TT Connect My Broadband review.

Why are ISP having issues with T T Connect Submitted by Staff Writer on Mon, 11/19/2018 - 19:22 This article was originally published on MyBroadband

Cool Ideas has stopped taking orders for TT Connect because of consistent network problems and poor support.

On 6 November 2018, Cool Ideas posted a message on its website saying it cannot take new orders until “TT Connect can resolve their network issues”.

“We want to provide our loyal customers with a certain level of service and unfortunately on the TT Connect network this is not possible at the moment,” Cool Ideas said.

MyBroadband has learned that other Internet service providers are experiencing the same problems with TT Connect.

Why Cool Ideas stopped taking TT Connect orders Cool Ideas, which was crowned South Africa’s ISP of the Year in October, offers services over more than 30 fibre network operators (FNOs).

In an interview with MyBroadband, Cool Ideas said it has a good relationship with all FNOs and work closely with them if problems occur.

TT Connect, however, is the exception. Cool Ideas said TT Connect has caused endless support and network quality issues for ISPs.

Cool Ideas said it has engaged with TT Connect management and technical staff for over two years to try to resolve the problems without real progress.

It has happened before Cool Ideas also stopped processing orders from TT Connect in July 2017 to get a response to service delivery and quality issues.

“Some issues were resolved in October/November 2017, after which Cool Ideas resumed taking orders for clients on the TT Connect network,” Cool Ideas said.

“Resolution required Cool Ideas to monitor TT Connect POP switches to prove to TT Connect that packet loss and regular micro-outages (120 seconds and more) were indeed a real occurrence.”

However, these problems cropped up again this year which led to the decision to stop sign-ups.

Cool Ideas said they have engaged with TT Connect’s management on many occasions with constructive suggestions, but to no avail.

“Our suggestions fell on deaf ears and our customers and staff suffer from the lack of service from TT Connect,” Cool Ideas said.

TT Connect network problems Cool Ideas highlighted numerous problems on TT Connect’s network, including packet loss, point-of-presence (POP) power problems, and poor technical support.

“TT Connect’s network infrastructure and backhaul network are regularly congested, with significant packet loss between TT Connect POPs,” Cool Ideas said.

“Packet loss, combined with 180ms international latency, results in severely degraded TCP connection performance causing our clients to have sub-3Mbps download speeds to international speed test servers.”

Cool Ideas said there have been several network loops and broadcast storms on the TT Connect network, which affected all ISPs.

“When there are issues with our NNI (interconnect) there is no urgency from TT Connect to restore the service,” Cool Ideas said.

Cool Ideas added that TT Connect also has issues in keeping their road-side POP installations powered, sometimes “resorting to generators and battery banks to keep POPs powered for weeks on end”.