Grandfather
Layton,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, November 01, 2012
This is my comment to my son Mark who is contemplating using DIGIS but nervous after having read the "Ripoffreport." I am a 75 year old, fairly savvy internet user. My son Mark is a Captain for a major airlines, a high level systems programmer and manager, and usually counsels me regarding technology matters.
Hi Mark,
I don't blame you for being nervous. The internet is so much a part of our lives that good service is like good health and welfare. Poor service is the opposite...a descent into the hell of disease and pain.
My experience with DIGIS is precisely the opposite of the person who has complained. I don't see a date on the complaint but if you read the rebuttal you will notice that it was written in 2008. DIGIS could have matured significantly in the span from 2008 to the present.
DIGIS customer service has been remarkable. I had problems at first mostly because I was using an antiquated router...my own. The DIGIS tech coached me through a purchase and returned to help me re-configure everything. I don't have any record of paying an installation fee and I keep precise financial records of all purchase and payments in Quicken. The condo owner had DIGIS and that may be why I didn't have to pay the fee. However, when we moved they reinstalled the system on the rental home, put up a new dish and didn't charge anything for the move. In addition to that, a DIGIS area supervisor came out after installation and checked over all of the work that his team had done to ensure that it was done right.
I have NEVER been throttled back. Now granted most of my work is via email but I do download and upload very, very large files to the cloud, VOIP all day, listen to music and really "wring" the service out constantly. I made a point of asking them if the use by DIGIS of others on the system would in any way affect my bandwidth and they assured me that it would not and it has not so far.
I may just be lucky but my experience has been the very opposite of the person who complained. As we speak, "Speadtest.net" has me at 14.59/2.90 and the system has ranged around that no matter when I check it.
During the first week of service when things were a little bit "dicey," I got really cranky with them and they responded patiently and sent out a very savvy tech to solve my problems. Unless fiber optics at quantum speeds suddenly surface on the horizon where we are building our new home, DIGIS will be our service of choice.
And...was delighted to spend time chatting with you as well.
Dad
Randalssig
Pleasant Grove,#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 28, 2008
I have worked for Digis for almost 2 years and, because I feel that the service that we provide is worth-while and that we are an equitable operation, I feel the need to rebuttal the complaint that has been laid to our charge. The upfront installation cost is $140. We offer two rebates to compensate for this. A $40 rebate and a $99 rebate. Customers can send in for the $40 rebate immediately after the service is installed and have up to 30 days from the time of installation to send in for it. The second rebate is a $99 customer loyalty rebate which is sent in along with the customer's first 3 monthly statements. The window to send in for the $99 rebate is between 90 days and 120 days after installation. There is no contract whatsoever, at anytime. To speak to the complaint that we do not provide unlimited internet access but that we throttle customers who exceed a set usage amount, this is partially true. The internet access is unlimited. In order to ensure that all of our customers receive reasonable bandwidth speeds, if one customer hits the designated usage amount, their internet is not shut off but rather is throttled. Regarding the argument that 1 gig = 1-2 YouTube videos, please consider the following: By 2007, the median video was 192.6 seconds in duration (Gill et al. 2007). The median bit rate of web videos grew from 200Kbps in 2005 to 328Kbps on YouTube in 2007. So by late 2007, the median video weighed in at over 63MB in file size. On YouTube, the average video size is 10MB, with over 65,000 new videos added every day. http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/average-web-page/ Based on the above report, even if an individual were watching videos with twice the bit rate of a typical YouTube video, at 20MB, with this math, in order to hit the 1 gig mark they would have to watch 50 YouTube videos or in other words 2 hours and 40 minutes of straight video streaming. To the customer's argument: Virtually any internet user except for grandma who just uses her computer to send emails can hit that cap. This claim is true, anyone can hit the cap. However, the average user on our service uses between 8 -15 gigs/month. I am familiar with this customer's account and had the opportunity to speak with him on a few occasions. He informed me that he gave a check to the technician that installed his service and that he had record of our cashing said check. Upon reviewing his account, we did not have record of his installation payment and I asked that he provide us a bank statement reflecting that the check had been cashed, at which point we would be happy to rectify his account. In our first conversation the customer told me that he would be happy to comply. However, in subsequent conversations I was told that he had already faxed it to us and then finally that the customer's bank could not or would not provide the documentation needed. After several attempts to identify and correct inaccuracies in our billing system without any resolution we were forced to turn off the customer's account. It is unfortunate to hear that this individual did not have a positive experience with our company and we continue to find areas in which we can improve. However, I feel that we were more than fair in trying to work with this customer to find an acceptable resolution.