Brightspeed — ominous signs

Submitted by feralfantastic t3_xwtw9o in springfieldMO

Brightspeed is replacing Quantum Fiber. This looks like a bait and switch. Quantum Fiber had a functional website… Brightspeed’s website cannot take updated payment information, they conceal a 24hr customer support line outside the support section of their website, and the 24hr support line is actually limited to normal business hours.

I assume they’re going to institute data caps soon, despite Quantum Fiber’s statements to the contrary. This whole thing feels greasy.

It looks like fiber internet has taken a significant step down. Does anyone have any negative experiences of their own to report?

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mikottta t1_ir8jirk wrote

had the same issue, bright speed said give it 24 to 48 hours as they are still switching everything.

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[deleted] t1_ir8hies wrote

What do you mean when you say "updated payment information"?

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feralfantastic OP t1_ir8tkwa wrote

They could not successfully charge my credit card for some reason. When I tried to change it (using first Safari, then Firefox) the website crapped out at the part where it confirms your billing information has been entered, and it still lists a one-month deficit despite all this being done by following a button purporting to give me the ability to pay outstanding fees.

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-lurkbeforeyouleap- t1_ir8jqd7 wrote

Found the Mediacom employee. j/k - I hope.

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feralfantastic OP t1_ir8us3a wrote

Mediacom is letting it’s infrastructure rot while it waits for fiber access. Fuck them. I’ve lived under Comcast (Illinois), Verizon (DC), and Spectrum (St. Louis), and each had their own special brand of customer nightmarishness. Mediacom’s horror was its recent inclination to not repair essential infrastructure, its lack of affordable gigabit, and its skunkshit data caps. I’d prefer to not have to deal with any of those three ever again, but if the new guy can’t get billing live before it allows people to start making accounts, that smells like burning plastic to me.

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Mechanicallvlan t1_ir8of7c wrote

Why do you assume they'll be instituting data caps soon?

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feralfantastic OP t1_ir8tcym wrote

Well, in part because I can’t find that information anywhere on their website, and their crappy support page doesn’t pull up anything specific to data cap policy when you ask about it.

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Ashamed_Importance87 t1_irco4rt wrote

When I went to update my password for Brightspeed, they added $40 voice option on top of my $65 monthly bill. Customer service said it was an error and they were having problems with the transfer. Beware

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iced-macchiato t1_ircyrzj wrote

I’ve been wary as well. They said everything is going to stay the same, but I’m doubting that. I’m going to keep a close eye on everything. However, I don’t have any other option besides going back to expensive Mediacom or the hit and miss ATT service.

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deborah_jai t1_ird3vlt wrote

Meh, I’m sticking with UVerse. The entire fiber rollout citywide has been a shitshow.

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Unicorn_sun t1_irdax1v wrote

I live down the Branson way and can only get CenturyLink which Brightspeed took over. That was 3 days ago and I’ve spent the better parts of 2 of those days without internet. I’ve done the tech chat a couple of times; with them saying it was my fault it didn’t work. First trying to sell me wire protection and then more data. I told them I had no trouble with CL. The chat person left without helping me and so I do it again and get a phone number. I get part way through a call and get hung up on. I will try again tomorrow but it seems pretty scammy and I’m not sure what I’ll do if they refuse to fix my problem because I have no other options.

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bjmccotter7192 t1_irs24fp wrote

Centurylink customer for over a year and had sync gig internet up until Brightspeed took over and now I can't get over 50 mbps download speed coming directly from the fiber line.
Spent about 2 hours on customer support with no help and still waiting to hear why my download speeds are SIGNIFICANTLY lower than I should be receiving.

Still searching threads for a fix for this but I am tired of slow loading speeds and would love any type of fix.

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feralfantastic OP t1_irs9rx3 wrote

To be clear are you getting 50Mbps or 50 MBps? Because 50MBps is roughly what I would expect of 1Gbps.

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bjmccotter7192 t1_irsczqx wrote

50 Mbps at its highest where before brightspeed I was receiving about ~800Mbps. But my upload speed has not been effected at all still receiving 800+ after a speed test I just ran.

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MyKungFuIsBest_2020 t1_irb7vg0 wrote

So quantum fiber is no more?

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feralfantastic OP t1_irb8o28 wrote

They’re handing off operations to Brightspeed in this area. It really seems to be part of a two-stage deal where CenturyLink builds fiber as Quantum and then gives it over to Brightspeed. It isn’t yet clear if this is all part of the plan and that Brightspeed will be overseeing the network under LLU, or if something else is going on. Parts of the Brightspeed page suggest it is a wholesaler of internet access, but the website is a fucking mess and I can’t find it when I go looking for it.

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demonspork t1_irbjz5s wrote

There are more layers than that. CU/Springnet actually built out the fiber and is leasing frequency ranges to Quantum/CenturyLink/Lumen because Springnet doesn't want to handle the consumer things like customer service and deploying home routers. Now Lumen is offloading many of their last mile Internet service markets to Brightspeed.

Down the road this same fiber should support multiple ISPs just using different bands on the existing fiber, but word on the block is that the initial quantum contract was exclusive for a time, not sure how long.

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feralfantastic OP t1_irg0ail wrote

I also believe this is happening due to a prohibition in the Missouri Constitution against community-owned broadband initiatives, though I certainly understand the desire to not have a to support every device on the market that could hypothetically receive traffic.

Kind of a drag they went with the router Quantum supplied. It isn’t very good. The problems may be entirely down to software. I used VLAN 201 tag and moved it over to my PFsense whitebox.

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417SKCFAN t1_irbotoq wrote

They can’t even process my install currently, frustrating.

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jayfcooley t1_ire5jfz wrote

We have had them since switchover Sunday from CL DSL. Service went down immediately and no help on any of their channels. Tech visit no show yesterday. They lie and tell you he’ll contact you and push until after phone lines close. Horrible and worse than CL

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This looks like it might be a post about area ISPs because it contains the word Quantum. If so be sure to read past posts on the subject. They all basically say this: In Springfield your options are Mediacom, Att, and now Quantum Fiber (in limited areas).

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