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Thread: Naked internet customers left in the lurch

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    Default Naked internet customers left in the lurch

    CUSTOMERS drawn to a heavily-advertised broadband plan that offers an escape from paying line rental have been caught in a gap between providers without phone or internet access.

    Dozens of new sign-ups to iiNet's Naked DSL plan, which was touted as the first of its kind to be available nationally upon its launch last year, have reported long waits and cancelled installation appointments as the company struggles to meet demand.

    Under the plan, customers can access iiNet's ADSL2+ broadband network without having to pay a rental charge on their phone line but are unable to use the line for regular phone calls.

    Instead of regular calls, customers would be able to make calls using internet-based technologies such as VOIP – but many have fallen into a gap between having their phone line disconnected and their iiNet service connected.

    Scores of comments have been posted to Australian broadband forum Whirlpool complaining of waiting times of up to 10 weeks, cancelled installations appointments and customers being billed before they could access the internet.

    One user said he had been waiting 70 days to get online after signing to Naked DSL in December, and that technicians had failed to keep three appointments to resolve the problem.

    Several others said they had been charged for the service before it was functional.

    iiNet chief operating officer Mark White said the company had been overwhelmed by demand for the Naked DSL plan and the roll-out had been a learning process.

    "We're breaking new ground here... It has been a fantastic learning process in terms of getting our processes right, and we refine them on a daily basis," he said.

    "On average, we get (the service connected) within 20 days and where we don't we're in constant contact with our customers to fix up the problems as best we can."

    Extreme weather conditions in the last two months had stretched Telstra's resources and had a flow-on effect to smaller companies who relied on their services, Mr White said.

    "Our partner is Telstra and clearly we need them to do a fair bit of the process work. So we have to work within their constraints as well, but our relationship with them is great."

    Danny Bos of Melbourne said he had been attracted to iiNet by the idea of avoiding major phone companies and line rental fees, but still wasn't online more than a month after switching to Naked DSL.

    "They said they'd have the whole thing up and running between 8 and 20 days, but most likely around 10 days, which sounded reasonable to me," he said.

    "I waited 12 days before I rang and asked what was going on. They said, 'any day now' and this happened every day up until day 20.

    "Here I am at day 35 still without the internet and a promise that it will be connected by 5pm this afternoon. My fingers are crossed but I'm not holding my breath."



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    Junior Member zeke.damien's Avatar
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    hmmm seems to me that this has been a hit and failed 20 days and even 70 days that is a very long time without phone or internet i wonder how they survived?
    become a premium member ---- DO IT NOW!!!!!!
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    It shows how keen people are to ditch Telstra. I would take it up if it was available where I am.
    I am on Telstra's Homeline Budget for $19.95 and run two phone services with Engin both at $14.95 each with unlimited local and national calls. So for $50 a month , my daughter can ring all her friends all night as much as she likes without annoying me ( including at least 15 calls to Queensland a week totalling an hour minimum each time ) , and myself and my wife can ring as much as we like without worrying about the bill ( her parents are a national call ).

    It would still be nice to not pay Telstra that $19.95 , I cant see Homeline budget on their webiste anymore , does anyone know if they have removed it ?

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    Senior Member gado's Avatar
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    I have had cable internet and no phones line connected with mynetphone for almost a year now . Very happy not to pay for b**llshit phone rental and my phone calls are so cheap. Its saved me over $1200 in the last 12 months. Also I was a lazy bill payer (ever 2 months) when I had a phone line I had to pay at least 3 reconnections a year. They never seem to disconnect cable even after 3-4 months.

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    Thank you Sanity for reminding me to check for the naked deals availability. Was waiting for them from last year.
    BTW, no wonder iiNet is flooded with orders, their deal is pretty good. So I signed up myself today for the copper line installation (never had one to my house, just fibre). Then will get the naked deal with free local and national calls. No need to keep other VOIP providers, iiNet will kill them or force to move to the same direction. I reckon naked line is going to be the most popular in a few years time.

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    Personally I have always liked having the old school backup phoneline... no need to worry about power going out and me loosing my adsl modem so now I can't make that phone call to the power company, or the 000 center because it was me who stuck the fork in the power point and fried the city block...

    Addmitably with the advent of mobile phones this is not a serious drama, but as I recently found out loss of ALL comms does happen... my recent example was of the Mackay floods... I discovered that all fixed and mobile phone services down including power at around 9am. An hour later fixed phones lines back up (yay I can find out where my family is). 1pm mobile operational again, midnight power back on...

    To me, telstra's service supply is generally fairly reliable (fixed lines is all I'm talking about here)

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    Also, when people signed up to iinet they signed their CSG waiver. If I need a connection organised in a timely matter without delays I wouldn't do it.

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    Last edited by astro_boy; 27-02-08 at 10:36 PM.

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    Premium Member rob916's Avatar
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    I think that even without a subscribed landline, if the wires are there I am pretty sure you can still ring 000, same as if your phone is disconnected.

    Quote Originally Posted by Gitch View Post
    Personally I have always liked having the old school backup phoneline... no need to worry about power going out and me loosing my adsl modem so now I can't make that phone call to the power company, or the 000 center because it was me who stuck the fork in the power point and fried the city block...

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