FUCK TPG

[Seamus]

I was all ready to sign up. So,I started reading the fine print:

First I must cancel my existing account with Adam ,leaving me without internet connection.

THEN it's from five to twenty WORKING DAYS to set up the account.That could be a month without internet.

I'd also be without a phone for a week.

Fuck that. Not going to happen. I'll stay where I am and transfer to fibre optic when it becomes available.

Fascinating lesson;discovered it's not about the money to me, but the service. Seems I may end up paying $100-120 a month for fibre optic.

[Xeno]

TPG do not provide fast churn? If they do, it could take days to weeks to happen depending on how many people are switching to TPG, but your eventual downtime should be measured in hours. You do not need to cancel Adam as it happens automatically at the time if fast churn service is offered.

[wearestardust]

I thought I was faced with the same problem putting iiNet on; I didn't have the net but I was looking at weeks without a phone as I was moving to VOIP. It was all boilerplate and 'so you can't say we didn't warn you', however; on further investigation they were able to do it all very quickly.

[Goldenmane]

I've been with iiNet for 10 years.

Used to get phone calls from Telstra marketers, "We can provide you the same service at a cheaper rate!"

"No, you can't. I've dealt with your service departments when helping others sort out their Internet problems, and your service is utter shit. In fact, you should be calling me up to offer to pay me for wasting my fucking time. Don't tell me lies. It only irritates me, and makes me less likely to be civil."

I might be paying slightly more for iiNet, but the fuckers sort problems out fast.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

I have a simple philosophy which I am following ever so closely as time goes by: if it ain't broke, don't fix it

Goldenmane: +100 about the telstra marketers. I often get calls for free telephone services or mobile phone services. Often the first thing I ask them would be "Am I not speaking to you on one right now?" or I do my best to make it really uncomfortable for them. Rickrolling and pretending to be Arnold - never done that before, although next time I will use a sound board.

I agree - iiNet is a little more than Telstra but you get what you pay for. In some cases it may work out cheaper in terms of less time wasted.

[Senexis]

I have Internode, those guys are very fast with the service, and 24hr support. Slightly more than TPG, but lightyears ahead in so many ways.

I have spoken in tongues when telemarketers call. Especially the Indian ones, they're a top laugh when you mix German, Russian and Mandarin into an exotic religious experience for them.

[Seamus]

You're right Croc.


I've been using Adam for over 2 years.The bandwidth is OK,although nothing brilliant; rated today at 2535 kbps downstream 944 kbps upstream. I get 100 KB a month;50 +50 off peak;midnight to 8am.

I can't remember the last time I had any down time,and Adam's help desk is excellent. PLUS,Adam is an Adelaide company,with its office in the city so I can speak face-to-face with a real person if I want.

I rang TPG.The person I spoke to talked about a conflict with ADSL accounts if I didn't cancel my Adam account first.

In my naivete,I thought it should take hours,as I have my own modem and filters. I thought this was just a matter of settings,not hardware. Up to a month's wait is a deal breaker,so fuck TPG.

[KeithW]

Seamus, I'm with Internode, they have been great. First check if Internode owns its own DSLAM in you exchange. If they do I would recommend you go with them. Great ADSL2 speeds, I have 150gig download/upload for $59.95. I upload bugger all these days.

[robertkd]

Plus 1 for internode, damn excellent support.

But hey if your current service works and not overtly more expensive what the heck, agree support/service has a value.

[Seamus]

First check if Internode owns its own DSLAM in you exchange.

Thank you.Umm,I don't know what that means.

I'll check them out.

[Seamus]

Thank you Mr Black ,as usual.

Umm,could I have YOUR opinion of Dell? :confused:

My perception is you are the most objective person here on technical matters..

[Seamus]

Seamus: there are a number of desktop brands I avoid like the plague (and you will note that some have merged or gone tits-up).

They are Dell, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Packard-Bell.

The Dell's main problem for me is that many parts of their desktop machines seem to be designed so that they are not quite compatible with anything else. It's a repairer's gripe.

I have not dealt with Dell service, and the last Dell laptop I used was a 486DX2/66 thingy, so I will not comment.

I prefer Toshiba or Lenovo lappies, and am currently using an LG which is giving splendid service. (I have resurrected this machine from the parts bin, whence it went after a glass of orange juice went in via the keyboard. Only the HDD required replacement, but the onboard keys are now unreliable.)

TEVW's Acer laptop had an onboard sound port fault almost from new, but since this was rectified it has given a few years of good work.

Thank you.

[nari]

Part anecdotal, part what I have read in reviews prior to buying my notebook 3 years ago:
I would avoid HP (particularly Compaq), Dell, and Lenova (one very discouraging review which admittedly was a bit old).

I have a Toshiba satellite, bought off ebay, and even though it has Vista, it hasn't missed a beat...$750. It arrived from Hong Kong within a week. It has only 200Gb HDD, but that is plenty for me.

Nari

[davo]

I have not dealt with Dell service, and the last Dell laptop I used was a 486DX2/66 thingy, so I will not comment.

Dell service is awesome. seriously.

With HP it can take weeks for them to get a tech out if you have problems, with Dell, next or following day, even in regional areas no kidding. One email listing the problem, if they can't talk you through troubleshooting it on the phone in 30 mins, you will have a tech sent to your door.

When advising businesses that want to do work and not have to fumble with service, I advise Dell. I don't want too, I would prefer supporting a local person, but they just can't and don't compete, every single time unfortunately.

Why? Because with the warranty they can have a tech out with all the possible parts within 48hrs at no cost at all, sometimes depending on the location of the tech to where you are, the same day. They literally can rebuild the whole PC on the spot if need be, they won't muck around 'testing' they will literally replace parts with new.

Compare that with buying from the local shop, where if you have a problem they want you to bring it in (even in a small town like where I was previously) charge you for even looking at it (and they built it), then charge you for any parts on top. The machine can also sit there for days before they get around to it, with numerous calls to bug them over how important it is.

So whereas people dump on dell, I have put folk onto them across my region (well my previous location) and all of them are so happy especially when something goes wrong. Most of them don't care about playing with the computer, they just want it to work and don't want to pay for someone that may have to order parts in even if standard and wait days to get their POS system going again.

[two dogs]

Dell service is awesome. seriously.

With HP it can take weeks for them to get a tech out if you have problems, with Dell, next or following day, even in regional areas no kidding. One email listing the problem, if they can't talk you through troubleshooting it on the phone in 30 mins, you will have a tech sent to your door.
...

Indeed, that's been my experience. I had a HDD fail on my Dell XPS 420 desktop system within the warranty period. I called Dell Support and had no problem convincing the consultant that the disk had failed. He insisted on sending a technician out with a new drive, the following day, despite my insistence that I could install it myself if they couriered it to me.

[davo]

Indeed, that's been my experience. I had a HDD fail on my Dell XPS 420 desktop system within the warranty period. I called Dell Support and had no problem convincing the consultant that the disk had failed. He insisted on sending a technician out with a new drive, the following day, despite my insistence that I could install it myself if they couriered it to me.

It really depends on the type of person and the use for their computer I suppose.

This is the death knell for many local providers, they just can't compete with a large supplier entering the service market. Whereas what Mr Black said is somewhat true with parts (tho I have put in new 750 power supply and latest graphics cards etc in my Dell inspiron 530), most people funny enough aren't consistently upgrading their existing machine, they just want it to work. I can sympathise with the local person, but you also have to weigh this against businesses that lose thousands during downtime of a machine, and the frustration of users without being hooked into the matrix.

Back to the topic of laptops, I can only presume dell service is the same in that regard, and probably more friendly than trying to get it fixed locally. laptops can be a pain to get fixed.

[cyclist]

This is my experience with Dell, it is a few years old, as I no longer work on the help desk. I worked for a company that was about 400-500 employees nation wide, and I was desktop support in their head office.

We purchased a lot of Dell Latitude CPx laptops (this was about 7 or 8 years ago now). Nearly every single one of them went through a palm rest, a monitor, a motherboard and a keyboard, many of them would have gone through multiple monitors, motherboards and keyboards.

All of this was done under warranty, and the parts were usually replaced by an on site tech the business day after logging the call. It wasn't uncommon to call up their support desk and explain the problem, which they knew to be a problem, and they would quickly and efficiently confirm all of your details, and despatch an on site tech for the next day.

Then their call centre moved to India...

This was where the fun started, they refused to deviate from the script, and they were hesitant to allow parts to be despatched. Apparently one of their KPI's was to keep below a certain limit on dollar value of parts each month.

It wasn't uncommon to have a call like this

me: Hi, I have a laptop where the 8, i, k and comma key aren't working
them: what version of the BIOS are you running
me: A15 (it was really running A08).
them: OK, have you tried it with an external keyboard
me: yes (I hadn't)
them: OK, I'll have to send a tech out...

We ended up getting our sales rep to speak to their call centre operations to advise that they were to accept that we were technical and we could often diagnose faults ourselves, that made life easier.

Out of this, I felt that their support initially was brilliant despite the poor quality of their machines, once their support was in India, it wasn't brilliant, but if you are technical enough, you can get through the call and get a tech on site.

However, when I first started working at the company, we were buying Compaq Laptops as they were the best for the money, that changed to IBM, and then we got the Dells. After the CPx's, the later ones were better machines. They are now on Lenovo's.

The best laptop tends to move between brands, it also depends on what you want out of it. It also depends on what specs you want, laptops are often much more limited in their range with each supplier, so you can't always get what you want.

My 2 cents

James

[two dogs]

Dell service is awesome. seriously.
...
Indeed, that's been my experience. I had a HDD fail on my Dell XPS 420 desktop system within the warranty period. I called Dell Support and had no problem convincing the consultant that the disk had failed. He insisted on sending a technician out with a new drive, the following day, despite my insistence that I could install it myself if they couriered it to me.


Whilst my experience with Dell's hardware support was great (albeit in January 2008), I've just now found out that if something goes wrong at the order stage, then their support is absolutely fuckin' crap! :mad: