TDSOldTimer
@tds.net
| Service example / Off the record info
I've had TDS for as long as they were available in the Madison area. I really disliked ameritech when I had it. Well TDS has always been great but during the past year they have gotten terrible in both speed and service.
As an example I had speed issues about 4 months ago. Never before had them, (btw. I saw an ATT service van 2 houses down from be right before I started having problems.) Well, I call TDS and get them on the phone and explain that my download speeds have been intermitantly slow to under a meg.
we do some speed tests and I get around 700+ upload speeds and my problematic 1mb download speed. He says this cant be and starts asking how I'm getting the 700+ download speed. I tell him my package had that speed. He says I've never heard of that ever being offered. I said I have been long time customer.
Long story story short. TDS never put much effort into fixing my 1mb download issues but they graciously downgraded my upload to 512mb without telling me they were doing it. When I called back about both issues I get "We've never offered 768mb upload speeds. The TDS technician tested your lines and your lines only can support 2mb download now due to line degredation so we downgraded you to 2mb. (Even though they still charged me for the 4mb speed and NEVER told me they downgraded either speed..) I ask them to reset me back to the to the 4mb speed and they did it but I still have problems and have slower upload speed.
On a side note I heard from a TDS tech off the record that they are out of bandwidth and don't plan on purchasing more. This is why everyone is having performance issues.
The technicians deal with bandwidth issues this way now. When someone calls they set the customers rate at a higher priority for the next few days. Then it downgrades the speed priority back down. Hoping the customer has done their testing by then.
Basically TDS doessn't care about it's customers anymore so don't expect much. They are in it for the money now. JUst an example of the things to come as the economy gets worse. Thanks Mr. Bush.... |
|
TDSOldTImer
@tds.net | I am referring to my 700k upload speed in my above post and not 700k download speed. |
|
TDSOldTimer
@tds.net | reply to TDSOldTimer
I am referring to 700+ upload speeds in the above post and not download |
|
novafire
join:2005-06-20
Madison, WI | I, too, have had a tech tell me that TDS is out of bandwidth now that they are rolling out their 10Mbps service. My 10Mbps service from them has been troublesome for several months now. |
|
n9ae
join:2008-05-16
Madison, WI
| reply to TDSOldTimer
Over the 8 plus years of DSL service with TDS I saw a slow but steady degradation of service. Because I'm close to 18,000 feet from the Black Oak switch it was understood your service would be somewhat marginal. My download speed was capped at 784K which was the only way to get consistent service however every so often someone would remove the bandwidth cap. I could then get close to 1.5 Mpbs but eventually the connection would crash. Messing around with the bandwidth caps seems to be something they do with no real purpose.
I'm curious about what the tech met by not purchasing more bandwidth. I can only imagine he or she was referring to something like leasing facilities from ATT's aging infrastructure. I can't imagine in my wildest nightmare that any ISP would make a statement like that regarding Internet transit. You have to assume doubling transit every couple of years.
The ultimate solution if it's available is to switch to WiMAX. I've outlined the 5 month saga I went through to get the service in other posts and in the long run all the frustration was worth it. The price is very reasonable. Remember with WiMAX TDS does not have to pay ATT for use of their facilities so it's a bargin for everyone.
Of course I've been trying to upgrade my WiMAX service from 4 to 6 Mpbs sense July 2. They can't seem to get their administrative paper work completed so the upgrade order can be placed. It seems like even the simplest things are made difficult.
|
|
novafire
join:2005-06-20
Madison, WI | What is the latency like on WiMAX? I play a lot of games online and I have used a Wireless service back in Sheboygan county at my parents house, it is touch and go sometimes -- very "bursty" traffic it seems. |
|
n9ae
join:2008-05-16
Madison, WI
| reply to TDSOldTimer
I have not noticed any latency problems but I don't do gaming so I may have not noticed it. I check my download and upload speeds frequently because I'm STILL after 2 1/2 weeks waiting for TDS to type in one command that will bump my bandwidth cap from 4 to 6 meg. The throughput is very consistent.
My parents also live in Sheboygan. Who is the WiMAX provider? My family would be interested. |
|
novafire
join:2005-06-20
Madison, WI
| Well, I am not sure what TDS did, but I have been able to stay connected for 3 days now. I am hoping that it stays this way and does not degrade into madness again.
My parents have ExcelNet for their wireless service. www.excel.net
It is pretty pricey if you get up into the speeds around 1Mbps, (ya, 1Mbps is the fastest they offer), but for $25/month for the 256, it still beats dialup when you live out in the middle of the country. |
|
n9ae
join:2008-05-16
Madison, WI
| reply to TDSOldTimer
I looked at ExcelNet's website. They don't describe the technology used but at such slow speeds I think it's safe to say it's not likely to be WiMAX. It also looks like they don't support voice. I don't think it's comparable to the TDS wireless offering.
I finally have my upgrade to 6 Mbps and it's working just fine. I do notice I generally get a download speed of somewhere between 5.3 and 5.8 Mbps sometimes a bit less during peak usage times. I attribute this to congestion on the TDS backbone and I assume they will remedy this as they ad more customers. It's a good product and you can save some money. |
|
