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  #1  
Old 07-01-2007, 11:05 PM
WII-Aaron WII-Aaron is offline
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Default Time Warner Telecom - Time to dump them?

I usually don't air my dirty laundry in public but I'm in uncharted territory here. I've never had an experience with a provider like this before and since they're so well known I thought I might find some advice from other TWTC users.

Sorry for the long read, it's a long story.

Time Warner Telecom purchased Xspedius late last year signaling their entry into my area. I decided to get a quote from them since I was in need of some bandwidth to replace a contract coming up for renewal.

I contacted the rep that frequents this board, Katie, and asked for some help with a quote. A couple days later I was contacted by 2 reps in my area. They came out, got my info, asked what my price point was and left.

Two months later I receive a quote. They had met my price point and wanted me to sign. No problem, I signed the contract. All was well.

A couple weeks after the contract signing I got a call from one of them saying that, due to some technical issues, they wouldn't be able to install for 90 days. This was in early February and actually, was no problem for me at all. The install date was set for May 5th (little more than 90 days but still no problem at all).

So far everything was ok. Then in late April I received a visit from their tech to install equipment. 5 minutes later he informs me that they sent him the wrong equipment and he'd need to come back.

A week later he's back with new equipment. Get's it installed in the fiber vault, and then informs me he forgot the fiber patches. He'll be back with them.

He comes back in early May and installs the fiber and GBIC's. Now I'm handed off to the installation crew.

The installation crew informs me there's an issue with the equipment and they will not be able to get me turned up by the 5th. The onsite tech needs to come back and pick up the equipment because the network guys forgot to configure it before they sent it out.

He comes out, picks it up and brings it back the next day.

During this time I'm working on configing our side. It took me 3 e-mails to get the AS number. The first reply was MY AS number, the second was the old Xspedius ASN and the third was finally the TWTC ASN.

Once the equipment is back and everything is good I'm on the phone for turn up. (This is now Late May BTW, almost 30 days late)

Now, let me break quickly to make sure you know that up until this point I wasn't worried at all. Not mad, irritated, nothing.... maybe slightly amused but that's it. Until this point...

The problems began when I got on the phone with the "installation spe############t". He informed me that there was no link from my equipment and that I needed to check it out. No problem. I informed him of the port I was on and that there was a link on my side but not his. He told me the port I was plugged into was wrong (it's the only one with an empty GBIC in it.) and that I needed to move to a different port. No problem. I moved the fiber. The port I was plugged into was for the protected ring. Hadn't been installed.

Then he still wasn't getting a link on his side. I checked everything again and sure enough, link on my side, none on his. Again, no problem... I told him to force the negotiation on his side and everything would be ok. After 5 minutes he admitted he didn't know how to turn off auto negotiation (Cisco switch: no autonegotiation) and that he was IMing with a level 2 technician who was walking him through how to do the install.

Finally we got the level 2 tech on the phone after he couldn't disable auto negotiation, set MD5 passwords or seem to get the BGP session configured correctly. Everything was working, looking good, turned up and then bam. Latency spiraling out of control, massive packet loss, everything going right down the toilet. I dumped the BGP session and everything went back to normal.

The tech told me this was due to a propagation issue with my routes and that I needed to give it 48 hours and then turn it back on. This made no sense to me at all but ok, I'll play along.
That was a Friday. On Monday I turn it up again, same results. I call my “service coordinator” and explain the issue to her. She tells me that according to the installation team I had accepted service last week and my account had been sent to billing. She promises to check into it and call me back.

She calls me back about 30 minutes later and tells me that I need to call tech support and open a ticket on it.

I call tech support and open a ticket on a Thursday. On Monday I call back to check on the status of my ticket. I’m told it’s been closed, the techs found no problem.

This is the part where I go from slightly annoyed to mad.

I open another ticket. Two days later I get a call from a tech. Again, no problem found, pings look ok. I tell him he needs to put traffic over the line to see the issue, a ping won’t do anything. He promises to send out a tech to test from our end.

A week later the same tech I’ve been dealing with all along shows up to test. I explain to him that I know exactly what’s causing the problem as I have the same issue with another provider. I also tell him what to do to fix it. He calls level 2 support (why don’t they just send one of these guys out in the first place) who tells him that they will need to run more tests.

While he’s there he asks me about the fiber move from one port to the other. I tell him what installation told me and he laughs. He tells me there is no protected ring on my circuit (I was told there was going to be one by a sales engineer that came down from Wisconsin to look at my site) and that he had no orders to install anything more.

I’ve heard from him twice since then. One time to schedule another appointment and one time to cancel it because they sent him the wrong equipment. Last time I heard from him was 2 weeks ago.

To top it all off, there is a 60-70ms latency jump between anywhere and Kansas City. This is intra network latency, within their network. Their SLA is 50ms max so even if they get my circuit fixed they can’t meet their SLA.

We’re coming up on 60 days since installation date and we’re no closer than we were then. I’ve never had an issue like this before and I’m looking for some guidance on protocol. Should I give them more time? I REALLY need the bandwidth but don’t want to sign with someone else before I get this resolved.

Any opinions?
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  #2  
Old 07-02-2007, 12:50 AM
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KenB KenB is offline
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This situation cries out for escalation outside of normal tech support channels. Talk to your sales rep, account manager, or his/her boss. If you continue to let them, they will continue to provide you with the lowest service level they can get away with. If all else fails, get a lawyer.


Ken
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  #3  
Old 07-03-2007, 01:02 PM
WII-Aaron WII-Aaron is offline
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Of course you're right. The issue is that the local sales channel is not exactly a think tank. It took me 2 months just to get an executed contract back from them.

I called my "service coordinator" yesterday morning and explained the situation to her. She promised to talk to her director and call me back in 30 minutes. That was almost 24 hours ago.

I did get a call from the local field tech this morning. He's scheduled to come out and run more tests. Hopefully he can get his laptop workking this time. (couldn't get it to work last time. )

Aaron
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  #4  
Old 07-03-2007, 04:29 PM
katietwtc katietwtc is offline
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Aaron,

Wow. Why didn't you call me? I know I'm not your sales rep technically, but you shouldn't have had to go through all this. Let me see what I can do to help you.

Katie
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  #5  
Old 07-04-2007, 03:01 PM
WII-Aaron WII-Aaron is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katietwtc View Post
Aaron,

Wow. Why didn't you call me? I know I'm not your sales rep technically, but you shouldn't have had to go through all this. Let me see what I can do to help you.

Katie
That's exactly why. Because you're not my rep. I'm not sure who my rep is. it's one of 2 people but I haven't heard from them since I signed the contract back in January.

Thanks for the e-mail by the way. The people in Tampa are lucky to have you.

Aaron
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  #6  
Old 07-31-2007, 05:30 AM
UmbrellaGroup
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Default Bandwidth

Hi Aaron:

Time Warner usually gets good reviews so I was surprised to hear your story.

Generally if the reps take two months to come back with pricing, the company doesn't have its act together in your specific market. Your reps should have done back bends to make sure you were happy after the first issue. Datacenter clients are big money for carriers and sales reps.

I would look around for other options. The installation foreshadows your service level for the rest of the long term contract.

If you send me an email with your address and NPA/NXX, I can see what carriers are available in your area and their timeframes as well as an escalation list for each carrier.

Good Luck.

Dave
dkleren@the-umbrella-group.com
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  #7  
Old 08-29-2007, 04:39 AM
GIGLINX1 GIGLINX1 is offline
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This is not that surprising. Time Warner has been one of the more difficult carriers for us to work with as a wholesaler as well.

Did you ever get this resloved? If not you should look at alternatives.
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Old 10-27-2007, 04:26 PM
sailor sailor is offline
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they qre still overpriced as well. we just got quotes to add more bandwidth from Qwest / Level3 / Sprint and TWTC

the previous 3 were all 25% cheaper and I consider them to have bigger networks with denser peering.

go figure.

so we ordered a gig from each of the 3 and did not go with TWTC

if they ever get their pricing (and apparently support) inline I might consider them.
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  #9  
Old 10-29-2007, 12:58 PM
katietwtc katietwtc is offline
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Sailor- Just curious, but what price point were you given for the Gig?
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Old 11-01-2007, 02:07 PM
sailor sailor is offline
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20 per mbps

Quote:
Originally Posted by katietwtc View Post
Sailor- Just curious, but what price point were you given for the Gig?
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