Terrible ISP!

A big sarcastic thank you to Easy NET.

EasyNET is my ISP. I host my own webserver on site and use EasyNET for the internet connection. I lost my primary internet connection at 6am on Friday 12th August and over 24hrs later the connection has still not been restored.

I’ve had no email and no website in that whole time which is a nightmare for me. I have over 60 people working here with me and, as you would expect with modern business, we rely heavily upon the internet for email communication and information finding.

I understand that things can and do go wrong with technology and its not always easy to resolve but my main complaint with EasyNET has to be the fact that I have had so many stories from them about the problem. I thought I would share a few:

7:45am Friday
EasyNET: We installed some new hardware over night and are just finishing configuring the exchange. The situation will be resolved with the hour.

9:00am Friday
EasyNET: There was a minor fire in the exchange overnight and we are just working to resolve the problems this has caused, connection will be resolved within the next hour.

11:00am Friday
EasyNET: We have an engineer on site. He is just finishing up, any time now.

1:00pm Friday
EasyNET: We need to reboot the exchange. There are about 25 customers in your position but we are unable to reboot the exchange until 6pm.

2:00pm Friday
Call from EasyNET engineer: We are just calling to advise our customers connected to this exchange that we are about to reboot the system. You may be without Internet connectivity for about 15 minutes(!!)
Me: We haven’t had any internet connectivity all day!
EasyNET: Oh well your connection might come back up after the reboot.
Me: What about the fire then?
EasyNET: What fire?

4:00pm Friday
EasyNET: We have broken the exchange and don’t know what’s wrong with it. Call back later and we’ll tell you.

5:00pm Friday
EasyNET: An engineer is on site and will be replacing a card. He will not leave the exchange until the problem is resolved.

6:15pm Friday
EasyNET: The engineer is waiting for a new card to arrive. He is on site and will fit it as soon as the part arrives.

8:00pm Friday
EasyNET: The engineer has fitted the part and is just testing the system. Connection will be restored within the hour.

9:30pm Friday
EasyNET: The engineer has just collected the replacement card from our offices and will be going to site straight away. Internet connectivity will be restored by 11pm.
Me: I was told the engineer had already fitted the new card and had been on site all day!
EasyNET: I can’t see that information anywhere on the system.

11:00pm Friday
EasyNET: The engineer is now working in the exchange

4:00am Saturday
EasyNET: We are waiting for the engineer to collect a replacement card from our offices.
Me: I was told he did that last night and was on site fitting it at 11pm?
EasyNET: I don’t see that on my screen.

7:30am Saturday
EasyNET: The engineer is on his way from Birmingham to London to collect the part that he needs then he will be going to the exchange to fit it. The connection will be fixed by lunchtime today.
Me: I was told the engineer was on site all day yesterday and had the part at 8:00 yesterday and would not leave until the connection was fixed.
EasyNET: I can’t tell you if he was there or not yesterday but he will be there today.

ARGH!!!!

Needless to say the internet connection has not been restored. EasyNET do not know when this will be fixed and will presumably dream up further excuses in the mean time.

I’m sure that EasyNET will give me a big cheque for compensation – YEAH RIGHT!

So I’m temporarily using my home connection to host my blog. If anyone has had the patience to read all this – and I doubt there will be anyone, then I apologise of the page has taken a long time to load!

Matt