Hawaiian Telcom vs Oceanic Time Warner Cable

[Konaguy]

First Hawaiian Telcom came out with a DSL,unlimited long distance and landline
bundle for 65.95 a month link (http://hawaiiantel.com/Residential_Bundles.htm)

Now Oceanic has bundled digital phone and Road Runner for 56.35 a month
link (http://www.oceanic.com/OceanicWebApps/DigitalPhone/MegaMarvelous.html)

I personally would recommend the Hawaiian Tel bundle over the Oceanic bundle.
As I've had numerous bad experiences with Oceanic, mainly with their lousy CSRs.

[Da Rolling Eye]

...But have you had any experience with Haw'n Tel's tech support? I hear tell they tend to get grouchy at times. That came from someone who worked as a techie for HT on another thread where I asked about tech support as we're looking for another server. We get marvelous tech support from Lavanet, but their DSL is pricey and even they suggested to us to change to another company for less expensive service. :(

[adrian]

And if the power goes out, then you no more internet and phone if you have oceanic ;)

[Konaguy]

...But have you had any experience with Haw'n Tel's tech support? I hear tell they tend to get grouchy at times. That came from someone who worked as a techie for HT on another thread where I asked about tech support as we're looking for another server. We get marvelous tech support from Lavanet, but their DSL is pricey and even they suggested to us to change to another company for less expensive service. :(

Yup I have had alot of experience talking to HawTel's CSR's. They have been
far more helpful in resolving my problems. I call up Oceanic to report problems
with their digital cable. The CSR insists its something wrong on my end. As
it always turns out its a problem on their end. I can remember one instance
that it was my box that was the culprit.

[acousticlady]

Does anyone know if Time Warner is a national company or independent operators? I have the all-in-one thing here but I will be in Kihei all summer and I need to have Road Runner hooked up. Should I have my landlord do it and pay her or set it up myself?

[Da Rolling Eye]

Yup I have had alot of experience talking to HawTel's CSR's. They have been
far more helpful in resolving my problems. I call up Oceanic to report problems
with their digital cable. The CSR insists its something wrong on my end. As
it always turns out its a problem on their end. I can remember one instance
that it was my box that was the culprit.
Das funny. <LOL> I had the same experience with HT. Said it was a problem on my end and I should go check all my jacks. :rolleyes: Good thing my dad, a retired HT lineman, had his testing equipment here and he talked me through the process of checking my line. Turns out it WAS their line that was bad and the repairman they sent out had to go to the main switching station (?) and change us over to a good line. Also turned out that my dad was one of his "mentors" when he first started working for HT. :D

I get this from both companies when I talk to their field techs. They both grumble about their own CSRs not knowing the job specifics. It usually ends up what the CSRs tell the customers is totally not what the field techs find as the problem. Basically, most CSRs have no hands on experience with the systems they're representing and really don't know what they're talking about, so the field techs tell me. :rolleyes:

[Miulang]

When I worked in corporate telecom, I'd often have to troubleshoot problems for my internal business customers. The first thing I always did was assume the problem was ours internally; when we checked out all our systems and determined that our side of the systems were operating as spec'd, then I would go talk to the outside vendor, whose immediate first response was ALWAYS "it's not our problem."

After patiently describing all the things we did before we called them to make sure it wasn't our problem, they usually would still insist it was our problem. At that point, I would tell them: "Look. It doesn't matter whose problem this is right now. All I know is my customer and I want the problem fixed asap. If it's a problem for my customer, then it's a problem for me, and I'm making it a problem for you to solve. It would be useful to have you guys talk to my guys at the same table instead of having me be caught in the middle. After the problem is fixed, then we can talk about whose problem it was."

That got both sides working on the problem together and it was fixed rather quickly after that.:D

Miulang

[Miulang]

Does anyone know if Time Warner is a national company or independent operators? I have the all-in-one thing here but I will be in Kihei all summer and I need to have Road Runner hooked up. Should I have my landlord do it and pay her or set it up myself?
Time Warner is a national company. But up in my area, Comcast dominates the marketplace.

Miulang

[Konaguy]

And if the power goes out, then you no more internet and phone if you have oceanic ;)

Apparently later this year and only on Oahu, Oceanic is going to start putting backup power to each individual node. So that will no longer a be problem.

[tutusue]

Does anyone know if Time Warner is a national company or independent operators?[...]
In Hawaii it's Oceanic Time Warner (http://www.oceanic.com/OceanicWebApps/Index.html).