Rambling Cell

Broadweave Provo Right for Business Data Connection?

Is Broadweave Provo right for your business?  Maybe you should read on regarding our experience before you make the decision.

We opened a commercial account with MStar almost a year ago on the iProvo fiber network.  MStar was professional and easy enough to deal with.  Over the past year I do not remember any major outages related to this fiber line.  We use the line for multiple websites and to administer a number of servers remotely.  As with any mission critical setups, we have a second line through another provider which has also been really good.  The second line acts as a backup as it is not as fast as our fiber line.

A few weeks ago Broadweave took over the iProvo network and our account from MStar.  Part of this required a complete change of our block of IP’s.  This was an inconvenience but something we understood.  To change all of our systems takes 3-4 man hours but we got it knocked out. 

So with that background, here is what has happened over the last few hours.  On the night of the 18th, our Broadweave line dropped.  I called their contact number and was told they had a major issue that was being worked on.  The next morning our systems were still down.  I called support again and finally we were able to resolve the problem. 

Total downtime around 12 hours.

At roughly 4 oclock on the 19th our line dropped again.  We went through all the same diagnosis they had run us through earlier that day and found that we were getting an error that the connecting IP they had assigned us was telling us it was already in use elsewhere on the network.  We called the support line only to get voicemail telling us they were still having problems but were working on it.

We continued to check the line and tried to call again on the 20th (today) around 12 noon.  Again all we get is voicemail.  I filled out the support form, left a voicemail, and called the Salt Lake support number and left a message.  As of 1 1/2 hours later I have had no response to any of those.

Total downtime on second drop 19 1/2 hours and still going.

Would I use Broadweave again?

Probably not.  I am concerned that they do not have any Saturday support for this type of issue.  If our other line drops, I get a response generally within 30 minutes and the problem is resolved within another 30.  My impression is Broadweave wants more commercial accounts but operates their support based on being a residential provider.

If we did not have a good backup option, Broadweave would have been an absolute nightmare in this case.  Even with the backup line, it has become considerably more inconvenient to admin some of our boxes remotely.    At least for now, I don’t think Broadweave has the infrastructure to handle business class connectivity.

Update -

I called the provo support line again around 4 pm and the phone was answered.  The rep told me they were working on the problem and had someone from their NOC call me back.  He asked me to test it and the line was back up.  For now, things are up and running again. 

A couple of things that would have been really helpful here. 

First it would be have been great to receive a phone call or email back letting me know someone actually was aware of the contact.  I know this is 60 seconds that could be used to fix the problem but at least I would know they received one of the alerts I sent them. 

Second, it would also be nice to receive some type of alert when they have fixed the problem.  Another 60 second email or phone call would have been great and would provide a significant amount of goodwill regarding the problem.

I think most business owners know there are going to be problems along the way.  I have found how you handle the bump makes all the difference in the world with fair customers (the crazy ones won’t be happy no matter what you do).  I try to give companies a fair opportunity to solve the problem and try to be understanding in cases where the issue is beyond their control.

I will post a follow up in the next few weeks.  Hopefully it will be one of rock solid stability and up time.