Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Oceanic's New Modem


We recently got this flyer from Oceanic. It said that for no additional charge we could get an ungraded modem which would provide us with up to six times faster Internet speed. 

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We could go from a meager Standard 15/1 Mbps to an Extreme 50/5 Mbps. I actually have no clue what that means.
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But "no additional charge" and "faster" sounded good to me, so I went to oceanic.com/better modem and requested a new modem. The next day we got an email. It said that the modem would be arriving shortly. It mentioned an "Easy Connect Kit". 
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A few days later on 5/14/2015, the Easy Connect Kit arrived.  According to the email I needed to connect the modem by 11:30 p.m. so I got right to it.
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But wait. What is this?
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And then what dis mean?  Whaaa?  I ended up just looking at how the old modem was connected and replaced the old stuff with the matching new stuff.
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And the 4:00 a.m. activation time mentioned in the email?  Forget it . . . unless you can wait until 4:00 a.m. for internet connection. Instead, I called Oceanic and asked them to activate the new modem right away.  

Unfortunately, it took me awhile to actually get to speak to a live person. And the live person I got was so hard to understand. Her name started with a D and our conversation kinda went like this:

Me: Hi. I just installed my new modem and I need to have it activated.
D: something something something ACTIVATION something something?
Me: Yes?
D: something something something NAME something something
Me: Jalna?
D: something something something MODEM something something?
Me: Yes?
D: something something something ANYTHING ELSE something something?
Me:  Am I connected now?
D: something something something YES something something
Me: So, do I have the fast-speed connection now?
D: something something something ANYTHING ELSE something something?
Me: No?
D: something something something THANK YOU something something
Me: Okay?
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I don't know if my internet speed is six times faster, but it is definitely faster. It's great! I hope it doesn't ever break though, 'cause heaven forbid I gotta call them back again. 

15 comments:

1DecentApple said...

Thanks for posting this! It reminded me that we too got this mailer. After trying to initiate this process unsuccesfully, I used their Chat Live feature because I didn't want to have the same phone experience you did. Love that Chat Live support! Found out that since we recently swapped out our Oceanic modem, the one we have now is compatible with this speed upgrade and I just have to restart the modem for it to take effect. I really dislike having to call any company's customer service because I always have to spell out my name and my Hawaiian street and city name so often use the live chat support feature whenever available. But of course, you need internet service activated in order to use that so in your case, you really didn't have that choice and had to listen to the "Peanuts" adult speak. Really enjoyed your Japan trip posts. To say your photos were spectacular is an understatement. Glad you're back from your hiatus!

Anonymous said...

J: Hilarious with a capitol H. OMG you captured nearly every phone conversation I have with customer service. I, not a racist, cannot understand most accents. Sometimes, including my mom's. And most customer service centers are all outsourced to some $2.00 per hour place where $2 is like $50 per hour in their country. Oh heck, I sometimes can't understand American accents and British ones too. But talk to me in pidgin and I get 'em. Imagine the "fun" I had as HR in a hotel where over 50% of the emp. were Filipino. Yup, I was having the "blah blah blah Yes, Mum blah blah" convo nearly every day. And imagine trying to explain medical and insurance benefits. You should've given the directions over to your son or better yet if you have a 13 year old neighbor's son. They get it more than we do. DISH tried to pull that sheet on me and I said I am technology challenged, you WILL send a repair person to setup the new receiver. I WILL NOT do it myself. and they did. :D -N

Honolulu Aunty said...

LOL, something something something that was funny!

I SO need help with my Oceanic modem thingee too. I am paying rent for the modem that I have right now and I think I upgraded to faster downloads and uploads for free too, but I don't really notice a difference. In fact, today my connection was so slow, I am using the hotspot on my iPhone for internet use right now.

At the Apple Store, they speak real English but their techno jargon sounds like Greek to me, and I feel very dumb because what sounds simple to them over there becomes very difficult once I get home and try the fix.

Congrats on figuring out your modem and crossing the communication barrier!

Kay said...

Yae! Good for you! I could understand all the Hawaiiantel people just fine. The problem was with what they said and what they delivered at first. Thank goodness they resolved it so I could be happy again, but you have to be persistent. However, if they upset me again in 2 years, I might move over to Oceanic. You can never tell.

Nippon Nin said...

Ha ha ha ha ha! Very funny Jalna!

Mark Shelby said...

In the good old days of the 1960's and 1970's I could do about anything electronic. Then by the late 1990's I had to ask my young son how to do anything electronic. Now that my son is grown and out of da house, I jus panic! ; )

jalna said...

Thank you, Al. Good to be back! I wondered about Chat Live. Now I won't hesitate if I ever need to use that service.

Way to go with your DISH setup, N. That's how!! Funny about you not being able to understand even your mom sometimes! HAHAHA!!

Me too, Aunty, I feel so dumb when I'm at the Apple Store needing help. For your modem, maybe you should try Chat Live. 1DecentApple said that she loves that feature.

Kay, I read your post about your problem with HawaiianTel. I'm so glad that you were persistent and didn't let them get away with giving you incorrect info just so that they could get your business.

Akemi, you shoulda seen my face while I was talking to the girl.

Mark, for real, things were so much simpler in the olden days.

Les said...

hahahahahaha!!! sooooo funny!! Crap. I wish they had this a few months ago. I recently bought my own modem so I didn't have to pay the modem fee every month. I forget how fast my modem is though...and sad to say I think i've been working at my job too long cause i understood everything that was needed to be done. AACCKKK! scary!

jalna said...

That's cause you one real IT person, Les.

Kalin's Mommy said...

I just finished the online request...wish me luck!

jalna said...

Crossing my fingers, Mich!

Erick said...

I want one, but I don't want to speak to those Oceanic people. I takes forever to get through. I actually bought my own from Amazon and they reduced my bill by $7. Modem was around $80 so it paid for itself in no time. But faster is good, I want one!

jalna said...

Erick, faster is good . . . maybe even worth talking to those people.

Anonymous said...

I installed the new modem BUT IT ISN'T ANY FASTER. WHAT A JOKE!

jalna said...

I agree, Anon . . . not the blazing speed I wanted.