Oh yes, you guessed it right. Not only did I got bleached whenever I asked them about this one year later, when I finally came to the place, there were NOTHING BUILT at all!! Not even a road to get there by normal, 4 wheeled SUV.

I finally got confirmation about my house from a new management called Sentul City. I don’t know and I could not care less of who they were, I just wanted my house to stand firmly on the ground where my family and I can spend lovely weekends.

Guess some apple fall far away from its tree..?!

i had similar experience, and how that experience traumatize me to be paranoid of all cust support… ><
isp in indon really had sunk that low.. even at one point i really2 pissed and said to the manager “if you guys cant do anything, just gimme access and i will fix it for you”.. in indo of course

jez…
i so feel you guys…
kabelvision is so sucks that i really wanna kill all the staffs there.. but there really no other providers, rite? =(

The internet at my place went down around 2 months before “lebaran”.
I tried calling technical support but got “all of our customer care officers are busy…” message instead.
Tried that for almost a MONTH…can you imagine a whole month?
When I finally got throught I was pissed and complained about the line being busy for a month a instead the guy said I should have tried more often (giggling) wtf was he kidding me? he actually thought it was funny? giggling?
I can’t even count how many times I called each day.
Then he apoligized and said the line was busy blablabla…

I knew screaming at the guy wouldn’t solve any problems so I tried to calmed down and told him about the my internet connection problems…
He said that from his computer he didn’t see anything wrong
with the connection he said it was probably just my computer…s
o he told me to do this and that and I told I already tried every single trick in the manual book(cd) and it problem continues so it’s not my computer, but this f***in guy insisted…
so I followed what he told me (which I already did prior to calling him, since I had a MONTH to try to figure out for myself), and after like 2 hours the guy said “ohh wait my mistake the problem was not in your computer, yes I see the problem now”
I felt like I wanted to kill this guy, cus that’s what I said in the very beginning…he should have just listen to me and check thoroughly!
So the guy said that he’ll be sending a technical team to my house to fix the problem NEXT WEEK and he’ll CALL ME tommorow in the morning about the problem.
I was pissed…I’ve been trying to call for a month and now I have to wait for a week?
Be he promised to call me in the morning and maybe they’ll be able to speed up the process so that I wouldn’t have to wait for a week. That calmed me down a bit.
So the next morning I waited for the call. And guess what?
Yup the bastard didn’t call back. Of course I tried calling
but hey…last time it took me a month and true I tried calling all day and it was always busy…
I kept calling them and it took me 4 days to finally get through (man is this line busy or do they just have 1 operator on standby?)
So I asked them about the appointment that I made 5 days ago and wanted to confirm it…and the woman said there weren’t any appointment…I explained about 5 days ago but the woman said there was nothing in there records (man it was just getting better and better).
So the woman told me that their technical team will come to my house… and I had to wait for….yes another week.
So that day finally came. It was Saturday I had a lot of plans
but had to cancel it cause the technical team was coming.
I tried calling from the morning but of course couldn’t contact them cus they are ALWAYS busy.
They promised to come at 12:00 in the afternoon but I waited until 4:00 and they didn’t came so I left cause I had some stuff to do.
It was kinda like a nightmare, because I couldn’t do anything…I mean just trying to call kabelvision is tiring.
So I tried calling them again and in about a week I finally the line wasn’t busy and I asked them about last week.
And the person said that the technical team couldn’t come.
I was really pissed. I asked them why didn’t they call me? I had plans that saturday and instead I waited 4 hours for them.
So I asked them to just fix it.
But guess what? She said next week they’ll all be in vacation and so I had to wait after that?
OMG I was pissed…
long story short I had to wait for another 3 weeks
so it’s:
around 1 month (cause I can’t call since they’re so busy)
5 days (cause some stupid guy lied to me)
1 Week (cause can’t call them again since they’re so busy)

and now another around 3 weeks…..

Ok long story short the D Day finally arrived
They promised again at 12 o’clock and again Saturday!
I had plans at 3 o’clock but thought I would probably quick so it’ll be no problem.

So I waited and waited
guess what time they came?

8:00 at night
You had no idea how pissed I was…they gave me alot of excuses of why they were late
And I wasn’t having any of it.
And then they said they didn’t knew I was waiting for them.
I told them I live alone. Who else would be waiting for them?
And they said that usually they have the house maid wait for them so it wouldn’t matter what time they came in the day.
I was really pissed when I heard that…’cus it just shows you the kind of work ethic most people have here…
Yeah ‘cus probably not alot of people live in a house without a maid (unless you don’t afford it).
So that’s why the slack off in things like this…ah they think it wouldn’t matter what time they came the house maid won’t complain when they came, it’s not like the house maid is going anywhere…F***!
That kind of mindset is just wrong…maid or no maid…do your f***in job and do it on time!!!!

Indeed, I must admit that the channels quality and stereo sounds are slightly better. However, the part that annoys me is few important channels have been putted of from the standard package, alongside with the rising of premium subscription fees (the premiums up to Rp. 458.000 from Rp. 350.000,) The CS people argues they had to do it to increase the signals quality.

I’m not a big fan of the tv medias instead i much prefers reading the economists or , however as a law student (who stills relying to my parents to accommodate me until i graduated) and who is putting interests in political craps and world issues, I’m much relying in the availableness of non-bias tv news, this means I socially wouldn’t engaged with people who could stands for Fox News or Metro TV.

Well this is the problem; few news channels are not around in the basic package anymore after the system migration i.e BBC and “the different world perspectives” of Al Jazeera… the CS lady who I contacted told me I need to added the ‘news’ and ‘entertainment’ package deals which later concludes we have to pay extra thousands of Rupiah.

Yes, as a family-type customer, a loyal Kabelvision customer dated from 1995 i was totally disappointed and outrageous. In increasing the channels quality standards doesn’t mean First Media have to ripped-offs its customers. Every year I always get the same picture that cable-tv medias in Indonesia are disillusioning customers who trapped in their monopolistic ways.

Well, once more, it still doesn’t ends. I happens to be an undergraduate in Mr.Riyadi’s highly prestigious Universitas Pelita Harapan. The rising fuel prices err.. i mean college fees irritates me a lot. Due to my personal experiences, I’m fully believe Mr. Riyadi’s handling of his education system has imitates his business practices. All the evangelical rhetoric about how a good businessman can be a good education leader seems total BS. Well, the rhetoric might work on new fresh students who just comes up from their own “literally literate” world and ready for the mighty doctrines given by Mr. James. however, this would not work on some part of us, probably because the reality pills we had earlier after seeing the cheap affordable restaurants in and around campus were being eradicated by the campus management and replace it with the newly high-priced food junctions.

So, please don’t tell me UPH is ‘better than Harvard’ dear sir Mr. Riyadi. For you gentlemen and ladies who mind to know ‘the better than Harvard’ doctrine thing please download it at http://www.uph.edu/data/file/campusasia01.zip . And please don’t make me starts with “global” magazines article. The 100 richest Indonesian businessman article was one of the silliest thing i’ve ever read. Should change the title to “100 most tax evasive richest Indonesian businessmen instead”. so much for the glamours. so much for fortunes and forbes magazines.

Wrote a letter (fax) both to Kabelvision / Firstmedia and Indosat, telling them how very very disappointed I was and asked them for a discount of monthly internet fee they would normally charge.

Yes, this is the first fax after so many days and nights of talking to KV and Indosat cs on the phone. I told them in the fax, the service they gave me is far below the Service Level Agreement.

Waited. No response.

In the afternoon called Indosat again, talked to cs, just told him to fix my connection. Without further explanation. Just fix it, I said. Maybe there is still some hope….yes I was hoping all the time…..have faith so they say…

And………..

Voila !!! A little after 20:00 hrs, there was something on my ping. The connection was fast like hell !!! Below 100 ms, even got 9 ms !!! Yes, nine milliseconds !!! NINE MILLISECONDS !!!

Never ever happened in my entire life. Believe me Unspun, Henry, James, or whoever in KV and Indosat……….the internet connection was below 100 ms. Almost like private LAN !!!

I think I’ll have to wait until tomorrow (that is today) and see if it’s still the same. Woke up and still the same……the same fast and furious connection below 100 ms !!!

10 minutes ago, I called Indosat and KV and asked them what happened all this time ? I told them there are two things I want to say:

One, I want to inform you the connection is OK and I want to say thank you to all of you cs and tech guys back there and I want to apologize for being rude and harsh to you / them. Two, I want to know what happened. I want an explanation.

KV said they fixed the tap. Which tap ? The one on the street not far from my place. Is that on your log ? I was curious. Yes, it says you got bad signal (weak) and once the tap was fixed, the connection was OK.

Indosat said, I got bad signal all this time (and that’s what they have been telling me all this time), and according to our log here, they (KV) “rebalanced” the connection. Well I don’t know about rebalancing the tap, but whatever it is, it surely worked.

So, the conclusion is, all this time I got a weak/bad signal and it took almost 2 weeks to fix it. Althou they suspected it from the beginning. Well…..at least they fixed it. Meaning I, in fact, can get a good solid connection, if everything is OK. So should other customers too. They deserve a good connection for the price they pay.

To KV, Henry, James :

If I was wrong, and said bad things about you guys, I apologize for my hostile prejudice. But, considering the condition and situation I was in, the thought and whispering came just like that. All the bad thought came out of nowhere and accumulated day by day in my head. Two weeks !!! And I could swear, I felt the connection dropped since you guys began selling Fastnet. And got even worse during weekends. Worst in the past 2 weeks. The same cycle. Drop in the afternoon. Dead in the evening. And up again after 01:00 hrs in the night. The same cycle for two weeks.

I’ll wait and see what happens in the next couple of days and keep my eye fixed on my ping result from now on.

Next time the same thing happens, if it takes two weeks to fix the tap……I’ll climb the pole myself and change the tap…..

Unspun, thank you for your wonderful blog and I sometimes look into your photo collection in Flickr. They are very good. Downloaded a couple of pictures for my website if you don’t mind. It’s about Bali.

Ok guys, I wish you all have a Prosperous Happy New Year, and may 2008 brings no more trouble in our internet connection !!!

Friday last week the connection was really bad. Called Indosat and KV. Saturday mostly dead. Called them back again. Monday still no improvement. Again, dialed Indosat and KV. At last, Monday evening before Christmas an Indosat techinician came in with the intention to check the modem (because I told them to check it, perhaps, who knows), but since the connection was dead, he simply couldn’t. He had a spare modem with him, anyway couldn’t do much with a dead connection.

Well, at least the Indosat guys are more professional. They paid attention to my complains. Sometimes they call me back, e-mailed back, and at the end sent a technician. At least I know there is somebody out there at the other end of my modem who cares about my problem.

Christmas day, not much of a connection, got RTO many times. Wednesday, got some connection in the morning, but still the same, RTO after an hour or so. Sometimes the connection comes up for a few seconds, then dead again. Thursday, today, still no improvement.

Called KV and told the cs girl to fix my problem. I told her not to fool around with my bandwidth. I asked her when the KV technican are coming, because they promised me several days ago, they will send a technician after Christmas, on the 26th or 27th. She said, there is no such schedule. What ? Really pissed me off. I told her, look, I am not angry at you, I am mad at KV and go tell the guys at KV Gatot Soebroto not to disconnect or mess around with my connection. I told her this all mess started since KV changed to Firstmedia and started to sell Fastnet.

I told her, I am not going to argue anymore and I am really tired of all this nonsense, just tell the Gatot Sobroto guys to fix my problem. Give me back my connection. The normal one. I told her I know they are fooling around with my bandwidth. Tell your supervisor “I know you guys are cutting off my bandwidth”. And she said, “OK I’ll do that, and I’ll tell the tech guys at Gatot Soebroto to call you back”. That was in the morning. It’s 15:31 and no one from KV called me back. I am waiting for a glimp of a few seconds connection so I could post this long story to this blog. Yes, I am still staring at my ping with minus t.

To make a story shorter, here is my conclusion:

- KV is doing this on purpose, so that those like us using Indosat, would switch to Fastnet. There are rumors that the day Fastnet was released, more than 300 Indosat customers got disconnected. Well, that sounds very hostile !!!

- KV equipments are obsolete. Perhaps they are using second class equipment, or used / refurbished ones. There is also such a rumor spreading. Those guys selling refurbished equipments say, just wait, you’ll see one day they will have to charge you more for the internet connection, or otherwise they will degrade your connection.

- KV is too greedy selling Fastnet. Too much and too many at one time, at the same time, meanwhile their equipment and bandwidth simply not sufficient. And who knows, at this very moment my Indosat bandwidth is being shared with other Fastnet customers. What a horror !!!

- KV technicians are not capable of solving the problem. I doubt it. I believe they are good, just the bosses are too greedy. Most technical guys (IT guys) I met working at ISPs are very brilliant guys with highly technical skill.

- KV shouldn’t jump into the internet business. They were good before this. Really, I mean it. I even recommended friends to subscribe to KV (TV) and get the internet at the same time. I was convinced the KV ADSL connection was very stable. I knew it was stable. I have used many types of last-mile connections in the past. Radio connections, leased line Lintasarta (DOV), leased line Telkom, you name it, and the KV ADSL to me seems very stable, and relatively cheap. Sad, those greedy guys destroyed this image !!!

- On Sunday I went to a friend’s house who subscribed to Fastnet, where on that day the connection at my place was dead. And to my surprise, same dead internet connection at his house, yeah this time Fastnet. Then I guessed it was longweekend, holiday, before Christmas, where people stayed at home and use internet extensively, and the KV equipment was overloaded.

Last but not least. The cs of KV or Firstmedia keeps telling us, you, not to share your internet connection. In other words, don’t use router. What ? Why ? How come ?

Hallo ! As long I get a stable and a normal connection and bandwidth according to SLA, meaning my modem talks to KV modem normally, that would be fine.

The rest, behind the router is my problem. We are not cheating and not stealing anything (bandwidth) by having 1, 5, or even 100 workstations behind the router. Or am I wrong ?

And to the best of my knowledge, nobody gets hurt. It’s our own risk and we know the consequences. The connection would be slow. Our internal LAN connection would be slow when accessing the internet. You guys at KV are not educating your own people, the Indonesian people I mean !!! Sorry to say, this is what I call the “Proses Pembodohan”.

The more people use internet, the more they get educated and get wider perspective. This is not the era of Mr. Harmoko where everything is according to Bapak Presiden. What you’ve got to lose, hey KV ? Educate your people ! Our own people. Are you guys at KV not Indonesians ?

I don’t know if its true. I heard that KV/Fistmedia in some cases cut-off connection to those using router behind modem. I can understand if someone hacks the modem and modifies the bandwidth parameter in it. But to tell not to use a router behind a modem ??? This one must be a joke right. You guys don’t mean it.

Stop !!! Don’t tell us not to use a router. Just tell us that the connection would be slow. That’s enough. Yes, and I have had enough !!!

“Sucks” sounds cruel for us, softspoken Indonesians. But after all this, I couldn’t find a better word for it.

Oh ya, nearly forgot. You guys at KV must be thinking that I am / was taking sides, with Indosat I mean. Wrong !

I was many times disappointed with Indosat too in the past. And when they sell, they sell high. You never get anything cheap from Indosat. But they have and always have some explanation. And they are quick to respond. And they never let you down…

Anyone from KV got some reasonable explanation ? Call me at 08159798022.

18:00, still no connection, RTO.
18:16, still no connection, RTO.
18:18, there is something…this is the time to click Submit…
Failed
18:45 another submit

I hope he’s right but somehow First media will go the way of many of the Riady enterprises – lots of flash and bang and then quickly go out of steam, while customers suffer. I’d change providers if I were you since past experience is any guide.