My Storm-to-Xplornet Conversion
About 3 weeks ago, Xplornet contacted me to see if I wanted to convert to their wireless service, since they had bought Storm's wireless business and I was a Storm wireless customer. I decided to go with Xplornet, and chose their Xtreme 5Mbps (peak) service; I had 3Mbps (peak) with Storm, which was typically ~1 Mbps sustained/average, and wanted something faster for my heavy telecommuting activities
On Wednesday, June 11, Xplornet again called to say that they would have a technician in the area the next day, and if it would be okay for him to remove the Storm gear and install the Xplornet gear. I agreed, and was informed that the tech would be at my house around 2pm.
The next day (Thursday), the Xplornet technician showed up ~3:30pm (not significantly later compared to some utility companies). It took him a couple of hours to complete the removal and installation.
The first thing I noticed was that the new antenna was pointed south-west (at the North Gower client services centre tower) instead of north (to the repeater atop a silo at Acredale Farm). Storm has told me on a couple of occasions that they could not get a strong enough signal from the NGCSC tower; I guess that the Xplornet gear on the tower is either positioned higher on the tower, and/or it's different gear.
I then fired-up my PC and started some testing. I immediately noticed that the downloads were faster with Xplornet than with Storm. A couple of download tests (using testmy.net) I ran over the first 24 hours indicated average speeds in the 4Mbps range; not bad for a 5Mbps service.
I requested an additional email address on Thursday. It's now Saturday, and other than an automated email response stating that my request had been received, I have not heard anything back from Xplornet. Hopefully, I will get a response within the next business day or two.
On Wednesday, June 11, Xplornet again called to say that they would have a technician in the area the next day, and if it would be okay for him to remove the Storm gear and install the Xplornet gear. I agreed, and was informed that the tech would be at my house around 2pm.
The next day (Thursday), the Xplornet technician showed up ~3:30pm (not significantly later compared to some utility companies). It took him a couple of hours to complete the removal and installation.
The first thing I noticed was that the new antenna was pointed south-west (at the North Gower client services centre tower) instead of north (to the repeater atop a silo at Acredale Farm). Storm has told me on a couple of occasions that they could not get a strong enough signal from the NGCSC tower; I guess that the Xplornet gear on the tower is either positioned higher on the tower, and/or it's different gear.
I then fired-up my PC and started some testing. I immediately noticed that the downloads were faster with Xplornet than with Storm. A couple of download tests (using testmy.net) I ran over the first 24 hours indicated average speeds in the 4Mbps range; not bad for a 5Mbps service.
I requested an additional email address on Thursday. It's now Saturday, and other than an automated email response stating that my request had been received, I have not heard anything back from Xplornet. Hopefully, I will get a response within the next business day or two.
posted by Chris Spencer at 8:27 am
17 comments
17 Comments:
Update: Xplornet customer service responded to my request for an additional email address on Monday. Not bad; two business days.
Chris,
I'm very pleased to hear that your Xplornet transition went well. I'm about to go through the same process, Xplornet offered me the 3Mb package for the same price i'm paying now with Storm.
I pointed out to them that they'd actually be downgrading my service as Storm is (up to) 3Mb down/3Mb up and Xplornet is 3Mb down/600kb up. The CSR offered me a free static i.p address as compensation (not that i'm too concerned with the up speed but it's the principle) - there's a tip for your readers.
In the end I went with the 5Mb package, but i forgot to ask them about the download capacities, i know Storm is 50Gb/month, but am unsure what the Xplornet cap/month is.
I'm now waiting for technician to swap out my Storm equipment (which could be up to a month away apparently).
Cheers
Tony
Hi Chris,
I was formerly on Xplornet and was not happy, moved over to Storm and it has been rock solid.
Now that I may have to move back I am hesitant. Now that it has been almost a week since your first post how are the speeds? I know some customers have complained about bursting issues so downloads start fast and throttle back. Have you experienced this?
Thanks
@Josh:
After a week, speeds are acceptable, but lower (more in-line with what I was expecting, about 1/3 of advertised max). Most importantly for me, my work-related VoIP calls had no issues... unlike with Storm. I am still seeing high burst rates. All in all, my 5Mbps service is faster than the 3Mbps service that I had with Storm. Which is good.
Now for the not-so-good...
Since getting hooked-up, the tower that services me had an interruption (lightning strike?) and I had some problems re-establishing my service. That's when I discovered that, like Bell Sympatico's customer service, Xplornet's customer service leaves much to be desired. I was on-hold for 15+ minutes to get to a tier-1 support rep, who walked me through her script... which I knew from the start would be useless (I'm a comm-eng and had done some basic troubleshooting on my own before calling.) When she couldn't resolve my problem, she transferred me to tier-2 support... where I once again waited on-hold for 20+ minutes. During that time, I resolved the problem myself by doing the one thing not on the tier-1 script -- cycling power to my radio.
More serious, I worked from home today, during heavy rains and my connections dropped 4 times in about 1.5 hours... while I was logged into my own customer's equipment and trying to troubleshoot it. Very stressful to have my internet connections drop at those times. My Storm service rarely if ever got knocked out by poor weather, but Xplornet's service seems to be sensitive. Since I'm loath to contact Xplornet's customer service and suffer through the tier-1 script again, I'm not sure what else I can do. If the system keeps getting toasted by a few rain drops, I may invoke my 30-day money-back guarentee and shuffle on over to Bell's Sympatico Unplugged service -- at least then I can get some bundle discounts.
hmm. Interesting Chris, I bit the bullet the other day and started the process to switch over to Xplornet I am wondering I have should have now reading your comments. I have already once invoked the 30 Day Guarantee. I may look into the Unplugged service now as it also has a 30 day Guarantee. I will keep you posted on my experience and thanks for creating this blog. I have consulted it may times over the last few years.
@Josh:
I'd be interested in hearing about Sympatico Unplugged if you go that route. I haven't been able to get any feedback from anyone on it or Rogers Portable.
WRT Xplornet's customer service, their email support seems better (i.e. less irritating) than their phone support. Email responses seem to be a 24-48 hour turnaround, which is pretty good. However, that doesn't help for any kind of real-time troubleshooting. Of course, I doubt you'd get any better from Bell or Rogers.
Well you are lucky ones.
My entire street is too far from their towers. Still, they proceeded with the switch without dealing with weak signals at all. Most of the converted houses have a lot of problems, from many lost connections to just plain no service at all for days. Just across the street Ed lost his service from May, likely because of tress (leaves come out). I had a tek yesterday. While my Storm was rock solid using chimney, Xplorent tek used a pole on top of the roof. Still, he got a minimal signal in setup mode and nothing at all in operational mode.
Of course, with so many issues my beighbours had to use customer service a lot. None are impressed. One of them ended up going to the office and yelling at them after countless phone calls resolved nothing at all. Ed too had many teks coming to his house and making many adjustments, to no avail.
So it comes down to tower location. If you are lukcy to be close to a tower then it should be fine. Otherwise the company is very irresponsible and offers no solutions while still trying to make a sale.
I'm very thankful to have found this thread. I'm currently using Storm's 900mHz service from the Constance Bay tower, but am possibly the only person on my street to have been able to access this due to elevation of my house n Armitage Avenue. Xplornet has been pressuring me to make the changeover, but I am loathe to do so due to the huge volume of negative feedback I've received from Xplornet users, both in person and at www.xplornetsucks.com - everything from unreliable service and draconian throttling policies to horrendous customer service. My other 2 options seem to be Northwinds Wireless through a repeater on a neighbour's waterfront home and Bell WiMax.
I'm immediately turned off by the fact that the Xplornet representative that called me told me that upload speeds "were not that important", so that I should not be concerned by the fact that for the same price they were taking me from Storm's 3Mb symmetrical service to Xplornet's 600k upload speed. Each time she has called (3-4x), she has asked me if I have any questions, but was really not capable of answering any of them, and when she said she's find answers and get back to me would just call and talk as though we had never spoken before, with no record of my inquiries.
I'm afraid I may have been spoiled by Storm's excellent speeds, reliability and customer service, and am quite dismayed that they have chosen to sell their wireless business to a provider with what seems like a very poor reputation, but am still trying to be open minded.
Anyhow, to get to my point (finally). I'm looking for real world feedback from those who have made the changeover to Xplornet, or those who have tried Northwinds Wireless. Any comments on experiences would be greatly appreciated.
And Chris, thanks for this great blog. I have been following for several years now, and very much appreciate you providing great information and a forum to discuss it.
cheers,
Ian
@Ian:
I think if you google any ISP, you'll find a number of customers who aren't happy. I've found such negative comments posted for Bell Sympatico, Rogers, Xplornet, and even Storm on various forums around the 'net. The last time I visited www.xplornetsucks.com, I noticed that many of the comments were posted by the same person, who appeared also to be the site owner.
From my own experience with Xplornet, I have to say that so far, their customer support is weak... along the same level as I used to get with Bell Sympatico years ago and certainly lower than I experienced with Storm. It's hit-or-miss; you could get good service from someone with a clue or you could get someone who insists on following their script. You could get short or long on-hold times. The email technical support seems pretty reasonable.
I'm going to add a new post to update my experiences with Xplornet over the last three weeks since I signed-on.
Thanks Chris. I'm planning on holding onto my Storm hardware until somebody physically shuts me down. In the meantime I'll still be looking for some positive feedback on Xplornet speeds and service, so hopefully everyone will keep the posts coming!
So far, Xplornet has not mentioned a contract when they switch me from Storm to their Zoom package. Only that if I upgraded to 5mbps service there would be a minimum contract period. Does anyone know whether, or what the contract requirements are for doing a straight switch from Storm to Xplornet wireless?
* Don't sign a contract. You don't have to.
* Don't let them take your hardware as you own it. The only thing you rent is the storm modem.
* my speeds are worse than storm. Upload is really pathetic which is a bummer for sending large emails or uploading pictures to get printed etc.
* if you vpn into work with storm you won't be able to with xplornet unless you get a fixed ip. They will try to make you pay for it but eventually they will give it to you for free.
* 45 minutes on hold the other night. They won't do things via email. Probably don't want a record of it.
@Anonymous:
- You're right; you DO NOT have to sign a contract. You can go month-to-month.
- Be careful here. Some Storm users are (like me) Arryba orphans, and that gear is still owned by Arryba. I spoke with the CTO of Arryba, who now works for Storm, and he indicated that Xplornet is supposed to take Arryba gear.
- My upload speeds are worse with Xplornet, but my download speeds are as good or slightly better (1.0 - 1.4 Mbps down sustained on their 3Mbps service). I know that trying to get ahold of Xplornet Support is a big PITA, but it may be worth your while.
- You should NOT need a static IP to access your corporate VPN with Xplornet. I access my corporate VPN for months without a static IP.
- Yup, Xplornet's hotline wait times suck. No argument. IIRC, so did Bell Sympatico's. Storm's wait times were awesome.
Cheers,
Chris
Chris: I agree that "You should NOT need a static IP to access your corporate VPN with Xplornet. I access my corporate VPN for months without a static IP." but as soon as I was switched to Xplornet it stopped working. After quite a lot of complaining they gave me a static ip which they said was needed and as soon as this was done vpn started working again. They first pushed for me to pay the extra $10per month for the static ip but I refused. To me not being able to vpn into work is like having a phone that you can't talk through. I feel sorry for people signing up hoping to be able to vpn into work and then having all this trouble which I believe is unique to Xplornet.
They also lied to me saying the service would be as good or better than Storm's. Storm's was 3m up and 3m down for $50 and Xplornet is 600kbs up and 3m down for $50. I told them that and they said I was wrong.
I paid big $ for the Storm equipment and on the invoice it clearly states that only the modem is rented. If they take more than the modem to me that is theft. :-)
When they did my conversion they tried to force/trick me into signing a contract for no reason. When I refused then they send the letter offering the $10/month discount if I sign a contract.
Also they said because I kept the equipment that I would not get the $50 hardware credit. Did anyone else get a $50 hardware credit?
So I got an email from Storm (a great wireless ISP in Ottawa area) a few months ago saying that they'd been bought out by xplornet. I was a bit trepidatious about it but figured what the heck, can't be all bad. Well, now that I've had xplornet for 3 days that I can look back on the Garden of Eden and see how green it was. xplornet's policies SUCK!
I first noticed that my WoW/LOTRO patches as well as ANY service needing non-port 80/21/110 didn't work any longer. When talking to xplornet CSR's (which always take a min. of 1 hr. on the phone) I was forced to get a static IP which has NOTHING TO DO with port forwarding, yet is their way of charging a premium of $10 extra per customer per month that knows the internet or uses it to its fullest (skype/gaming/torrents/iRC etc...). They simply could have put my NIC in the DMZ and still had dynamic IP addressing and I would have had normal access to the internet.
I sucked it up and got the static IP. Now, utorrent works fine now. WoW / LOTRO patching works fine. Dloading SUSE works fine. Skype works fine.
To boot, They HEAVILY throttle their connection. If you go to speedtest.net you get a rosy picture of xplornet's dl/ul speeds - roughly what they adverse because they burst their data flow for 10-15 seconds at the advertised rates. After this 10-15 seconds the traffic shapers kick in. If you look at sustained dl/ul that you get a good picture of how badly they throttle their connection. I have a '3 Mbps' connection. This should theoretically give me speeds of around 366 kB/s. Their sustained UL/DL speeds are 80-84 kB/s (and I've got a solid signal to noise ratio). After talking to a tech, their 1.5 Mbps service has a sustained cap of 70 KB/s (should be 183 Kb/s) and their 5 Mbps service is capped at sustained 100 KB/s(should be 610 KB/s). To summarize, you get ROUGHLY 1/4 OF THE ADVERTISED SPEED. Their upload rates are even worse - marginally better than dialup - and I'm not joking, but I won't get into that on this post.
For those of you from Storm - or any others looking for a wireless ISP because you're in the boondocks, check out Bell's WiMAX. Do yourself a favour, the xplornet help desk folk are nice (or at least have been for me) but their policies are DRACONIAN.
Whoa, dude, chill.
If you're less than 30 days into your Xplornet contract, you can cancel it. Then, like you say, switch over to Bell Sympatico Unplugged or Rogers Portable Internet (they both run on their jointly-developed Inukshuk network).
Also, based on what I've been finding out, 1/4 - 1/3 of peak (advertised) rates is typical among ISPs. When I had Storm's 3 Mbps service, I typically got between 1.0 - 1.5 Mbps sustained. I was initially getting that with Xplornet as well, but no more... now I am typically getting 500 - 1000 Kbps.
I, too, am less than happy with Xplornet's customer service and their speeds. I am regretting signing a one-year contract with them. I just got them to change my antenna after 2.5 weeks of 25-70% connectivity loss... and 3 tier 1 support reps telling me on 3 different occasions that they had reviewed my file and detected an issue with my service. One even had the nerve to tell me that any connection loss was momentary even after I provided them with over 12 hours of ping test data showing otherwise. Once I finally got talking to a tier 2 prime, things were resolved within a few days (i.e. within the timeframe indicated by the tier 2 rep).
I'm beginning to think that Xplornet has bitten off more than they can chew.
Yet, at the same time, I have friends and colleagues who are completely happy with their service.
BTW, Xplornet gave me a Static IP for free; I didn't even have to ask. They called up and offered it one day. I've heard other people getting it for free too.
Watch when your credit card comes up for renewal that they don't try to trick you into renewing the contract for three more years like they did me.
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