ISP Channel news service canceled!

[gbiddle]

I just recently signed up with ISP Channel and have been pretty satisified with the connection. About two weeks ago I began to have problems logging onto the news server. I called tech suppoert and they said they were having some problems with the news service and it would all be working as soon as they found the glitch. At that time I was informed that ISP Channel purchased their news service from a outside source but service would be restored soon. After about seven days and no news connection I was sent an email message from ISP Channel telling me that they had decided to no longer offer news as a part of their package due to recent surveys that indicated that only 5% of their subscribers were using that service.
Also mention was made that this was a considerable cost to them to provide a service that was so little used.
Anyone out there have any idea who you should complain to about this?
I have responded to the email telling them that I feel they are cutting 1/3 of my service (Internet access, email and news being the three services.) and still expecting me to pay the full amount but there has been no answer.
As many of you know a outside source for news may run anywhere from $9.00 USD to $25.00 USD and there a usually limitations when subscribing to some of these services.
How would you start a campaign against this since I know of no way to contact my fellow subscribers and band together on this?
I hope no one is offended for post this here.
I looked over the different forums and this one seemed to be the best one on this issue.
Thanks in advance.

[Kip Patterson]

Uh, the lack of a news server is the least of your problems. How recently did you sign up? They were scheduled to go out of business on December 1st, i'm suprised to see that they are still around.

[gbiddle]

I started the service in early October.
I saw a news article on one of the cable modem sites stating they were having big financial problems and were going to cut their customer support but nothing about them going out of business. I also have Knology in our area but the reason I took the ISP Channel was my cable provider was already MediaCom and they offered a package for $69.95. No billing till 2001 and the package included network card and they also ran a dedicated line for the computer at no charge.

[Kip Patterson]

On October 19th ISP Channel reduced their staff by 33% and told the cable companies they were associated with that they expected to cease operation no later than December 31st. On November 13th, they announced that they had agreed with HSA to allow HSA to pursue their customers, that is, the cable companies. On November 30th they terminated an additional 25% of their staff.

I stand corrected on the December 1st date.

[This message has been edited by Kip Patterson (edited 12-04-2000).]

[Jim Russell]

Same here for me in Huntsville,AL.
ISPCHANNEL Stinks!
First they gave me a work around using news1.onlynews.com and now that link is dead.
Also, the speed has really gone south.
The people at Mediacom draw a blank when I Call them.
We are going to have to hang it up on this service.

[SB]

I recieved the e-mail about the news groups also. I wasn't at all happy since I just started service on 10-27 and I did use them before this happend. Maybe who ever joins with my cable company will be faster and offer news groups. I just went with them because Bellsouth or Knology hasn't reached me yet. I have talked with some at Knology and they say my area should have it the first part of next year. I just don't know what type of service they offer, do they cap at 500 like ISP does?

[gbiddle]

Good to hear from all of you.
At least I know I am not in this alone. *L

Kip, who is HSA?

Jim & SB I am from the same area as you (Harvest, AL) and I still have my HiWAAY information services account so I can revert back to the but I want a faster connection. (Who doesn't? :-)) HiWAAY DSL is who I really wanted to go with for a DSL connection but support at HiWAAY told me the DSL was not even on the horizion for me in the Harvest area. I have been with HiWAAY for about four or five years and they have provided EXCELLECT service. Email is VERY stable and they have two news servers and access to other servers. I always conect at 49000 plus on the dial up with HiWAAY and the pages seem to load almost as fast as ISP Channel but the file downloads are much faster with ISP Channel. Napster file downloads with HiWAAY average taking 15 to 20 minutes on the HiWAAY account and 2 to 6 minutes on the ISP Channel.
BellSouth would be great but I know for a fact they are suffering from major growing pains too. I know someone that works for them as a tech and they are searching all through their people to find extra techs to install DSL in Southern Tennesse right now. They are pulling people as they can find them to aid in the installation of this service.
Cable and DSL is where it is at right now but the whole industry seems to really be suffering growing pains. The guys that installed my cable modem were working 12 and 14 hours days to try and fill all the orders they had on the special promotion when I got mine done.
From day one with ISP Channel I could only get their news server. I called tech support to find out why I could not access msnews.msn.com & msnews.microsoft.com like I could with HiWAAY and they never could get it fixed. Their tech support people were clueless. I got a different excuse every time I checked with them. One tech support person was shocked to find these two servers when I gave him the server link. He was able to access them from Mountain View, CA at ISP Channel tech support but I never could. He thanked me over and over for the link because he saw right off some of the groups there could aid him in customer service with Microsoft issues. Looks like he might not have any use for them now if he is laid off. :-(
Keep me posted if you find out Knology is better because I can change to them but I really did not want to change cable TV, Internet providers and email unless I had to again. Changing and getting all that set up is a real pain.

[Kip Patterson]

See:
http://www.hsacorp.net/

[gbiddle]

Kip, thanks so much for the link!

Jim & SB looks like we need to follow the link Kip furnished and contact HSA to see if they are going to reduce the month subscriber fee since we are loosing the access to news groups or to find out if they intend on putting the news groups back on sometime soon through another news service.
I intend on contacting them later today to find out.

[Kip Patterson]

May I suggest that you start by contacting the management of your cable company to see if they are negotiating with HSA to take over the role of Internet ISP. A polite call to the general manager would be a good place to start. Figure out some way to get his attention in a nice fashion - maybe your brother-in-law is a reporter for a local TV station?

[SB]

Mediacom has told me today, I called them, and they said they are in negotiations with a few different ISPs and are not sure which one they will use. And without me asking, they said that which ever ISP they use will offer news groups. She mentioned this because she said they have been getting calls constantly complaining about it. If I hear anything I will post it here.

[Jim Russell]

SB, Mediacom told me exactly the same thing after I did some cross-examination.
First, the lady said they knew the newsgroups were down and they were working on it. When I told her it was down because the ISP had discontinued the newsgroups, she stammered a little and decided to read me a letter the staff had received.
I still receive my microsoft newsgroups with out any problems.

[gbiddle]

Jim help me out here.
How did you manage to get the Microsoft news groups.
Mine has not worked from day one.
What news reader are you using? Outlook Express is what I have been using to attempt to access them.
Can you give me the settings you are using in your "Accounts" to be able to access them?

[Jim Russell]

In my news groups I have msnews.microsoft.com
then they sub groups I subscribe to.
My Veritas group also works.
I think you have to go to msnews.microsoft.com to set up the news groups you want.
Having a senior moment right now but think that is what I did.
Hopefully we will have a new ISP provider the first of the year.

[Jim Russell]

I stopped by Mediacom yesterday and they told me our news groups would be back up on Friday.

[SB]

That's interesting. Is it being supplied by ispchannel?

[gbiddle]

Will it be the same news server? (news.ispchannel.com)
I just tried it at 10:10AM CST 12 Dec. and I cannot connect.

[Jim Russell]

Originally posted by gbiddle:
Will it be the same news server? (news.ispchannel.com)
I just tried it at 10:10AM CST 12 Dec. and I cannot connect.

It was my understanding ISPCHANNEL was going to re-instate the news goups until Jan.1 2001
But who knows, they always tell you what they want you to hear.

[SB]

11:30 pm. News seems to be back up. Thanks for the info @home Cable.

[@home cable man]

here is some contact info for isp

General Contacts
Executive Offices
650 Townsend Street
Suite 225
San Francisco, CA 94103-4908 Customer Care Center
510 Logue Avenue
Mountain View, CA
94043-4020
Phone:
Fax: 415-365-2500
415-365-2565
Phone:
Fax: 650-237-1400
650-237-1499

Toll Free Assistance
If you need assistance, call us toll free. Click here for the toll free number in your area.
E-mail Inquiries

Have questions? To reach us via e-mail, click here and select the category that best fits your needs. This will enable us to respond more rapidly to your inquiry.

For information on SoftNet Systems, Inc. please visit our web site at http://www.softnet.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Cable Modem Services | Order Now | Refer-a-Friend | Help Zone | FAQ |
Account Management | Company Info | Contact Us | Careers | Privacy Policy | Neighborhood |
Y2K Compliance Disclosure


© 1999 - 2000 SoftNet Systems, Inc. ISP Channel is a wholly owned subsidiary
and a service mark of SoftNet Systems, Inc.

[@home cable man]

here is some contact info for isp
also note at the bottom who ownes them ;o)
General Contacts
Executive Offices
650 Townsend Street
Suite 225
San Francisco, CA 94103-4908 Customer Care Center
510 Logue Avenue
Mountain View, CA
94043-4020
Phone:
Fax: 415-365-2500
415-365-2565
Phone:
Fax: 650-237-1400
650-237-1499

Toll Free Assistance
If you need assistance, call us toll free. Click here for the toll free number in your area.
E-mail Inquiries

Have questions? To reach us via e-mail, click here and select the category that best fits your needs. This will enable us to respond more rapidly to your inquiry.

For information on SoftNet Systems, Inc. please visit our web site at http://www.softnet.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Cable Modem Services | Order Now | Refer-a-Friend | Help Zone | FAQ |
Account Management | Company Info | Contact Us | Careers | Privacy Policy | Neighborhood |
Y2K Compliance Disclosure


© 1999 - 2000 SoftNet Systems, Inc. ISP Channel is a wholly owned subsidiary
and a service mark of SoftNet Systems, Inc.

[gbiddle]

Finally!
It is 6:00AM, 9 Dec. and I finally have news service! It has been out over 18 days and also I have msnews.microsoft.com for the first time since I signed up in early October.
We need to keep this thread alive. When you get any news of changes post I so it will move the topic back to the top and we can keep up with what is going on.

[Kip Patterson]

I'd suggest that you keep an eye on the web sites for your cable company, ISPChannel, and HSA.

The latter two are public companies, so their financial statements are public, and any significant events have to be disclosed. I hope you are a drinking person because you probably shouldn't look at the financials while sober. ISPChannel's parent lost $7 for each dollar in revenue. HSA lost $10. And I thought when they talked about modern math they were referring to algebra.

[Jim Russell]

Kip,
Appears the broadband ISP’s are suffering the dot com syndrome.

[SB]

What kind of speeds are you two getting from Ispchannel? After a few tweaks I was getting roughly 325 up and 100 down. But this has now gone to 150 up 122 down in the last two days. I don't know of anyone else that is using their service in this area. Thanks

[Jim Russell]

Right this moment I'm getting 21-88 down and
21-33 up.
It's that way every evening. Much of the time slower then my 28800 modem.
Mediacom tells me it is because they are maxed out on the lines and will be installing new lines soon. They have been telling me that for over two months.

[Jim Russell]

SB, I still can't get the newsgroups. Called ispchannel and they had me remove the old entry in accounts and type in a new acount. Didn't help and i lost all my newsgroup entries. I get a error 502 Service unavailable.
This may have something to do with the change they had me amke before their thech support found out they discontinued the news groups. It was something like newsonly.news1.com

[SB]

The news server I use for Isp is news.ispchannel.com Hope this helps.

[gbiddle]

Give me the link you are checking your speed at and I'll see what I get.
I got 277 bps the 1st try and 278 the 2nd at this site:
http://www.speed411.com/UpdateISP3.asp

It is 9:50PM and my newsgroups are still working OK. I still can't believe they are back but I am glad. http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/smile.gif

[SB]

I got a 398 and a 394 at that site. I usually use http://www.dslreports.com/ for tests. I've seen that this one is one of the recommended sites for testing by people here.

[Jim Russell]

gbiddle & SB, I also use the www.dslreports.com (http://www.dslreports.com) for speed reference.
I get high 300's during the day and down to high teens in the evening. According to Mediacom it is because they are maxed out on the BellSouth line in my area and are waiting on BellSouth to install new lines.
As far as my newsgroups go, I use news.ispchannel.com and according to ISPCHANNEL this AM the newsgroups are not offered in my area. Mediacom says I have them until the first of the year but I can not connect to them. I get a error 502 unavailable.
My microsoft newsgroups still work.

[gbiddle]

Jim, that is really strange that you cannot access the newsgroups and I can. I use the same server (news.ispchannel.com) that you are pointing to and it works for me. I live in the Harvest/Toney area. I ran the DSL Reports link but I forgot to jot down the numbers and bring them with me. http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/frown.gif
I am at work and the figures are at home but I will post them this afternoon if I get time. I don't know what to do right now. Do I wait this out or change to the Knology deal? If if I change to the Knology and I get worse speeds than I have now I will really be sick.
Also I am getting notices from someone on my email all the time lately named "admin" that a message has been bounced because it is over the limit. Do we have a cap on how large an attachment can be to a email message?
I will do my best to post that message and see if either of you are getting the same messages.
Jim, have your tried the Microsoft Knowledge base to see what that error message means?

[gbiddle]

Jim, check this Microsoft article and see if it might help you:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q155/4/55.asp?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=error%20502%20unavailable&rnk=1&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=OEX

[Jim Russell]

SB, I agree there hasn't been very much good press on @home but it has to be better then what we have.
We are probably better off with a larger company that has some cash flow to upgrade the equipment.
Some of the probelm we have is with Mediacom.
The way Mediacom explained it to me, the DSL lines from BellSouth into the Mediacom office are over loaded and slowing down the the system for some areas. Mine for one! BellSouth was to install more lines four weeks ago????
My system slows down to below 28K every evening.

[SB]

I ran into a person from Mediacom today and he said he was a supervisor over repairs on the sites. I'm not sure if this is good news or bad because of what I have seen on this board. He said the first of the year that they will be switching over to @home for their internet service. I don't know how much confidence I put on what he said about @home but it's better than nothing I guess. I just hope they will be better in this area and he wasn't sure if a cap would be put on the speeds. I have heard Circuit City is having a demonstration showing @home but I'm not positive on who the cable company is.

[gbiddle]

Does not surprise me that they (ISP Channel)got sucked up by one of the big ones. I have a friend in south Huntsville that just signed up with them (@home) and he is getting some staggering numbers on his up and down speeds. Maybe some of it will go our way.
Also another note of interest. I have a co-worker that has the Charter Pipeline service in Arab, AL. He receives on the cable modem and sends out on the phone line. They have been telling him the two way is just around the corner any day now. I had been after him to go to the DSL Reports page and do the speed test. He finally did it last night and applied the tweak to the registry there. His speed picked up nearly double after he applied the tweak and re-booted.
I know those are posted here as well but he felt more comfortable letting their site diagnose his connection and pointing him to what he needed. But anyway thanks SB for the link the other day. It certainly helped him and made me look like a genius. LOL

[This message has been edited by gbiddle (edited 12-13-2000).]

[gbiddle]

Guess all of you got the word yesterday.
We will all soon be @home
Hope I don't speak too soon, but email, Internet and news have all been working pretty good the past week.
I just hope it doesn't get all botched up during the transition.

[Jim Russell]

You are lucky. I never did get my newsgroups back and my connect speed never breaks 150kbps and is down to 13kbps in the evenings.
I had better speed then this back when I had a 14400 modem.
Mediacom blames it on the Bellsouth lines?
Since this all started I have heard five different reasons for my slooooow connections.

[This message has been edited by Jim Russell (edited 12-23-2000).]

[SB]

I too recieved the e-mail. The @home software, I heard it isn't good and there is no need to install it. One time I was having problems with slow speeds and the tech guy kept telling me that it was my computer or bad cables in my neighborhood. I ran a ping program and told him the results and it came out to be hardware in the building off Jeff road. I've only called mediacom once and that was when I couldn't get in touch with ispchannel. My brother lives in Sacremento Cal. and his @home is 3300kbps, hopefully we will see the same results.

[This message has been edited by SB (edited 12-22-2000).]

[Jim Russell]

My slow connection has been since day one. This morning I get 337 kbps and at the end of the day I'm down to 13 kbps along with complete lockups.
A medicom tech lives about one mile from me and he says his connection is as lousy as mine. Thanks!
Reason's given.
Between ispchannel and mediacom I have been told it is caused from ispcannel server timing out, larency ispchannel and medicom line maxed out because there isn't enough BellSouth line's at mediacom. They can never explain exactly what they plan to do to correct the problem.
If @home is five times faster, I will have 65 kbps in the evening. WOW, at least thats better then the phone.
Maybe I will at least get my newsgroups back.
IMHO, Mediacom is in over their head with this cable modem technology.

[SB]

Your right about Mediacom being in over there head. I have talked to a field tech that deals with the internet side of the company. I'm no genius on this stuff but he didn't seem to come across as a well trained person, atleast that is what I thought. I think they put in the system because they knew that they were about to competition, atleast in my area, from knology and whenever bellsouth DSL gets out here. I have a feeling if this @home doesn't do to good when knology gets out here that Mediacom will be hurting, with the internet and their cable. I'm currently on Dish Network because I got feedup with the cable back when they were Multivision. Just got a letter in the mail stating the same thing the e-mail did. I personally think that @home will make Mediacoms techs to learn more about this so to not make @home look bad.

[Jim Russell]

I certainly hope you are right SB.
One of many reasons I think they are in way over their head is a few days ago I called them about my slow speed Internet connection being totally down. They said I should try it again because they had repaired all the down cables.
I then called ISPCHANNEL and they told me the whole Huntsville area was down because they had a server crash.
I then call Mediacom back and they thanked me along with telling me they sure hoped ISPCHANNEL got it back up before people got home from work because everyone would be calling.
This is a sad situation.