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No Internet for 7 Weeks - “Fail” Light

Scimitar
Just Moved In
I am not sure what else to do before I cancel the service, so I decided to ask here.

I had TELUS fibre Internet installed on Aug 25 in my apartment which is in a new condo building. The tech was having a hard time getting the proper light strength and spent two hours until he finally got it.

On Sep 9 I lost my WiFi connection and after troubleshooting with TELUS found out that the Nokia ONT had the red “fail” light on. They sent another tech who couldn’t fix the issue and escalated to the “drop team”. After that, every time I called, I was told that they were looking into it. I contacted Telus on Twitter and was called by a customer services supervisor who told me that she was going to email the people who were looking after this. No contact since then and obviously no internet. Every other unit on my floor has working TELUS internet.

I am tired of calling and getting the same response. I suspect that there is a fault in the fibre cable or something along those lines. It’s also interesting that the first tech got it working and then it stopped after two weeks. Maybe another tech doing work for a different customer messed it up but failed to report. Anyway, my question is if anyone else had a similar issue and it you guys have any ideas about how I can make them address this?

I am not sure if I want to remain with TELUS either way, but I don’t want to lose leverage with Shaw down the road by having no fibre option.
6 REPLIES 6

DavidDGoliath
Friendly Neighbour

I rely upon my internet for my livelihood and am experiencing the red fail light on my Alcatel Lucent ONT fiber receiver/converter that connects to the router via CAT5/6. My fiber 300/unlimited has been down for 24hrs. and still no tech coming for two days. I stand to lose a significant amount of income due to this and my tenants have no data either.

This happened only a year ago as well. Telus has been useless on the issue.

I work in IM/IT software development currently and have several years experience troubleshooting software and hardware issues and custom building hardware. The customer service agent in the Philippines kept insisting I must have changed or unplugged something (I didn't and no one else has access to the area where the unit resides) and the guy at the Canadian call center refused to put me through to the Network Services group. Tried calling and leaving voicemail on Telus tech. who setup everything last time this issue occurred's cell and a text - no answer. Tried texting the Telus tech. who setup my Dad's Telus services (I convinced him to switch from Shaw to Telus and am now regretting it) no response from anyone.

Finally took to Twitter and started ranting and got a private message from a Telus Support agent who said they would "escalate" the issue. However, still nothing.

Nothing physically changed with my configuration and there are no other outages in my area. 

 

So sick of dealing with Telus, we need more ISP options. They really don't care about their customers.

David, if you work in IT I would assume you know the difference between a residential internet connection and a business class connection that has service level agreements in place that would get repairs done faster. If you are in fact using a personal internet connection for what appears to be business purposes, then you have to live with your decision, and the time it takes for a repair tech to get out there. Cold contacting other installers won't work as they won't have been assigned to the ticket that was created when you called since the repair techs will be the ones assigned to deal with the problem.

DavidDGoliath
Friendly Neighbour
I am sure you are pleased as punch with your cheeky rebuttal forgiving garbage ‘customer service’ by hiding behind the language in an SLA. This is a repeat issue (hardware failure).

The cost differential between residential and commercial can be anywhere from 300-800% increase in monthly costs. I am already paying over $2000/year for my fibre 300 unlimited and tv.

As Telus has a monopoly on fibre they are content to let their customers wait regardless how many times I have already had hardware failures of the hardware provided (ONT unit failed less than a year ago - Alacatel Lucent ONT’s are garbage - hopefully Nokia purchasing them might make a difference but I won’t hold my breathe).

As for SLA’s... You want to bring up SLA’s? Most companies would lose their contract for such garbage response times. I work for a large organization in IM/IT and we would cancel SLA’s for REPEAT hardware failure and terrible service and having the customer support tech’s saying “you should either pay multiple times more for commercial or deal with the consequences of a residential SLA.”

I work from home half the week and have to pay for my own data to allow for this. I live a substantial distance from my work and remote working allows me to not have to travel 3 hours each day, a couple-to-a-few days a week. At already over $160/mos. switching to commercial is a substantial cost increase I am not in a position to undertake. Like I said, at already over $2K/year, I shouldn’t be debating residential vs. commercial SLA’s with an ‘Advisor’ on the Telus forums.

The technician who fixed the ONT fail issue by replacing hardware less than a year ago gave me her business card and said CALL ANYTIME IF YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH YOUR SERVICE I FIXED. She never once said there was any time limit on this and I presumed since it was less than a year ago nothing would have changed. Should I throw away the tech’s card next time and say “I know you won’t answer?” If I have been given their card, how is that a ‘cold call’?

Anyways, thanks for rubbing salt in the wound. I hope you made your evening roasting people who are dealing with legitimately denigrating customer service and frustratingly ridiculous service wait times.

As soon as a better ISP option brings fibre to our area and ends the Telus monopoly, the better.

A fail light on the ONT doesn't always mean hardware failure. Your fibre pigtail could have been inadvertently unplugged in the FDH in your neighbourhood or in the NAP closer to your house.

 

The point of a business vs residential SLA is still valid as much as you might not agree with it. Business accounts guarantee faster response times for service visits and protect you from any lost revenue if the service impacting issue is caused by Telus.

 

The technician who gave you her card may have moved on to another role in the company. She may have transferred to a different city. Or she may no longer be with the company. A lot can happen in that role in a matter of months.

 

You can try speaking with an escalation manager to try and get a better appointment, in this case for tomorrow, but that all comes down to the available technicians that are available in the area who are not already booked up with a full day, and are Fibre trained. You could always use your cell phone as a mobile hot spot to do crucial work related things and if this incurs any data overages get Telus to credit you that amount on your next bill. Or you could just bite the bullet for a couple days and commute in to the office.

 

The reason Telus has a "monopoly" on Fibre is because they are the only company stepping up in western Canada who is investing in Fibre. Over $20 billion over the last 7 years. Shaw is doubling down on their coax and sub-par cellular network in Freedom and they're the only other company around with the money to invest in Fibre so I don't see any other option coming soon.

Escalation manager finally contacted me tonight, at this point who knows... Said he escalated me, we’ll see. Also, he was adamant that residential SLA’s shouldn’t equate with such a low expectation of service, even within the parameters of said SLA’s.

As for the technician moving or off, perhaps but her voicemail confirmed her identity and job role and said to leave a message, still no reply.

The amount of investment by Telus is not lost on me, it is just sad that there are so few telecommunications options in Canada. Hell, look at Australia, their population in analogous to Canada in size and composition. Their home internet and mobile data options are so much better and the prices a fraction the cost of Canada. The US’ telecom. giants offer better rates and services in most major centres now as well. Our ISP choices are limited as Canada does not make new telecomms. startup’s navigation of regulatory waters to build said infrastructure and Telus’ relationship with Government especially in BC is quite entwined.

Your point about data overages I never thought to ask as I never imagined Telus would cover all of the people in this house who rely on this data connection’s mobile data overages and/or financial losses. Perhaps customer loyalty can do something there, so thanks for that.

What an exciting game of **bleep**-for-tat... by my count, your up by at least two **bleep** and perhaps one tat. Congrats on your achievement. XP forthcoming.

PS - by my memory I recall last time something she had to do up the street as well... you may be right about the fibre pigtail being inadvertently unplugged in the FDH in your neighbourhood or in the NAP closer to your house or something along those lines.