I sent an email to Netspace Support (an official support medium) questioning the usage figures as being incorrect.
The reason behind this is my router supports logging of data usage and I was looking at it, and the usage meter as the line continually crept closer to the 100% mark, despite the routers logs showing we still had a few GB or more left!
I investigated further by looking at bandwidth consumption over the period of an hour and more.
For the time period between the usage meter updating, and my check of the router, the usage figures varied wildly (by several hundred MBs).
I realised this couldn’t be right, and the router certainly is logging true stats after a complete network search to try and prove the router was lying.
And of course, the router was right, Netspace had been adding more usage to the tune of hundreds of MB for hours after! This continued for sometime, until eventually they shaped our connection.
What’s truly amazing here is, I didn’t hesitate to contact them, emailing them on the 22nd of July, which by now is some 9 days or more since I discovered and reported the issue using an official support medium.
I then sent 6 more follow up emails in the coming days after having no response, except an automated response defining the ticket ID number.
When we had issues way back in February, when we moved with Nutshape, we found them to be on several different levels, incompetent.
However, we were forced to stick to the 6 month contract, because they fear I might have cancelled and they would get slogged with the fee for us disconnecting within the 6 month timeframe Telstra enforces on a competitor to hold a port connected for (or face a $100 fee).
Despite the fact I outlined to Netspace I use my connection DAILY (or for a better word, HOURLY), and it’s a pretty essential part of my day to day life, they insisted I sit with them for 6 months.
So, we decided that rather then break the contract (and have to pay 6 x monthly fee to get out of it- RIP OFF), we would sit with them, and the very moment we could get away from them, we would (and relax Netspace, I won’t forget, there’s a calendar entry for it, but that’s not only it, the same day is a best mate of mines Birthday!).
When is a considerable timeframe for a response to a rather important matter from an ISP using an official support method?
Shouldn’t around 3 days max be the ideal? 4 days for busy periods..?
Exetel, an ISP that promotes itself as a no frills ISP, providing NO SUPPORT, except where required (phone line fault, etc), seemingly do a lot better job then these monkeys at Netspace.
Netspace factor support services into their prices (a reason why they are considerably higher), and they proudly present themselves as providing World Class Customer Service.
Again, just like in February, such World Class Customer Service can only be found in Third World countries, because it seems when it comes to Netspace and alledged Australian World Class Customer Service, you might as well as go to an ISP shipping calls to India… You’d get a response!!
I’m counting the days to the time where I tell these n00bs to GAGF. I’ve absolutely had enough of them, and I want to assure anyone considering Netspace for an internet connection: Sure, it’s reliable for the most part, but you can do better, MUCH BETTER. Go elsewhere, run for the hills.
Enjoy!