Woosh Wireless Sucks
I have received more pain from Woosh Wireless than any other ISP in New Zealand. That includes Telecom.
Most of the pain is caused by the slower-than-dialup connection speeds and a signal that is constantly dropping out. The rest of the pain is caused by having to wait about 30-40 minutes on their phone line every time I’ve called them to complain about their service. Not even the IRD is this bad!
The latest in the long saga of my dealings with this company is an email I keep receiving requesting me to return their modem (emphasis mine):
Subject: Urgent Reminder: Return Woosh Equipment
<snip>
This is a reminder to please return your Woosh equipment. Our records show that you still have a Woosh owned Modem. If you have not received a courier-pack with full instructions, you can request one by ringing 0800 4 WOOSH (0800 4 96674) and return the equipment without incurring any freight charges.
If you have returned this equipment, please notify us by sending an email to accounts@woosh.com or phone us so we can update our records
Fees may be charged by Woosh for items not returned.
<snip>
Well I have asked for courier pack twice now. I’m not going to ring and wait for 40-odd minutes to ask for it again. Woosh should provide a return courier pack with the modem anyway (Speculation: they probably don’t because they are scared people will cancel the service after trying it for the first time).
In my opinion, of the all ISPs I’ve tried in New Zealand, Woosh sucks the hardest. I’d avoid them unless you absolutely need the wireless functionality, in which case you’re probably better off going with Vodafone. It might cost more, but at least they don’t suck.
thanks for that, i was looking for a wireless ISP that serviced Kumeu and stumbled across QuickFire Wireless via google. After being re-directed to the woosh site I was a bit concerned that no speeds were quoted on any of their wireless plans and alarm bells rang. your comment above make my decision to leave woosh well alone an easy one. thanks again.
We have the same problems with companies in the U.S. Don’t feel bad.
Ive been connected to woosh phone and internet for only a few days and already have regrets. Broadbrand is noticeably slower than Xtra and I thought they were slow. I make phone calls but cant be heard on the end or get disconnect and engaged tones. Apparently I have a cell tower about 500mtrs away in a clear line of sight…Woosh suck if this is as good as it gets.
Haha! I googled ‘woosh sucks’ and your site was the first! I have just recently discontinued my woosh account due to the fact im in line of signal and still dialup speeds, their tech support kept reading their database troubleshooting and I was going around in circles, but the main reason why I cancelled account was an AP mishap on THEIR END! 3 months ago woosh had taken 675$ from my account when my bill was only $130 (I also used the woosh phone). The money owed was deposited back into my bank account promptly also with an apology, but all that happened was it reduced my bank account by $50 dishonesty fee. Have written a complaint (made a copy and sent it to myself as well for verification), they received the complaint as i made sure it was ‘track n trace’ requesting that they also pay me $50 for the unwanted ‘dishonesty fee’, have not heard from them since! now I am so glad that I am on telstraclear cable, cant live without my 10mbit connection (the speed doesnt drop either and sometimes it reaches 15mbit). Thanks for ther post makes me feel justice has been done!
Just a bit of balance – I have been with Woosh for 2 years and are very happy with them.I have contacted them twice for support and the staff have been very helpful and do not recall having to wait .I realise the speed is not the greatest however it is suitable for my purposes and is a factor of the current wireless technology.I live some 500 metres from the cell site (I have just downloaded Adobe reader and a photo program at 22mb + 8 mb which took 4.08 minutes).The main reason I decided to go with woosh was price.As I have the woosh phone (I cannot really tell the difference between it and a traditional landline) I pay $49 a month with 1gb of broadband data which is about what I would pay Telecom for the landline only including all the options like caller display,messaging etc.
This is all I need. If I needed a faster connection I would purchase a fast connection and pay for it.
Be warned I had the same problem with Vodafone wireless!!! I got faster speeds with my 56k modem dialup connection!!! Also the signal kept dropping out. Very frustrating when talking to customers over the phone. I also tried this in “Vodafone wireless” areas such as hastings which states that the 3g coverage is excellent. It’s not. Perhaps with the Telecom unbundling we may finally see the bb prices come down and better w/less services setup!!!
A friend of mine had woosh and it worked for him so I decided to use it. Cost was a factor and the ability to have phone and computer at same time. Before we had dial-up and no phone when computer was used. Woosh would have to be so much worse than the slowest dial-up I have ever had. Got a tech out and he said I don’t have good line to site so shouldn’t have been sold the wireless option. To change I have to pay even though they haven’t provided what they promised! As soon as I can I will be changing. Just hunting options.
WOOSH IS CRAP MY DAIL UP WAS FASTER GO WITH TELCOM AND PAY THE EXTRA
Interesting comments.
I was forced to join woosh – as the place I moved to had no connection jack-point (or connection that was available) Telecom kindly charged me $98.00 for terminating their broadband contract early!!
After 3 months – I moved again(unplanned at time of woosh set-up) which was out of the woosh contact area – I’d been told I’d have “country access – no problem!)
I moved. Woosh then told me there was NO “country acces but I could “piggy back with an 09 number. After waiting nearly TWO weeks – and further investigation – I am told the “piggy” back computer already has jetstream attached – so now CANNOT have this option either.
After another 30-40minute wait (now a familiar occurence) and a lengthy conversation, I am told that I have THREE options!!!!
a. Pay the $198.00 fee for breaking the contract early
b. Ask the jetstream provider to move over to woosh!! (never mind THEIR contract)
c. find a “friend” in the city to take over my curret woosh contract!!
When I tell the operator that these decisions are all bordering riduculous – he explains that they are legitimate options and that I’d better make a choice.
Who needs this kind of service. I am disgusted.
Does anyone have ideas on how I can avoid the $198.00 fee?
Guys I can’t believe they can be so bad.
Woosh have been in the marketplace for years and years, and have an enviable record in wireless technology.
While I am not yet a Woosh subscriber, I think I will change to them. Their pricing looks attractive, and I am sure that if you approach their support people with a positive attitude, there will be good results.
It would be worth looking at this:
http://www.aardvark.co.nz/daily/2008/0728.shtml
Surely they will be able to find an angel investor to continue their customer relationships.
I saw few people selling their account on trademe. You can try it.
Yes Woosh sux, very disappointing customer service. Wont send out a technician!!!!~!
You were forced to join Woosh???
What ever happened to personal freedom and independence of choice? If you CHOOSE to go with a provider and sign a CONTRACT you should think about what you are doing before you regret it!
I’m not bandwagoning Woosh here but come on…try getting out of contracts with anything, internet, phone, power, gas etc Sharpen up and join reality, companies have terms and conditions – READ THEM BEFORE YOU SIGN UP FOR ANYTHING.
crap customer service. crap service. crap speeds. just plain crap.
Seems like you guys have a chip on the shoulder.
Look, if it were that bad, you would not have heard of them. They promote confidentally and I see their service vehicles in the striking green and white all over town.
You do have to work constructively with service providers. Bad-mouthing ultimately hurts you as much as them
Those interested in joining the Woosh family, read this more balanced view:
http://www.woosh.com/ContentClient/Internet/InternetOverview.aspx?referrer=APN
Well we will give Woosh a try we are currently pissed with I hug. poor customer service
It’s too bad that there are no other people cashing in on the same tech out there.I hate woosh and woosh hates me,dont get me started about the connections going down either.Lol i remember the girl at dick smiths onehunga saying that onehunga gets awesome reception and staying less then a block away from that store i bought it.BE WARNED woosh isn’t for you if your a net junkie or a gamer.
I’ve had my Woosh data connection for a long time now (must be about 4 years I think) and recently bought a second Woosh contract so my kids could use it away from home.
I use both signons at multiple locations so that is why I like Woosh. It would be no use to me to be tied to one location as with Xtra ADSL etc.
Sure there are times when I have been frustrated with the Woosh helpdesk, but as others have said, you get variable service everywhere. You also get different signal quality in different areas, but there don’t seem to be too many places where I can’t get it to work.
Initially I had lots of problems with my Woosh connection but eventually realised that Windows 2000 has massive faults with some USB chipsets and the USB protocol in general, and that is what was causing most of my problems with the modem disconnecting.
Once I got that sorted (by adding a different USB pci card) I got much better reliability.
There is also no doubt that there is much greater reliability using the “network cable” interface to connect to the Woosh modem. The USB cable connection can be much less reliable, especially if you have a marginal chipset or usb protocol issue as many PCs do.
Dollar for dollar I think Woosh is a really sweet product, but I think it is very important to note that any wireless connection is unsuitable for gaming because data packets arrive at variable times.
This is also the same reason that faxes won’t run properly over an IP line. You have to choose the right type of connection for your purposes.
I trialled the Woosh phone, but it didn’t work properly for me because I am theoretically outside the Woosh coverage area and the signal strength was inadequate. I am just happy to settle for the data connection. Speed-wise it is not as fast as Xtra (but costs me only half the price) but way faster than dialup was.
Some of the problems others are getting could possibly be caused by being too CLOSE to transmission sites, not always too far away. I found my connection really troublesome when I parked less than about 300 metres from the transmitter. Too many signals swamping the modem I reckon.
Wireless connectivity seems to be as much of an art as a science. “Suck it and see” is the attitude to have. What works beautifully in one street may be hopeless a few hundred metres away.
I say you should be able to get a stable Woosh setup running within two weeks, and if it isn’t happening for you in that time send the gear back. I think they give a 30 day grace period.
If you haven’t got it sorted in that two weeks you should either assume it’s not going to be sorted, or else do what I did and battle on through the problems till you iron them out.
I should really try and get a job with the Woosh helpdesk, I learnt so much that they didn’t already know. (or if they did know they didn’t tell me)
Don’t get me started on Vodaphone…Those guys should be in a criminal court for what they did to me.