[puppymango]

Besides food, sleep and sex, TV & Internet are the 4th $ 5th most important things in our lives.

We understand we need know just like addicts; but so do the Internet Service Providers. This is why we're often subjected to unfair treatment and poor-qualitied customer services.

ISPs are taking customers for granted!

Check out what happened to me this weekend.

I had waited for 10 hours for the technician to complete the installation. At the end, it was still not finished.

The first tech came at 4:00 pm and installed the internet; however, the TV decoder was broken and he had brought along any spare one. He, then, decided to end the installation progress and promised to re-schedule another appointment.

I phoned the salesperson who I'd signed the contract with. He promised to get another technician over later the same night. THE TECHICIAN ARRIVED AT 0:30. 3 hours later than scheduled time.

Upon his arriving, he informed me that he wasnt allowed to install the TV service because of some procedual complication of I-Cable. (since the previous tech person was from a different company blahblahblah)

So 10 hours had passed and I was back to square one. Nothing further was accomplished. (Accompied by the fact that I was hung up by the staff a couple times. Cheers!)

Today,I called the CS dept to complain. They told me that nothing could be done until the whole installation was completed. Very general answer but not what I wanted to hear. Why cant they try to fix the problem right after it occured? Why do I have to wait for another 2,3,4, days and hopeful that they won't screw up again? Or are they hoping that I will suffer from amnesia suddenly?

This whole ordeal is a waste of time and just plain stupid.
I urge all the expats to be cautious when you choose any of your service providers.

[JaredHK]

Sorry but Icable truly suks

I have had them for years and since 03 the reception in my building has turned to crap. There are people running illegal lines out of their boxes and connecting illegal decoders. They are aware of it and so are the local police but they refuse to take any action. I recently switched to Now and the service and reception are perfect.

BTW I had a lot of problems with FTP while on Icable as they block out loads of US based sites.

[PDLM]

CableTV/i-cable are very generally perceived as offering a crap service. The only possible reason for using them now is that, for the time being, they have the exclusive HK rights to the English Premier League. PCCW/Now is an altogether better service.

[puppymango]

i am in it for AXN only

[Baron]

You can download premier league games, so there's really no point being with i-cable.

[cerberus]

thanks for the heads up. although giving more money to the monopoly isn't too appetizing an option, seems i-cable can't get it right. and them blocking sites? isn't that like illegal?

[discobay]

My subscription with NOW is up soon and I was considering going back to Cable. After seeing this thread I will reconsider thanks. Main reason for going back is the quality of the signal that NOW delivers. It breaks up like a VCD when there is any amount of movement in the picture. Cable tv is perfect in that regard.

[puppymango]

spread the words guys!

News update:

I have recieved 3 more calls from i-cable tonight attempting to re-schedule the installation. 3 separate calls from 3 different departments and they had absoluately no idea what the other person had previously told me. so i asked, "why do you guys need a computerized system if you aint gonna read or even input any information?" They apologized and hung up. Nice of them!

so let's see if anyone is really gonna show up at my door tomorrow.

Reason I am still going through with this crap is because i WANT them to compensate my loss. I mean 200 bucks a month is considered just chumpchange for certain people. but they had wasted so much of my time and energy. I was put in touch with more than 10 staff and it just got more and more diappointing each time.

Wish me luck. Will keep you guys posted. Cheers!

[PDLM]

discobay - that is a faulty line - you simply need to report it to NOW and they will fix it! Getting the amount of data you need for a TV signal down a phone line is pretty nifty technology, but it requires some fine tuning sometimes.

[Raised_Eyebrow]

I did consider iCable... but then I decided that it may be one of those things that you get what you pay for... so I decided on PCCW for $180HK a month which is unlimited broadband internet + NOW TV 15 channels free and one premium channel (I chose Star World). They came one hour before the installation time, and did everything in 30 minutes and left. It's perfect... the service is awesome, fast, and efficient. Don't order on the internet... they charge $196 on the internet... + $36 for NOW broadband... but if you go on the street or go to PCCW just tell them that you want the $180 3M Plan... and they should give you the application right away + one premium channel. Good Luck.