Topic 'Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate' in forum 'Time Warner Cable - Legacy ' - dslreports.com

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 05:45:25 EDT

Mele20 posted : I don't have Basic cable. I have Standard TV Service. I have never had Basic. (Maybe you are confusing having Standard TV Service as analog rather than digital with Basic TV Service).

I don't have Turbo either - that is 20/2. I was upgraded to 30/5 which is Extreme.

You register AFTER you do the qualifying upgrade so how could I register before I would do the upgrade? You can upgrade from Extreme to 50/5 for one year at only $10 a month more and get the promo offer. You do not have to do a double or triple play so even if I didn't have any TWC TV I would not be disqualified. I was trying to do the upgrade to 50/5 on the offer page when I got the popup saying it looked like I might need help and to do a chat.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 21:18:02 EDT

htfan808 posted :

said by Konaguy:

The CSR you spoke to didn't know what he/she was is talking about. Oceanic did have a $10.00 a month promo (good for a year) to upgrade from Turbo to Extreme for the month of October. I was able to get it without any difficulty along with several others.

said by Mele20:

Konaguy is right. Oceanic did have a promo during October for $10 a month over Standard tier charge for Turbo for one year.

The CSR you spoke with really was misinformed to say that 30/5 at $10 a month more for a year is not a promo. There's lots of promos. My bill came about a week ago and it says that my 20/2 ((which went to 30/5) for $10 a month more for one year will be over at the end of December as I expected. The bill says I will get a NEW PROMO for Extreme at $11.99 a month more for one year (a "savings of $8.01 a month").

Then there is the Promo that I was offered in the letter that TWC Mainland sent me for Extreme at $10 a month over standard (savings of $10 monthly) that the CSR here in Hilo put in my file and says she will activate when I pay the bill due Jan 5.

Quite frankly, if TWC gets sold I think one reason will be because of the major existing inequities for customers between the divisions and apparently even within divisions that cause irritation, confusion and disappointment (and churn for those who have alternatives). I think Comcast (even with a broadcast TV monthly fee now) would probably be good for us IF we get equity with the rest of Comcast as we sure don't have it with TWC. Apparently, Oceanic isn't really part of TWC and maybe if we become Comcast all the nonsense about Hawaii being the weird stepchild that no one knows what to do with will stop.

The guy seemed well informed...guess not, eh. The reason I kept asking if I missed an old promo was because of you guys that mentioned it here. All I can think of is that maybe it was because it was sometime in November when I called. Don't remember exactly, but a few days after Halloween.

As far as the Comcast & Charter thing goes, I'm not up to speed on that at all. All I know is that I'm allergic to broadband caps and metered billing. Yikes!

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 07:28:28 EDT

DocDrew posted :

said by Mele20:

The Samsung Galaxy Promo.
»Samsung Galaxy Promo

I don't think you even qualify for it, being a Turbo customer with basic cable. At least not according to the website. Plus you had to register within 30 days of the qualifying upgrade to qualify.

The previous Amazon and Visa Rewards card offers weren't available to Hawaii customers, but this Samsung offer doesn't say that.
»www.twcbetterreward.com/
--
Start with what you can do, solutions will follow...

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 07:02:13 EDT

Mele20 posted : The Samsung Galaxy Promo.
»Samsung Galaxy Promo

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 06:15:47 EDT

DocDrew posted : Christmas present? Huh?

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 04:41:04 EDT

Mele20 posted : Oceanic has always marched to its own drummer to the extent that it could. That used to work well but when corporate began to try and force Oceanic to be just another division well, for all sorts of reasons, that didn't go over well with Oceanic or most of its customers. But in the ensuing almost one decade changes are such that I believe now that we would be better off if we were just another division where the goal is to not even have divisions.

(I don't like seeing a really neat Christmas present announced by TWC that I go to get and am in the process of submitting the needed information when I get a popup saying to do a chat so I do and get told that the TWC Christmas present is available to all EXCEPT Hawaii customers. Of course, the news announcement, and the various websites discussing it, said nothing about Hawaii being excluded nor does the website where you apply (and where it was obvious I was from Hawaii as that showed on the page). No explanation given by Mainland Chat, or Oceanic later by email, as to why we are excluded. Plus, why are Hawaii customers told to NOT go to twc.com ever? These are just the two most recent examples of the confusion and irritation that Hawaii users have. TWC even appears to be upset with this forum because it was where I learned about the Christmas present. When it appeared, years ago, that Oceanic had a chance to stay semi-independent that seemed good....but not anymore because Oceanic gets punished for trying to go its way and the customers get more and more confused and irritated as consolidation of the divisions continues at a rapid pace everywhere except for Hawaii which is just forgotten about by corporate...so, yeah, I think Comcast might be better for us).

--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 04:25:48 EDT

DocDrew posted : ...and here we thought Hawaiians loved having Oceanic as it's own separate entity not part of corporate TWC. Even though it's been scolded like a little kid for trying to do it's own thing for the last few years.
--
Start with what you can do, solutions will follow...

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 04:21:57 EDT

Mele20 posted : Konaguy is right. Oceanic did have a promo during October for $10 a month over Standard tier charge for Turbo for one year.

The CSR you spoke with really was misinformed to say that 30/5 at $10 a month more for a year is not a promo. There's lots of promos. My bill came about a week ago and it says that my 20/2 ((which went to 30/5) for $10 a month more for one year will be over at the end of December as I expected. The bill says I will get a NEW PROMO for Extreme at $11.99 a month more for one year (a "savings of $8.01 a month").

Then there is the Promo that I was offered in the letter that TWC Mainland sent me for Extreme at $10 a month over standard (savings of $10 monthly) that the CSR here in Hilo put in my file and says she will activate when I pay the bill due Jan 5.

Quite frankly, if TWC gets sold I think one reason will be because of the major existing inequities for customers between the divisions and apparently even within divisions that cause irritation, confusion and disappointment (and churn for those who have alternatives). I think Comcast (even with a broadcast TV monthly fee now) would probably be good for us IF we get equity with the rest of Comcast as we sure don't have it with TWC. Apparently, Oceanic isn't really part of TWC and maybe if we become Comcast all the nonsense about Hawaii being the weird stepchild that no one knows what to do with will stop.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 24 Nov 2013 23:56:15 EDT

Konaguy posted :

said by htfan808:

They told me there is no promo, told me there never was one.
As far as speed upgrades, sounded like I was in the stuck at 20/2 Turbo category. What they ended up doing is giving me 30/5 @ the +$10/month price for one year, but telling me explictly "This is not a promo" and not available to others. Maybe they thought I was trying to argue my way into a speed upgrade or something, because I kept asking if there wasn't a promo that I missed out on.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 24 Nov 2013 22:32:25 EDT

htfan808 posted :

said by htfan808:

I have Turbo 20/2, and had it for a while...paying a grandfathered rate of +$10 (not the Promo mentioned in this thread). I've had it since it was 15/1, maybe before that...not sure.

My modem is a DOCSIS 3, I had Oceanic send me one in exchange for my old one. What they gave me is one of those WiFi Router/Phone/Modem combo things - Arris TG862. I don't subscribe to phone, never did. They even charged me $6 or $7 shipping because I asked for a Motorola 6141 and asked them if I could exchange it again if I didn't get one. That second part is probably why they billed me for the shipping. At least the wi-fi and router stuff is turned off.

So I should be upgraded to 30/5?

said by Mele20:

I also think you need to call Oceanic. I asked about you today when I paid my bill. The CSR I talked to is excellent. She told me you need to call. She also said there is a turbo grandfathered tier at 20/2 that will NOT get the new speeds. The tiers and billing and a number of various grandfather plans make it very complicated. Plus, whether you live in a single dwelling home or in an apt/condo building with bulk Oceanic rates, whether you have a package deal that gives you 15/1 Turbo (grandfathered to 20/2) free because you have Double Play, Triple Play, etc all factor into whether or not you will be upgraded.

I said but if he calls he probably will get someone on the Mainland and how can they know all these ins and outs for Hawaii? Especially considering all the apt/condo buildings with bulk rates and special deals that you don't see a lot of in most of the Mainland TWC divisions? She then explained that Oceanic pays to fly a team from Hawaii to the Mainland to train the tier 1 CSRs that take calls for Oceanic. I didn't know that. She also said that tier 1 locally located still exists (there's a small group of them in a back room at the Oceanic building here in Hilo) and she said if you get a Mainland CSR (which happens when calls back up for the local tier 1 and that happens frequently), if you feel the Mainland CSR is not helpful or knowledgeable about Hawaii simply tell that person you wish to speak to a CSR located in Hawaii and you will be transferred. If the call cue in Hawaii is still long then you can request a call back from a local CSR.

I got the config file (for the new speeds) she said because my bill does not show grandfathered from 15/1 to 20/2 but shows that I was fully switched off of grandfathered 15/1 (by this CSR) last November to the then new Turbo at 20/2 and I was put on the promotional plan then in existence for the new 20/2 plan to cost only $10 a month more instead $20 a month more for one year. I ended up paying 4 cents a month more for the new 20/2 Turbo than I was paying for grandfathered 15/1 (about $10 more than Standard tier).

There is going to be a BIG promotion of the new speeds before Christmas but until then Oceanic is keeping the new speeds low key because they want to shake down any problems before promoting this and suddenly getting a lot of new subscribers to the higher speeds.

So I called them maybe a week and a half, two weeks ago...

They told me there is no promo, told me there never was one.
As far as speed upgrades, sounded like I was in the stuck at 20/2 Turbo category. What they ended up doing is giving me 30/5 @ the +$10/month price for one year, but telling me explictly "This is not a promo" and not available to others. Maybe they thought I was trying to argue my way into a speed upgrade or something, because I kept asking if there wasn't a promo that I missed out on.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 12 Nov 2013 19:56:20 EDT

delar posted : Thanks. I was told the $10 promotional rate was still available, at least for my parents account. They said they would need to bring the old modem in and swap it out for what I assume is a docsis 3 version. They also asked where I heard about it. I told them dslr. :D

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:25:58 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by delar:

Darn. Haven't checked this board in awhile, and now it looks like I missed out on upgrading my parents connection for cheap.

It wouldn't hurt to call Oceanic customer service and ask if the promotional rate for the upgrade from standard to turbo (now extreme) is still available.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 11 Nov 2013 12:56:17 EDT

delar posted : Darn. Haven't checked this board in awhile, and now it looks like I missed out on upgrading my parents connection for cheap. Going from 15/1 to 30/5 for an extra $10/month is.....er.....was a good deal. Hopefully Oceanic has more promotional offerings for higher speeds in the near future. With the number of devices my parents have now and will be using in the future, 15/1 won't be adequate.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 15:04:58 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Mele20:

Not true. Depending on the time of day traffic from me to lavanet can and will be router THROUGH THE MAINLAND AND BACK TO OAHU.

Unless you are newbie, and based on your sign-up date for this forum I'm guessing that's not the case, you should know by now that it's considered rude to post in caps. And things aren't always as black and white as you try to make them.

If you read my post that you quoted more carefully you will see that I said that lava.net's visualware server doesn't require routing via the Internet since it is accessible via HIX, and if you do a tracert command to that address ("mcs.lava.net") on Windows you will see that the routing is much different than if you trace to the root domain of "lava.net". Oceanic/TWC wants their proxy and security servers in the loop for normal traffic but are not above routing directly via HIX when it makes the speedtest results look better.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 06:03:23 EDT

Mele20 posted : I just downloaded the current Windows Defender definitions. The download only managed 20mbps. Sigh. This is so disappointing. :(

Even after a reboot, I have 14,000 uncorrectable code words on the newest (7th) downstream channel and 11,861 on another channel. The other channels have 1000 to 3000 uncorrectable.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 03:43:38 EDT

Mele20 posted : I haven't been on much in the past couple of days. I did notice when I did my Windows Defender definitions download from Microsoft Antimalware Center at 1:07 AM on Nov 6 that I got 3619.7KB/sec. (I had aborted them entirely at around the same hour on Nov 5 because I was getting very, very low speed -20 minutes to download 78MB) although I tried several different times so I went 48 hours without new definitions). The highest I had gotten before this (after the speed increase) was 3355.9 KB/sec so for this one time it was an increase that put my speed to about what I would expect from a Microsoft download (at an hour when the server should not be busy or the routing overly crowded) if there was no over provisioning. But it is still too low for 35/5 with a ping UNDER 100ms to Microsoft after running Ping Plotter for quite awhile.

It was emphasized to me by the tech (who was supposed to come out Monday afternoon) that Oceanic had upgraded me to 35/5 NOT 30/5. So, while I did get a better speed on the last definitions download I have done it should be higher if the overprovisioning is intended and that is what the tech told me.

--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Thu, 07 Nov 2013 03:22:39 EDT

Mele20 posted :

said by ramjet73:

said by Konaguy:

This is how its supposed to look (LavaNet's Visualware speedtest server)

That server doesn't require any traffic to be routed via the Internet per se since Oceanic/TWC and Lavanet are connected directly via the Hawaii Internet Exchange (HIX) which is essentially a regional Tier 1 network (no charges for exchanges between the participants). That effectively makes the Lavanet test equivalent to the Oceanic version of the Ookla speed test.

Here's a link to the HIX website:

»www.hawaii.edu/hix/Hawai ··· ome.html

Not true. Depending on the time of day traffic from me to lavanet can and will be router THROUGH THE MAINLAND AND BACK TO OAHU.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 23:30:37 EDT

Konaguy posted :

said by ramjet73:

Interesting. That would have nothing to do with trans-Pacific cable bandwidth or TWC's Internet bandwidth on the mainland. There must have been something causing degradation in Oceanic's own network.

I've been fine here since the upgrade so the issue(s) may be specific to the Big Island.

I also noticed quality of service throughput issues to mainland speedtest sites also, in addition to the LavaNet site. I do both local and mainland tests to get a clearer picture of the issues.

These throughput issues appear to have cleared up since yesterday for me. I'm in the process of trying to find out what happened, as its pretty strange that I e-mailed Oceanic's corporate management on Sunday and this issue was resolved two days later.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 23:07:17 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Konaguy:

Nevertheless, I noticed quality of service issues with my throughput using that server until last night.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 22:52:02 EDT

Konaguy posted : I know about HIX and how LavaNet is routed to Oceanic. Nevertheless, I noticed quality of service issues with my throughput using that server until last night. The level service improved greatly last night, as I mentioned above. However, the test is to see if it continues.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 01:54:08 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Konaguy:

This is how its supposed to look (LavaNet's Visualware speedtest server)

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Wed, 06 Nov 2013 01:48:26 EDT

Konaguy posted : I guess my complaint e-mails did work. 2500-3000K was my average download speed before tonight. I did several big downloads this evening and that average rose in between 3000K-3700K, which is about what I should be seeing with 30Mbps/5Mbps service.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 22:50:52 EDT

Konaguy posted :

said by ramjet73:

I'm not defending anyone, just explaining what Oceanic/TWC is actually committing as a service level and that it only applies to traffic on their network and not the Internet. I wish they had unlimited Internet-wide bandwidth available so we could all get 100% of the rated speed for each tier to any server on the Internet but that's just not realistic (or even possible). Good luck finding an ISP that will guaranty 100% of the rated bandwidth of their service levels for any Internet connection.

Its not a question of the overall speedtest results. I've gotten ridiculously high speedtest results. Overall throughput is the issue for me. The level of service consistency has been poor as of late.

This is how its supposed to look (LavaNet's Visualware speedtest server)

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 14:40:31 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Mele20:

I can't see why you refuse to see that and defend them selling speeds that are meaningless in the REAL WORLD WHERE WE USE THE INTERNET.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 07:01:25 EDT

Mele20 posted : LOL. Sigh. I own a copy of MySpeed . I have had Visualware do several special two week (one day one - one night one) analyses of the characteristics of my connection to their San Jose server. That hasn't been done recently and I should upgrade MySpeed because I don't want to ask for such an analysis now since I own an older version of MySpeed and these specialized analyses are free if you own their software but I would feel it unfair to ask when I only own an old version that I didn't put on my Windows 8 computer (it's only on the XP Pro computer). They usually have a sale around Thanksgiving-Christmas so I will watch for that as I can't afford $40 but with a sale price I will upgrade and then ask for a specialized analysis. I doubt the results will be much different from those of past years.

QOS has to do with the CONSISTENCY OF THE SERVICE YOU ARE GETTING. (Why would you think I don't know what QOS is? I've had RR since June 2001 and I have been doing Visualware MySpeed tests for the vast majority of the ensuing years. I was partly responsible for Oceanic buying the MySpeed test for us several years ago).

Visualware has many speed tests around the nation (including Lavanet on Oahu and used to include Oceanic also as Oceanic's speed test used to be Visualware's MySpeed). Visualware only has a few quality test servers and both West Coast ones show poor download speed for me. Used to I got OUTSTANDING speed, particularly on the Los Angeles test at ISPGeeks but not now. I was puzzled just now as the QOS is is good (but should be closer to 100%). The problem looks to be the Route Speed. Oceanic is using a route that is capped just slightly above what download speed I see. So, I could be paying for 100 down and still see less than 7000kbps on this Quality test unless I get a better route. I did the San Jose Quality test also and it was even worse with, again, a route with a low maximum speed attainable. It wasn't always like this. But since the demise of ATDN and the switch to Tbone I have suffered greatly on many poor routes used where the maximum speed attainable due to the route chosen is quite low although acceptable if you have 10 down. Of course, some routes have high maximum attainable speeds and I suspect Konaguy has a better route at least to the LA Quality test. You may have a better route since you are not on the East side of the Big Island. Time was not that long ago that I had a better route to this quality test server.

The same ISPGeeks Visualware MySpeed capacity test shows I have full theoretical speed of 35/5. That's in California which you have stated is not possible for Hawaii because underseas cables cannot provide these speeds. My point all along, all the years I have been in this forum (June 2001 on) has been that theoretical speed is not what the user should be most interested in. The real life speed is what matters and that is what these two quality tests are designed to test. Oceanic's test and any of the myspeed.net tests are simply capacity tests which serve only to show your theoretical speed not what you experience when you stream a youtube video, or do a large file download, or stream a movie from Netflix, etc.

"The ISPGeeks Connection Quality Test is not like any broadband speed test you've used before. First and foremost this test is being run from a highly specialized network connection testing appliance called an AccessCT-2. This test should also not be used alone but should be used in addition to our Capacity Test and Route Analysis Test. This test is special in that it is an application speed test and displays real world speeds and connection quality as would be observed by most applications that you currently operate such as streaming or voice over IP and other single socket applications. Do NOT treat the results from this test as you would results from other broadband speed tests.

This test is measuring the max data flow and quality of the data stream for a single socket connection and helps diagnose and resolve problems that impact mainstream applications such as downloads and browsing, as well as rich-media applications such as VoIP, by identifying TCP delays, quality of service issues, jitter, packet loss, bandwidth degradation, network routing, and peering congestion.

While it will display an approximate bandwidth rating for your connection that's not nearly as important as the potentially lower DOWNLOAD SPEED rating being displayed. The DOWNLOAD SPEED rating you see is the real world speed you can expect applications you run to experience with your broadband connection (despite what your subscribed speed is). This is the maximum speed things like Netflix, Youtube, Vonage and other similar applications and devices will see as well".

»www.ispgeeks.com/wild/mo ··· lityTest

The Bakersfield, CA MySpeed test shows very good download speed, but the Consistency of Service SUCKS. Look at the detailed analysis.

»www.myconnectionserver.c ··· ity.html

Well, I forgot to do the Windows Defender definitions earlier tonight BETWEEN 12AM and 2AM. Now I get total shit download speed even though Ping Plotter Pro shows fine and fast path to Microsoft. THIS is what matters! Not a THEORETICAL SPEED. If you think akamai folks will purchase any speeds above Standard or lower when these speeds are not being delivered...well....would you like to a buy a bridge in the Florida swamps? It is all shibai with Oceanic and I can't see why you refuse to see that and defend them selling speeds that are meaningless in the REAL WORLD WHERE WE USE THE INTERNET.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Bakersfield, CA
Bakersfield, CA
Bakersfield, CA
Capacity test Los Angeles
Quality test Los Angeles
Quality test Los Angeles
Windows Defender defintions downloads

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 02:50:49 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Konaguy:

However, it doesn't sit well with me that I'm not getting the level of service that I'm paying for.

But you are.

Oceanic/TWC makes it clear that the advertised service levels (30/5 for the new turbo) are only typical speeds to their servers in Mililani, which is why they always ask you use their bandwidth test. They make no guarantees about what your speeds, error rates or latency will be to other Internet sites, and they really can't do that since there are many variables in those connections that are beyond their control.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 02:41:21 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Konaguy:

I've seen this document before, but it fails to mention there is four fiber-optic links to the mainland, not three. The fourth one is TPC-5, which was placed into service in 1996

TPC-5 may not provide any bandwidth to Hawaii even though it has a landing on Oahu. I seem to recall that at least one of the cables passed through the Islands without providing any local bandwidth.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 02:24:47 EDT

Konaguy posted :

said by ramjet73:

Details of the Hawaii broadband current situation and future plans, including the underseas fiber-optic cables are included in the following document dated December, 2012:

»files.hawaii.gov/dcca/br ··· 2012.pdf

The discussion of available trans-Pacific cables begins on page 20.

I've seen this document before, but it fails to mention there is four fiber-optic links to the mainland, not three. The fourth one is TPC-5, which was placed into service in 1996

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP ··· ystem%29

I've gone through this song and dance before back in 2000 (the current slowness is manini compared to what happened then. The Star Bulletin article above goes into greater detail). However, it doesn't sit well with me that I'm not getting the level of service that I'm paying for.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 00:48:47 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Konaguy:

There is plenty of transpacific and interisland bandwidth, so this shouldn't be an impediment for our inconsistent speeds. This used to be a problem before Southern Cross came online about 11 years ago.

The bandwidth is there, but how much of it does Oceanic/TWC own and how are they allocating it's use to their business and residential customers? It also depends on what Tier 1 network they are using on the mainland to connect to other Internet domains and how much bandwidth they have purchased from them. The following article indicates that TWC itself does not operate a Tier 1 network, unlike AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint:

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti ··· _network

That's the information needed to determine the service level they can provide for their Hawaii customers accessing Internet based resources. At least some of the degradation you are seeing is caused by the increase in demand for the limited Internet bandwidth available to TWC as a whole resulting from the boost in speeds for residential customers.

Edit: Here are some cable maps showing all the underseas fiber-optic cables landing in Hawaii:

»www.cablemap.info/
»www.submarinecablemap.com/

Details of the Hawaii broadband current situation and future plans, including the underseas fiber-optic cables are included in the following document dated December, 2012:

»files.hawaii.gov/dcca/br ··· 2012.pdf

The discussion of available trans-Pacific cables begins on page 20.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 00:03:47 EDT

Konaguy posted : I've noticed my download speeds haven't been up to par since I upgraded to the 30/5Mbps tier. So, I decided to do some speed tests to confirm my findings. The various speed tests, which I did midday on Sunday, show a fair amount of packet loss. This is impacting my overall throughput.

I've forwarded my findings to Oceanic and plan to speak with them later this week.

There is plenty of transpacific and interisland bandwidth, so this shouldn't be an impediment for our inconsistent speeds. This used to be a problem before Southern Cross came online about 11 years ago.

»archives.starbulletin.co ··· ry4.html

Southern Cross, TPC-5, AAG and Japan-US cables all have ample bandwidth between Hawaii and the mainland.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 23:02:18 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Mele20:

The important thing is QOS and since this "upgrade" mine sucks.

Do you know what quality of service (QOS) is? This Wikipedia article might help:

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qu ··· _service

It has to do with prioritizing the traffic on a telecommunications link, not the total bandwidth, number of truck rolls, level 3 calls or discounts you get from Oceanic/TWC.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 22:15:09 EDT

hobgoblin posted : "time was when reaching tier 3 was not difficult. These days it is almost impossible."

I am certain that Charter will immediately ship a huge boat load of Tier 3 trained techs to your island. Wait...are they not much smaller than Time Warner?

Hob

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 21:41:00 EDT

Mele20 posted : I was thinking more of phone calls as that is what you do first. Maybe I would not have to always go through the NHD in the Philippines. Time was when that was only for email problems and basic modem troubleshooting if tier one couldn't do it. Now, every call goes first to NHD. I was thinking maybe there would be more tier 3 techs so one could actually reach tier 3. Again, time was when reaching tier 3 was not difficult. These days it is almost impossible. I did reach a tier 3 tech last week but if he was tier 3 then god help Oceanic. Charter couldn't possibly be worse than this tier 3 tech who had to have me explain to him what bonded channels are and who did not even know the difference between a Surfboard 6121 and a 6141 regarding bonded channels.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:40:03 EDT

anon posted :

said by Mele20:

Maybe Charter has better trained techs.

if twc gets bought out by charter, it will be the same techs coming to your house to do service calls. management may change if anything. not like they gonna send techs from the mainland.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:37:20 EDT

Mele20 posted : I don't mind caps. I am not a greedy user ruining things for everyone else. Even if they put low caps I'd probably be fine as I don't do file sharing in many years and that is only thing that raised my usage above even the lowest caps.

There IS an increase in cost if you don't have a promo. I would never pay $20 a month more for this tier. I'd actually prefer to go back to 20/2 as that was stable but it doesn't exist now. $10 a month more for 20/2 was a good deal but it is a poor deal for 30/5 and you get the $10 a month more instead of $20 only on a promo. Too many users get fixated on flash speed test which is irrelevant except to show you what your THEORETICAL speed is. The important thing is QOS and since this "upgrade" mine sucks.

I know folks with Charter who have much higher speed than I and pay a lot less for it so I am not so sure Charter would be worse than TWC. I want DECENT customer service and that is something Oceanic has never had. (Oceanic has nice employees who can't answer questions/help you much of the time and are helpless in finding someone who can). Maybe Charter has better trained techs. At the very least, I wouldn't have to suffer first every time with NHD that I cannot hear due to static or echo or just plain weak, tinny, untrained female voices with accents. (NHD when it was in Canada was fine but, gee, we can't have TWC paying a decent wage to tier 2 employees like they had to when it was located in Canada.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:47:00 EDT

ramjet73 posted :

said by Mele20:

No. You still don't get it.

I'm afraid it's you that doesn't get it. Oceanic/TWC increases our bandwidth by more than 50% for the turbo tier of service (20/2->30/5) with no increase in cost and you're upset because you can't realize that full increase for Internet connections. If Charter takes over TWC and institutes caps and usage charges you may learn to appreciate what you have now, which is probably way more than you actually need.

You seem to complain when people defend Oceanic/TWC practices, such as the current bandwidth bumps, and when they attack them, such as the thread in the TWC forums that discusses mail security, so go ahead and rant about whatever bothers you and I won't waste my time countering your often distorted perspectives.

Aloha!

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:31:02 EDT

anon posted :

said by Mele20:

Maybe we would be better off if Charter acquires TWC.

you must know little about charter to make a statement like that. the company has been in abd out of bankruptcy , sold off parts that were deemed crap, and recently got a new CEO. hes cleaning it up but state of charter is far worse than what TWC is today.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 18:32:41 EDT

Mele20 posted : No. You still don't get it. The real problem is peering and routing on the Mainland and that is TWC corporate not Oceanic. The problem is PAST Orange RR where we surface so it has NOTHING to do with Oceanic's bandwidth allocation. It's the Mainland where the problem resides.

Maybe we would be better off if Charter acquires TWC.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 09:13:00 EDT

ramjet73 posted : I never said that Hawaii's fiber optic cables aren't capable of higher speeds. Of course they are, but they still have limited capacity compared to Internet connections for major population centers on the mainland and it's a matter of how much bandwidth Oceanic/TWC commits for servicing residential customers. My guess is that they give priority to business class customers who are charged much higher rates for less bandwidth. The owner of the convenience store in our building pays the minimum of $70 per month for 3Mbps down and 384K up and that rate requires a one year contract.

For many years a T1 line (1.54 Mbps) was considered a fast internet connection that only corporations and governments could afford. Now new residential subscribers get 15/1 service for $30/month and can upgrade to 30/5 for $10/month additional and still complain about Internet speeds when they don't meet expectations. It really is time to to look at the cup as "half full" and appreciate what you are getting for the price you are paying.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 08:40:41 EDT

Mele20 posted :

said by ramjet73:

I think what you are seeing is congestion in the pipes going from Hawaii to the Internet. The rated speed of 30/5 for the new turbo tier (now called extreme) only applies within the Oceanic network. There are a limited number of fiber optic cables between Hawaii and the mainland so some degradation on those connections is to be expected.

A better test to see if you are getting the advertised speed increase is to do the Ookla Speedtest and select UH or Lavanet as the host. That connection will go through the Hawaii Internet Exchange (HIX) and not depend on available Internet bandwidth.

I know all that. That is shibai. No point in having a speed we don't get! THAT is my point! It's a RIPOFF if we get the speed ONLY on a LOCAL speed test. Explain to me why I was getting 22mbps down on NEW YORK speed tests, and on most software downloads, when I had 20/2 tier but now I only get 25-27.5mbps when I should be getting 34mbps on those same tests and downloads? Explain why I get as LOW AS 3mbps down (since the speed bump) on a Microsoft download I do EVERY NIGHT AT THE SAME TIME FOR ONE YEAR and have NEVER GOTTEN BELOW 20mbps?
You are the sort of customer Oceanic loves. You are willing to pay for something you are not getting and you like to make flimsy, faulty excuses for Oceanic. If Oceanic does not have the bandwith to support these new speeds then they should have told corporate TWC where to get off and refused to implement them. They should NOT be taking money from folks and then not delivering what the folks bought.

You guys are wrong. Those undersea cables are capable of these speeds. Besides, very few customers have these speeds yet. Oceanic is in a shakedown period currently and most users don't know new speeds are available. Oceanic has deliberately not advertised it yet. You must not be aware that the SamKnows tests are LOCATED IN LOS ANGELES. I get 34mbps on the SamKnows tests...so your theory is not correct. It is NOT the underwater cables or I would get slower speed on SamKnows. Besides, I just got 25mbps from a server in TEXAS. According to your theory that is impossible. There are far superior tests to the ones you recommend. NDT Web100 tests to servers on the West coast and East coast show if there is congestion and that is not the problem most of the time when I do those tests. I get the SAME poor speeds RIGHT IN HONOLULU at Lavanet and it tells me the QOS (now known as consistency of speed - it had to be renamed due to user ignorance) is at best 82%. That is BAD and THAT is the primary cause of the problem. INSTABILITY not lack of undersea bandwidth.

I was getting 99% QOS before this bump at Lavanet. Tests on Oahu, like Lavanet, are highly subject to poor speed because of routing from the neighbor islands directly to the mainland (we don't route through Oahu) and then back to Oahu so the RTT is very high and test speed is terrible. You have to pay close attention to the RTT on those tests. The University of Hawaii at Manoa test almost always is low RTT (lower than RTT to Oceanic's own test in Mililani, Oahu). It's so low that I wonder if I am testing at University of Hawaii at Hilo rather than Manoa on Oahu. But Lavanet...you really have pay attention to it. Even Oceanic's own speedtest frequently is routed to the mainland and then to Oahu if you are on a neighbor island. Oceanic needs a speed test on each island.

There is also a big problem for anyone still using XP and that is that this site's Tweak Test is WRONG when you do it on XP with this new speed. I had to use a rival test and I had to increase my RWIN gigantically to see the new speeds. I get closer (but still not what it should be) to the 34mbps on XP Pro now. I don't get it on Windows 8 evidently because it is not capable of dynamically setting the RWIN high enough. I can see this on the Web 100 tests.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 07:57:36 EDT

motorola870 posted :

said by ramjet73:

I had a feeling that the undersea cables connecting Hawaii to the mainland are the issue as you can only send so much data over the fiber lines due a limited number of light wavelengths. Alaska has the same issue and their main provider GCI has undersea cables connecting Alaska to the mainland via the Seattle area on the mainland. At least Oceanic doesn't have the Caps on the service like GCI does :) and they charge like you are using cell data on cable modems in Alaska :(.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 07:38:44 EDT

ramjet73 posted : I think what you are seeing is congestion in the pipes going from Hawaii to the Internet. The rated speed of 30/5 for the new turbo tier (now called extreme) only applies within the Oceanic network. There are a limited number of fiber optic cables between Hawaii and the mainland so some degradation on those connections is to be expected.

A better test to see if you are getting the advertised speed increase is to do the Ookla Speedtest and select UH or Lavanet as the host. That connection will go through the Hawaii Internet Exchange (HIX) and not depend on available Internet bandwidth.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 06:21:17 EDT

Mele20 posted : I just downloaded WD definitions at 27.35mbps. Then I did the Hawaii State broadband test again and got 25.42mbps down and 3.08 mbps up. 25.42mbps down is slightly faster than last night.

I have to see what I get there on a weekday afternoon tomorrow.

This upgrade in no practical way is a bump from 20mbps down to 30mbps down. I was getting 21-22mbps down many downloads before this bump. Now I get 25 to 27.5mbps down. Plus, I don't see more than about 3mbps up. I was getting the full 2mbps much of the time when I was on 20/2. I am not speaking of speed tests now. I am referring to large software downloads I have done since the upgrade. In essence, Oceanic has given me a 4-5 mbps upgrade not 10mbps much less 14mbps which is what Oceanic speed test shows as the upgrade over the 20mbps I had before (actually 22 as I got the over provisioned speed frequently then but certainly not now).

I'm getting better than Konaguy but not by much and I do my downloads mostly between 12-2AM which theoretically should be the least congested time.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 14:43:49 EDT

Konaguy posted : I haven't been impressed with the new download speeds either. The 30Mbps tier, which is over provisioned to 34Mbps, should see higher speeds than in between 2500K-3000KB/sec. These are the real world speeds that I've seen as of late.

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 11:05:13 EDT

DocDrew posted : I think the State of Hawaii test sucks... I can't get more the 24mbps at anytime I've tried it, with my 30 mbps connection. Many other tests, including SamKnows, TWC, and speedtest.net show I'm reaching 30-32 mbps. I can't really see how it can reflect true speeds of those in Hawaii, if it can't reflect the true speeds of those more than a couple thousand miles closer.

Maybe some of what they call "tricks" they don't do are important to allow the server enough capacity to properly test.
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Start with what you can do, solutions will follow...

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 07:28:31 EDT

Mele20 posted :

said by Mele20:

I see the fast speeds if I do certain speed tests but only then. Something like these definitions that I have been downloading NIGHTLY FOR ONE YEAR now I am getting sometimes not much above DIALUP SPEED for them....I was CONSISTENTLY GETTING ABOVE my 20/2 tier level all that time and now the best speed I have seen on this nightly download, since the speed bump, is lower than than what I was getting on 20/2.
The OOL speed test is the worst download speed now that I have seen in over a year (13000kbps).

This new tier is EXTREMELY UNSTABLE. For the past few nights (on Windows 8 computer) the OOL speed test at this time was downloading at 12,000-13,000kbps. Tonight, it downloaded at 27,3500kbps. Same with the Windows Defender definitions from Microsoft AntiMalware Center I download every night at about the same time. They have been extremely slow for the past few nights (3,000kbps to 12,000 depending on the night). Tonight, the download (79MB) was instantaneous.

So, I decided to try the State of Hawaii speed test again. I have done that test many, many times at different hours (since we got the new speeds) and at ALL HOURS it was really slow. Just now the speed was 24.98mbps down! Yes, it is the wee hours of Sunday morning here and daylight savings went off on the Mainland today...but I always do these tests at this hour every night (and also in the afternoons). The difference between 3mbps down that I had getting on that test and 24.98mbps down cannot be explained by the fact it is the wee hours of Sunday morning in Hawaii and 6AM in Texas. Sure, I would expect to get a little faster download speed at this time on Sunday morning but not this GIGANTIC difference. So, what the heck is the problem? On my XP Pro computer the speed problem was partially due to my not have an absolutely gigantic RWIN. I changed it and Tweaktest here said I had it way, way too large but, by darn, I started getting great speed on speed tests and downloads after I changed it. But I don't think I ever did the Hawaii State test on it. Windows 8 dynamically sets the RWIN so I don't think that is any part of the problem on it (I'm on it currently).

Also, I am STILL FAILING the Line Test here.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 04:19:16 EDT

Mele20 posted : Do you just deliberately act dense? Why in the world would you think I don't know what type of speed test the flash based test that State of Hawaii uses is? I can only do it in IE or Opera because I don't allow Flash to ever be enabled on Mozilla browsers (because of the horrible way Mozilla has implemented it). So, I have to deliberately leave my default browser and open IE and then Favorites/Speedtests/Flash to do it. Are you implying that I can't read? I also have to first open IE Tools/Manage Addons and temporarily enable Flash so, of course, I know what type of speed test it is and you know I know.

It should be very obvious why I think this one is reasonably accurate. It is FAR AWAY and it DOES NO LOAD BALANCING OR ANY OTHER TRICKS that are used by speedtest.net closer to home tests.

I would be very surprised if you didn't bother to read the State of Hawaii's explanation for why they are using this specific server before you posted. So, why did you post what you did?

Edit: I see you edited your post (one time) while I was typing.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 01:57:14 EDT

DocDrew posted : It's funny you call it an honest test, yet deride TWC speed tests and Speedtest.net tests.

State of Hawaii, TWC, and Speedtest.net are all flash based tests from Ookla that you've consistently claimed for years as inaccurate.
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Start with what you can do, solutions will follow...

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sun, 03 Nov 2013 00:10:48 EDT

Mele20 posted : That is deliberate though. It is an HONEST test and kudos to the State of Hawaii for using an honest test with no load balancing or other "tricks". There is no point in paying for faster speeds if we don't realize most of our speed level when downloading from websites on the Mainland.

Since I got the upgrade my direct downloads of Windows Explorer definition files from Microsoft Malware Center have slowed down. I was getting higher download speeds when I had 20/2. This confirms that Oceanic can't presently handle these new speeds. On my XP Pro computer, I was getting especially pathetic speeds after this upgrade. I had to increase the RWIN IMMENSELY and I already had a custom RWIN which was large.

I see the fast speeds if I do certain speed tests but only then. Something like these definitions that I have been downloading NIGHTLY FOR ONE YEAR now I am getting sometimes not much above DIALUP SPEED for them....I was CONSISTENTLY GETTING ABOVE my 20/2 tier level all that time and now the best speed I have seen on this nightly download, since the speed bump, is lower than than what I was getting on 20/2.

I'd rather have 20/2 (at least for now). It was stable. 30/5 is not. The State of Hawaii speed test shows only 3mbps down at that Texas server. Why should any of us have higher speeds when we get them only on certain speed tests in Hawaii or close to Hawaii? That's the State of Hawaii's point. What the state is trying to point out is that routing and peering are frequently more important to us in Hawaii than a local speed test and speed tier that much of the time we don't enjoy. I don't expect 30/5 at that Texas myspeed.net server that the State of Hawaii is using but I sure as heck expect better than 3mbps down there when on 30/5 tier! I bet someone on 15/1 gets the same speed so why have these higher tiers then? I know this is the shakedown period so maybe my speeds will eventually at least get back to what I had before this "upgrade".

The OOL speed test is the worst download speed now that I have seen in over a year (13000kbps).
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Re: Oceanic Time Warner Cable Turbo Tier Promotional Rate

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 20:55:11 EDT

Konaguy posted : The Hawaii Broadband Map test is located in Houston, Texas. This why the speed test results are so low.