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Ilox Install Update-For all the prepaids not being serviced


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On 10/5/2019 at 10:46 AM, catbird said:

It was all an accident, I was leaving the house and I saw the man hooking up my new neighbor. So I asked him if he would hook me up. He said no because I needed a contract. I told him I signed a contract 6 months ago. He said he needed a work order so I rushed to the iLox office and the girl called him and told him to hook me up. She also gave me a work order to give him. So he hooked me up!

I was skeptical, figuring I would have problems especially when I hooked up my VPN Buffalo router to the iLox router. But it all went smoothly and everything worked great. No problemo!

Speed is usually between 35 & 39 mbps down, even with the Buffalo. Between 9 & 10 mbps up.

I can even keep my old telephone number but it will take 5 days to change it over he said. I waited 7 days and he didn't show up. So, I went to the office and the man was very unhelpful. He said the man didn't work there anymore and he couldn't get anyone else to do it. He told me to go home and call to get the nip number. He said he couldn't do it at the office. So I went home, called the number he gave me and got the nip number. 

I'm going back the the iLox office Monday and hopefully they will change my number.

We'll see.

Mexicans just don't know how to do business. 

Go ahead, now torch me,

The purpose of this post was to address concerns of the Prepaids, those who put money up front to get the project started, and who are still waiting to get service.   So posting comments about literally getting service on the fly, no previous investment, isn't relevant to the post.   Understand that I have 17,000.0 invested in the project since March of 2018 and will probably still be waiting come January of 2020 for service.

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I'll offer my two cents here:

- For everyone who is complaining that they prepaid over 18 months ago and the delays have been eternal..understand that we had a pledge period, where you could express your interest without obligation...Once we had enough pledges, we had the prepaid period, where signups were sent vouchers to actually pay.  We didn't know if enough people would actually pay until last October, when they had enough and decided to start the project.   If you paid last May, like I did, about 6 months of that time was wait and see with no obligation.  At 7% percent interest on the roughly 15000 pesos for 6 months, you're out 500 pesos.  So sorry,  but Ilox wanted to see some skin in the game from the local community before committing to an FTTH installation.   I knew of no other way to get them in...We're not in the US.   Small communities there have worse problems trying to get broadband.    But we did it...They're here.  And their service is quite good. 

When they decided to start the project, they had to site their offices and concentrator installation.  Ajijic real estate prices turned out to be sky high, it took them a couple of extra months to get that sorted out....They finally got the office in Buganvilias arranged and concluded they couldn't put the truck depot in Ajijic....I know, its not your problem...But we did it...They're here. 

- We are in early October and as a practical matter things started rolling in January of this year.  Its been 9 months, they said 6 for all the prepaids.  Sorry things are running late.  But they do have most of the original prepaids covered now.  -If all the folks in San Antonio and Riberas hadn't left for the summer, Ilox would have done their installs first.  But when they tried, their newly hired crews kept firing on 2 cylinders..so they said to heck with that and adjusted their plans to keep their crews busy, which included mixing recent signups with prepaids.    Raquet Club was an area with a high density of prepaid signups, it was one they had to jump on as a salvation to their crew utilization problem. We weren't anticipating that and it didn't look great for keeping promises, but they have a business to run and that's the explanation.  They are now all over San Antonio, Riberas, Chula Vistas....We did it.  They're here. 

- The areas beyond Raquet Club like Las Fuentes, etc..I don't know if you've driven it...it is way out there...Ilox installs are in three stages..First they have to prep the cables to the area...then the branch cables to the boxes, and then finally drop to the houses.  I know they are in the first stage to Las Fuentes...After they finish up San Antonio area they'll work on that area...And then most of the original lakeside area will be done. - I have dealt with dozens of complaints about service, refunds, etc and have found most or all of them to be unsubstantiated.  99% of the time a nice email to the NOC will resolve the problem.  I've seen:   mail delivery problems, unclear refund requests, language issue, customer side technical issues, misunderstanding of speed tests...it goes on and on.    In every case, showing just a bit more empathy and drilling down on the problem can solve it. 

lox is not Telmex..there are some subtleties.  They'll assign you a private IP address by default unless you request a public one, which can screw up streaming.  That's due to a global shortage of public IP addresses.  Their routers often block interport communication, so you need to put all of your network on one switch and run just one cable to the Ilox router.  They don't allow you to do much on the router like open ports, but they'll do practically anything you request via a mail to the NOC.  All of these are basically just prudent business practices for a small ISP that doesn't  want to their tech support choked with a bunch of trivia.  If you can't deal with this, get yourself a decent computer guy who can help you before you put it all on Ilox.

Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tom I have no problem waiting it is their customer service I get annoyed at . They phoned me Wednesday evening and made an appointment to come at 10 Thursday morning I was thrilled I stayed home all day cancelling my commitments They did not show or call At around 6 PM they called again and asked if I would stay home for them Friday morning I explained that I could not cancel another days business but my gardener would be there and could help them . They did not show up Friday and I was home early and stayed the rest of the day again no show no call. I know I am living in Mexico and I understand that things happen but they all carry a phone and even though I am not paid for my volunteer job I take it seriously and I make commitments  that I have to keep as do many of the people waiting for Ilox

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6 hours ago, tkessler said:

I'll offer my two cents here:

- For everyone who is complaining that they prepaid over 18 months ago and the delays have been eternal..understand that we had a pledge period, where you could express your interest without obligation...Once we had enough pledges, we had the prepaid period, where signups were sent vouchers to actually pay.  We didn't know if enough people would actually pay until last October, when they had enough and decided to start the project.   If you paid last May, like I did, about 6 months of that time was wait and see with no obligation.  At 7% percent interest on the roughly 15000 pesos for 6 months, you're out 500 pesos.  So sorry,  but Ilox wanted to see some skin in the game from the local community before committing to an FTTH installation.   I knew of no other way to get them in...We're not in the US.   Small communities there have worse problems trying to get broadband.    But we did it...They're here.  And their service is quite good. 

When they decided to start the project, they had to site their offices and concentrator installation.  Ajijic real estate prices turned out to be sky high, it took them a couple of extra months to get that sorted out....They finally got the office in Buganvilias arranged and concluded they couldn't put the truck depot in Ajijic....I know, its not your problem...But we did it...They're here. 

- We are in early October and as a practical matter things started rolling in January of this year.  Its been 9 months, they said 6 for all the prepaids.  Sorry things are running late.  But they do have most of the original prepaids covered now.  -If all the folks in San Antonio and Riberas hadn't left for the summer, Ilox would have done their installs first.  But when they tried, their newly hired crews kept firing on 2 cylinders..so they said to heck with that and adjusted their plans to keep their crews busy, which included mixing recent signups with prepaids.    Raquet Club was an area with a high density of prepaid signups, it was one they had to jump on as a salvation to their crew utilization problem. We weren't anticipating that and it didn't look great for keeping promises, but they have a business to run and that's the explanation.  They are now all over San Antonio, Riberas, Chula Vistas....We did it.  They're here. 

- The areas beyond Raquet Club like Las Fuentes, etc..I don't know if you've driven it...it is way out there...Ilox installs are in three stages..First they have to prep the cables to the area...then the branch cables to the boxes, and then finally drop to the houses.  I know they are in the first stage to Las Fuentes...After they finish up San Antonio area they'll work on that area...And then most of the original lakeside area will be done. - I have dealt with dozens of complaints about service, refunds, etc and have found most or all of them to be unsubstantiated.  99% of the time a nice email to the NOC will resolve the problem.  I've seen:   mail delivery problems, unclear refund requests, language issue, customer side technical issues, misunderstanding of speed tests...it goes on and on.    In every case, showing just a bit more empathy and drilling down on the problem can solve it. 

lox is not Telmex..there are some subtleties.  They'll assign you a private IP address by default unless you request a public one, which can screw up streaming.  That's due to a global shortage of public IP addresses.  Their routers often block interport communication, so you need to put all of your network on one switch and run just one cable to the Ilox router.  They don't allow you to do much on the router like open ports, but they'll do practically anything you request via a mail to the NOC.  All of these are basically just prudent business practices for a small ISP that doesn't  want to their tech support choked with a bunch of trivia.  If you can't deal with this, get yourself a decent computer guy who can help you before you put it all on Ilox.

Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you think you've found the "Home of Ungratefulness"...just wait until you serve on a Board of Directors!

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I will use Sue's response to separate out the two issues here. One is the wait time between signup and installation. I think most people are okay with that as a concept. Those with lousy Speeds right now are obviously more frustrated that others. The odd person who comes here to complain about that should be somewhat mollified by Tom's explanation.

The other side of the coin is customer service not related to post-installation.  There are no emails. There are no regular updates. There is no training for the office staff in Ajijic. Sure, it's a lowly job, but it's a job that should have some parameters other than taking names.

It would be nothing at all for iLox to assign an individual to prepare update mailings to customers who have not yet been installed. Even an explanation such as the Racquet Club one would go a long way. Just a teeny bit of customer awareness is all that's needed to show business courtesy.

And Sue is absolutely correct: when a team does get around to making appointments, it should be impressed upon them that it is a commitment: part of their job. If circumstances change, it is truly a minuscule deal to use the phones they already carry to notify the affected customer.

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I don't envy Tom in this. Clearly I made the right move by not getting involved at the corporate level. At some point, they will hook me up and I will be able to learn the inner workings a bit more. That is going to be more important as time goes by.

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I don't disagree with Computer Guy...the communications and customer service is not ready for prime time...If all my MX customer in my work answered me promptly and Ilox were the only one who didn't, I'd think its Ilox.  But with rare exception a lot of the country behaves like that...maddening...Maybe its cultural.  

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Our concept of living is based upon money and schedules.

The Mexican concept is based upon the present moment, with family and friends being first, and trying not to ever disappoint by saying 'no'.

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Of course it is cultural.  However it is my experience customer service is improving here versus being in decline NOB.  It is much easier to find a real person to deal with here than there.  Calling on the phone for service or information up there has turned into this maddening merry go round of communication with robots.  We've found utility service in general here are pretty far behind their NOB counterparts.  Other businesses are a mixed bag and some are quite superior, again because you deal with humans, not automated systems.  For example we've found the good contractors here beat the pants off of those NOB in both price and service.

If you think TelMex is bad now, talk with someone who was around when it was run by the government.  They'll explain to you what bad really was.

It is interesting to me our students in GDL use a wifi service as opposed to hard wired and it is quite superior and very low cost.  I don't understand why that can't be done here.  We aren't a large area but within all of the villages the density is very similar to their neighborhood just outside of Chapalita.

For almost all purposes most folks use internet for, a solid 20 down 2 up would work very well.  Most computers can't keep up with those blazing fast, ultra wide band systems.  Even a consistent 10 down will give you good streaming.

 

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I haven't heard that declaration.   But I think it depends upon the gated community.  If the members are going to endlessly debate and make it an uphill battle, Ilox won't want to deal with it.  Check out Las Quintas. They grabbed the bull by the horns.  Craig Rule, the lead in that development, sat down with the Ilox engineers,, got the requirements, used his maintenance people to do all the infrastructure for a song...I think it ended up being something like 200-300 dlls per home.  Now all 14 homes of them there have high speed fiber..  Done.  By the way, do you know what that does to home values?  Rental ease?    

Honestly Bedbug, I don't know what people are smoking to have to debate this.  Even if you are in a modern development where Telmex tied up the ducts, it probably makes sense to tear up the streets and put in decent fiber.   From a real estate value point of view.    Just don't put the onus on Ilox...They'll come to the entrance of the community with the preparation, its up the community members to make the preparations.   

Tom

 

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We tried this before. We not find anybody, engineer or not, to come, inspect our empty ducts and let us know if we are even eligible for installation.

Who exactly can one contact at Ilox. So far nobody will respond to our phone calls and emails.

In our small fracc less than half the homeowners are full-time or interested in Ilox so digging up the roads even though we have empty ducts available is not possible.

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I moved from Los Salvias to the south east corner of San Antonio. They are just starting to do installs as I know two people who were installed in this part of town in the last few days. They are suppose to be at my house at noon. Wish me luck.  FYI if you move take your modem with you and go to the office to arrange for install. It was painless and the fellow was very nice and helpful.

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Well from all of the comments, no response from Ilox via email yet, it appears that from San Antonio, installation is going to the far West in Las Fuentes, skipping San Juan Cosala and then moving from West to East to SJC?   Or until there is a spike in installs in the core area and they shift back there.

Appreciate everyone's comments, realize that many of these sub topics have been posted/revisted/commented on in numerours posts.

When you got nothing, you got nothing

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On 10/7/2019 at 2:05 AM, tkessler said:

  -If all the folks in San Antonio and Riberas hadn't left for the summer, Ilox would have done their installs first.  But when they tried, their newly hired crews kept firing on 2 cylinders..so they said to heck with that and adjusted their plans to keep their crews busy, which included mixing recent signups with prepaids.

Tom

Thank you Tom for all that you did to bring this about. I prepaid in April 2018 and have not complained about the delays. It has been somewhat frustrating, but I have tried to understand. But I keep hearing this line that "everyone in San Antonio and Riberas left for the summer." I live in Riberas and no one ever called me and no one ever came to my house. Others have stated the same. I went to the office every few weeks after it was open to inquire (always politely) when they would start in Riberas. At first it was a month, then two months, then September, now October. I'm not sure how they made their determination that everyone left. I will continue to wait patiently until it happens or until it is obvious that it will never happen, but I know for a fact that not everyone left San Antonio and Riberas and that I was never called and still haven't been called. Again, I appreciate all of your efforts and will continue to support this, but whoever you got that "fact" from may not have been fully factual.

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Install was great. Expect person to show up late my noon appointment was closer to two. They get backed up sometimes. His spanglish was great and he was a pro. Last step was showing me on his laptop the speed directly connected to the Ilox modem of 290.  My WIFI running on 5000 band line of sight to modem was 50 to 100.  Testing using normal 2400 WIFI was 40 to 60. WIFI results using my high power Access point with external antennae. To be frank the Ilox supplied WIFI is pretty low power and I tuned it off to avoid WIFI contention for bandwidth (button on side of FiberHome modem). The only negative other than the public IP issue.  He was neat in running his wires, polite, clean and what you want in a tech installer. I tipped him 100 pesos as these folks work hard going up and down ladders avoiding my electric fence and such. This was a move from Los Salvias in Ajijic to the south east corner of San Antonio. FYI you move your own modem.

Good luck folks!!

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On 10/9/2019 at 7:15 AM, lcscats said:

Install was great. Expect person to show up late my noon appointment was closer to two. They get backed up sometimes. His spanglish was great and he was a pro. Last step was showing me on his laptop the speed directly connected to the Ilox modem of 290.  My WIFI running on 5000 band line of sight to modem was 50 to 100.  Testing using normal 2400 WIFI was 40 to 60. WIFI results using my high power Access point with external antennae. To be frank the Ilox supplied WIFI is pretty low power and I tuned it off to avoid WIFI contention for bandwidth (button on side of FiberHome modem). The only negative other than the public IP issue.  He was neat in running his wires, polite, clean and what you want in a tech installer. I tipped him 100 pesos as these folks work hard going up and down ladders avoiding my electric fence and such. This was a move from Los Salvias in Ajijic to the south east corner of San Antonio. FYI you move your own modem.

Good luck folks!!

I really enjoy reading about a quick install, not only once, but now a second time, for a non pre paid?   Using money I contributed the project no less, while I've got no service.  I started this thread for prepaids not being serve, not those that jumped on the bandwagon, got quick installs.  

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3 hours ago, tugwestend said:

I really enjoy reading about a quick install, not only once, but now a second time, for a non pre paid?   Using money I contributed the project no less, while I've got no service.  I started this thread for prepaids not being serve, not those that jumped on the bandwagon, got quick installs.  

No one is “jumping on the bandwagon.” It was very clear from the beginning that putting your money up front was a gamble. There was much discussion about it. Some people decided it was worth the risk.  Others either could not afford to prepay for a year or did not wish to gamble. Those people said they’d see how it worked out. Some people have seen enough to sign up and pay install and monthly fees. It is not their fault they are getting hooked up before you. I never believed the story that all prepays would be hooked up first. It did not make sense that the company would hopscotch around lakeside and then fill in. What I thought would happen did happen. It is working out the way things work out in Mexico. 

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