What do you mean you won't give me your phone number.
Written: Nov 27 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, sub $20 a month
Cons: Can't get a phone number from a human, they require speciality software that isn't needed.
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| zakezuke's Full Review: FoxInternet |
I was helping a friend hook up his folks to the internet. They are very much old school, and had no need for unlimited access, estimated usage less then 1hr a day, less then 30 days a month. I hunted around for my old resources regarding cheap hourly access, but they were all bought out by Imajis. Ok, we said, lets give them a try, they are cheaper then the standard $20 a month.
Clicking on the Instent access resulted in the taking of billing information, and a simple activation code and a request to wait for their software to come in the mail. Not very instent. We called tech support to ask for a local access number, they wouldn't provide it. They said, "I would loose my job if I gave you the number", and "We require propriority software to access our service". So if your not running windows, you can't access their service according to their support staff, it is "unsupported". After the threat of canceling the account, only then did they provide a number, which it turns out is listed on their web page, but you need access to access that information they won't provide you.
According to them, this software is required to access their service. According to me, they are using standard PPP protocal. Their software not required to those of us who can click on "add new dial up connection". I can imagine that dealing with people who are not experenced, the simple task of hooking up can be simplified by telling the user, "just pop in the disk". But not providing access numbers over voice phone makes it not instent. PPP is supported by all standard operating systems, all standard platforms, their software isn't needed.
I come from the old school where a business has person or set of people who have a list of other phone numbers that they are happy to give you to contact them. When a business refuses to give you a number to a service that you pay for there is a problem. These national providerships offer an advantage to the person on the road, lots of local dial up numbers. This company will not give you their numbers over the phone. I'm on the road alot my self, and I need local access and the ability to phone a human and ask for a number so I no longer need to deal with humans to collect information. This service does not permit this.
I was unable to get an explanation as to why they don't give out numbers, information they do have access to as the threat of account closure did actually get their staff to ask permision by their supervisor to give out their number. Their staff actually lied to me regarding their system requirements. There could be a very logical explanation such as, "we require the use of our software so we may probe your system, it saves time in diagnosing problems", which would be fine except for those of us who wish privacy. This remote access to your provider might interest you if you don't have the experence to solve problems your self. I on the other hand don't want to waste any bandwidth dealing with support staff probling my system, I know more than they do.
This service, though being sub $20 a month, hits my blacklist. Neither recomended or sugested, they have some internal issues regarding giving out information to connect to their service. Be afraid, be very afraid. When ever I give me credit card over the net I say to my self, "I hope they are not the devil". There is NO way I will ever use this service under current management, and would strongly sugest you think twice before giving your information to these people. There are many ISPs that I'm not happy with, very few that I am so offended by.
Might I sugest Earthlink, MSN, or a local providership. Earthlink also gives out a CD for easy configeration, but thier support staff will tell you, "This software isn't needed, if you prefer you can just click on add new connection if you want to get started right away". About $20 a month, this is about the lowest price you'll find that leaves room for a profit, anyone lower requires careful evaluation. I have more experence with Earthlink. While I don't use them my self, they are ideal for inexperenced users who need a helping hand in getting started. Their support staff can answer both simple and complex questions, and will spend the time to help the first time computer user getting started. MSN is actually a premium service with good speed, the advantage of being associated with Microsoft.
Regarding the helping of a friend, they are quite convienced by now that $20 a month is about what one will expect to pay, and are most happy to pay it so not to do business with the devil. Every provider I've tested who charges $20 a month has support staff that can answer simple questions like, "what's your phone number". This is the best way of testing any providership before you connect. Just ask for a phone number and dial when you'll be connecting. If the number is busy, then you know you'll have a difficult time connecting, no computer required, just listen for the beeeeeeeeeeeep. There are lots of services out there, there is no reason to deal with Imajis. $20 is fair even for the light sub 40hour a month user, works out to about $.50 a hour at 2 hours a day. This is fair, much better then having to hire accounting staff to keep track of usage resulting in a higher then $.50 per hour rate.
Don't use speciality software when the stock works just great, speciality means non-standard means not nessicarly compatable. The more complex you make the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. When you don't have the option of pure PPP, then you run the risk of problems. When you don't know who makes your software, you can't tell if it's any good or not. Avoid this Imijis at all cost.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
zakezuke
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Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 1 member
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