An Open Letter to Vivid Wireless
Before you all flame me I am a heavy user (one of those unlimited ones that seemed to get flamed a lot at the moment LOL).
I have put together an open letter which I have put up on my blog: http://www.technicalnotebook.com/asking-the-world/an-open-letter-to-vivi...
But for good measure wanted to get your thoughts here as well:
Before I begin for those of you that don’t know Vivid Wireless is a new startup from the people behind Unwired Broadband that uses new 4G WiMAX technology to provide high speed wireless broadband. Since they begun many users have been suffering technical issues, backhaul issues, slow speeds and traffic congestion. I personally have been lucky enough to have a relatively stable connection but have noticed these issues as well and therefore wanted to put forward this issue regarding slow connections on Vivid Wireless right to the guys at the top (well I hope so anyway).
Therefore I would firstly like to set the scene… I will say that I am a heavy downloader and uploader with good cause. I do a lot of photography and one of the main sources of my traffic (not the only source) is transferring files too and from my servers in the US. That said, I do also use it for leisure downloading as well, i.e. watching Hulu through a VPN and the like.
When I signed up to Vivid Wireless I signed up on the unlimited plan for a reason… because I require a lot of traffic per month and the idea of unlimited internet is certainly appealing. I see a lot of people flaming these unlimited downloaders (on the Whirlpool Forums and the Vivid Forums) for using up all the international bandwidth and so on and so forth when in fact, they are just using what they are entitled to and what they have purchased. Now ***having said that*** I do not aggree that said users should be able to cause congestion that affects all other users, that is certainly bad.
Personally I am acutely aware of the speed issues faced by everyone on the network during peak periods and on consultation with the technical team at Vivid Wireless I now do as much of my heavy downloading and uploading as feasibly possible out of peak hours (i.e. not during 5pm to 1am).
I foresee one of two possible required outcomes:
1. Vivid needs to upgrade network capacities and network backhaul to support at minimum all users on the unlimited plan hypothetically running at 24×7 + the required bandwidth to support all other users on top of that.
2. OR (while this is not ideal) Give Unlimited Users completely unlimited data outside of the hours of 5pm to 1am and then during those hours give them a max of say 100GB a month (which I think is more than fair). Possibly you could extend this to have a bigger plan for say $120AUD a month that give 200GB during peak hours and unlimited at other times, that can then be used to support the provisioning of additional network resources and backhaul.
Personally I have always wondered how on earth a business can support a truly unlimited model, especially for a start up in the case of Vivid Wireless. I am happy for someone to correct me here as I know this is an assumption but it seems at this stage the unlimited has been provided as an overselling of resources and that is causing users on the rest of the network to suffer at the expense of people who are just using the service they have paid for. Not only do I fear will never be a sustainable business model but I also as a user feel bad for being the cause of that suffering for other users even though I am only using what I have paid for.
So what are your thoughts, are you a Vivid Wireless customer and have you been experiencing a slow connection or any other issues? If you aren’t what things have you heard said about Vivid, have they been good, bad or so on. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Stuart
Stuart - What you have posted above is very true. I'm not one to hide from complaining about the Unlimited guys chewing up bandwidth, but when it is put in a way that you have done, it does make sense and highlight that not all large data users are torrent loaders. And your right....you pay for unlimited, why shouldn't you get unlimited amount of data!
I guess it comes down to personal preference.
I hate torrents and get frustrated with torrent users. Yes its available, yes people 'should' be able to download whatever they want, however..... most torrent downloads (not all) are tv/movie/music/game downloads that are being done illegally.
Whatever someone believes on what the program is, it has been a wide known thing that downloading such content is frowned upon.
I struggle to understand how some people can download 100+gig of data without doing the above. My computer runs all day every day. The mrs uses it for normal internet browsing and youtube, i use it for youtube, forums, downloading content from itunes, and playing xboxlive for LONG periods of time and struggle to use my monthly quota of 25gig (generally reach 15gig if I'm lucky)
I was initially happy with Vividwireless as I saw it as a convenient way to access the internet without the use of a phoneline, a service which had a limit on its download quota (at first it was a maximum of 25gig!!!) therefore being able to somewhat manage the bandwidth accordingly and a company that was based and started in Perth to be able to provide a service that would accommodate those of us here in Perth that miss out on the decent internet and services that our Eastern States people manage to get.
Unfortunately......money and competition is something that a company runs on, and it generally outways the concerns raised by a customer! IE: Unlimited data plans!!!
I have to say tho, the customer service provided by Vividwireless has been EXCELLENT! Compared to other ISP's and telco's, their feedback, support and general service has always given me the impression that they do care.
I get calls ranging from 10am to 8pm from tech support calling me to ask if I could do a few tests for them to see if the changes or improvements they have made, have made a difference. Or even just to contact me and keep me informed of what is happening and what they are planning to do........this is the main reason I have stuck with them through all this slow speed debacle.
Staurt,
Well done mate, well said.
I am in the same situation as you and agree if I am paying for unlimited so be it and if you can advertise this and claim to have the technology which is better than the compertition then they are at fault for advertising and then doing something different.
Maybe everyone who is having this problem should come together and expose this situation if Vivid is not going to correct this.
@MattF - I wholeheartedly agree, tho I will admit I do download files from the bittorrent network on occasion, hey it is often the fastest way to get my hands on updates to WOW or other online games where they release a patch and it takes aggges to get via other means.
In regards to how you can download data in excess of 100GB a month I can at least shed my personal experience on this for you but of course this is just my own experience and is not likely to be appropriate to everyone:
* xBox Movies - ~7GB each for the High Def versions
* Mircosoft Technet Downloads - Up to 3-4GB per ISO
* Hulu through a US VPN - Honestly no idea depends on how much you watch, a lot if it is HD
* Online Backup (such as Mozy) - I can easily do a good 10GB or more per month to Mozy depending on how much new data I generate/change per month
* Tivo - ~1.5 GB per movie (although this is unmetered on Vivid, thought I would add it as a good example)
* Software Updates/Downloads - ~5GB a month (anywhere up to 20gb), this is when I add in windows updates, iPod/iPad updates, new software downloads and so on.
* General Internet Surfing - ~750MB a day/22GB a month (when you are on the PC as much as I am - very easy to do.
LOL those are at least all that I can remember at this point, but it does add up, I can tell you especially for those of us that have a couple of computers, iPads, iPhones, and so on and so on.
And I have to agree, it is one thing to make a profitable business but it cannot be at the expense of providing a quality service to each and every member of the customer base.
Also In regards to the support they have been great for me so far as well. I was having some issues the second day that I got it (which turns out was in regards to the backhaul) but they were great in diagnosing that and helping me out. Also they said they would call me back for one of my issues and without fail they called me back exactly when they said they would.
@thetimos - I agree, what really concerns me is in the AUP it states "If in our opinion your use of service is at any time so heavy at any time that it will adversely affect the quality of the service received by other customers, we may shape or slow your access to the network."
However... as far as I am concerned, if the company provides an unlimited service, which they state is "Truly Unlimited Broadband" it is their responsibility to ensure that they have the network infrastructure, and backhaul to support 24x7x365 100% max usage of the top percentage of users...
Let me just be clear, I am not trying to poke and prod and make the big guys angry, I am just trying to put forward some creative conversation from both the unlimited users and the regular users who are suffering such slowdowns.
As I am sure Vivid Wireless can see from my offers of doing technical troubleshooting on things like the iPod issue I am trying to be committed to assisting the service not stand here pointing fingers going "Vivid your service sucks, your service sucks"... I want to put forward some constructive ideas on ways to ensure the longevity of the service and ensure that my usage as a user doesn't cause problems for people like you @MattF.
Stuart
Vivid has basically contradicted themselves. "We are the highest rank consumer ISP blah blah blah" Speeds of up to 6.7 mb/s so on so forth.
If the unlimited plan is causing all of these problems, which it seems is true. A immediate change needs to be made, offer the same amount of money but for say 100gb or 125gb a month. Vivid can obviously compete with Telstra having a plan 75$ a month for 100gb. Basically what I am saying is there needs to be a substitute for the Unlimited plan until stability can be made with Vivid Wireless.
I also believe Vivid currently has the best customer service, I was with Telstra before and they are hopeless so thumbs up for that Vivid.
Geronimo
@GeronimoS, I do have to say that thought has crossed my mind in regards to the speed tests.
In the interest of complete transparency I would be curious to know what prioritisation (if any) is applied to the website speedtest.net on the Vivid Wireless Network.
And as you said something needs to be done, personally I hope not to loose the unlimited as that is what I signed up for but there has to be some sort of compromise.
Stuart
Its interesting you point that out Stuart about the prioritization of speedtest.net.
As its VERY evident that the speeds displayed on speedtest.net are not reflective of those done on ozspeedtest.com.
Out by almost 4Mb/s most times :(
Yeah great point there Stuart.
Vivid ask every time you call customer service to run a speedtest, so I am guessing it's highly prioritized.
I think many people have made some excellent points, which I want to talk about a little later, but just for now, are you using the Western Australian mirrors for your ozspeedtests? When I use the WA Westnet mirror, I get a result fairly consistent with speedtest.net.
Voytek - Check the last couple of posts on the "your speeds" thread.
I have conducted tests on the ozspeedtest.com - WA westnet mirror on 3MB..... and straight after on speedtest.net.
OK, so I have done some tests this evening (all as close together as I could).
Using SpeedTest.net Averages (Downstream/Upstream):
Sydney Optus Mirror: 11.138 Mbits/1.32 Mbits
Melbourne Optus Mirror: 10.89 Mbits/0.93 Mbits
OzSpeedTest Averages:
Sydney Telstra Mirror: 3.31 Mbits downstream (no upstream)
Optus Melbourne Mirror: 4.288 Mbits downstream (no upstream)
I can attest that the OzSpeedTests are almost identical to real world performance at the time of my testing.
While I can currently push the full 11Mbits of my connection on AusSpeedTest there is no way I am currently getting that from regular traffic.
I am not pointing any fingers but perhaps there is a technical issue with speed test.net that is causing inaccurate and unrealistic results to be portrayed to users.
For full transparency of my own tests please see all the results below. For the record I realise that the Sydney tests could not both be done on Optus Mirrors but the Melbourne ones at least could be.
Finally for the record I also attempted a realworld test using http://mirror.optus.com.au/pub/fedora/linux/releases/13/Fedora/x86_64/is...
At absolute max I was pulling 560KB/sec which turns out to be 4.48 Mbits/sec when you do the conversion, about 50% of what is reported by SpeedTest.net. From what I can see the speeds I get on SpeedTest.net are always at least double what I am getting in real world tests.
Stuart
----------------------------------------------
Sydney Optus Mirror
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949112850.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949113428.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949113812.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949114296.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949114801.png
Melbourne Optus Mirror
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949115469.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949115866.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949116289.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949116905.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/949117310.png
Sydney Telstra:
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:19 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Telstra Bigpond*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*6.62 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*3.7 Mbps*] (3700 kbps).
Your download speed is [*463 KB/s*] (0.45 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:19 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Telstra Bigpond*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*6.62 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*3.7 Mbps*] (3700 kbps).
Your download speed is [*463 KB/s*] (0.45 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:20 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Telstra Bigpond*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*8.17 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*3 Mbps*] (2999 kbps).
Your download speed is [*375 KB/s*] (0.37 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:20 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Telstra Bigpond*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*7.49 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*3.27 Mbps*] (3269 kbps).
Your download speed is [*409 KB/s*] (0.4 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:21 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Telstra Bigpond*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*8.5 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*2.88 Mbps*] (2883 kbps).
Your download speed is [*360 KB/s*] (0.35 MB/s). )]
Optus Melbourne:
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:22 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Optus*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*6.11 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*4.01 Mbps*] (4012 kbps).
Your download speed is [*501 KB/s*] (0.49 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:22 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Optus*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*6.68 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*3.67 Mbps*] (3666 kbps).
Your download speed is [*458 KB/s*] (0.45 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:23 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Optus*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*8.08 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*3.03 Mbps*] (3031 kbps).
Your download speed is [*379 KB/s*] (0.37 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:23 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Optus*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*3.62 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*6.76 Mbps*] (6761 kbps).
Your download speed is [*845 KB/s*] (0.83 MB/s). )]
[`[*Test Results from Oz Broadband Speed Test*]`]
[(----------------------------------
Test run on [*11/09/2010*] @ [*10:23 PM*])]
[(Mirror: [*Optus*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*6.17 secs*])]
[(Your line speed is [*3.97 Mbps*] (3969 kbps).
Your download speed is [*496 KB/s*] (0.48 MB/s). )]
Okay, now that I have a bit more time;
I think that the Unlimited plan really seems to be the root of this whole issue. Prior to the Unlimited plan's release, I found Vivid to be fast, reliable, and reasonably priced in general, made all the better by the fact that it was a wireless service. Now, I (and I'm sure a lot of people) find the service to be okay when it's working, and fairly unusable when it isn't, and for what we're paying, it just isn't worth it.
Stuartcryan and MattyF really encompass the two sides of the issue. On one hand, we're paying for 'Unlimited' Internet, and then being dictated to as to what we can download without being 'prioritized' after the fact. If 'Unlimited' really means 'Unlimited*', then we should at least be made fully aware of this before signing up. I know there is an acceptable use policy, but it doesn't seem to mention that our service is going to be considerably less than what it's advertised as, or that we can't stream video/use Skype/download anything etc.
I think that if someone has purchased a month's worth of Unlimited data from Vivid, and been told that it is 'truly unlimited' and they can download a much data as they want, upload/download, no peak times etc., it's more than reasonable for them to use as much as they want; they paid for it.
On the other hand, people wanting to use moderate amounts of data for their emails, browsing, and video streaming are really being hurt by people downloading masses of illegal material 24/7, and it really isn't fair.
The real problem here is that Vivid is yet to acknowledge or make any sort of ruling towards either party. They could either advertise their 'Unlimited*' plan and straight-out say "You can use as much data as you want to browse, watch videos etc., but your P2P or torrents are going to be capped to xxxkBps, or XXGB a month".
Alternatively, they could decide that yes, people are going to use their Unlimited data to download as much as they want, and we're going to need to increase our capacity to provide what customers have paid for.
All we've really got at the moment is the mysterious 'prioritization' of P2P traffic at 'peak times'. In effect, all this seems to mean is that your downloads will either be slow or not work at all, depending on the time of day. I'm yet to get a clear definition of when the peak times are, but surely they can see when the most usage is being done and tell us when that is. I can't really fault the guys at the call center for this, as they try to help as much as possible, but it seems that a lot of information isn't being conveyed to them. What's happening at their own company seems to be just as much of a mystery to them, sometimes, and they're the first point of contact, so they should be the first to know anything.
The only other thing we've really been offered is the promise of increased capacity, but with no ETA. Again, no one at the support center really seems to know, and I'm sure they get asked constantly, so why isn't anyone telling them, and through them, us? The issue has been ongoing for months now, and there doesn't seem to be any sort of resolution in sight.
It's just frustrating. It's a great technology, and the best customer service you can get from a company, but when are we going to have functional Internet to go along with it?
Just my $0.02 worth in regards to this, really.
@Voytek - I wholeheartedly agree, as far as prioritisation goes it is a great mechanism to ensure that during the odd occasion when the network suffers high usage and congestion the important stuff gets through first (such as VOIP). However prioritisation is not a long term solution to replace the need for additional infrastructure and backhaul.
I would also be curious to see a list of what is and is not prioritised and how that affects the connection however I can also understand this may be something that Vivid can't (won't) release for internal reasons. (I always try to be realistic).
In regards to peak times I have been told they are 6PM to 1AM every day and download speeds/network usage seem to reflect this accurately too.
I would also like to say, when I started this thread it wasn't to try to force Vivid into instant action, I am well aware of the fact that they have signed up a percentage of their userbase on this unlimited plan (myself included) which means that they cannot just change the terms under peoples noses. However I did want to get this discussion going to try to get the points from both sides for Vivid to evaluate and see just how much pain this is causing their users.
And finally I agree the technology is great. And I have to say I am one of the lucky ones, as I have near 100% strength to the tower (even though I am at its outermost reach) I seem to be able to max out the connection out of peak hours quite happily. It is just during peak hours that things become interesting.
Keep the good discussion coming everyone, the more the better.
Stuart
I am not as good with the technical stuff as you all are, I have a slight understanding.
I would like to say that when I call Customer Service I was told once that my internet was connecting through the Wanneroo tower station, not the nearest one to my home(which is Joondalup about 3km down the road.) Im not sure if this is true, but can't Vivid make sure that everyones internet is connecting through there nearest station for best results?
I don't know if this would make it much better, but it seems reasonable.
I like the idea of vivid wireless, not just the fact it keeps the house free of long ethernet cables :P, but it's outstanding take it where ever you go. Plug and Play, it's wonderful. But there are flaws that need immediate attention which are not, I start lagging really bad and can't load a webpage. I wait a few minutes go to vividwireless.com.au and I see that there are no network issues it makes me feel that vivid are doing nothing to resolve any issues when there clearly are ALOT of issues.
I would say make a poll or call all customers who are on the unlimited plan and ask would they be happy with Vivid scrapping the Unlimted plan and offering 150gb for 75$, just till stability can be established.
@GeronimoS - From my limited understanding of the WiMAX technology when you are very close to a tower the signal can be worse than if you are further away. I also understand that the modem will connect to the tower that it gets the best signal from (not just strength but it also takes into account quality of the connection).
I seem to remember reading on one of the other forum posts here that the support team do have the ability to lock you to a certain tower if there are issues however this can often cause you more problems later on down the road but may be worth a look if you are having a lot of issues.
I do agree there are quite a few issues I am currently experiencing as well. Most notably at the moment is the router crashing all the time and the iPad/iPhone issues. One a fix is very close so I am told by the support team the other I have offered my services to assist in diagnosing but so far have not been approached to proceed.
And I hate to say it but in regards to the last point anyone who did voluntarily give up the Unlimited plan are not the ones causing the issues. Sadly the really heavy leechers are the ones that cause the issues and I can tell you they will not go without a fight.
Oh and I know sometimes I can talk all "official like" but just want to clarify LOL I am not an employee or rep from Vivid Wireless haha I am just a passionate GEEK!
Stuart
Hi All,
Once again for complete transparency. I have just sent the following email to Vivid -->
Hi Team,
My name is Stuart, I am the geek that recently wrote:
http://www.technicalnotebook.com/asking-the-world/an-open-letter-to-vivi...
Which moved on to --> http://forum.vividwireless.com.au/forum/general-discussion/open-letter-v...
When I wrote this I obviously focused on grabbing keywords however I did not think it would work as effectively as it did. Since writing the article I see that in Google it has hit the top 10 results for "vivid wireless problem", in the top 6 for "vivid wireless speed issues" and the top 4 for "vivid wireless slow".
Now I didn't originally expect that a) it would generate so much interest and constructive discussion and b) that it would shoot to the top of Google like that.
I would be very interested in the opportunity to have an e-chat/interview or the like with Martin to discuss the original post and subsequent concerns raised by users so that I can post an update to my blog.
I contact you in the hope of a discussion not only to provide you a voice in response to my blog post (which I feel is only fair) but also in the hope of giving you a voice to let your users (including myself) know that you are listening and hear our concerns.
Hope to hear from you.
Stuart
Stuart.
Yeah I get what your saying about the leechers. I didn't think about that fact, got me on that one :P
I am just chucking ideas around, I just want a solution so I can use what im paying for(the internet). There has to be a compromise that unlimited users will still be satisfied with.
I hate it, but if on and off peaks need to be introduced then so be it. If it will stop the slow speeds it should be done, I know it doesn't give the user unlimited internet all the time perhaps the on peak can be unlimited and the off peak can be held to 60 gigs or 50 gigs.
I know that Vivid have been capping people who are downloading like 40 gigs in 3 days as a warning, but that won't stop them forever.
Packet prioritisation is obviously not helping, so what is the next step updating network capacity. Well from what stephen.frost has said in other threads they have added more capacity, that too has not seemed to work.
I am glad this post is gaining attention, so it rightfully should. The users need to he heard not just over the phone but on the forums where we get more technical :P
Geronimo
The solution is to upgrade their towers. Not to give their customers less then they were originally offered...
"On the other hand, people wanting to use moderate amounts of data for their emails, browsing, and video streaming are really being hurt by people downloading masses of illegal material 24/7, and it really isn't fair."
Not everyone on the internet is downloading illegal stuff...
But a larger majority of user with the unlimited plan are illegal downloaders.
Thats why I think we are suffering such slow speeds.
Hi guys,
Interesting discussion. I'll make sure that its brought to the attention of vivid, just in case they wish to make an official response of some kind.
Just one thing, regarding the suggestion that speedtest results are because of prioritisation of that site ... I have seen a post elsewhere (Whirlpool IIRC) from a senior vivid staff member refuting that suggestion.
Regards,
Steve.
@Tyson & Geronimo, both good points.
@Stephen, Thanks for that and that is good to hear, so obviously there must be some technical reason behind it (as I mentioned earlier that could not be discounted) as to why the speeds with speedtest.net are essentially double.
Perhaps this requires additional internal testing, I would offer to do so but I am rather at a loss of what could be causing such discrepancies.
Stuart
We have been listening closely to your recent conversations on our forum and would like to thank you for contacting us with your thoughtful and candid feedback. We are constantly monitoring the network to improve services to our customers, and value your honest and constructive suggestions.
So what have we been doing? In the past couple of months we addressed issues with the provision of backhaul and international link capacity upgrades. We also identified a problem with the settings on some of our core network routers, which was impacting on internet speeds for some customers. This was remedied promptly. And last week we successfully identified an external interference in our Sydney network and worked closely with ACMA to remove the interference. As are result some customers in inner city Sydney area are now enjoying a more consistent internet service.
We are also provisioning additional network air interface capacity with additional carriers. We are making sure this happens before capacity on existing cell sites is exhausted, ensuring a seamless internet experience for our customers.
We are aware of some isolated instances where customers experience connectivity and throughput issues with some international sites such as You Tube™. We have escalated this matter urgently with Google and we hope to rectify this issue soon.
Similarly, some customers have reported a restart and performance issue with our home gateway device. This isn’t a widespread problem; it seems to only occur when customers initiate multiple simultaneous sessions in particular multiple torrents. We meet daily with vendors to finalise and review lab testing of software upgrades, and we expect to have a customer solution within the coming weeks.
We want all our customers to have the best broadband experience with us every time. It’s not always easy to deliver, but that’s our goal. We know how important a fast, reliable service is to our customers, and we are committed to maintaining the highest levels of quality service delivery at all times. And when our customers are as passionate as we are, we know we are doing something right.
To ensure we are able to fully investigate issues affecting customers, if you are experiencing speeds on ordinary internet traffic that is not meeting your expectation we encourage you to call the Sales and Service Centre on 1300 32 78 37.
Thank you for the update Martin,
Hopefully you can bring about a more consistent experience soon and for all users.
Your helpdesk has always been very helpful and friendly which is a rather large improvement from my previous ISP otherwise I would be banging down doors to get out of my contract with you.
I have previously lodged tickets with your helpdesk and things improved for a week or so after some changes were made though performance has started going downhill again recently, I will wait another week or so you have had a chance to perform upgrades to your wireless backhaul and hopefully address any firmware issues before I lodge another ticket with helpdesk.
The main problem for everyone I believe is the inconsistent performance where it is good one day and and then falls in a heap the next along with latency spikes due to congestion etc though I'm sure you are across the issues.
Martin, speed is an issue and so is P2P, this does not look as if it going to go away and me personally was hoping and still is that Vivid wireless offers an alternative to the big players as its time they had competition but if the infastructure cannot give us a free run on P2P, Xbox live, livewire & youtube to name a few then you are not offering an alternative which is better.
I have a alternative network connection which is due to end and have at the moment a better service with reagrd to speed & P2P and would like to see the same from my Vivid service, come on give us what was promised a truly unlimited service if not you will be losing customers, the pioneers who want to believe in your service.
The night I wanted to show my brother how fast Vivid is was one of the nights where I was only downloading at 30KB/s. I said "it's normally faster" and he said "Well if it's going to be doing this some nights I don't want it" He ended up getting ADSL2 with Telstra.
Thank you for the update Martin it is great to hear that our voices are being heard.
I have to give kudos to your technical support team as well, they are always very responsive and helpful ;).
Also just wondering if you could elaborate on "We are also provisioning additional network air interface capacity with additional carriers." does this mean the backhaul connection between towers, just a little confuzzled as you mentioned with additional carriers, so I was not sure?
Stuart
Did you ever hear back from vivid wireless about your email, Stuart?
One of the reasons I have faith in Vivid is because of the fact that they actually listen to their customers and do their best to resolve any problems. Unlike a lot of other ISPs who just stick their heads in the sand and act like they didn't notice anything.
The CEO of Vivid Wireless replying, now that's something :)
@Voytek, yup @GeronimoS is correct.
And Tyson that is true, I have only seen such customer service from one other ISP I know of which is Internode so I really have to give Vivid Wireless kudos for an awesome level of service.
Stuart, I noticed your question above about "air interface capacity" ... did you need me to follow that up with the technical team at vivid, or was it more a case of general interest on your part (I don't know the answer, but I could find out).
Stephen,
If you could follow that up that would be greatly appreciated as I know Martin is away at the moment. It was both out of general interest but also finding out a) what it is and b) how it may benefit the users as it is a coming soon sorta thing.
Cheers
Stuart
My best guess is that it refers to capacity from the tower to the customer modem, but I will check with vivid and report back.
Thanks for that Stephen, that was my guess as well but then what confused me is why the mention of multiple carriers, as I thought Vivid *was* the carrier between the tower to the customer modem (hence my confusion).
Stuart
I think it is actually the link from the tower back to their data centre i.e backhaul.
I believe that they use DragonWave microwave http://www.lan1.com.au/marketing/vendors/DRA/DragonWave-UnwiredAustralia...
@stephen.frost do you know when the Home Gateway firmware might be available?
My speeds seem to have improved considerably(up to 11Mbit) in the last few days though I believe I am now hitting the lockup issue where the router appears to be fine when I check the config page though no traffic through it to the web and can't ping anything out on the web. Unfortunately I can't see the tell-tale log entries that occur when this problem starts as it doesn't go back far enough in the logs to show it by the time I check the router.
More than happy to be getting speeds of up to 11Mbit of real throughput considering that I previously thought my ceiling was more like 7Mbit, now just need to fix this partial gateway crash issue and I will be home and hosed! :)
I'm happy to be a Guinea Pig if vivid are looking for beta testers..
Got an answer back from vivid. "Air interface capacity" does refer to tower-to-customer capacity, which means extra equipment being installed on/in the tower.
Re: firmware release, no, I still haven't heard anything on that front.
@Stephen, thanks for clarifying on that and that sounds good.
though /me still cries at no fix, I am going away for 10 days on Friday and if the gateway crashes I loose my lifeline from my iPad to my home infrastructure.
I will keep my fingers crossed.
To limit the possibility of crashes, would suggest turning off any torrent downloading that you might be running whilst away. This would eliminate a bunch of connections and therefore load off the gateway. Start 'em up again when you return. If you're not a torrenter, then the only other risk mitigation I could suggest would be to try to remember to run just a single app at a time. If there is someone at home who can reboot it for you if it crashes, that's would be a good thing. Maybe leave a key with a neighbour if necessary?
AHH even better ;)
Install cygwin, do some handy little scripts and achieve the following:
1. Try to download a tiny image (lol from the vivid forums actually)
2. If it succeeds do nothing
3. If it fails try again
4. If it fails again ssh into the router and reboot it
Auto router rebooting... I am happy now LOL. I just bit the bullet and coded a solution for it.
Stuart
Geek alert! =;^) ... good for you Stuart ... what do you write your scripts in? I am moderately conversant in Windows Batch, VB Script and Perl. I haven't done any Unix shell scripting in probably 15 years! I have vague recollections of sed, awk, bash and stuff like that, but its fading to a distant memory.
It bugs me no end that a contact email for vivid help isn't readily available. Anybody got one?
(In regard to the reference to the forums below, I have written under 2 forum usernames due to losing the password to one)
============================
Dear Vivid
I am indifferent to the fact that my service has been suspended; infact it may well be almost intentional.
I have sent an email previously, reporting my abysmal internet access, or lack thereof. I either have no connection, or dial-up speeds. I did call - I wasn't at home at the time. The customer help person told me to call back when I was back at home. Given that it is a USB modem, it should function anywhere within the network.
I have contributed to your own forums here numerous times. Many people seem to be having similar problems with speeds.
I am disgusted by the quality of internet supply by your company. It is worthy of being investigated by the telecommunications ombudsman; especially when you advertise as being Perth's fastest internet. Bollocks.
Hello her,
Vivid's contact email address is readily available on the Contact Us page of their website:
http://www.vividwireless.com.au/contact-us
email: customersupport@vividwireless.com.au
(incidentally I'm wondering how you managed to send Vivid an email previously, as per your "Dear Vivid," letter above???)
Support forums always give the impression of being full of people having problems. That's the nature of the environment. People who aren't having problems are presumably off elsewhere doing whatever it is they do, so they typically won't be hanging about here saying what a great time they're having.
If you would like some assistance I can arrange for Vivid to call you. Just drop me an email (stephen.frost@frostbyte.com.au) with your name and some contact details and I'll get them to contact you.
Cheers,
Steve
Thankyou - the end section of the support page seems to have been dropping off - I have never been able to find that address. I have acute hearing loss at the moment so have been in no mood to try them on the phone again. The last call (when I had good hearing) was on such a bad line, as well as being a frustrating call, that I haven't rung back again.
I had been sending that email to whatever I could think would be the support email address (ie support@ info@ help@ etc) Only one of them had bounced back as an incorrect address.
Hopefully I will have a reply via the address that you have supplied. Thankyou!
I understand ... hearing loss can make communication really awkward by telephone.
If you don't get a prompt reply to your email, or if you would like to get your enquiry fast-tracked a bit, feel free to send it via me (email address above) and I will send it direct to my contacts inside Vivid.
Hi all,
my 2 cents - I have problems calling Vivid by phone as they must either have incredibly bad telephones or use VOIP which unfortunately makes the call full of static, echo and distortion. Not much we can do about that. Just makes me not want to ever use VOIP.
Well. Vivid clearly state on there website That the unlimited can be used to download AS MANY Movies and TV series as we like. So, seriously with advertisement like that why can't we use torrents?
http://www.vividwireless.com.au/get-it-now/plans/unlimited-data-0
Yeah, torrents are terrible on the service. Also rescue, call quality is always a problem, they are using a Mitel VoIP system in the call centre.
Warning
In participating in this forum you agree not to post or authorise others to post any material that is in our opinion offensive, defamatory, inaccurate, harassing, threatening, invasive of the privacy of others, sexually explicit or illegal. You also agree that you will not post or authorise others to post any copyright material that is not owned or licensed to you. In the event of any breach of this Policy we reserve the right to remove the post without notice to you.
Disabling comments and removing posts
Should we consider a thread or comment in violation of this Policy, we reserve the right to immediately remove part of or entire posts. We also reserve the right to disable, remove or archive posts that have been dormant for 14 days.
Comments