Lincoln Building - T1 problems

[@@di]

The internet service to the Lincoln building absolutely ****s. Repeated calls to their "office" has led to nothing but increased blood pressure. The internet has been down Jan, Feb, July and most of August. We are up in Sept but ping times are close to 4-5 seconds :eek: .

There seems to be no reason why the T3 should scuk so much until I found that the entire building is connected wirelessly to the main T3 line behind the mall though an 802.11b bridge.

I am getting really tired calling them every other day and getting no where.
If it took Sonia 15 years to be able to get the Voters Reg. thing going, I can only imagine how long its gonna take them to fix the internet problems.

Any ideas/strategies?

[anita]

the building across the street from us (park hamilton, was it?) has comcast, and i'm thinking of setting up wireless and sharing the conn. w/ someone from across the street. to me it was beyond frustrating to have pretend broadband that ntc offers than no internet at all. i really think that the only way we can send them (ntc) any kind of message is to stop using their service, since as it stands now you end up paying ~$50 every month for absolutely nothing 90% of the time.

[luce e simbolo]

Based on what @@di said, imagine what's going to happen to the "quality" of service (ha!) after they finish building the Roosevelt. Are they going to be crowding onto our already clogged and crappy-to-nonexistent connection?

I think we need to get Newport/Lefrak Management involved and figure out a way to hold them accountable, since this problem is of their making too (how can you build a new apartment complex - the Lincoln is only 2 or 3 years old - and not plan for real highspeed Internet access?). Of course, they're more than happy to set us up with their little monopoly at NTC.

And to think, the latest BS the woman who answers the NTC phones told me last week was that "there's a virus in the east end of the Lincoln building and that's been causing all the problems, and we're trying to locate it" - when it's all really because the signal is traveling (or rather, NOT traveling) over from the waterfront and through a mall! Ansolutely un-effing-believable!

Anita, have you signed up at the yahoo group? It's at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lincolns_NTC_T1/

How would you swing it with the Park Hamilton and Comcast? Do you know someone there?

On the Yahoo group, there was mention of trying to get the BBB involved. Unfortunately, I think all we can do is register a complaint, but, hey, if there are 10 or 20 or more of us, and we register our complaints individually, maybe that can bring about some action.

Any other ideas?

[anita]

i posted several complaints with bbb over 2 years ago when i first had ntc 'service' in george washington (needless to say, it was as reliable as it is today) and in spite of several follow up calls have seen no change either to ntc's bbb rating or the level of interest that bbb had in this particular problem.

the people i know @ hamilton have just sold their flat and will be moving out by the end of the year. i'm sure we could swing something with one of their neighbours though, they all seem like reasonable people. i had talked it through with the people soon to be moving, but didn't actually carry it out since i'm really almost never home.

unless we can piggy-back the lincoln onto the comcast initiative (that seems like a big no according to some of the posts on the old board as well as management's commitment to directv), i don't see a clear solution other than bringing this up at the time of your next lease renewal (assuming you don't want to switch buildings and move to marbella or cove or somewhere entirely different) as a reason to lower your rent. of course, that does little to solve the problem, but i'm fresh out of ideas...

[Sonia]

@@di,

Actually, it didn't take me fifteen years to get an approval from Lefrak to conduct a Voters Registration Drive, just my predecessors were unable to accomplish this in all that time. I resolved the problem within two or three months (check to see when I began posting on our website).

The Lincoln is a small building, with less than 200 apartments. We'd like to get people registered in your building, but right now, it looks like we won't be setting up a table in your lobby unless we get at least one volunteer/resident to man the table.

[luce e simbolo]

On the Comcast initiative, my understanding is we will be getting it too, just not as fast as everyone over by the water.

Ariel said that he thought we'd get the wiring when they (Comcast) come to do the wiring for the Roosevelt, which would be some time next year.

Granted, that was coming from our super, and not from anyone in a management position at Comcast.

Had you spoken to anyone at Comcast in the past few months that led you to believe we were going to be completely passed over?

[anita]

On the Comcast initiative, my understanding is we will be getting it too, just not as fast as everyone over by the water.

Ariel said that he thought we'd get the wiring when they (Comcast) come to do the wiring for the Roosevelt, which would be some time next year.


yes, but management (lefrak) hasn't been able to confirm this for me, nor would they engage in any discussion past the official statement that they don't know anything.

assuming that the roosevelt gets wired for comcast and not dtv, then yes, there's the hope of having cable next year. what a prospect...



Granted, that was coming from our super, and not from anyone in a management position at Comcast.


so far, ariel's the only one who seems to know what's going on. everything he's ever told me re: comcast was spot on, so i'm inclined to listen to his opinion :)



Had you spoken to anyone at Comcast in the past few months that led you to believe we were going to be completely passed over?

every time i spoke to anyone at comcast, they were trying hard to accomodate the building and find a solution. the lefrak end, on the other hand, is not worth mentioning...

[luce e simbolo]

I just spoke to Jeff Crandell at Comcast, who was in a meeting with someone who's been involved in this whole Newport/Comcast wrangle, and they said that, as of right now, the arrangement is to wire the Newport buildings on the waterfront, but not us, not for the forseeable future, and they didn't know anything about the Roosevelt either.

He said they'd love to come in here and he's sure they will at some point, but they couldn't say when.

He said that the BPU in Newark (Bureau of Public Utilities) had been really instrumental in getting them access to Newport and maybe we should try and get them involved on our behalf.

[Nic]

Wireless broadband comes to New York metropolis next month, 2MB, same service as in Washington and a couple of other towns. Probably a bit pricey though.

[kozak]

Here's the info:

Board of Public Utilities Commissioners
2 Gateway Centre Floor 8
Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 648-2026

I also thought about filing a class action suit. We have 200 residents, and the service so far has been down for:

January
February
July
August
September

That's a total of $250 per subscriber. So they would be liable for upto $50,000. If we make that clear to them, maybe they will change their mind?

[kozak]

I just filed a complaint with the BBB. This way there's a record for any legal action. I urge everyone else to do so too.

The info I used was:

Newport Telecommunications Co
111 Pavonia Ave # 406
Jersey City, NJ United States 07310
(201)626-2020

and you can file here:
http://complaints.bbb.org/Welcome.asp

[sanity]

Heh, I 'm having horrible connection problems as well.

NTC will send a tech out to your apartment to check the connection. If they find a problem, they will fix it. If they don't find a problem, they will charge $40 dollars for the visit. Hrm...

WTF kind of business practice is that?

[stellartois]

I called NTC and complained. The girl tells me that we should be receiving a letter next week explaining that they are working on it. She said somebody will be out to figure out what the problem is. ARE THEY SERIOUS? So NOW they are willing to ACKNOWLEDGE that there's a problem. Now what? :confused: How long will it take NOW?

[kozak]

I think more of us from the Lincoln need to call and complain. When I signed the lease, I was promissed a shared T1 line. To me and anyone else that meant a T1 line leased from the phone complany, not an 802.11b bridge to the line. 802.11b is not secure, it can be easly broken and is not wide enough to handle the amount of packets an apartment building of any size can generate. That there is enough for legal action and grounds for breaking the lease. I rather get my service to what it should be and get a refund for the months that I did not have or had unreliable service.

If they think by ignoring us this will go away, they are wrong. I am actively seeking Class Action Lawyers that could give consultation and possibly hand a case if we don't get our refunds and the reliability is restored.

Also, talking to the reps at newport telecomm is pointless. You need to ask to speak to the manager. Her name is Kay. Although I have been asking to speak to her for over 2 weeks, I haven't been able to. She likes to take a lot of lunches and is out of the office a lot.

If they don't take care of this problem quick, it could escalate to something big and cost a lot of people their jobs.

[Mia]

I think at some point soon we should all try and meet, so we're all on the same page.

In the note that someone posted in the laundry the other day, I counted 11 people who signed it saying "Yeah! Me too! NTC service stinks!" To get people for a class action lawsuit, we'll need to reach out to everyone in the building and get as many onboard as possible.

In addition to the Better Business Bureau complaint, perhaps people might want to post messages at apartmentratings.com, opening a ratings file for The Lincoln, saying that, while the apartments may be nice, the abysmal Internet connections, the fact that it's a monopoly and the fact that they are doing nothing to make it better are serious drawbacks. If the Lefrak people become aware of that, it might put some heat under them to act, since they won't want potential customers being scared off.

Also, do we know what are the options that NTC could take to improve our connectivity? Seems like there's a couple of technical people at the Lincoln who've signed up for the Yahoo group about this issue, and maybe one or a few of them could investigate this so that if and when we meet with the NTC people, we're not just sitting there on our hands while they try and spoonfeed us what they think they should be doing next.

[kozak]

The only option, and the one that Art (the tech) has also suggested is to lease a T1 line from verizon for the Lincoln building.

I asked him when that may happen and was told not in a time frame that would please me.

Another would be to allow Comcast to wire the building, but that would require them to negotiate with DirecTV, and i'm sure they paid a lot of money to have sole rights to the building.

I think a lawsuit would be the only way to make them change their practices and get something done.

[Mia]

We can't have Verizon because the building is not wired for it (no copper wiring) and would be next to impossible (costly) to retrofit.

One possibility we should look into is DirecTV satellite internet access. Or pray that Comcast will get around to us some time in the next year or two.

This all comes back to Lefrak Management. This property is theirs, NTC is their child and they should be held accountable.

If we do go for the class action lawsuit, we should actively pursue those TV journalists who do those consumer advocate spots (like "7 on your side" or "Ask Asa") where they shame X or Y company into doing the right thing. They get lots of calls from people, but if we could convince them to cover out story, I'm sure Lefrak would hate the publicity, especially since they want to add another 4,000 units to the area, and would have to act.

[anita]

leasing a t1 line from verizon is very different from verizon dsl which would require copper wiring. i didn't understand well if ntc plans to lease a separate line for lincoln from verizon and then 'maintain' it (as you can see i have great faith in their maintenance abilities) or if this is something that we as tennants could approach verizon with...

i like the idea of contacting tv reporters.

[kozak]

Here are some links:

Help Me Howard - WB11 (http://wb11.trb.com/news/local/eveningnews/wpix-howardhome.htmlstory?track=fif)

7 On Your Side (http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/features/WABC_7side_emailform2.html)

We can write them about the situation and see what happens. If anyone is able to get in contact with a class action lawer, that would be helpful. I don't know of any in the New York area.

[stellartois]

I filed with the BBB, WB11, and ABC's 7 on your side. But just myself and a couple others will NOT grab the attention. There's a better chance if EVERYONE complains. SO, everyone COMPLAIN tonight! I did it all online by the links Kozak provided. I don't know of any class action lawyers either. Yellow pages? Any good? :confused:

[Mia]

I just sent a message to the WB11 Help me Howard too. I'll file with the BBB tomorrow and contact WABC tomorrow.

I thought of something just now: we need to urge the people in other buildings to contact the BBB and these TV stations as well, because the strength of their numbers will help us all and it will benefit those guys who will have the Comcast option too (assuming NTC can be forced to do something to improve) because first, not everyone will go with Comcast for their internet access, and second, if Comcast turns out to be problematic, people will be stuck with 2 crappy ISOs.

How about we get a circular out to everyone in the building next week?

[kozak]

Circular sounds good. Is it OK to put it in everyone's mailbox? Anyone have any other ideas?

[Mia]

I think we should all file a complaint with the NJ Board of Public
Utilities. According to the guy at Comcast, Jeff Crandell, and
others, they were instrumental in breaking the monopoly that was
keeping other cable TV suppliers out of Newport.

Here is how the NJBPU describes itself:

"The Board of Public Utilities is a regulatory authority with a
statutory mandate to ensure safe, adequate, and proper utility
services at reasonable rates for customers in New Jersey.
Accordingly, the NJBPU regulates critical services such as natural
gas, electricity, water and telecommunications and cable television.
The Board addresses issues of consumer protection, energy reform,
deregulation of energy and telecommunications services and the
restructuring of utility rates to encourage energy conservation and
competitive pricing in the industry. The Board also has
responsibility for monitoring utility service and responding to
consumer complaints."

Here is where you post an online complaint:

http://www.bpu.state.nj.us/home/complaintForm.shtml

I crossposted this on the Yahoo Group,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lincolns_NTC_T1/

[kozak]

Anyone have any information they want to put on the circular? I can print them. If anyone wans to start something, I can add to it, or if you have anything you want written on it, post it here.

[Mia]

Hi,

I tried to post this last night, but, of course, the Internet went down before I could hit the "Send" button! :mad:

I started jotting down some points for a flyer over the weekend. I should have it finished by tomorrow. I'll post it on the Yahoo Group so people can have a look and see if I've omitted anything.

By the way, there were some potential renters wandering around the building over the weekend looking at an apartment and they asked me what I thought of the building and I told them it was nice, but that the Internet connectivity problem was totally out of control.

Lefrak should clean this mess up before it costs them customers.

[kozak]

I contacted a class action lawyer. I should hear in a few days if we have a case. I also called City Hall and was told to file in small claims.

I think I will call tomorow and demand to speak to the manager at Newport Telecomm and tell her that if this is not resolved ASAP, I will see her in court.

[Sonia]

Hi,

Just a bit of advise: there are federal laws that prohibit circular placement in mailboxes, unless, of course, they are mailed. You can, however, slip a circular under your neighbors' doors.

[@@di]

Hi,

Just a bit of advise: there are federal laws that prohibit circular placement in mailboxes, unless, of course, they are mailed. You can, however, slip a circular under your neighbors' doors.

So then lets split up the floors. The last time I saw the yahoo group we had about 10 members..hopefully they live in different floors :)

I'll be happy to circulate the flyer to all apts on floor 2.

[kozak]

Hmm, I live on the 2nd floor to :)

[kozak]

Well, after a week of ok service, this weekend was terrible. An outage that lasted a few hours on saturday and pings over 3000 on Sunday. Looks like the old problems are comming back as more residents start using the new IPs.

[@@di]

Well, after a week of ok service, this weekend was terrible. An outage that lasted a few hours on saturday and pings over 3000 on Sunday. Looks like the old problems are comming back as more residents start using the new IPs.

I was working this weekend, mostly on Saturday, and didn't have any problems. Ping times were actually very good, 30-32 ms on avg.

It was kinda slow Sunday evening, but for a very brief while.

Hmm could it be the wiring in your apt?

[kozak]

Dun know, it started happening after an outage around 8pm on saturday, that appears to have lasted till about midnight. Then, Sunday night had ping averageing 500 and peeking over 3000.

[anything]

I had exactly the same problem on Saturday. From 8pm to about 11:00pm. It's definitly not wiring inside your apt.
I thought things were going to be ok after the ip change and so-called upgrade. :mad:


Dun know, it started happening after an outage around 8pm on saturday, that appears to have lasted till about midnight. Then, Sunday night had ping averageing 500 and peeking over 3000.

[@@di]

Monday night: 7:30 PM
Ping times are @ 2000-3000 ms [3% packet loss, Min: 10ms Max:4800ms].

It started to deteriorate after 6 PM, I guess people are starting to come home.

Damn you NTC!!!

[BaroqueJim]

Reading the epic saga of complaints about not only the available internet options in Newport, but the cable TV as well, fills me with both mild amusement and also anger. As a newcomer to Newport, I am completely amazed that thousands of people who pay their (not inexpensive) rent to live in their homes as free adults in what is supposed to be a free country , are denied and limited choice in what amounts to nothing less than one man's attempt to control much of the daily lives of an entire town. Think I'm exaggerating? Imagine a few years into the future - everyone will have a fixed flat screen on their living room walls onto which will be projected a pre-decided TV channel, decided by LeFrak himself, whose transparent head will materialize at certain points in the evening to inform us all what we may or may not eat for breakfast the next morning. Imagine line upon line of souless drones marching in an orderly fashion, wearing grey jump suits with a single diagonal stripe upon the breast, to a location just south of Hoboken where they will toil the day in LeFrak's sulphur mines (that's what they've started digging there right now) before staggering back, head down, to their cookie cutter apartment units, for their nightly meal allowance of dry crispbread and dehydrated alfalfa sprouts.

Back to the subject of internet - I was told that the only option I have for broadband is NTC's T1 connection (and the lady on the telephone told me the other day that it's a very fast connection and there are no longer ANY problems with it) - but not only that, I can't even have a connection in my bedroom. It can only be connected to the living room, from which I have to make my own wireless connection, regardless of the fact that I might not want to use wireless at all for my own reasons.

I have been, unfortunately, laboring under the delusion that I am living in America and not some pre-Cold War Eastern European country. I woke up and smelled the Holland Tunnel fumes.

Reality is a *****.

[stellartois]

Miranda called and asked how the service was. I told her it was "highspeed" the first several days, and it's now disconnecting every 10-30 minutes as usual.

Kozak, Mia - I live on the 2nd floor also. :)

Not only am I fed up with the bubbled floors, water leaks, stained walls..and the T1.. let me save my energy.. I'm expecting to see a credit/refund for june, july, august, AND sep. :mad:

[@@di]

Miranda called and asked how the service was. I told her it was "highspeed" the first several days, and it's now disconnecting every 10-30 minutes as usual.

Kozak, Mia - I live on the 2nd floor also. :)

Not only am I fed up with the bubbled floors, water leaks, stained walls..and the T1.. let me save my energy.. I'm expecting to see a credit/refund for june, july, august, AND sep. :mad:

Add me to the 2nd floor list too, maybe we need to meet once a week @ the Hamilton Ale House and drown our sorrows in alcohol. I dont think anything else is going to help us @ this point.

[Mia]

So, how many people have actually gotten a refund from NTC for the months and months of problems?

And how much was it for?

(I think one person mentioned they did, either on another thhread or on the Yahoo group that was set up.)

[stellartois]

I'm still waiting too...

[stellartois]

Connection any better for you all?

I feel that it IS a bit better, but around 8-11 ish, it's VERRRRY slow or there is no connection for a while.

Oh, and is it just me, or has it been a WHILE since we got our T1 bill... :confused:

[anything]

It doesn't make much of a difference for me. Probably because I only use it during 7 - 12 pm.