Fiber Optic → Why do Mstar / Prime time communications suck so much?

I have been a Mstar customer for a few years now and I don't think I have ever been pleased by them or their product. This week they made it more apparent they don't know what they are doing.

MstarMetro was acquired by PrimeTime Communications in the last little bit and so my service is changing. Mstar/PT have been calling my house for the last little while to setup an appointment to come switch out our current iptv STB's and we finally responded to them and setup a time.

So we had out Amino dvr STB switched out for the Aminet 530 on April 30th. So far I am not impressed and if somethings can't be changed I will drop Mstar and go to the dish.

Our old amino DVR (not sure the model) could record one channel while watching and pausing another, the 530 apparently does not do this. I have looked for settings to change it but have not found anything. They didnt give us a manual and nothing worth while can be found online.

The picture on some channels is pixelated off and on. Also some channels audio and video are not synced always.

Also with the switch to primetime we lost channels I think. The only one that I have noticed so far is G4tv. If this is what is to come, I will be canceling shortly.

Any other mstar customers in the same boat as me?

I'm not surprised since it was a rather hasty swap necessitated by being cut off from the iProvo headend. And yeah, MSTAR has had video issues for a very long time. I'd say give Prime Time a chance to fix the issues and if they don't, hang tight for UTOPIA's new video product. They're going to allow any SP to sell video as early as this week.

Hey Jesse I was the one that sent you the 403 error thing about your website.

I think this problem is a mstar/PT problem with them limiting the capabilities of the aminet530. I found a product information pdf for it (»www.aminocom.com/files/n ··· T530.pdf) and it says you can "Record multiple channels simultaneously". There is no way to do it as a consumer. Very annoying to say the least.

I am going to call them today and see whats going on.

Called the customer support. Level 1 tech had no clue. Forwarded it to the level 2 tech who is supposed to call me back.

I'm so not impressed either! We had our boxes changed out last Wed (5 days ago). The technician didn't have the "codes" to activate the new boxes and said he'd have someone call us with them. On Thurs my husband called & talked to someone and was given the wrong codes (another subscriber name came up) so the guy on the phone said he'd call back.

Friday we get a follow-up call to see how the installation went - still have no signal because the other guy never called back. He says he's never seen such poor customer service. LOL So, he'll have a supervisor come out on Saturday. Well, he did and said the first technician did it wrong and burned out 2 of the new boxes. He was able to get 2 boxes working, but not the 3rd because the 1st guy took the coax converter.

So, we have an appointment for today at 6:15. As of 6:55, still no technician. Now after being on hold for 20 min, the guy can't tell me much, but is willing to transfer me to the sales dept if I want to cancel my account - are you kidding me?!

Well no phone call from "level 2" tech. Video tonight is choppy and pixelated. I know I should be let the migration go into full effect before I jump ship, but why?

I was not thrilled with my service before but it worked. Now my service sucks! My DVR is worthless, I might as well breakout the vcr, that would let me record one channel and watch another. I love the fact that I know more about the STB then the tech I talked to.

These guys have till friday at the most.

While the Amino 530 may be capable of recording more than a single channel, this feature may not yet be implemented by the current release of the middleware (Minerva) that Prime Time has deployed. Middleware features seem to severly lag the set top manufacturer's capabilities (i.e. whole home video).

In initial trials of the Amino 130 and 530, many of the problems of the earlier boxes (Amino 120, 500) were fixed or improved, but the Aminos still underperformed in tests with other IPTV STBs. A bit disappointing that Prime Time has chosen to deploy more Aminos.

They told us that they know they have problems but their priority right now is to get everyone switched over, then they'll fix the quality. Ni-ice . . .

So I decided to give them a call and ask about the issue. The person I talked to today said that the "level 2 tech" is apparently the same people out in the field installing the boxes. I wasn't home when it was "installed" but my wife didn't speak highly of the person that "installed" the STB.

I quote the "installed" because all they did was unplug the old box and put the new one in place. If this is the guy I am waiting for to tell me more information, I am screwed. Might as well cancel now.

When I called the CSR told me that they have no information on the new STB. That they should in the next few weeks. Watching tv last night was painful. Video was stuttering and audio didn't always sync.

I have been searching on which is better dish network or direct tv. I would much rather go through them at this point. I will give "level 2" a chance before the cancellation.

We have been having the same issues and are thinking of switching to a different service. Unless they get their act together.

Still no contact from them. This is getting old quick.

So I decided to call them back again today(one week out)

Explain the situation to the level 1 tech. He puts me on hold while he talks to someone else. Comes back after 7 minutes of hold and tells me that he doesn't have anymore information then I got the first time. He then states he will put in another ticket to have a level 2 tech call me. I asked him about who the level 2 techs are, he says that they are in a different building and not the installation guys. Which is good because the installation guy would have no clue. Can I be transferred? Can you give me a direct number? Nope...

The thing is I have been to the Mstar office before and it is all in one building and one floor of an office in Provo. So unless the level 2 techs are with primetime communication I have been lied to again.

I would just cancel and move on but I dont want that hassle yet, but I am getting close. On Sunday I was taking a nap on the couch while my kids were watching a movie on cartoon network. I had previously setup the DVR to auto record the series House and apparently on Sunday there was a House marathon. So while I am sleeping it auto changes to an episode of House to start recording it. My son wakes me up to switch it back to the movie. For anyone that has watched House you would know that the first 2 minutes of the show is where a lot of the action happens and is typically pretty graphic. Which not a big deal for me but when I sat up to look and change the channel there was a scene from house on right then with an accident and some guys brain was exposed, Great. Not something I would show to my 4 and 6 year old. I quickly changed it back and canceled the recording of the series.

This is sooooooo lame.

So if anyone has a number for direct access to the "level 2" tech at Mstar let me know.

So I decided to see if PrimeTime Communications customer support could help me instead of Mstar. I called them just now and they said that it is probably a faulty set top box. They scheduled me to have the box switched out on Wednesday.

They sounded a lot more informed then Mstar. I will update after the switch on Wednesday.

That sounds just like Mstar. Remember how badly they handled the sale of their customers to Broadweave? The emergency phone transition, the missing mailboxes, the busted VOD... It's their final act of screwing up.

To their credit, Prime Time has been in contact with me regularly to make sure that I'm not hearing grumbling that they aren't and I pointed them to this forum. I think they have an honest desire to make things right, even if the execution hasn't been perfect.

Well apparently PrimeTime has no idea either. The installation guy met me this afternoon. I told him the problem and he told me that switching out the box would not fix the problem and that they are aware of the problem.

Well looks like cancelation is my only option.

Lame.

Jesse - I really dont think anyone from Mstar or PrimeTime has seen this thread. I love that when you search for "mstarmetro" on google my other thread about PTP throttling shows up in the top 3. Hopefully this will get up there as well.

Well apparently Prime Time pays more attention to their new blog then to the people calling their customer service line.

I made one last attempt to contact them via the newly posted blog site »primetimecommunications. ··· ess.com/ (Which I found thanks to Jesse's website »www.FreeUTOPIA.org/ ).

Apparently they can turn on the feature remotely (what I have guessed all along). So if your having the same issue as me you can get them to turn on a feature that should have been on in the first place.

»primetimecommunications. ··· ce-news/

I havnt tested this yet as I am at work. I will post tonight if it is fixed. Still not sure that I want to remain their customer.

I am amazed it actually works. Still not sure if I should be happy or pissed off.

After almost a month, at least 10 phone calls, 1 service visit and all it took was a post to the company blog.

I hope that this thread can help someone else as well.