Airstream WISP gone down?

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DjShadow

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#113703 25-Jan-2013 08:23

Hi All,

A client has mentioned that his W-ISP Airstream has gone offline and the owner has done a runner to Australia with no warning.
Does anyone know anything more about this?

freitasm

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#750558 25-Jan-2013 08:40

What city/town?

DjShadow

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#750559 25-Jan-2013 08:42

Foxton, client says he spoke to someone else who uses airstream and has had no net for 4 or so days.
Looking at their website they do cover a fair portion of the manawatu.

He says he has tried calling their 0800 number but gets the "number disconnected" tone

freitasm

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#750573 25-Jan-2013 09:21

Their landline (06) 323 2858 still answering. Tried that instead of the 0800?

I've asked some people around about this. No one heard anything...

DjShadow

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#750583 25-Jan-2013 09:40

Just checked with the client and he says he has tried the above 06 number, can get through to the PABX as you did, can get the network status message but its been the same message for the past 10 days indicating there is a problem and should be fixed by the end of the day.
If you try to get through to Customer Services the line goes dead.

note: I've not tried contacting them personally, just going off the client's word

chevrolux

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#750584 25-Jan-2013 09:40

Apparently the owner's wife is crook and they have gone to Australia for treament. The company has been handed over to Thin Air to be 'looked after' except Thin Air are more concerned about getting customers off the Airstream network and on to Thin Air. Have also heard he owes a bit of money but that is just rumours. A client of mine wanted to buy the Airstream network but it all just sounded a bit dodgy to me.

If it were me I would be going to Inspire Net and not Thin Air. Inspire's network is built far better than Thin Air's and is much more stable. Throughput is better due to Inspire having far superior backhaul and you will get far better support from Inspire as they have a proper support team rather than the one tech that Thin Air have.

Edit: Does your client actually need service from a WISP or is there a fixed line service available? There has been quite bit of work done in Foxton recently and a lot of people on wireless networks are now in reach of ADSL.

freitasm

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#750607 25-Jan-2013 10:27

I am told the Airstream upstream provider turned them off on Tuesday.

chevrolux

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#750616 25-Jan-2013 10:39

That makes sense. The rumour I heard was that he owed about 10 months on his back haul.

The OP's client needs to jump ship. Inspire would be my choice if wireless is required.

Its a bit sad the owner let things just deteriorate. He had some good locations for sites just let things get on top of him. Sucks for his clients too! About 70-odd clients were still with him from what I heard last.

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freitasm

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#750650 25-Jan-2013 12:08

I have received some information from Unleash, which owns/operates ThinAir. I won't put the whole story here but some points:

Unleash was the upstream provider for Airstream with Unleash providing a wholesale internet connection and IP address space to Airstream
At some point last year ThinAir started discussions to buy Airstream but the transaction did not complete
Even though the transaction did not complete Airstream pointed its phone system to ThinAir
ThinAir had no idea on how to operate the Airstream network and shouldn't have to as the transaction did not happen
Unleash kept the wholesale connection going for as long as they could until it reached a point they had to turn it off
Because Airstream was a customer Unleash/ThinAir CSR were under instructions to not pinch customers
Now that Airstream is gone Unleash/ThinAir would have no problem providing services to existing customers if they wanted to join and coverage is available.

I hope this clarifies the whole thing...

DjShadow

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#750656 25-Jan-2013 12:23

Thats great, thanks for the update

chevrolux

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#750659 25-Jan-2013 12:46

I guess my client will be getting some cheap radio and core gear then.

Thanks freitasm and Unleash for the update!

Would still suggest Inspire over Thin Air though.

Zeon

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#750672 25-Jan-2013 13:05

I'm surprised that they continued servicing them so long as it sounds like they weren't paying the bills.

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Kraven

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#750884 25-Jan-2013 17:02

chevrolux: Would still suggest Inspire over Thin Air though.

+1. I've got nothing but good things to say about Inspire.

2G

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#751103 26-Jan-2013 10:32

Good morning,

I have spoken to Geoff (owner of Airstream) a week ago and can confirm he is now living in Aust. and has a job with a School over there. I also had a number of his customers calling me asking for Wireless internet as their connections have been down for weeks.

I'm in the process of setting up another wireless link to my wireless broadband network up at Wharite to pick up greater coverage for this region. We'll be covering Palmerston North, Feilding, Sanson, Bulls plus rural. Site should be up and running in a few weeks.

Regards

Peter
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jjnz1

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#751117 26-Jan-2013 11:20

We have been approached over the last few months by a few customers within that region who have been burnt by this guy. They are now connected to us.

As another option to other wisps, drop me a pm and we'll work out a special deal to those previously with Airstream.

Our coverage already extends to most of that region.

Cheers Joel

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