The Transition of iProvo Customers: A Rocky Road Ahead?

An anonymous tipster raised a lot of good points concerning the transfer of customers from Mstar to Broadweave. There's less than three weeks left until the planned cutover, yet customers haven't been getting written notice of such. Despite intense media coverage and multiple public hearings, many customers could be left without any idea as to how to obtain technical support or change services. It's also concerning when you consider that the FCC requires at least 30 days written notice when changing channel lineups or pricing, the former of which is highly likely and the latter of which is already confirmed.

Internet customers are likely to be the most widely affected. Mstar customers with static IP addresses are certain to see a change as I'm sure that Mstar did not also sell their valuable assignments from ARIN. Broadweave will also need at least 40 class C assignments from ARIN to provide enough IP addresses just for existing customers, yet they currently have only 12 and is probably using most of them in Traverse Mountain. Veracity has around 16, though a large number of those are likely already soaked up by customers on UTOPIA, Off-Campus Communications and their business customers over Qwest's network. Nuvont doesn't even have a whole class C to bring to the table.

All in all, they're falling VERY short of the necessary IPs to run the network. The only way they'll have enough is if iProvo is also selling the rights on their IP assignments, a chunk of over 70 class C blocks. There's no documentation on the Provo City website to show one way or the other if that asset is part of the deal, but it would be foolish for the city to include it in this environment of tightening IPv4 assignments without a nice premium. Then again, I don't think they've shown that negotiating is their specialty.

If you're a current iProvo customer who will be transitioning to Broadweave, I'd encourage you to leave your experiences in the comments section. 

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107 Responses to The Transition of iProvo Customers: A Rocky Road Ahead?

  1. iLikediProvo says:

    I’m a current iProvo customer. I haven’t received any information about the transition. During the open house, the BroadWeave tech guy with a goatee (John?) said that everyone will get one static IP, and additional IPs will be available for a fee. I hope he’s right, or it’s back to DSL for me.

    A door-to-door Comcast guy came by a couple of days ago, spreading FUD about iProvo, “You know iProvo has been sold, right?” In an effort to take advantage of the transition, Comcast is offering triple play for $66/month for 9 months, and $100/month after that. I told him that Comcast doesn’t offer static IPs, so I wasn’t interested. “What’s a static IP,” he replied.

  2. Capt. Video says:

    If you call the Broadweave number Mstar is giving out to people that want to make changes to their phone account (which is now frozen as the numbers port from Mstar to Broadweave) you get a message that says, “This is Leon, Leave a message.”

    I’m thinking the Broadweave call center (if such a thing exists) may not be ready for calls yet? Surely NuVont and Veractiy both have call centers that have been taking iProvo calls and would be well qualified to take Mstar iProvo calls?

  3. iLikediProvo says:

    The current Nuvont call center doesn’t really work. For example, it’s not possible for a Nuvont customer to call any of the phone numbers listed for Nuvont from a Nuvont voip phone. That’s right, you can call Nuvont from another phone, but you can’t call Nuvont from home if you have Nuvont phone service. You just get silence followed by a fast-busy. I’ve verified this with multiple Nuvont customers. Nuvont has been working to resolve this problem for several months now. Maybe this is their way of keeping the phone support queue at a manageable level.

  4. Capt. Video says:

    lol…I find that totally unbelievable!

    I’ve heard of companies giving outside sales calls priority over service calls but never heard of one than just did not take internal service calls.

    And they have not been able to correct this known problem for MONTHS? What would that say about NuVont’s skill set as a phone company?

    I guess it’s really a good thing Broadweave stepped in. I’m sure Broadweave will fix that.

  5. Jesse says:

    Regarding call centers, the Traverse Mountain Forum indicates that there’s a single tech covering the entire development. (See here.

    I doubt that Broadweave is bringing a lot of support staff to the table and Veracity/Nuvont isn’t equipped for the larger load either. It will be interesting to see if they can pick up some of the Mstar employees, though given the departure of at least 4 of the iProvo NOC employees, that may or may not be the case.

  6. Wishtobe Anonymous says:

    Seeing as Broadweave is hiring CSRep’s at around 10 an hour I don’t see a lot of Mstar Employees switching over to broadweave since every single one of them would be taking a pay cut… I know of only one case where someone switched over there and that was because he got laid off. I don’t know exactly how broadweave is going to support all the iprovo customers(especially all of the apartment complexs and their bridging loop problems, hopefully broadweave will have the money to fix that….) Best Wishes broadweave…

  7. Jesse says:

    Ten bucks an hour doesn’t hire good CSRs. Even crappy call centers start out at $12 or higher and most tech call centers are $14+. This certainly gives us all a red flag as to what the customer service is going to be like in the future.

  8. Capt. Video says:

    I just received a direct mail piece from Comcast saying,

    “With the upcoming change from iProvo to Broadweave it’s time to take another look at Comcast”

    Adding, “Are you ready to have one company to stay with that’s been around for decades?”

    The offer is Digital Cable with 1000’s of “On Demand” offerings of which over 90% are free. A free HD-DVR (normally $13.95), Downloads up to 16Mb/sec. with faster speeds coming next year plus home phone with unlimited local/long distance (US) for only $69.97 a month for 6 months.

    Also mentions LDS General Conference and other BYU programs on VOD, the most high school sports, more local sports than anyone.

    Interestingly it came in an unmarked plain white envelope to current resident.

    Small print on the back says…After 6 months it goes to $109 per month for months 7-12, the to regular price ($147.45 + $13.95 for HD-DVR).

  9. Jesse says:

    There may be a lot of takers on that offer just to see how the transition plays out. It’s also well known that if you call up to cancel services with Comcast, they’ll give you a promo rate without a thought. I’ve been able to do that several times to get the price of my basic digital cable dropped down to $33/mo for 6 months.

  10. Capt. Video says:

    lol…I guess that means the first direct notice I have received about the iProvo/Broadweave sale came from Comcast!!!

    I expect a call from Mstar later today or tomorrow. I heard they have started automated calls to their customers today.

    I’ll let you know when I receive something from Broadweave which should include the new packages and pricing?

  11. kg says:

    We also received the “white envelope” from Comcast and had heard nothing from either Broadweave or Mstar UNTIL AFTER I sent emails to them inquiring about the change. I did get replies.

    From Mstar:

    Thank you for contacting Mstar’s customer support team. We have enjoyed being your service provider and will continue to provide customer and technical support on your account until June 30. Broadweave will be assuming control of the network and your account at that time. It is projected that we will be making a system wide announcement regarding the transition once all of the final details have been confirmed, which we expect will be soon. Broadweave is expected to contact you as well to help ease the transition and make you aware of their offerings on the network. Should you require any additional information regarding NEW services we would ask that you contact Broadweave at 801-769-8830. For any issues regarding your current services we would ask that you continue to contact us as your current service provider.

    And from Broadweave:

    Broadweave is in the middle of acquiring the iProvo fiber optic network from the city of Provo and all the customers from the service providers on the network. The customers that are currently on the network will experience a seamless transition from the current provider, whether it be Nuvont or MStar, on around July 1st. Customers shouldn’t even be able to know that their service provider has changed from one day to the next. As you can imagine, we will be pounded with phone calls and inquiries over the next few weeks as we approach July, but please feel free to contact us with any customer support or service issues until then. We look forward to serving you.

    I guess we just wait and see what happens.

  12. Capt. Video says:

    I just received a nice, warm, friendly call (recorded phone message) from Broadwave.

    It was well done.

    Told me they were a well funded, local Utah company and gave some idea of what was coming as far as info. Something dropped in the mail on June 28th?
    They will honor my current price and package for now, etc.

    And so it finally begins? (and begins well?)

  13. Jarrod says:

    As I’ve said before, this kind of transition is difficult. There are a lot of moving parts. Right now is a really weird time because the acquisition of everything isn’t closed until the month is over, but everyone’s expecting this immediate change. We’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks.

    Good move on Comcast’s part. Nothing like taking advantage of uncertainty surrounding your competitor.

  14. Capt. Video says:

    http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/270856/18/

    Story on a problem some 100-200 customers had as part of the phone transition to Broadweave.

    My phone was out, but when I called Mstar they restarted my World Wide Packets phone post on the portal and service was immediately restored. I wonder if the troubled customers have external ATA’a (analog telephone adapters) that are not using the WWP portal?

    Broadweave could need some info on the ATA to restore service?

  15. kg says:

    Our phones have been out all afternoon. Will contact Mstar.

  16. kg says:

    Called Mstar and they said it was Broadweave’s deal and had no idea when we’d have phone service again. Lovely!

  17. Jesse says:

    Sounds like the bumpy ride is already here. I wonder how many of those 200 customers without service are going to take a long, hard look at that Comcast flyer?

  18. Capt. Video says:

    Do you have an external ATA or is your phone connected directly to the World Wide Packets portal?

    Have you tried calling Broadweave at 691-5800?

  19. kg says:

    I have no idea whether we have ATA or the World Wide Packets portal. We did call Broadweave and got a busy signal at the above number and a machine at the other number we called.

  20. Mr Anon says:

    A Rocky Road indeed!

    http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/270856/18/

    Congrats Broadweave & MStar. Well done!

  21. kg says:

    Terrific! I’m so impressed. At least I know what’s going on. Would have been nice IF we’d been given any notice by either company. We got no email from any of them. Thanks a lot, Mayor Billings, Mstar and Broadweave.

  22. Capt. Video says:

    http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/270870/18/

    The latest on the phone problem from the Daily Herald!

  23. kg says:

    #17 Jesse

    Comcast’s customer (non)service was so maddening, I finally switched and will never go back to them. They are so big they don’t care.

    That said, I’m not going to stay with Broadweave if I get the same run-around from them. They’re not off to a great start with me.

    This morning we have a dial tone and are able to call out, but no one can call in. Broadweave sent me an email saying they’re working on it.

  24. Mr Anon says:

    Well I guess it ISNT Broadweave’s fault after all….. except for MStar made it their problem now. MStar not paying NGT (MStars VOIP provider), so NGT finally pulled the plug on them. Congrats MStar, “Simply the Bestest”, LOL!

  25. Anonymous says:

    Broadweave has been very responsive and helpful with my phone transfer.

    Mstar was placed in a difficult position by iProvo/Broadweave. Basically being kicked off the network by iProvo and then forced to make a “sale” (with a gun to their head after being told they were kicked off the network??) to Broadweave?

    I would not be shocked to see them wind down with a few loose ends in Provo. I had their service for a few years and was very pleased with it.

    I would not be surprised to hear that NGT picked that date to shut off (before the announced transfer) and tried to twist arms at both Mstar and Broadweave to get paid or a deal with Broadweave signed by holding the early disconnect over both their heads. I have seen companies do that in the past.

  26. Mr Anon says:

    I would be willing to bet good money that MStar owes NGT a substantial amount of money, for both iProvo and UTOPIA customers. I would also be willing to bet good money that MStar owes a substantial amount of money to iProvo, and UTOPIA.

    With that said, I think these things happened to MStar (and subsequently MStar’s customers) because MStar brought it on themselves (and their paying customers!) by MStar not paying their bills. If you dont pay your bills and owe a company thousands (or 100s of thousands) of dollars…. you don’t have much leverage to use when deals like this go down.

  27. kg says:

    Broadweave has been very helpful to us today and is working to restore complete phone service. We’re able to call out and get some phone calls in. They say it should be solved by Mon.

  28. Capt. Video says:

    I called Broadweave and got right thru (answered on the 2nd or 3rd ring).

    Very Good!!!

    I’m impressed….

    The true test comes starting tomorrow when all calls should go to them. The system won’t be pressed until there is a network problem that generates a number of calls at once.

    Based upon their response to calls and email I’ve sent so far…they are doing great!

  29. Capt. Video says:

    Looks like a little delay in closing the deal might be in the news?

    http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/271917/17/

    http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700239528,00.html

  30. Former Mstar Customer? says:

    Who’s Your Service Provider?

    If you call Mstar a recorded message tells you Broadweave has acquired the customers and gives the Broadweave customer service number.

    But if you do a route trace or IP check, you will see you are still on the Mstar data network and you still have the Mstar channel line up and logo on your TV and are still receiving the Mstar video.

    It appears only the phones have transferred to Broadweave so far?

  31. Former Mstar Customer says:

    Jemery reported his internet speeds dropped from 40Mb/sec. to 12MB/sec. This could be a move to Broadweave or a slight closing of the Mstar pipe as we are no longer Mstar customers (but still using Mstar bandwidth)?

    I hear a number of issues may come to a head next week as Broadweave and Mstar work out the details of the customers staying on Mstar’s data and video network until Broadweave is ready to transfer them.

    Lord help Broadweave if Mstar makes them transfer now. It’s likely Broadweave does not have the bandwidth to support 10,000 high speed data customers yet, but they likely could buy the needed bandwidth from their former partner Veracity. For video customers, when I go on line and compare channel line-ups, up to 20 channels could be dropped, channels would be in different packages (a channel that Mstar had in the Select package may be in the Premier package or vice-versa) and some channels would be on different numbers.

    While Broadweave may have had the upper hand in discussions to buy the Mstar customers. The shoe is clearly on the other foot here.

    I hope the transfer is very slow. That will give Broadweave time to get up to speed and when I go to the Broadweave packages I will be paying more and getting less.

    I wonder if they will force us to select a new Broadweave package before the deal closes in 60 days.

    I miss Mstar already!!!

  32. kg says:

    “Paying more and getting less…” I am SOOO NOT happy about this as another former Mstar customer!! And I have no choice in the matter, as there is now only one service provider. How Broadweave hopes to keep the customers is beyond me. Thanks a bunch Mayor! I’m going to start looking at my other options.

  33. Capt. Video says:

    I think there would be many more unhappy customers if Broadweave was not being propped up by Mstar.

    As there will be when their rates go up and speeds slow down.

    Nobody’s going to like that part.

  34. Anonymous says:

    I got an email last night telling me my IP would change as I was moved to Broadweaves data network.

    I checked my IP this morning and am on the Broadweave IP.

    While it’s some 21 hops to the IP location in Utica, NY (?) I am on the XO network and still have good speed to some speed test sites, but to different Speakeasy test locations.

    On Mstar I would get 18mb/sec. to most points west and slightly slower to points east. I now get 2-4mb/sec. to most points west (LA, SF, Seattle) but get about 16mb/sec. to Dallas or Chicago.

    If everyone else had a similar smooth transition Broadweave has done a good job!

    Some might not like the short notice. Getting an email last night asking if you needed a fixed IP and being moved the following morning? But customer notification has not been Broadweaves strong suit during this change?

  35. Jesse says:

    Smooth transitions speak well to their technical ability, but failing to properly notify customers of… well, anything produces a perception of lousy customer service, something Broadweave promised the moon and sky on.

    I keep on hearing that subscribers are frustrated because they don’t know what’s going on. For instance, will they have to change their ISP-hosted e-mail address? Will they have to setup their voice mail box again? How do they contact support? Not mailing informational packets to subscribers is giving Comcast and Qwest all of the FUD they need to switch customers and sink things. I think the lack of marketing expertise from Veracity is showing.

  36. kg says:

    I agree about the failure to notify customers. I don’t like wondering what’s going on and what’s going to happen. It just seems so weird to me that we’ve received no information in the mail or via email from Broadweave while we get weekly flyers from Comcast. How can Broadweave hope to compete with that?????

    I have to say, though, that whenever I’ve emailed a question or comment to them I do get a prompt response.

  37. Jesse says:

    Seems at least one other customer is having difficulty getting service:

    http://jasheen.blogspot.com/2008/07/amelia-thoughts.html (Seach for iprovo)

    They were without service for a month after the sale was announced and approved with the existing providers refusing to sign up new accounts and Broadweave unable to. Broadweave also reportedly missed a promised appointment on the 8th. Not a good way to start things off as it appears this customer is readily telling people how much they dislike them.

  38. suspicious says:

    So I called Broadweave yesterday to go through the motions of registering my complaints regarding the service quality problems I’ve experienced since my home phone was switched from MStar VoIP to Broadweave. Out of the blue, I was asked, “So you’re also experiencing a problem with your Internet speed?”

    Taken by surprise by the question, but having fought sub-512kbps speeds for the last 24 hours, I replied that I in fact I had been experiencing problems. I was then told that speeds would be severly affected through the remainder of the week during the transitioning of customers to Broadweave. Would have been nice to have been forewarned. Would also be nice to get a small credit on my bill for my DSL-like service this week, although I doubt I’ll see that either.

    I also asked about the process for transitioning customers with static IP addresses to Broadweave and was told that all customers with static IPs had been notified and new addresses had been assigned. I responded that not all had been notified, as I have a static address. Nothing further from them yet.

  39. Capt. Video says:

    To their credit, Broadweave did send out emails.

    Some companies only assume 30% of emails arrive. Many mass emails get caught by spam filters and people change email addresses often and don’t always provide commercial companies with their main email address?

    My speeds appear to have stayed good? At 15mb or better and I’m on a Broadweave IP.

  40. kg says:

    I’m computer illiterate so I don’t have any idea what speeds I have. My internet seems to be working mostly ok so far. Had some issues with AVG but I doubt they’re related to this.

    I have received no emails, snail mails or phone messages from Broadweave this month.

  41. kg says:

    Oh, ok. I just tried to load some photos from a blog and it’s taking A LOT longer than it usually does.

  42. Capt. Video says:

    The on screen TV guide is not working on the Broadweave service this morning (Sat.). I called Broadweave to report the problem. After about 10-20 rings it said all reps are busy and went to a message asking me to leave a message.

    Since the guide can show 24 hours of programming, had the NOC pressed 3 buttons on their remote each day to check that the future guide listings were there, they would have had at least 12 hours notice of the problem. This would have allowed them to repair it before it became a customer problem.

    This loss of guide was likely an avoidable problem. Broadweave should assign the job of checking the guide to the NOC. It takes only about 5 seconds to do this daily check.

  43. friend of iprovo worker says:

    It’s 5 hours since Capt. Video reported this problem and the guide problem has not been fixed.

    I’m told this problem was corrected in an hour or two by iProvo a dozen or more times in the past.

    Now with Broadweave at the helm after more than 5 hours it’s not fixed. This loss of past history and specific network knowledge is what many have feared as iProvo NOC and Engineers were not hired by Broadweave.

    Broadweave failed to hire a single iProvo Engineer. Now at the first sign of a simple problem that has been quickly repaired a number of times in the past Broadweave can’t seem to fix it.

    Perhaps their engineers are not as smart as they thought they were? I’m told the guide problem is easy to fix. What will they do when a hard to fix problem hits?

  44. kg says:

    Add two more hours to the 5 above AND we’re not able to record anything on top of the no program problem.

    A friend of ours has had enough and is going back to Comcast.

    Ya know, I’d be more inclined to “hang in there” IF Broadweave would communicate with us. An email telling us what’s happening and what’s being done about it would be nice.

    It’s still hard to fathom that we’ve not received ONE WORD from them about this switch. I’d have no idea what was going on if I didn’t read this blog and email Broadweave myself with my questions.

    INCREDIBLE!

    I really wonder how they will be able to stay in business at this rate.

  45. suspicious says:

    Broadweave cust support called me back a at 4:50pm today claiming the problem had been fixed and that a reboot of the STBs would restore the guide. I rebooted with no joy. Time to call some competent video engineers? UTOPIA?

  46. Capt. Video says:

    I received a similar call about the same time. I rebooted while on the phone with the rep. and told her it was not fixed after the reboot.

    I asked if she had guide on her TV and she said they could not see the channels from where she was? So either the call center is not in Provo (I thought it as in the old iProvo building (studio)) or no-one at Broadweave realized the importance of having the reps. see the pictures the customers see to troubleshoot and walk customers though questions/problems.

    If it’s the latter, chalk that up to a complete lack of experience with video troubleshooting. That may also explain why the call center was unaware of the problem until I called this morning.

    Since the guide typically reloads at about 1 or 2 AM that is likely when the problem began?

    Perhaps this is not the usual guide problem we have seen a number of times in the past, and as someone else mentioned, is a quick, easy fix for the iProvo engineers??? That could explain the long down time?

    Or, perhaps it is the same problem and a lack of experience with this network and this problem will humble some Broadweave engineers and may help them understand that being smart is no substitute for experience with a specific problem?

    The customer calls will increase as some customers currently unaware of the problem settle in for the evening to watch TV and frustration grows for those that are aware of it after the problem has not been fixed in 8 hours.

  47. kg says:

    We have received NO CALLS from Broadweave. That’s ZERO, ZIP, NONE, NO CONTACT, 0. We’ve got trouble – right here in Provo City.

  48. suspicious says:

    Rebooted again just now and guide data is back — just in time to for Saturday night prime time. No phone call, however.

  49. Capt. Video says:

    I’ve got my guide back too!

    If it actually take a reboot to get the guide back UTOPIA could issue a reboot all command and all the boxes would reboot automatically.

    I suspect the guide will come back without a reboot, it just might take slightly longer to come back than with the reboot which forced a refresh.

    I’m glad they fixed it.

  50. kg says:

    Lucky you. We don’t have ours back yet even with several tries at rebooting.

  51. kg says:

    We’ve got it working now.

  52. Capt. Video says:

    Just some bumps in the road to transition!

    I’m still not considering jumping ship to Comcast yet!

    Yes, they have made mistakes and are inexperienced, but the take-over and operation of a new network is bound to have some small problems.

    The Daily Herald has a summary here.
    http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/273275/17/

    I still believe Broadweave needs our support.

  53. suspicious says:

    Capt. Video – Yes, I’ll give them some slack because they’re inexperienced, but they sold the mayor and city council on their experience, their “smart engineers,” their best-in-class customer service, and on and on. That’s my biggest gripe — it was all bought exactly as it was sold by everyone with no questions asked whatsoever(“due diligence”).

    I’ve known these guys for eight years and knew better than to drink kool-aid they were selling to Provo. All the right things were said, but there is no experience, capability, nor maturity to execute them successfully. That’s why I’m inclined to be harder on them — they sold something they had no ability to deliver.

    Now what bothers me the most is that while the city *may* walk away relatively whole from this deal, it’s us the customers that will have to pay the price going forward.

  54. kg says:

    suspicious, I couldn’t agree more! The customers had no voice or choice in this whole deal but we’re the ones who are going to have to deal with it.

  55. Capt. Video says:

    Agreed!

    I actually expected them to work harder to keep iProvo employees and to staff up with experienced phone company or cable company managers. (The type of companies that have been successfully doing this (installing and servicing wired telecom services) for 50-100 years?)

    I was surprised by them thinking they had the skill sets on hand to run an operation of this size and type.

    I guess time will tell if they were right. So far the failure to communicate with customers and stumbling with small problems like the guide suggest not.

    But I still think we need to support them. Eliminating iProvo’s fiber network as an alternative to Qwest and Comcast is not good for the market.

    My Capt. Video partners (3 of us contribute as Capt. Video) suggest we would be better off if Broadweave fails, as the city would take over and the network would be open again? They have not won me over to their was of thinking yet.

    The city will not walk away “whole” until Broadweave is successful. The city remains a letter of notice away from Broadweave saying “we quit” and the city is back on the hook.

  56. kg says:

    Ok, but I wonder how successful Broadweave can be if they don’t have people on board who have the experience and skills to make it work.

  57. Capt. Video says:

    I wonder the same?

    The question is do they still think they have the people on staff to make them successful or are they having 2nd thoughts?

    Will they change their operational style or front line management when they actually buy the network in 48 days?

    We should also accept that sooner or later their existing staff may acquire the needed skills.

    They likely can fix the guide quickly next time it fails?

    Was the guide failure only for former Mstar customers? Did any NuVont/Veracity video customers lose their guide yesterday?

  58. iStillLikeiProvo? says:

    Capt. Video:
    I’m with you. Cindy Richards said that the worst thing that could happen is that Broadweave would fail and Provo would be holding the network again. I actually think this could be one of the better outcomes, as the city would have a second chance to get it right and allow multiple proper ISPs on the network.

    Whether the city would do the right thing, if given a second chance, since they botched it the first time around, is a big gamble though…

  59. Capt. Video says:

    I got a “Welcome to Broadweave” email today. It was a nice email, again telling me that, “Over the next few weeks, we will be communicating with you closely so that you are well-informed through each step of the process during this transition.”

    Almost word for word what they said in the past…but failed to do as so many steps went by without us being informed. Perhaps they will do better this time?

    I believe Broadweave needs to realize that they cannot communicate well with customers via email only. (Mstar believed that only about 30% of customers got and read email messages they sent.)

    The email also said that effective Aug, 1st Mstar email addresses would no longer work for iProvo customers and they created a Broadweave email address for me. (That was nice of them!)

    Bottom line. It was nice to hear from Broadweave. The email was well written and full of promises of their commitment to customer service and keeping me informed.

    Now if they actually do that (keep us “well informed through every step of the process” it will really be nice.

    So far, both times they have communicated it was due to important issues or changes (last time it was the phone transfer, this time it’s the email transfer) that were forced upon them. It would be nice to communicate just to keep us informed and not because you have to tell us about some drastic change.

  60. kg says:

    We’ve yet to receive any emails from Broadweave throughout this whole process. We don’t have an Mstar email address though, so maybe we don’t need to be informed. I just think it would be nice to know what’s going on.

  61. Former Mstar Customer says:

    I too got the Broadweave email. I do not have an Mstar email address, (I don’t want, an will not use a Broadweave email address, I’m sure I would have to change it in the future when Broadweave goes away).

    I think your situation makes Capt. Video’s point that Broadweave cannot count on using only email to communicate info about the transition.

    They have the mailing address/service address and should send a snail mail letter so ALL their customers get it. They could have included it in the bill they just sent us.

    Less than 40 days until the deal closes and Broadweave owns the network. Perhaps they will send a letter then. Of course by then we will have received 2 bills from Broadweave so there may be no need for the welcome letter?

  62. Jesse says:

    I don’t know about you, but I’m not in the habit of paying bills from companies I don’t know. I wonder how many customers that don’t know about the switch are in the same boat.

  63. Capt. Video says:

    I talked with a friend at Mstar and they are still receiving checks from customers. So apparently the word did not get out to everyone.

  64. Capt. Video says:

    On the positive side, I called Broadweave to report a problem and the phone was answered on the 2nd ring, the rep was polite and did a good job.

  65. Capt. Video says:

    The bumpy road continues!

    I had to call Broadweave again this morning to report the TV guide is out again!

    I hope they have learned something from the last guide outage and can now quickly correct the problem as iProvo was always able to do.

    They have apparently NOT learned how to work the Video On Demand movie load as it appears not a single new movies has been added to the VOD since Broadweave took over a month ago. The total number of VOD movies continues to go down as existing movies roll off as their VOD window closes and no new movies are added. If this continues there will be zero movies in the VOD library.

    Today is their first day without the lead iProvo engineer. That’s 2 of iProvo’s 3 engineers gone. The last iProvo engineer leaves in 2 weeks.

  66. Jesse says:

    Seriously? No engineers in just two weeks? That’s absolutely terrifying. It’s not like NOC techs grow on trees or anything. Will Broadweave be able to hire replacement employees? Or will they just push those duties onto their existing technical staff? Do their existing employees have the knowledge to manage the NOC? Seems like things that should have been firmly established before approving any kind of sale, doesn’t it?

    The bucket of fail overfloweth.

  67. Capt. Video says:

    I would say “no iProvo experienced engineers” more than “no engineers”.

    I heard Broadweave has a strong engineering staff, but the loss of the iProvo networks experience is important.

    I believe that lack of “network specific experience” is what took 12+ hours to get the guide restored last time it went out and why it’s already out for 3 hours since I reported it today. As I’ve stated, this problem was routinely fixed in about an hour in the past by iProvo engineers.

    I’ll bet the loss of iProvo’s most experienced fiber splicer to UTOPIA is being felt right about now as they have 3 fiber trunk lines (608 fibers) that were cut (see today’s Daily Herald) and some 500 customers without service.

    Oh Jarrod where are thou?

  68. kg says:

    Well, I have no TV, period, this afternoon. Hmmm.

    I’m thinking that, since I categorically refuse to go back to Comcast, under any circumstances, that I might just have to learn to view the few programs we watch on the internet and dispense with having TV at all.

    I’m considering doing the same with the phone line and just using a cell phone.

    That leaves the internet which seems to be working ok so far.

    We’ve still heard NOTHING from Broadweave about the change from Mstar.

  69. kg says:

    TV is back up and the guide is working right now.

  70. Capt. Video says:

    The guide is back working and they even figured out how to change the Mstar logo to Broadweave!

  71. Capt. Video says:

    kg:

    You might want to be sure you get the $40 coupon for the D-TV box from the government and then go to Wal-Mart and get the box for $10 if you have not already done so.

    With the new digital box and a simple UHF off-air antenna you can now get 22 channels off air. With perfect reception.

    I believe EVERYONE should get the box for $10, even if they have cable or satellite. Just in case.

  72. Capt. Video says:

    Hats off to Broadweave!

    Not only did the figure out how to change the logo, but also changed Mstar to Brodweave in the hidden error messages. Like the error message you get if you go to an HD channel and the STB is not set to HD.

    It only took 4 hours to fix the guide problem this time. Much better than last time.

  73. Capt. Video says:

    The bumps in the road continue!

    The TV Guide is down again this morning!!!

  74. Former Mstar Customer says:

    If you are a VOD user (like me) the road is very bumpy. Does Broadweave even know they offer video-on-demand? I don’t think they have offered a new movie on VOD since they bought the system. With Mstar there were about 130 movies to select from and every weekend there were some new movies added. Broadweave now has less than 90 movies and VOD to me stands for Victim Of DaSale (to Broadweave).

  75. Fiber Splicer says:

    A thousand plus fibers were cut on Thursday morning and about 500 customers lost service. Broadweave hopes the contractors can restore service to all by Sunday or Monday.

    I’m guessing the repair will cost $30,000 to $40,000 and many customers. I wonder if Broadweave or iprovo will foot the bill. It might depend upon who is responsible for repair during this period. iprovo still owns the network. How good is your contract Mayor?

    A former iprovo splicer that now works for utopia was seen moonlighting to earn extra cash. Working for the contractor doing the splicing. The cut fiber was a windfall for contract splicers.

    I heard from an employee of one of the major local contract splicing companies that they will not do any work for Broadweave due to a dispute over some past work?

    Does Sorensons due diligence includes looking at the condition of the fiber network to see if there are other low hanging fiber lines?

  76. Capt. Video says:

    The guide is working again!

  77. Capt. Video says:

    Looks like they may have also fixed the very slow channel change time that started a day to two ago.

    Channel changes were taking 5-6 seconds. Looks like we are back to the normal 1-2 second channel change.

  78. Capt. Video says:

    The TV Guide is out again!
    3rd day in a row!!!
    4th time the guide has been out since Broadweave took over.

    I suspect this is directly related to the Broadweave engineers lack of experience/understanding of the Minerva middleware.

  79. kg says:

    Anyone else having issues with TV today? I get either picture/no audio or nothing but a blue screen.

  80. kg says:

    Ok. I re-booted the amino box and it seems to have fixed the problem. Have I mentioned how much I hate the amino box? I have to re-boot almost daily. Arrrrrg!

  81. kg says:

    Nope. TV is still out. This is getting old. My patience is getting very thin.

  82. Capt. Video says:

    My TV has been working fine all day.

  83. kg says:

    Ok It must be the lovely amino box.

  84. Capt. Video says:

    Could be lots of other things, including the video feed to your hut or home.

    Have you called to report the problem?
    Can you see the box boot?
    Does the guide/menu come up and just no video?

    I take it you only have 1 box on 1 TV?

  85. kg says:

    I did report the problem and they’ve called me and are working on it. They have been good about calling me back when I have an issue.

    Sometimes the guide would come up with no video, sometimes I’d get video with no audio and sometimes no video or audio.

    I re-booted one last time and it seems to be working.

    We have three boxes on three TV’s and, no, I didn’t check the other two. Should have thought of that. Thanks.

  86. Capt. Video says:

    The Broadweave web site http://www.broadweave.com/
    has a graphic for their TOTAL CONTROL TELEVISION. It boldly claims

    “Feature than Comcast, Direct TV and Dish can’t offer”

    and then it lists 3 features:
    Caller ID on TV,
    Internet on TV
    Voicemail on TV.

    Apparently these are ALSO features that Broadweave can’t offer either.

    I called asking to sign up for these features and imagine my surprise when I was told they don’t really offer any of those features!!!

  87. Jesse says:

    Uh… isn’t advertising a feature you don’t have ILLEGAL?

  88. Capt. Video says:

    The bumpy road continues….the TV guide is out again and the VOD movie library is down to only 48 movies.

    It’s been six weeks, when do the bumps smooth out?

  89. Harold Bills says:

    Capt. Video,

    That new HD package from Dish looks mighty fine. I hear it comes with a TV guide and 1080P video on demand. Why hang on to this junk?

  90. Capt. Video says:

    I already have Dish Network in addition to Broadweave (at one time I also had Comcast & Provo Cable video with Dish and iProvo). I like to have my finger of the pulse of the video industry. (I’m not Capt. Video for nothing!)

    But you are right, and it’s likely I will drop my Broadweave video.

  91. Capt. Video says:

    Holy Crap!!!
    The on screen TV guide is down AGAIN!
    How often does this have to happen before someone at Broadweave figures out how to solve this problem?
    This borders on technical incompetence!

    Last night we starting our 8th weekend with no new “video on demand” movies. Remember the days when there were new movies every weekend? The days before Broadweave!

  92. kg says:

    Still no guide. This does not inspire my confidence in this new company. Dish is looking better every day.

  93. Capt. Video says:

    They have eliminated the 7X24 hour NOC. No one is on duty at night anymore. I’m not sure what the weekend NOC hours are? I called to report the problem this morning at about 7:30AM. I had to leave a message because no one answered.

    It has been 5 hours since I reported the problem. I’m sure the guide has been out longer.

  94. kg says:

    I guess no one is on duty on the weekend. Our guide is still out. This is no way to keep customers or gain new ones.

  95. Capt. Video says:

    Just Amazing!!!

    It’s now over 10 hours since the problem was reported.

  96. Capt. Video says:

    The guide is finally back up!

    Thanks Broadweave!

    You have to figure out what’s making the guide go out so often and fix that!

    You have to start looking at the guide 24 hours in advance (which can be done by pressing 3 buttons on the remote) before the NOC leaves for the night? (So you know BEFORE the guide goes out!)

    When it does go out, you HAVE to get it back up quickly as iProvo was ALWAYS able to do.

  97. Capt. Video says:

    Holy Crap!!!

    The Broadweave TV guide is out again this morning!

  98. Jesse says:

    Given that this was a frequent problem under the old NOC management, you would think that the outgoing employees would have trained Broadweave’s employees on fixing this issue, no? At the least, this is showing some seriously weaknesses on Broadweave’s technical end.

  99. Capt. Video says:

    The guide is working again. That was a very quick repair!

  100. Capt. Video says:

    Hats off to Broadweave for keeping the guide working for the past 11 days!!!

    In spite of Broadweaves new found success at keeping the guide up for almost 2 weeks in a row, I am in the process of transferring my iProvo services to NuVont.

    Their web site is back up (I expect they took it down when they were selling to Broadweave?) and for those that want better pricing that offered by Broadweave or to show their support for Open Access Networks or just your dissatisfaction with the way the iProvo sale went down, you might want to consider moving your service to NuVont.

    You can compare pricing and services on their impressive web site at:
    http://www.nuvont.net/

  101. Capt. Video says:

    The rocky road continues…

    The on screen interactive TV Guide is down again today. What is this the 10th time or so this has happened since Broadweave took over?..and the second loss of guide since my post saying hats off to Broadweave for keeping the guide up for 11 days?

    Two channels, The Travel Channel and Animal Planet, were off the air for 3-4 days last week.

    Not only have no new movies or shows been added to the DVD library since Broadweave took over at the beginning of July, but for about the past week the VOD rental has stopped working completely and you cannot rent a movie or any program.

    At least their web site say’s more HDTV channels are COMING SOON and lists 40 HDTV channels. I wonder what “soon” means to them?

  102. Harold Bills says:

    These are the techno-wizards who will re-engineer the iProvo network! They can’t even get past the guide issue. I will be first in line to say “I told you so” when they finally break it beyond repair…

  103. Capt. Video says:

    I want to mention that I had a serious problem related to connectivity, changing service provider, etc…without going into details, let me just say that when I explained my problem to Broadweave, they took FAST (very fast) action to help me correct it even as I was in the process of moving my service to another service provider.

    That say’s something (GOOD) about the company. That they are willing to not only bend over backwards to get you on their network, but they will also bend over backwards to help you even if you are leaving.

    My hats off to Broadweave!!!

  104. Capt. Video says:

    UPDATE:
    I have not moved my service to another provider.

    Broadweave seems to be coming out of the Transition Rocky Road and things are starting to smooth out for them?

    The guide has not been down, the VOD service is having new movies transfer correctly, the VOD rental service is working.

    The have acted quickly to add The Mtn. Channel in HD. This will allow Broadweave video customers to receive the BYU/UTAH game in HD.

    Of course you must have an HDTV TV, HDTV set top box from Broadweave and subscribe to the HDTV package, but that would be the same with Comcast or any provider.

    Hats off to Broadweave and their headend tech for the quick action of getting this channel up in a few days for Sat. game. I’m very impressed!

    I’ve also heard Broadweave had a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Broadweave Building in Provo today. I’m thinking they may be starting to move out of the “transition phase” and into the “standard operating phase”?

    As one of many whom lost their job when the company they worked for did not manage their costs well, I think the tightening of the belt by Broadweave is more a good sign than a bad one.

    If a number of the companies involved in these projects operated like a smaller company with tight control of their costs they would have been (or would be) in much better shape today.

    Companies like Mstar have turned themselves around and seeing Broadweave tighten their belt as times get harder is a good sign that they are reacting correctly and watching carefully.

  105. Capt. Video says:

    I have commented (sometimes rather sharply) on the transition and the rocky road, now I would like to once again comment on that the rocky road appears to have been less rocky than I thought it would be and on the improvements I’m seeing Broadweave make that have impressed me.

    I have the Broadweave service at my home and would be considered a “heavy user”. I also have Dish Network service.

    I watch almost 100% of my TV viewing on Broadweave. That is about 15 hours a day of viewing the TV or having it connected to a piece of test equipment (analog spectrum analyzer, IPTV Cisco Spectrum Analyzer, etc.).

    Other than some problems related to the set top box (occasional freezing on the Amino 120 when channels are variable bit rate vs. constant bit rate), etc., the pictures are good and the service is very dependable! (As are my data and phone service!)

    As iProvo was selling and Broadweave taking over…the VOD service was dying. There were problems with new assets (movies, shows, etc.) transferring from the satellite storage server to the VOD server. It was breaking down long before Broadweave took over, but broke down completely after they took over.

    But they have fixed it! New content is transferring and they have even restored the “Most Popular” category.

    While Broadweave has fixed the VOD system, UTOPIA has allowed their once working system to fall into disrepair. The UTOPIA VOD system has not added any new assets since mid October and has very few active VOD rentals.

    While UTOPIA is adding new subscribers in newly released areas (not an overly impressive feat), Broadweave is adding new customers in old areas. They have no new build areas to market but are adding new customers in old areas.

    I strongly support people signing up for both networks, but I believe Broadweave is doing better on keeping the network competitive and growing (in established areas).

    Broadweave seems to have moved off the rocky road and appears to be providing services as good as or better than Provo was offering.

    An internet speedtest to http://www.speedtest.net shows Broadweave at 14605kb/sec., more than twice as fast as the avg. Utah speed and faster than 92% of the tests done over speedtest in the world and 88% of the US speed tests.

    Support your local networks…sign up with Broadweave or UTOPIA.

  106. Ben Saunders says:

    Hey Capt. what’s with the Broadweave “lovefest”? Do they have a job for you or are you just enamored with their inability to pay the bond payments from revenues?

    Anyhow, I hate the cheerleading getup!

  107. Capt. Video says:

    I was quick to take them to task when they made a mistake…not that they are doing good things (like fixing the VOD) I need to talk about that too.

    I was very surprised when I ran some numbers on the Broadweave model to see that they had a fair to good change of success…based upon the subscribers they needed, etc.

    This did make me more of a Broadweave supporter too. I was for the city selling to Broadweave from the start. I think it was good for the city. Seeing how they could make the numbers and be successful, and how they are improving in operating skills…count me as a fan and supporter.

    Why would we want Broadweave (or UTOPIA) to fail?

    I (and likely they?) never believed they would be able to pay the bond from operating revenues this soon. I suspected it would be a few years at least before they reached that point.

    So if they have had to spend more of their cash on hand on installs, and decided to use the money they placed in reserve to cover bond payments why is that bad?

    No bond payment was missed. Provo is still having the bond paid by Broadweave. It’s sad to see some of you actually wanting Broadweave to fail. That would hurt them, Provo city and the customers. There are no winners if they fail. Who would want that?

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