[WXC/VFX] The Rise and Fall of Xnet

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [WXC/VFX] The Rise and Fall of Xnet

1 | 2

rphenix

985 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#200798 12-Mar-2009 12:06

Niel: XNet do not advertise their internet services, and they have some kind of arrangement with Telecom for VFX. I would suggest they provide internet access as an add-on to VFX rather than VFX as an add-on to internet. In other words they need their own internet connection to run VFX and so they also let customers make use of it.

The above sounds a bit confusing, I know, it is Friday... But basically I don't think they need to make lots of money out of data usage, because I don't think internet access is their core business. Makes sense, because after all they've run toll services over VoIP long before launching VFX (correct me if I'm wrong) and they make "cold calls" only for tolls services (and now e-mails to customers to upgrade to Fusion, i.e. voice services). So they are probably the only ISP that would do pay-per-Meg and not data blocks.

Just my 2c.

My thoughts exactly WXC needs a good connection for their VOIP services so setup an ISP as it made sense but its not their primary market just a means to an end.

VFX/DVX is still as good as the day they released it. If your not happy with XNET speed's then move to an ISP who peers at the APE and you will have little problem running your VFX as before the only difference now is you voice traffic will count as usage.

rphenix

985 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#200804 12-Mar-2009 12:30

nate:

My final thought (regarding their now absence from the site) is it does not make sense to dedicate a good proportion of your support to a small yet demanding and very technical user base (cue Geekzone users). There are plenty of WxC dealers on this site to direct your questions to.

Do I think this is the best way to go? I'm not sure. However, many of the average joe users/mums and dads who use Xnet as an ISP are still with them, so it's certainly working for them.

I'm keen to see what the next 12 months has in store.

I don’t know about that. I referred quite a few people to XNet simply based on "support levels". Average Joe and Mums/Dads ask their resident geek which ISP they should go to. Put it this way last year I would have referred several colleagues, my grandparents, my parents etc.. and a few businesses (not to mention the company I work for as I was the one who migrated us to DVX). How many referrals are they getting now? I'm not sure they are aware how many new customers are referred because of the likes of Geekzone (I certainly didn’t get all the credits of people I referred on my account).

They will keep the current Joe Average's but are they still getting more of them? Which in a recession I imagine is important as a few people decide internet is non-essential or maybe dial-up will do I notice there are a few WXC posts appearing on Geekzone lately so hopefully that’s a sign.

ziph

25 posts

Geek

#201074 13-Mar-2009 17:12

An email I sent to Xnet support (twice)

I am sending this for the SECOND time as I received NO repsonse the first. This is poor.

Hi,

I have been an Xnet customer for a number of years now and up until the
last 12 months or so, have been very happy with the service provided. I
have even recommended Xnet to all of my clients. Then the level of
service (speed and reliablilty) suddenly dropped significantly.

So now I am faced with a dilemma. If the level of service does not rise
to the level it once was, I will have no option but to take my business
elsewhere.

I DO NOT want to have to do this.

So my question is, what is the problem with Xnet's speed issues? Are
they going to be resolved in the near future? Or do I find a new ISP?

I DO NOT want to change my plan. It was fine before, so I feel it should
still be fine. I USED to be able to stream youtube videos whenever the
heck I felt like it, day or night without significant buffering. Now a
2 minute clip takes 5+ minutes to load.

I run the speedtest through speedtest.net and the results are average
within New Zealand (although not a good as they used to be) but
diabolical ANYWHERE overseas.

So tell me Xnet, are you going to keep me as a customer or am I going to
have to take my business elsewhere?

I look forward to speedy (and hopefully positive) reply.

Regards

James Sanders

ziph

25 posts

Geek

#201076 13-Mar-2009 17:15

The response

Hello

Firstly, I've searched through the help inbox for anything from
********@xnet.co.nz and can't find any items at all so it doesn't look like
we ever got the initial email.

>From your email it looks like your local speeds are OK so the line is
probably fine, seems like you're just getting slow international at
times, which as you are probably already aware of is because there is a
limited amount of bandwidth available, which is shared amongst customers
so if there are high loads your speeds will slow down.

To be honest I do not see this improving in the near future and if fast
international speeds are a main requirement of your needs then I feel
the only solution may be for you to move to an alternate provider.

Unfortunately international speed issues seem to be an issue for many
smaller ISPs and although we are constantly trying to improve on our
network etc (we have implemented some form of traffic shaping etc to try
help out) I wouldn't expect anything to drastically change.

Kind regards,
James

Xnet Internet Support
WorldxChange Communications
0800 14 XNET
www.xnet.co.nz

Nice. Guess thats what I'll do then. Maybe Fair Go?

vexxxboy

4244 posts

Uber Geek

#201082 13-Mar-2009 18:29

and if you are still not sure read this

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10561373

im not sure if its quite the right way to keep customers

Common sense is not as common as you think.

marmel

1924 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#201096 13-Mar-2009 20:08

ziph: The response

Hello

Firstly, I've searched through the help inbox for anything from
********@xnet.co.nz and can't find any items at all so it doesn't look like
we ever got the initial email.

>From your email it looks like your local speeds are OK so the line is
probably fine, seems like you're just getting slow international at
times, which as you are probably already aware of is because there is a
limited amount of bandwidth available, which is shared amongst customers
so if there are high loads your speeds will slow down.

To be honest I do not see this improving in the near future and if fast
international speeds are a main requirement of your needs then I feel
the only solution may be for you to move to an alternate provider.

Unfortunately international speed issues seem to be an issue for many
smaller ISPs and although we are constantly trying to improve on our
network etc (we have implemented some form of traffic shaping etc to try
help out) I wouldn't expect anything to drastically change.

Kind regards,
James

Xnet Internet Support
WorldxChange Communications
0800 14 XNET
www.xnet.co.nz

Nice. Guess thats what I'll do then. Maybe Fair Go?

I'm not sure what you expect fairgo to do about it, seems like you got a fairly honest answer there. Best to jump ship if you want decent int speeds.

ziph

25 posts

Geek

#201100 13-Mar-2009 20:32

Not sure why its gone, but there was a tongue out smiley at the end ofthe fairgo coment, so I wasn't being serious.

Now, just because they have been honest and upfront with me (which is appreciated), doesn't make it alright for them to charge us the same price for a lesser service.

I will be changing ISP's and it's a shame, because i have always been happy with Xnet until the speed issues started. I have refered maybe 70 people to xnet over the years and it unfortunate that now I have to stop.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

cafeg

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#201713 17-Mar-2009 19:36

Well, I must be one of the lucky ones as I hardly have any problems at all now.
Speeds are fine and everything is up at constant good speeds.
I have had VFX for almost 2 years now I think and its the best thing I have ever had, call quality is a lot better than the line I had with telecom.
I must admit I did have a lot of problems on the torrent plan but once I switched back to pay per gig all problems disapeared and I'm happy I stayed at xnet.
Xnet customer service has always been very helpful, it does take a while to get thru at times but then every isp is the same in that respect.
I moved to here from Ihug years ago and certainly wouldn't like to go back there or to xtra either..

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201738 17-Mar-2009 21:04

cafeg: Well, I must be one of the lucky ones as I hardly have any problems at all now.

No, don't say that, don't want any good reports or else the masses will return to swamp the bandwidth ;-).

My connection is fine too, only hassles are things like yesterday's e-mail outage. Then again, yesterday our work ISP had issues and today we had no internet at all and I'm working at a large international exporting electronics manufacturer who should have stable internet access to ensure engineers get access to latest data sheets etc. So it is not just the small ISPs with trouble.

You can never have enough Volvos!

cafeg

697 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#201747 17-Mar-2009 21:23

arghh, oh no I forget about all of those heavy downloaders that swamp all the bandwidth have probly gone by now..
Shhh. don't tell them it works again now !

xlinknz

1127 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#201827 18-Mar-2009 07:18

Niel: My connection is fine too, only hassles are things like yesterday's e-mail outage.

exactly - these email outages are a symptom that all is still not well at WxC, I have lost track of the number of significant email outages how many times does it take to fix ?

Another example - the secure email option https://webmail.xport.co.nz/ is no longer available from their webmail page [but still works] and if one uses https://webmail.xnet.co.nz/ [also not posed] you get a invalid cert prompt

It seems to me that as an ISP they often don't even get the basics right, service mgmt [still an issue imho], capacity planning etc et al

All that said it does appear they are now [finally] making an effort to post issues when they occur and not just when the helpdesk arrive at 8am

I'm still with them [just] but it will be a while before I recommend them again...

1 | 2