Former IBS User
@csc.com
| reply to cgcarter
Re: Don't blame IBS
Actually, you are wrong. They are in the same state as NorthPoint. The ISP's also had contracts with NP, which are going unfulfilled. All they have to do is close up shop, and you will never see anything from them again. Do you really think this is something the will not consider? I mean come on, the last update from them was the 30th, and it didn't really say anything. I got their service, for a locled low rate, yet I refusded to sign a contract that obligated me to them, instead I paid the $150 installation. Seems like that is the way to go. |
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Stuggmata
@216.25.x.x
| nothing to worry about?
Excuse me? Just because you didn't pay for the year up front doesn't mean you didn't sign at least a year long contract. I didn't pay up front (thank goodness), but I clearly remember faxing them a signed contract saying that I was obligated for a year BEFORE they even put me into their system to get SDSL.
I obviously wasn't there when YOU "signed" up for IBS access, but I believe you're mistaken about your particular situation as non-obligatory agreements don't seem to be the way they do business, my friend. If you're sure, then more power to ya for beating the system. |
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Former IBS User
@csc.com
| No, I wasn't locked into a contract for a year. By not prepaying, I got 784/784 for 49.99 a month, and that price was locked for a year. After that they would have been free to raise it to their standard rate, assuming I stayed. I took the chance that prices would drop a little for service, so my price wouldn't go up. Since I paid for my line installation, I was free to leave at any point. I never did because I liked getting 95-110% of my promised bandwidth. Now I go to Rythms, with line sharing, so they do not need the installed line, and again, no up front expenses, and if I want to cancel, I can just pay a $99 early dis connect fee. I won't have to do that because Rythms is the next one to go under, but by that time Sprint ION will be in my area, and that is all I am holding out for anyway. |
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PatientGuy
I'M Way Deep Into Nothing Special
Premium
join:2000-12-11
Arlington, VA
clubs:
|  reply to Anon
Re: Anybody heard anything final about IBS Networks?
The nail in the coffin of my cool. IBS E-mails me today saying "Great News" we're dumping you off onto Telocity so they can abuse your butt for a few months till they fold. Un friggin believable. Credit for prepaid accounts HA. Not a word. They offer this:
»www.GOibsDSL.com/getdslnow.htm
So that we can deal with this:
»Class Action Lawsuit against Telocity
I wouldn't deal with IBS in any way for any reason. They suck plain and simple! |
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dms1964
join:2000-11-09
Cleveland, OH
| reply to Anon
I have to give IBS some credit....
You must admit that IBS has balls! After keeping people waiting two weeks, they announce the great news that they have an arrangement with Telocity that gives people a free month, installation and equipment. WOW.!!! The same offer you can find in a million Telocity ads. I found one that gave me the same with 2 free months. So IBS could not even equal the best Telocity offer. I signed up with it 2 weeks ago on the night NP announced their fate. Supposedly will be installed Monday. So IBS is offering NOTHING. I'm not at all suprised or even disappointed, I'm just amazed that IBS made people wait 2 weeks for this. |
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Anon | reply to Anon
Re: Anybody heard anything final about IBS Networks?
Ya I just amazed too... I'm sitting here saying to myself "what the *hell* is this!"..
They keep their business customers by transferring them to a different dsl network and say to their residential customers, "f* off and go find service somewhere else, here telocity has a good deal, go with them!"
Is my contract with IBS less valid than their business lines contract?
Has anyone been able to actually speak to any of these clowns? do they honestly think they're gonna get away with kicking their residential customers to the curb? |
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hndrcks
Consider Alternatives
join:1999-11-15
Silver Spring, MD
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·RCN CABLE
| Well, they are pretty much telling their business customers to f*** off as well. "You can't have your money back, but if you sign up for ANOTHER long-term contract STARTING TODAY we'll credit you your due amount." Sign a long-term contract with a company in Chap 11? Are you effing kidding me?
We are in the hole over $2,000 with these jerks. I have decided to just walk away from them. If they want these Netopias back (6 of them) they know where to send the f**king refund check. |
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PatientGuy
I'M Way Deep Into Nothing Special
Premium
join:2000-12-11
Arlington, VA
clubs:
| Yeah what you said! And the the real kicker here is that even if you stayed with IBS biz service they using NAS and they are on the ropes too. Who wants to go though all this crap with these idiots again. Not me. I'm checking out Cavalier Telephone. (limited service area) 784/784 $109 Mo. less if you take voice service bundle. |
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Anon | reply to Anon
Has anyone been able to talk to them about this nonsense?
Is it worth my speaker phone time to try and contact them tomorrow. I just wanna hear them BS for some reason |
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Anon | reply to Anon
Nice residential solution they've come up with!
I got the 'good news' note about the supposed Telocity switchover gift. The thing is, I had just called Telocity a few days before and, as luck (or the DSL Industry...) would have it, I was first told "No Problem, we'll sign you up!" and then told that "Oops. Our database was screwed up. You're out of our service area." (Thanks to their use of Verizon). I even checked back last night to see if they had worked anything out with IBS, but to no avail. So even if this goes through, I'm SOL.
I've set up a new account w/Megapath (384k/384k $139.00/Mo) in the hopes of getting SOMETHING back on line. Man, dialup IS THE WORST!
Any comments on Megapath?
JCB |
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PatientGuy
I'M Way Deep Into Nothing Special
Premium
join:2000-12-11
Arlington, VA
clubs:
|  Telocity looks like a stay away from company all right. Don't know about Megapath. Who's their last mile provider? Covad, Rythms?
I'm trying to find more financial info on Cavalier Telephone,
»www.cavtel.com/residential/internet.html#DSL
»Company entry - Cavalier Telephone
a Virginia outfit with real good prices. In the DC area they serve Alex/Arl/some MD burbs. I called and they offered even better prices than their web page. 784/784 1 static IP $80 mo. They own their own DSLAMS but I'm kinda scared of cheap DSL now if you know what I mean.
What do ya think? Anyone know about Cavaliers financial health? |
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Anon | reply to Anon
Well, I finally reached a real person @ IBS
I gave IBS a call this morning, and I actually got right through into their (INSERT EXAGGERATED AIR QUOTES HERE) 'customer' 'service' department. I told them that I was a (now 'former') residential customer, and that I had already gone down the Telocity road, and hit a dead end. The person with whom I spoke tried to sell me on the business service, to which I replied: "Uhhhhh.... NO!" BTW-their business service carrier is NAS.
Anyway, I told them I'd been ruled out of Telocity, that I'd already secured another DSL provider, and that I wanted to get things formally closed out with them. She told me that there 'really isn't anything that I have to do. My contract is null and void because of the NP issue; don't worry..." Yadda, yadda.
Well, since I wasn't prepayed, everything for me was easy- apparently. I asked if they had any kind of formal policy or procedure that they are following for this, and she seemed to not really know... Therefore, I asked for an email stating that everything was nullified, and that there was no more obligation on my part, etc. She kindly offered to provide the address to which I could send the router. I said that I'd be happy to send it back COD.
Well, it looks like things are winding down for this user. All that remains is for me to get set up w/megapath, and pray that THEY don't go under in 6mos.
Quite a wasteland that's been created, huh?
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Anon | reply to Anon
Re: Anybody heard anything final about IBS Networks?
My question is, if the contract is null and void, what give them the right to the dsl bridge now sitting my my drawer?
I'm about to put it and 3 others I have on eBay |
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mallomar
join:2001-04-11
Silver Spring, MD
|  reply to Anon
IBS dropping domain hosting for NP orphans
I had NorthPoint residential DSL from IBS. (Prepaid, but let's not go there.) IBS initially said there would be no change in domain/web/e-mail hosting services, but last night I noticed my web site had disappeared. Today, tech support told me that since I was "no longer using" IBS's DSL services (like I had a choice!), they were eliminating my web site and would also be discontinuing my e-mail service (probably by the end of the week). I did get a stay of execution while I found another domain host.
I'm in the process of transferring my domain to another host, but I think it's inexcusable that I wasn't notified in advance. I have received all of IBS's e-mail updates regarding the NP ordeal, so they do have me on their list.
Has anyone else (who has domain hosting through IBS) received a warning about the service being discontinued? |
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PatientGuy
I'M Way Deep Into Nothing Special
Premium
join:2000-12-11
Arlington, VA
clubs: | No I was hoping that my E-mail account would live until I got another provider. Is there anything else these jerks can do to rip off prepaid customers? |
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hndrcks
Consider Alternatives
join:1999-11-15
Silver Spring, MD
·Verizon FIOS
·RCN CABLE
| reply to mallomar
Let me get this straight - you prepaid for a bundle of service, mail/web hosting being part of the bundle. The company defaulted on part of the bundle, and won't refund your money, and now cuts off the rest of your service? Like it's your fault you aren't using the DSL?
If this is true, and you can document it, IM me and let me know - I work for a non-profit organization that directly influences almost 100,000 people in the metro DC area (and is a household word everywhere in the US and the world), and I'll make sure 'IBSDave' never emerges from Chapter 11 - it'll be a straight road to Chap 7 and liquidation. |
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PatientGuy
I'M Way Deep Into Nothing Special
Premium
join:2000-12-11
Arlington, VA
clubs:
| I tried calling IBS tonight and couldn't get through. I'll try again tomorrow to see what their plans are for our mailboxes. Seems to me if they're going to keep the money and are continuing to offer parts of the bundled services I contracted for, then they are obligated to give me at least what they are giving newly signed customers. If they don't then they are just using Chapter 11 proceedings to commit fraud as far as I'm concerned. I'll definitely take you up on your offer if they don't cooperate with me. They really shouldn't be allowed to continue doing business with the public at this point. I really need help. |
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mallomar
join:2001-04-11
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to hndrcks
I don't know how to IM!
When I signed up for service, I was told that since I was prepaying for 18 months of DSL service, I would also have to prepay for domain hosting (which I think was $10 a month) at the same time. However, there is nothing in the contract about domain hosting (it's their standard DSL contract), so I don't have anything in writing pertaining to the domain hosting. So it probably wasn't technically part of the bundle of services -- I guess you could call it an add-on.
So I can't document it -- although the fact that they have provided me with web/e-mail hosting since August might constitute some kind of proof.
I received 8 months of DSL service, so I'm losing more than half of what I prepaid. I do remember reading (probably on the IBS web site) something about web and e-mail services not being affected by the NorthPoint outage, so I (foolishly) assumed IBS would continue to host my domain.
It's bad enough that I'm losing the domain hosting service as well as the DSL, but losing it without ANY prior notice is really adding insult to injury. Fortunately, a friend immediately offered me free hosting on his server, and I've already submitted the transfer form to Network Solutions. But if I had not noticed that my web site was down last night (sometimes I don't look at my web site for weeks at a time), I would have known nothing about it until my e-mail was shut down.
I don't know if IBS is cutting off only users who had domain hosting, or everyone who lost NP service. It would be interesting to find out. |
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PatientGuy
I'M Way Deep Into Nothing Special
Premium
join:2000-12-11
Arlington, VA
clubs:
|  The thing about continuing the web and E-mail service is in their FAQs. Look quick, they're liable to remove it as soon as they hear someone might actually expect to get what they paid for. I've saved a copy of a few of their web pages so if you need it E me. |
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mallomar
join:2001-04-11
Silver Spring, MD
| I do have copies of their FAQ -- one I made yesterday and one from March 26. It certainly seems to imply that e-mail and web services will continue. That's why I was so surprised to find my web site gone. I figured the LEAST they could do was continue domain hosting (I think about five years of domain hosting would equal what IBS owes me).
I had a cable modem installed (on March 26, before the NP network actually croaked -- the suspense was killing me), and they don't offer domain hosting, so I had to find an "outside" service. I was looking at a couple of places that offer domain hosting for cheap (about $10/month), and then a friend offered me free hosting.
So at least I don't have to shell out additional money for domain hosting, although I'm still reeling from the shock of losing that big chunk of money I prepaid to IBS for 18 months of DSL. |
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