Winding up Order - Netspeed

patrick_keogh said :

This all is really sad. Sad because this, together with other reports of disquiet by customers possibly signals the demise of what is now the main alternative ISP on the Transact network. Reduction in competition is seldom a good thing, but the M&A activities that we have seen have brought us to the point of only two significant ISPs and a couple of minnows. Now it appears possible that one of the two biggies is in difficulty.

For the record I signed on with Netspeed in 2002 and only left in 2012. All through that time I was both a supporter (recommending the technical service) and a critic (of the support). On several occasions I offered Brian professional advice as to how to address some of the main service management issues but this offer was never taken up. I don’t blame Brian personally: I don’t know what kind of pressures he has been under, but I do lament the opportunity to build a better ISP to “keep the custards honest”.

Ultimately I left because Netspeed was not responsive to my needs for better service and support. I’m now with Grapevine and it is early days: maybe the service is better or worse but only time will tell. I’m happy to pay more money for better service so I’m doing the former and hoping for the latter 😉

Don’t consider him a victim, I’m sure he’s got what was coming to him.

This all is really sad. Sad because this, together with other reports of disquiet by customers possibly signals the demise of what is now the main alternative ISP on the Transact network. Reduction in competition is seldom a good thing, but the M&A activities that we have seen have brought us to the point of only two significant ISPs and a couple of minnows. Now it appears possible that one of the two biggies is in difficulty.

For the record I signed on with Netspeed in 2002 and only left in 2012. All through that time I was both a supporter (recommending the technical service) and a critic (of the support). On several occasions I offered Brian professional advice as to how to address some of the main service management issues but this offer was never taken up. I don’t blame Brian personally: I don’t know what kind of pressures he has been under, but I do lament the opportunity to build a better ISP to “keep the custards honest”.

Ultimately I left because Netspeed was not responsive to my needs for better service and support. I’m now with Grapevine and it is early days: maybe the service is better or worse but only time will tell. I’m happy to pay more money for better service so I’m doing the former and hoping for the latter 😉

Wow…as I always tell my kids, nothing on the internet is ever forgotten. 🙂

For those who might be interested in knowing:

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/100000-fine-for-abusive-netspeed-20130201-2dqkn.html

“A Canberra internet entrepreneur and the company he founded have been ordered to pay more than $100,000 in fines by the Federal Court.
The court found Bytecard – better known by its trading name NetSpeed – and company director Brian Andrew Morris breached their obligations as a telecommunications provider between 2006 and 2011.
The five breaches related to Bytecard’s failure to repay aggrieved customers a total of $2819.99 as directed by the industry watchdogs.

ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman. Photo: Supplied
The funds were reimbursed only after the Australian Communications and Media Authority began Federal Court proceedings last year.
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Justice Lindsay Foster slapped Bytecard with a pecuniary penalty of $75,000.
Mr Morris was ordered to pay $37,500 and the Canberra company must also pay costs.
But the penalty was lower than that originally sought by ACMA.
Counsel for the authority submitted that Bytecard should pay $90,000 and Mr Morris should be penalised $45,000.
Justice Foster also ordered Bytecard to implement a compliance program and Mr Morris must attend a seminar with respect to his obligations.
In passing judgment, Justice Foster wrote that the contraventions were very serious.
”The provision of telecommunications services is a very important feature of modern society,” Justice Foster said
”There are many organisations involved in the provision of those services at various levels. The need for those organisations which deal directly with the public to behave in a manner which complies with relevant statutory provisions, the terms of their contracts and appropriate professional standards is obvious.”
The judge noted that while each of the breaches produced only a minor financial loss for each customer, there had been aggravating circumstances.
”Instead of approaching those complaints in an appropriate fashion, Bytecard and Mr Morris set upon a course of action which can only be described as a deliberate and flagrant non-compliance with Bytecard’s business and statutory obligations, overlain … with disrespectful and abusive language,” the judge wrote.
Justice Foster agreed with ACMA’s submissions that the repeatedly abusive approach adopted by Mr Morris demonstrated that the ”respondents’ contravening behaviour was persistent, deliberate, willful and contumelious”.
The judge said the penalty should send a strong message of deterrence to other telcos.
ACMA chairman Chris Chapman welcomed the decision.
Mr Chapman said the judgment was a reminder to telecommunication providers, no matter how big or small, that compliance was not negotiable.
”The ACMA commenced proceedings against Bytecard and its director in line with the undertaking it gave as part of the ACMA’s Reconnecting the Customer public inquiry that the ACMA will take regulatory action when required against non-compliant telecommunications companies,” Mr Chapman said.

My only question for Brian would be ‘why doesn’t Netspeed answer their phones when my internet goes down?’ I’m not even given the opportunity to sit in an annoying queue – it’s as if they deliberately take the phone off the hook.

My own luddite theory about why my Netspeed goes down is that the system is not waterproof. At the slightest hint of dampness Netspeed no longer recognises my password or it will allow me to connect but not allow any pages to come up.

After any kind of evening storm I know i’m going to have internet trouble the next morning.

We’ve been using netspeed for many years, and given the huge cost we’re paying ($100/month for uncapped), the service has been quite unreliable. Over the past 6 months or so, we have outages lasting > 4hrs maybe once a week, and intermittant outages almost everyday of various sorts. We’re trapped into our plan since TransACT forced us to pay for increased bandwidth capacity, but NetSpeed still bottles us down.

Also, as for post #6, the spam filter used to be great, but no longer works. I contact netspeed and was told that for an additional $2.50/month, they’ll put the spam filter back. Id rather just hit delete 80 times a day, than pay them yet an additional surcharge for a service which wasnt even 90% effective anyway.

As others have said, dont try and get support either, they dont like answering the phones and when they do they blame TransACT anyway, downtime never seems to be their fault somehow.

sorry, 3 post nutbag….

brian isn’t really visiting the forums, the post above is the same as the whirlpool one…..

C+P is a wonderful thing….

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1108345&p=14

Duke said :

Not sure if this comment is relevant to this issue, but we’ve been having some major internet difficulties here in Woden, our provider being Netspeed (using Transact).

Anyhoo, Transact says to call Netspeed whenever we have difficulties, but Netspeed won’t answer their telephone. Service generally resumes about the time i’m about to jump in my car and go beat on their office front door.

Sounds like something for peterh

If you have complaints about netspeed, visit whirlpool: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-threads.cfm?f=67 Brian is usually on and can answer your queries pretty promptly.

NetSpeed said :

Of course it is serious. I take any attempt at extortion seriously.

In this case it is Andrew Russell of Digital Internet Wizards, an ex employee, trying to extort money from my company to the tune of about $36,000 for what he claims is “computer rental” at the rate of $100.00 per day for a PC he claims he left behind when he quit.

See you in court on that one.

Brian Morris
Manager,
NetSpeed.

Brian, perhaps discretion is good for this one. There is a bit more to this than you mention, and until this is in court, you might like to stop throwing accusations around?

And he left it there a year before asking for some money?