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I have just gotten up and running with a new VBox and DSL account. It was somewhat of an adventure getting there but so far I am happy with the end result. Mostly I like that VMedia is concentrating on developing innovative new technology whereas the the big guys are concentrating on developing innovative new pricing plans. I am willing to live with some bumps along the way to get that new technology and the much needed competition.
So my adventures...
1. Wrong VBox manual: I connected up my VBox and fired it up. The remote control would power up the VBox but do nothing else. I contacted Customer Support and they told me to insert the USB Wireless Adapter into the VBox. The Get Started manual makes no mention of a USB Wireless Adapter (I thought VMedia out of the goodness of their hearts had sent me a memory stick). CS informed me that the first 2000 VBoxes had been shipped with the wrong manual. The manual actually seems to be for the keyboard remote (as opposed to the older non-keyboard remote), it just fails to make any mention of the USB adapter. Even after inserting the USB adapter it did not work until I moved it to another USB port (don`t know why).
2. Account number confusion: My VMedia account number is a number like 000000000000. The ppp modem user name contains this same account number but it has an 1 appended to it 0000000000001@dev.vianetdsl.com. I don't know if this 1 was intentional but it did cause some confusion.
3. DSL Modem set up: I switched from another ISP and had to pay my $100 blood money to Bell. The Bell tech called up and said that my DSL line was synced up and working fine so he would not come over. He would not help with the modem (a Smart\RG) set up because I was not a Bell customer. He would not even give me his phone number. I had earlier tried to set up a new modem profile without luck. Now I just changed the account number and password on the existing profile and fortunately everything worked fine. I hope that when VMedia supplies the modem that they pre-configure it because it is not easy. Switching from another ISP and having to change the modem configuration is a challenge.
4. Not available in this area: Initially I got this error. It may have been because I was still running with my old ISP or maybe VMedia customer service changed something at their end.
So all and all it was about a day and a half of exchanging emails (>25) with Customer Support. It was not for the faint hearted. Customer service was helpful though sometimes the response times were a bit longer.
So my adventures...
1. Wrong VBox manual: I connected up my VBox and fired it up. The remote control would power up the VBox but do nothing else. I contacted Customer Support and they told me to insert the USB Wireless Adapter into the VBox. The Get Started manual makes no mention of a USB Wireless Adapter (I thought VMedia out of the goodness of their hearts had sent me a memory stick). CS informed me that the first 2000 VBoxes had been shipped with the wrong manual. The manual actually seems to be for the keyboard remote (as opposed to the older non-keyboard remote), it just fails to make any mention of the USB adapter. Even after inserting the USB adapter it did not work until I moved it to another USB port (don`t know why).
2. Account number confusion: My VMedia account number is a number like 000000000000. The ppp modem user name contains this same account number but it has an 1 appended to it 0000000000001@dev.vianetdsl.com. I don't know if this 1 was intentional but it did cause some confusion.
3. DSL Modem set up: I switched from another ISP and had to pay my $100 blood money to Bell. The Bell tech called up and said that my DSL line was synced up and working fine so he would not come over. He would not help with the modem (a Smart\RG) set up because I was not a Bell customer. He would not even give me his phone number. I had earlier tried to set up a new modem profile without luck. Now I just changed the account number and password on the existing profile and fortunately everything worked fine. I hope that when VMedia supplies the modem that they pre-configure it because it is not easy. Switching from another ISP and having to change the modem configuration is a challenge.
4. Not available in this area: Initially I got this error. It may have been because I was still running with my old ISP or maybe VMedia customer service changed something at their end.
So all and all it was about a day and a half of exchanging emails (>25) with Customer Support. It was not for the faint hearted. Customer service was helpful though sometimes the response times were a bit longer.