another $30 for unlimited data, so $110 total. Upload is still only 35 Mbps. It's ridiculous but there's no other options.

Fiber or cable? ISPs are total dicks, but with cable they at least *have* the excuse that the asymmetry is a consequence of the technology.

2 weeks ago

Cable. We have DOCSIS 3.1, which supports 10Gbps down and 1Gbps up. 35 Mbps up on a DOCSIS 3.1 network is atrocious.

2 weeks ago, edited 2 weeks ago

For 35 up, if it were an actual limitation and not entirely artificial, I would have guessed 3.0 with a 2-channel bond and some terrible noise. But on DOCSIS *3.1* that excuse goes out the window, and yeah, that's absolutely atrocious.

2 weeks ago

them: "excellent customer service"

us: *compared to what?*

them: our competitors

us: *what competitors?*

them:

The hell kinda autofellatio is this. "Excellent service"? The only Excellent Service ISPs provide is to each other by allowing non-compete fiefdoms to continue

2 weeks ago

Is this what the kids call delulu?

I don't know. I'm 41. Is "delulu" french for "trolling asshole"? Because if these CEOs are trying to claim they have anything besides abysmal customer service, predatory pricing, and monopolistic business practices, then they're absolutely trolling.

They know what they are. It's intentional.

Just from the context I think it's just a cutesy way of saying "delusional."

2 weeks ago

A.k.a. delusional

2 weeks ago

I think it's French for "enjoying the scent of their own farts".

This is just too unrealistic for it to have been the onion

2 weeks ago, edited 2 weeks ago

There are large departments within large for-profit companies whose entire raison d'être is to lie to the public to make the large company seem better than it actually is.

See: marketing and public relations

Why would anyone ever trust what's said by a company's own staff who are paid by the company to say things good about the company

Now that's just rubbing it in our faces.

I gotta wonder if they're purposely saying this sht just to piss us off

2 weeks ago

I don't have any other comparable options, but I've tried

That's not a coincidence.

2 weeks ago

That’s a hilarious joke. They should do stand up.

True for me in Europe. Called cause my upload speeds were dog shit all of a sudden. They just told me thats not normal, we’ll send an engineer the tomorrow (2 hour window, with text message letting me know when he was about to arrive). He immediately identified the problem as the cable coming into the house, fixed it for free, and even gave me some tips to optimize my internal network.

I have a local fiber group (just my city, maybe a few neighboring ones) and it's killer. 500 symmetric for 50 a month, no caps, instant support to somebody local (minus the odd 3 am calls those might get bounced to a pretty high quality over seas group, but that's not a big window), no contract and knowledgeable staff. Meanwhile my last cable Internet was Comcast and I think I'd rather swallow glass then willingly give them business

That and the fact that there is nothing else available.

um. no? it's their regional monopolies

2 weeks ago

I live in rural NM. When I moved here we had Verizon home internet (cellular, with a data cap), centurylink (you are lucky if you get 3mpbs), and a line of sight wireless provider. The wireless was more expensive than CL, but more reliable and faster.

Then TDS fiber came to town, much better price, way better speeds, non existent customer service.

It is so bad I am considering going back to the wireless provider.

The one time I ever had an outage on my municipal fiber ISP 8 years ago, shortly after install, was just that the installers misaligned the fiber in the port outside. At 4 or so in the morning, I randomly woke up (I think I *sensed* the internet went out) and Internet was dead for an hour or so.

Next morning, 11am, city truck rolls up, fixes the fiber, and leaves. I never filed a ticket or anything. Hasn't blinked since. I asked them how that worked. They said, the low light was alerted on their end and a service ticket was auto-generated.

Early on, Netflix (back when it was worth paying for) wasn't working one day on the fiber, since we had recently migrated from DSL with 800kbps uplink that would starve out voice calls while browsing TV for a show. I assumed it was the muni ISP. No, it was Netflix themselves, for everyone.

It's weird having Internet as a utility, as it should be. It just always exists and works.

2 weeks ago

True in Quebec Canada, we basically have 2 ISPs, Bell (horrible service from india, always ranked #1 worst company) and Videotron, top notch service from local people.

I had something cogent to say when I saw this yesterday. Now I'm hammered so......

Hahahahahahaha

😂