Hawaiian Telcom

[Konaguy]

Hawaiian Telcom lost 2% of their landline customers and 32.2 million in
the second quarter according to this Honolulu Star Bulletin article

I blogged about this today :

"In short, Hawaiian Telcom needs to add IPTV soon to stem these land line losses to Oceanic Time Warner's digital phone, cellular, and VoIP. It will give added incentive to existing land line customers to keep their POTS service or Hawaiian Telcom will continue to bleed money."

[panana]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

This doesn't surprise me as I have friends who have had nothing but trouble since the changeover from Verizon. It's no wonder people are abandoning the ship.

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Earlier this year, back in February or March, there was an accident on Kaumakani Street out here in Hawaii Kai. No one saw the Saturday evening incident where a car crashed into the phone service housing, and apparently no one reported it to Hawaiian Telcom. We lost our phone service, as did others in our area. We reported it and they told us that it would be fixed by Friday. Friday came and still no phone service. I saw a couple of guys working on the hit mini tower that day and gave them my phone number. I was back on line 45 minutes later. They called me from the tower. I was grateful.
You know what? That little tower, it's about 4-feet tall, has got some frayed plastic on it, it looks like it is wrapped up with spit balls and duct tape. It is a disgrace. I keep meaning to take a photo of it and posting it here at HT and sending it to their spokeswoman for comment. We're lucky we have phone service out here. And it seems so vulnerable.
We again called because our bill didn't reflect a credit for the week lost. So we had to file a paper claim and I still don't know if we ever got credit for it. Do they care about their customers? I don't even think they care about their employees. I think if there were enough people hired to provide the service their customers deserve, than they'd solve many of their problems. It looks to me like this company is pinching pennies, demoralizing its staff and building a lousy reputation among a disgusted customer base.

[panana]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Unfortunately, that's not completely shocking. Whenever a company wants to save money, the first thing to go is always their Service section. For some reason companies think profits will go up by providing shoddy service. Sometimes they do, just because of the savings, but that's just temporary. Once that gain is used up, things go south.

One thing I've noticed - executive salaries are never cut or frozen. They never make sacrifices for the good of the company. You might want to look into alternatives.

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Its actually called a remote terminal. It is like a "mini central office" . You
should take a photo of it, if it is really in bad shape. It may prevent future
problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_exchange

To reduce the expense of outside plant, some companies use "pair gain" devices to provide telephone service to subscribers. These devices are used to provide service where existing copper facilities have been exhausted or by siting in a neighborhood, can reduce the length of copper pairs, enabling digital services such as ISDN or DSL. Pair gain or digital loop carriers (DLCs) are located outside the central office, usually in a large neighborhood distant from the CO.

DLCs are often referred to as Subscriber Loop Carriers (SLCs), after Lucent's proprietary name for their pair gain products. Early SLC systems (SLC-1) used an analog carrier for transport between the remote site and the central office. Later systems (SLC-96, SLC-5) and other vendors' DLC products contain line cards that convert the analog signal to a digital signal (usually PCM). This digital signal can then be transported over copper, fiber, or other transport medium to the central office. Other components include ringing generators to provide ringing current and battery backups.

DLCs can be configured as universal (UDLCs) or integrated (IDLCS). Universal DLCs have two terminals, a central office terminal (COT) and a remote terminal (RT), that function similarly. Both terminals interface with analog signals, convert to digital signals, and transport to the other side where the reverse is performed. Sometimes, the transport is handled by separate equipment. In an Integrated DLC, the COT is eliminated. Instead, the RT is connected digitally to equipment in the telephone switch. This reduces the total amount of equipment required. Several standards cover DLCs, including Telcordia's TR/GR-008 & TR/GR-303.

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

You might want to look into alternatives.

Unfortunately, the "alternatives" are not really that great either :

1. You could completely get rid of your landline and get a cellular phone.
But in that scenario you'd be at the mercy of your cellular phone batteries

2. You could get Oceanic Time Warner's Digital Phone or VoIP. But neither
will work if the power cuts out. Hence they are not carrier grade service
like HawTel's service, which will work if the power cuts out.

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Thanks, Konaguy.
I will most definitely act on my impulse to photograph the pair gain device. I'll post it here, too.

Mahalo.

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Thanks, Konaguy.
I will most definitely act on my impulse to photograph the pair gain device. I'll post it here, too.

Very good, you've got me curious too about this

[pzarquon]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Either KITV or KHON (I think it was KITV) reported tonight that the PUC is going to require frequent reporting out of Hawaiian Telcom on their operations, as a result of their spectacularly poor service record. Much as I'd like them to get into new products, they've gotta shape up on their core business and fast. Formal PUC hearings are coming up (next month, I think), and at present, I don't think people will be lining up to sing their praises.

I just realized, if KITV did report on the HiTel reporting requirement, good for them... considering HiTel is a major sponsor of their news programming.

[Konaguy]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

I believe it was KITV that had coverage on HawTel tonight. Unfortunately my parents had the TV on mute so I missed what they said. Yes, there is no denying that HawTel has had issues. But, for me personally, that people
I've dealt with have been very helpful and accommodating whenever I had
issues in the past.

Edit: I checked KITV's website, there was nothing about the report they had
on the 6'o'clock news

[Linkmeister]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Confirmed that it was KITV, on both the 5:00pm and 6:00pm news shows. On the latter they had an interview with somebody from DCCA who said among other things that DCCA (PUC) was going to require weekly or monthly progress reports on HawTel's billing and service problems.

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Very good, you've got me curious too about this

[IMG]Hawn Tel Pair Gain device on Kaumakani Street in Hawaii Kai that has been damaged for about seven months.[/IMG]

The close up, which shows my keys, is of this disintegrating putty that was put all around the top of a pipe. It is now all crumbly and I think it will soon allow the lines enclosed to be compromised some.

The back story as I know it: On a Saturday evening back in February or March, at about 10 p.m., a car hit this pair gain device. No one reported it to Hawn Tel for who knows how long. We reported, after being on HOLD HELL for a damn long time when you're calling from your cellular--that we had no phone service on Monday or Tuesday. They said we'd have it by that Friday...well the guys were working there that Friday, and I hollered out of the van if they were checking my line. I gave them my number and they called me from the mess about 45 minutes later. What if I hadn't done that? We'd STILL be paying for no service?

This might not look so bad, but it is a symbol of how this utility provider is letting down its customers. And in a way, they are letting down their employees, too. This is not a good image and it's the "people" who are the face of a company, whether it's the only cable or telephone company shoved down our throats or not. Well, that's my feeling about it anyway!

@

[adrian]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

1. You could completely get rid of your landline and get a cellular phone.
But in that scenario you'd be at the mercy of your cellular phone batteries

Or just get two batteries and swamp one for the other when one dies (my cell never goes down unless I swamp batteries)

2. You could get Oceanic Time Warner's Digital Phone or VoIP. But neither
will work if the power cuts out. Hence they are not carrier grade service
like HawTel's service, which will work if the power cuts out.

It'll also not work if your modem goes out.

Lets face it: HiTel knows what it has, and it will continue with this kind of service unless something major happens (either a huge petition of angry HiTel users, or something like that).

[lavagal]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

[IMG]Hawn Tel Pair Gain device on Kaumakani Street in Hawaii Kai that has been damaged for about seven months.[/IMG]

The close up, which shows my keys, is of this disintegrating putty that was put all around the top of a pipe. It is now all crumbly and I think it will soon allow the lines enclosed to be compromised some.

The back story as I know it: On a Saturday evening back in February or March, at about 10 p.m., a car hit this pair gain device. No one reported it to Hawn Tel for who knows how long. We reported, after being on HOLD HELL for a damn long time when you're calling from your cellular--that we had no phone service on Monday or Tuesday. They said we'd have it by that Friday...well the guys were working there that Friday, and I hollered out of the van if they were checking my line. I gave them my number and they called me from the mess about 45 minutes later. What if I hadn't done that? We'd STILL be paying for no service?

This might not look so bad, but it is a symbol of how this utility provider is letting down its customers. And in a way, they are letting down their employees, too. This is not a good image and it's the "people" who are the face of a company, whether it's the only cable or telephone company shoved down our throats or not. Well, that's my feeling about it anyway!

@

any comments on the photos?

[pzarquon]

Re: Hawaiian Telcom

Sadly, I'm not technically qualified to know exactly what I'm seeing, but I certainly agree that a plastic bag and some orange paint isn't exactly a fix I'd be proud enough of to let stand for weeks on end. It is indeed a symptom of a larger problem at that company, and one that seems less and less fixable.