Exactly a week ago I tried to contact Broadweave/iProvo that offers fiber optic internet in the area as that was what I had before with MSTAR. I sent them a message through their website and it mentioned being contacted within 24 hours. The next day i did not hear from them, so I tried to call and got a voicemail message. I left a message and didn’t get a call back until the next week.
Next I decided to just try for internet through Comcast. Their connection speed is a little slower, but I figured they would be easier to get setup with. The place we moved to already provides T.V. service with them. I tried to check out on their website and it was supposed to have an option of allowing me to install it myself or having someone else do it. I knew I could set it up myself and already had a cable modem. Needless to say I only got the option for professional installation on checkout and the fee was $100. I started an online chat with their customer service and told them the situation. They finally said, that because the t.v. service is under a bulk contract for the complex, that I needed to speak with the person who takes care of that.
The next day I call the guy who handles the t.v. service and he told me they didn’t know what they were talking about and that all the other people in the complex have set up their own accounts for with Comcast for internet. He gave me the account number for the bulk contract so they could look it up for me. I call and tell them the situation and then they finally say they can hook me up, but the monthly fee will be $53. By going through the website is was going to be $19.99 for the first six months and then go up to $42, so it seemed ridiculous to me that the same service was $10 more because I called in.
I decided to try online again and it did the same thing by only giving me the professional installation option. I decided to try the chat again and talk with someone else. This time they said they could help get me setup and that I had to have the professional installation because I am on a separate account for internet service, but they could arrange a reduced rate. I told him to tell me what the rate was and after a minute he finally said that he could not set me up online and to call their toll free number.
As a last try I decided to take the drive to their office in Lindon and deal with someone in person. I should have done that in the first place as they set up my account within minutes. They couldn’t get me the same online deal, but I did get $25 for the first 6 months and then the $43 rate after that which is only a dollar or two more than Mstar was.
However, I did have one little hiccup with their software. The software was made for PowerPC macs and possibly not compatible with Snow Leopard. Intel Macs have been around for 4 years now, you would think they could have at least made a Universal Binary by now. It just hung on verifying network and I let it sit for 30 minutes or so. I finally booted up Windows XP in VM Ware and used their Windows setup which worked without a hitch. It did want to install a bunch of junk though like the comcast toolbar and a few other utilities.
During all of this the Broadweave finally called me back, but they said their service was going to be close to $70 a month.
After a week long process, I am finally connected again. I think if I ever have to deal with their support again, I will just take the drive to their office as that seemed to be the most helpful.