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Kijoma Wireless Broadband

I have been having serious issues trying to get a reasonable resolution to a problem with Kijoma Broadband.

A little background - I work as a Desktop Infrastructure Support Specialist for a University. I deal with integration between the backend servers, network and Desktop PCs. I have been in this job for about 4 years and have been working in IT for 12 years.

We had problems a little while back where our connection to Kijoma would drop out. Bill (the MD, who has posted on here 4 times in total, three of which he was asked to email and confirm his status as MD and did not) visited and diagnosed the problem as being my PC. He couldn't tell me why it was doing it, but when he connected my PC to the wireless router via ethernet cable the network seemed to drop out at a similar time.

I then spent some time diagnosing my PC and could find nothing wrong with it. I however took it off the internal network and built another PC using a different mobo (therefore different network card as on-board) and tried that. Same problem occured. Eventually I tried connecting directly to the Kijoma wireless device and everything was fine. I then added my D-Link 8 port switch in to the mix, still everything fine. This indicates that the problem was the (Kijoma Supplied) wireless router. When I emailed to explain the testing I had done and the conclusion I had reached I was informed that they could visit again, but if it turned out to be my hardware again then the call would be chargeable. It never was my hardware in the first place, I was being fobbed off as he didn't know what the fault was and wanted to get out quickly.

I had been running with the service fine, without their wireless router, for some time after this. A few weeks ago (just before christmas) we noticed that the service was dropping out every few minutes. We would get interruptions to the connection that lasted between 10 seconds and a couple of minutes. This was ongoing and repeated throughout the day. Again I wrote and asked and they explained that the infrastructure we were connected to was privately funded and that they would be looking at upgrading it later this year.

The problem got steadily worse and now we are seeing somewhere in the region of 120-130 disconnects per day, all of between 10 seconds and 2 minutes at about 10-30 minute intervals. I used Emco Ping Monitor and set it up to ping BBC.CO.UK, Google.co.uk and three of the Kijoma routers IP numbers. This produced interesting results in that the disconnects were most commonly to BBC and Google. Over a 22 hour period the software recorded over 130 disconnects to BBC and Google, 8-10 disconnects to two of the Kijoma routers and a steady connection to one of the routers at all times. This to me indicates that there is a problem on their network as it is access OUTSIDE the Kijoma network that is dropping repeatedly.

I supplied all this information to them with screenshots and CSV log files generated from the Emco Ping Monitor and was told that this was perfectly normal for any ISP and that ping results were not and indication of disconnection - erm, sorry, no, ping results are always a very good indicator of connection status.

I am basically very unsure that the gentleman that runs this ISP (a family business - looks like him and his wife running it) has any idea what he's doing and is trying to cover up some serious business failings or has got too big to manage the workload that is required.

Please be warned, and just check out his behaviour and lack of responses on this site as well ;)
 
Hmm well in fairness he did visit you personally to look at the problem (first time without charge, I assume?), which is more than any other ISP would do. On the other hand what you describe isn't normal for fixed line connectivity but it's difficult to know precisely where the problem is coming from. Are you able to use a different router with the service or must it be a specific kind?

All sorts of things can affect wireless connectivity, such as obstructions to your line-of-sight with the transmitter, electrical storms can also cause interference and various other issue could be playing a part. On the other hand you did state that the connection itself hasn't actually dropped? So are you just losing sporadic connectivity to websites? If so then I'd recommend attempting to use a different DNS server, such as the free ones from OpenDNS, just to see if that helps.
 
It's all external access that goes down, not just some websites. It is also worth noting that we can't access anything for the 10 second to 1 minute periods of disconnection.

This gets to be rather a problem when trying to play MMO's as they rely on a constant connection.

It's such a shame as the service had been rock solid up until that point. Sure, we'd had the odd day where it was a little flaky in high winds or bad storms, but as you say with Wireless it's to be expected, but this is continued and repeated outages.

Every day we were seeing 130-140 outages lasting between 10 seconds and 2 minutes, this was to the entire outside world, but NOT to Kijomas routers, we maintained steady connection to those.
 
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And further to my reports, Kijoma have just released this email to all their users:

"Hi,

We are investigating and working to resolve an intermittent service problem in the Sutton/Bignor area.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused by this and any extra outages we cause doing tests to trace the source of the problem

Thank you"

So apparently there was a problem, even though I was repeatedly told that the issues I was seeing were normal?
 
Thanks for posting those stats, interesting.

I think what is so poor is that I have been lied to and fobbed off. When I asked to cancel the service they immediately did so and when I got home no more internet, even though I am technically paid up to the end of January.

Then to get this email stating that there WAS/IS a problem in our area with connectivity is just the icing on the cake. Not impressed.
 
I'd check the contract terms to see if they have one of those 30 day rolling payment contract / periods, in which case they shouldn't have disconnected you until the due date. But on the other hand you always have to double check exactly when the service will end before putting the phone down, just to be sure.

Also please feel free to post a review for their ISP as we have hardly any for wireless providers. Keep it short and simple :) .

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/products/302.html
 
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Official response to Adjmans posts

Hi,

It isn't good to lose a customer for any reason and the problems the ex customer from Duncton had experienced require some clarification from Kijoma's perspective.

The initial reported problem was investigated remotely at first and we could find no problem on our network up to the external aerial on their property. We advised that we could visit to investigate and if it was found to be a problem outside our responsibility, i.e. internal then we may charge for the visit.

A visit was booked and upon arrival the problem was isolated to one computer, as soon as this cabled (Ethernet) PC was unplugged from the switch on the wifi AP then the problem ceased.

If the cable that went to the PC was plugged into a netbook, as we did, then the problem did not exist also. This meant the cable (not a Kijoma supplied one) was also fine.

As soon as the offending PC was plugged back in then the wifi router and switch clogged up and traffic dropped to near zero. Looking back it is clear the offending PC was emitting a broadcast storm. This can be due to software, viruses , defective hardware or a combination thereof.

The customer said they would address the defective PC and we left with the service fully working (without that PC plugged in).

So in summary this problem was entirely "internal" and not a Kijoma system fault. The supplied wifi access point + switch was fitted to the building on request of the property landlord before they took tenancy and checks out ok.

Prior to the rogue PC issue, the service had been working fine as mentioned by the customer in this thread. The "router" as described has no problem with any other wired or wireless connected device.

We did not charge for the visit.

The second fault reported (packet loss, periodic drops), this was found to be a Kijoma network issue and was eventually traced to a firmware bug on one of our edge routers. This was an elusive fault as it showed the symptoms of wireless interference, even though we are the only users of that band in the area (as far as we are aware) and/or a defective Ethernet cable.

After a lot of log analysis and systematic changing of parameters on the network, the fault source was identified. The particular Wireless link router had a firmware bug that caused 100% CPU utilisation lock ups periodically. This meant the fault showed on both ethernet and wireless sides.

Unfortunately the customer decided to close their account before the fault was identified.

Here are some other errors in the posts from the ex customer that need clarification:-

I think what is so poor is that I have been lied to and fobbed off. When I asked to cancel the service they immediately did so and when I got home no more internet, even though I am technically paid up to the end of January.

On the 23rd of January the customer emailed us to ask for immediate ceasation of service :-

On 23/01/2012 14:45, Adjman wrote:
>> I am writing to you to cancel the Kijoma Wireless Broadband service,
>> effective immediately, due to the service not being fit for purpose.


Our Support department replied with the following :-

> Dear Mr (name removed),
>
> We confirm receipt of your email advising that you wish to cancel your Broadband service with Kijoma.
>
> We're sorry that you have decided to seek an alternative provider, but thank you for your past custom.
>
> Please ensure you contact your Bank to also cancel your existing Standing Order, as we do not have any control over these payments.
>
> Your connection will be terminated, as requested, once confirmation of this email is received here.


The response from the customer was :-

Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:56:15 +0000
From: <adjman@xxxx
To: Kijoma accounts <accounts@kijoma.co.uk>


Karen,

Thank you for your prompt response, I shall disconnect the equipment
this evening.

I can confirm the payment has now been cancelled by my bank.

Regards

A...


Despite the comment made on this forum that we cut them off before the end of the month , even though they had paid until the end of the month, they had specifically asked for an immediate cease of the service and had stated they would disconnect the equipment that evening (which they did).


I am basically very unsure that the gentleman that runs this ISP (a family business - looks like him and his wife running it) has any idea what he's doing and is trying to cover up some serious business failings or has got too big to manage the workload that is required.

This gentleman who runs this ISP is a qualified Electronics engineer with an extensive background in cabled and wireless networking in commercial, military and consumer environments. It is not run by "him and his wife" at all. My "wife" as you incorrectly claim resides in Kent and comes from a long professional background in customer support and is not married to me.

I object to the inference that there are "serious business failings" as this is defamatory and completely unfounded. Kijoma provides a high speed and professional service with market comparable prices without any public funding or subsidy. This it has done profitably for over 7 years without loans or investors.

As can be seen from the dates/times of the customer emails requesting the service is ceased and rthe dates of the posts on this forum, We were not exactly given any time to resolve the issue.

I normally would not post a response on a forum like this but as the ex customer has made it his purpose to make the situation public for all to read then I think it only fair that we are allowed to clarify this publicly too.

Note:- High winds or storms do not affect our service. it is a myth that wireless is affected by wind or rain. The only effect of storms, which did affect us at the end of 2011, is when a main link aerial gets physically damaged as one was during the very high winds we experienced on a Sunday. At the same time thousands of BT lines were downed ny falling trees etc.. In comparison, our service was back up the next day and the affected aerial fitted on a much stronger , more storm resistant roof mount.

Thank You

Bill Lewis - MD
Kijoma Broadband
 
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