US Cable Support > Time Warner Internet Services > [TWC] Question about *planned* maintenance outages

[TWC] Question about *planned* maintenance outages

The type of service you're after is why businesses spend high dollar amounts on slow T1s. Since you claim lives depend on your connection, you need a professional service with an SLA.

If you don't want to spend that much, I'd get both DSL and cable so I had a way to failover in the event that one went down.

In my opinion, cable networks do not have a good topology for high availability. There's a lot of active technology between you and the cable plant. If any of it goes awry or needs maintenance, you're going to go down. At least with xDSL you're usually on some dedicated equipment and lines back to the CO. The phone companies have a longer history of providing mission critical services.

For what it's worth, I'm not a big fan of SLA'd services. Some of the most unreliable connectivity I've used has had an SLA attached to it, while the small business offices that got the $30 DSL special seemed to always chug away without issue. It was never worth our while to try and prove that the SLA was not met to get some measly credit. But, going back to your specific question about maintenance alerts, that's the one thing I can say they were good at.

I'm giving a lot of opinion here, you'll have to weigh the cost and options to figure out what's best for you.

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AT&T U-Hearse - RIP Unlimited Internet 1995-2011
Rethink Billable.

reply to NC_TWC
Most of the maintenance usually happens from 2am-5am and its usually intermin connections. Complete outages are rare and are only about 20 min unless something goes wrong. I would get some sort of 3g/4g connection as a back up if lives are at risk. Net zero has a new plan where you can get 200MB free for a month which would be great for temp connections. The only thing you need to pay for is the hotspot and $10 a month or so if you go over the 200MB.

reply to NC_TWC

Thanks for everyone's reply, I really appreciate them. Not sure about the ego comment -- if the interface engine goes down (the system that transmits patient data to/from every other system), that means no patient data gets transmitted *anywhere* -- no demographics, no orders, no results, no ECGs... We have an off-site ICU monitoring service that backs up our in-house ICU as well -- no data to them, no monitoring. This is why the panic situation on my part. If I've as much as temporarily stopped the engine services and then the plug is pulled on internet before I can get it restarted ... it's a huge problem. And the unexpected outages with CenturyLink are frequent enough to be alarming in my situation.

I do have a backup 3G card from Sprint. The one and only time I've used it, it took 30 minutes to get everything up and running -- about the same amount of time it would take for me to drive in and have a stable connection. And then it was way slower than the old dial-up. With hundreds of connections on the interface engine, it just doesn't work. I have to scroll around just to see all the connections, and whenever I would scroll using that card it would take minutes to refresh the screen each time.

I guess really, all I would need is a maintenance schedule posted on a webpage somewhere so that before I logged into my work I could see whether or not an outage was planned. I could live with a day+ in advance for "really" planned outages, or even just a few minutes ahead for emergency outages.

From reading further reviews of customer reviews, complaints, etc, I guess even this kind of notification is too much to expect of an ISP -- the business won't support the urgency of the actual needs some have even for residential internet service. Unfortunately, I really can't afford a secondary ISP or an expensive line as a backup (though the NetZero idea might work, so I'll definitely look into that).

I'm going to find out what the consultants do in my line of work who have to rely on their internet connections ... although maybe they can afford the backup lines.

Thanks again for your responses!

reply to NC_TWC
I've never once received a note/letter/e-mail from TWC mentioning "planned maintenance". I have their Business Class service. I try to check their Network Status page as that sometimes has maintenance windows listed, but not always.

So they do have a Network Status page, at least? Is that just for Business Class service? That would still help me if they use it sometimes.

I just found out that the coders at my hospital use TWC Business Class service and there have been a lot fewer complaints about connection issues. The coding system disconnects if it detects packet loss, and they were having real problems until they went BC. Apparently the BC service doesn't contend with the network traffic as much as the consumer/residential service so it's more stable (? -- so i was told). If so, maybe that's what I need to consider. I realize it will be more expensive, but probably not as much as a backup line/ISP ...

Thanks for mentioning this.

Yes, there network status page is here: »help.rr.com/HMSLogic/network_status.aspx How up to date for your area is another ball of wax but at least it is something.

I second the fact that you should have two ISPs. Even if you get the basic TW package and kept Century link...the way your first post is worded, sounds like you even need 3 or 4 ISPs.

Just remember, if you lose power chances are you will lose TW after an hour or two once the batteries on their side go dead.
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Usenet Block Accounts | Unlimited Accounts

Too funny -- I checked the network status for my area, and the neighboring city had 2 red events, one from last June and one from last September. So they are still down after all this time? The rest of the events were current.

I think I would downgrade to the basic CenturyLink and switch to TWC if I used 2 ISPs. The highest tier for CL DSL in my area is 10/1 vs 50/5 for TWC. Plus, the CL bundles are more expensive to boot. If I did that, got NetZero and kept the useless Sprint card then I'd have the 3-4 ISPs...

Guess I could always run out to McD's or Barnes and Noble before closing time ...

Ok, just an FYI to follow up...

TWC in my area claims that they don't have "planned outages" where the service is completely shut down on purpose for maintenance. Of course, there may be unplanned outages, but they don't just shut people off for maintenance. Any comments about that?? I kinda wondered how they could do that because it would mean shutting off people's phones as well, right?

The Business Class service is $99 for slow 10/1 speeds and requires a 3-yr commitment. You still share the cable but are given prioritization over residential customers. Looks like keeping a 2nd ISP is better after all, cost-wise.

reply to swintec

reply to NC_TWC
I'm house hunting right now and one of the requirements is access to another ISP, whether it be DSL (I install DSL services as a contractor for a CLEC in this state) or FTTP. I'm debating about keeping my current RR Biz connection. I like the speed, but not very reliable with or without power.

reply to NC_TWC
I had Residential DSL through Speakeasy.net for many years and they always warned users of any planned maintenance downtime. There was also a system status page so you had a clue about what was going on. Of course that doesn't mean there weren't unscheduled outages and I have no idea whether or not they've continued this since they became Megapath. I also have a website hosted by PhotoShelter.com and they always send out multiple announcements for planned maintenance and upgrades.

By comparison, TWC never advises users of planned maintenance which seems to happen late at night when I want to upload some photos or curl up and watch a movie. Sometimes it's only tv, sometimes it's only internet, other times it's both. Maybe it's only supposed to last an hour or two but one night I made the mistake of resetting my cable box (which I have to do on a very regular basis anyway) and I wound up without tv or internet till 6 am.

Maybe I'm oldschool but I would never put all my eggs, tv, internet and phone, in one basket. If all connectivity goes down how are you going to call Customer Service?

reply to NC_TWC
If the hospital runs 24*7 and lives are at stake I'd suggest the hospital have onsite 24/7

Now, to answer your other question - I have a TWC 5*30 D3 cable line VPN'd site to site (not a client VPn - my Checkpoint to Checkpoint hardware) and my office is a Time Warner fiber (think MetroE concept but not really). I have 30-60 days of up time.