Valley Internet (Bethel: live in, best, money) - Alaska (AK) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Nephler · 02-12-2010, 07:58 PM

They told me they were in the process of converting/merging the two system about 1 1/2 years ago.
It really is not that big of a deal to do this, should have only taken a bout one month at the most, in reality, closer to a week. Any crew worth their pay should be able to complete this in said time.

gobrien · 02-12-2010, 08:09 PM

I think it has to do with the billing system for the phones and internet. As many people have said, there have been problems in their bills. They don't want to put cable on it until the software company or whatever they are can work out the issues. There are so many people who will be happy to get this done. But in the meantime, I recommend people try to pay their bill on the ebill system. The payment will hit the correct account, and you don't have to fiddle with two invoices once you set it up.

richelles · 02-12-2010, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nephler

Why in the hell can't they send out one (1) bill for the service we get, phone, internet and TV, instead of two (2) separate bills, phone and TV on one and another for internet.

We found the cell phone service to be so bad it wasn't anything we could use. We had dropped calls everytime we used the cell phone. Finally we went to the service desk where we had started and told them about the problem. They said we could switch from cell to a land line. They set it up so we would drop one and start the other at their convience which they did. We gave them the cell phone since we didn't want it. That was a month ago and we got billed for both phones this month. All their mistakes are in their favor!! Now they say we'll take out the full amount that was billed and give you a credit on the next bill. That is laughable---They make the mistake and then want me to pay them for their mistake. They get money they shouldn't have and hopefully they wont mistakenly forget the credit.

gobrien · 02-12-2010, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richelles

We found the cell phone service to be so bad it wasn't anything we could use. We had dropped calls everytime we used the cell phone. Finally we went to the service desk where we had started and told them about the problem. They said we could switch from cell to a land line. They set it up so we would drop one and start the other at their convience which they did. We gave them the cell phone since we didn't want it. That was a month ago and we got billed for both phones this month. All their mistakes are in their favor!! Now they say we'll take out the full amount that was billed and give you a credit on the next bill. That is laughable---They make the mistake and then want me to pay them for their mistake. They get money they shouldn't have and hopefully they wont mistakenly forget the credit.

I think you should talk to the manager, these things are handled differently most of the time. I know it's very frustrating and maddening. I have their cell phone plan and have never had a dropped call except once calling a friend near Fairbanks on the AT&T network.

Captain99 · 03-27-2010, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nephler

They told me they were in the process of converting/merging the two system about 1 1/2 years ago.
It really is not that big of a deal to do this, should have only taken a bout one month at the most, in reality, closer to a week. Any crew worth their pay should be able to complete this in said time.

Oh no... You have no idea what you are talking about. There are very legitimate reasons for this. I used to work for a billing software company and dealt with a Cable company similar to GCI in the lower 48 doing the same transition. I know from knowing someone that works for GCI that the billing software they use is the same for cable and internet/phone that the lower 48 company used. Well there really aren't any other options so it's not a surprise. Anyway... That lower 48 cable company spend 3 years and 28 million dollars getting those two bills consolidated into 1 bill.

GCI barely eeks out a profit as it is, so this is a pretty massive move for them and I'm sure there are consultants and software developers from the lower 48 up here working for GCI to get this done. I can GUARANTEE you GCI wouldn't have anyone on staff capable of doing this on their own it is far far to complex.

Unkfam · 03-27-2010, 09:09 AM

Gobrien do you work for GCI, it seems like you are always defending them. My wife and I are moving down south to an area without GCI and I spoke with their customer service dept. and they told me that since we signed a 2 year contract that we have to pay a $20/month penalty per line or downgrade our service as low as we can for the remaining contract. When we moved to the bush AT&T was gracious enough to cancel our contract as we didn't have their service out here. The GCI internet out here is horrible also. They didn't think they would have as many people sign up for internet service out here so they installed the wrong equipment out here 6 years ago. About 2 years after installation they double the amount of customers they had anticipated and instead of doing a hardware upgrade to keep people happy, they instead let it be until a big portion of the population (myself included) got so frustrated that we switched to Hughes Net.

UAFBoundYankee · 03-27-2010, 09:33 AM

I guess I'll be foregoing a cell phone and such to avoid any complications. I currently don't have one now so you can't miss what you don't have, right?

gobrien · 03-27-2010, 02:22 PM

If you get on the Digitel plan it is month to month no contract so you aren't roped into a commitment, I have never had a bit of trouble with that, or the coverage in Fairbanks or Anchorage. I don't really care for the whole concept of contracts. Maybe it is to offset the cost of the free phone but still seems heavy-handed and hopefully the trend will go away some day.

warptman · 03-27-2010, 02:31 PM

GCI internet here in Bethel sucks, too along with the constant dropped calls with the cell service...

Just checked.....download speed 520 kbps and a poor upload of 180 Kbps with one test site.

Second test site...download 0.66 Mbps and an upload of 0.18 Mbps.

This is with their "fast Gold internet."

haha right...fast my @ss!

UAFBoundYankee · 03-27-2010, 02:38 PM

rofl @ Warpt...

Gobrien, thanks for the clarification about Digitel being no contract. I'm definitely not trying to get caught up with a contract, unless it's one of the 'major' wireless providers. I also was thinking of a pay-as-you-go phone.