In other places on this blog you can find my comments on my ISP Karoo filed under ISP.
Karoo's parent company is Kingston Communications, now called KCom which was a name shift they hoped would give them a maturity they apparenetly lacked before the name change, who were a small time company with a small time ISP. They have approximately 80,000 ADSL users, which if you look at the U.K. market is not large. They were at one time a local only company. They have spent millions expanding into the wider U.K. market and here and there abroad. This expanding has meant that this once local company which served only the Kingston-upon-Hull and surrounding areas is no longer a local company.
At one time they where the champions of telecommunications with a large fan base comprised of, not surprisingly, local people. As they have expanded this company has lost all the respect they once garnered from local people. Now, they are but another money grabbing company within the city. Along the way to being a multi-country company dabbling in all sorts of communication business they also lost the ability to talk to local people.
Over the last 2-3 years KCom have routinely upped their prices for the Hull telephone network. They clamied their TalkTalk packages where better for users when in actual fact everyone from pensioners, who where the worse affected, to businesses lost out. I.E. they all paid more for the priviledge of being on the KCom network. As an example: A pensioner rings once a month her or his daughter or son. That makes 4 calls in every quarter. Previously these calls cost 6.4pence. Now the lowest plan offered under the TalkTalk brand is £10. There have been cases where they have allowed a few people to take a TalkTalk plan of £5 but even at £5 that is a hell of a lot more than 4x6.4p (25.6pence). But did they listen? Nope. They just carried on regardless.
Now to Karoo. The Internet arm of KCom. They offer the most expensive ADSL packages in the U.K. which is made even worse by the total lack of features added (sometimes call Value Added Features). Over the years since Karoo's inception there have been several user groups who have attempted to foster better relations with Karoo. I, myself, was part of one such user group. In all honestly this sort of contact with Karoo management is, and probably always will be, a total waste of time and effort on the user groups part as Karoo/KCom have no intentions of listenng to user concerns.
In last ditch effort to get them to change course slightly and offer bang for buck packages I, and one other, emailed the KCom M.D., but I have serious doubts that he will listen to the concerns that I raised and much less faith he will answer the questions in a true and open manner. The company is now too big for the boots it once wore and because of this the arrogance coming out of their offices forces me to think they do not give a fig for their local user base and much less for what their user base wants from their monthly fees.
Karoo's parent company is Kingston Communications, now called KCom which was a name shift they hoped would give them a maturity they apparenetly lacked before the name change, who were a small time company with a small time ISP. They have approximately 80,000 ADSL users, which if you look at the U.K. market is not large. They were at one time a local only company. They have spent millions expanding into the wider U.K. market and here and there abroad. This expanding has meant that this once local company which served only the Kingston-upon-Hull and surrounding areas is no longer a local company.
At one time they where the champions of telecommunications with a large fan base comprised of, not surprisingly, local people. As they have expanded this company has lost all the respect they once garnered from local people. Now, they are but another money grabbing company within the city. Along the way to being a multi-country company dabbling in all sorts of communication business they also lost the ability to talk to local people.
Over the last 2-3 years KCom have routinely upped their prices for the Hull telephone network. They clamied their TalkTalk packages where better for users when in actual fact everyone from pensioners, who where the worse affected, to businesses lost out. I.E. they all paid more for the priviledge of being on the KCom network. As an example: A pensioner rings once a month her or his daughter or son. That makes 4 calls in every quarter. Previously these calls cost 6.4pence. Now the lowest plan offered under the TalkTalk brand is £10. There have been cases where they have allowed a few people to take a TalkTalk plan of £5 but even at £5 that is a hell of a lot more than 4x6.4p (25.6pence). But did they listen? Nope. They just carried on regardless.
Now to Karoo. The Internet arm of KCom. They offer the most expensive ADSL packages in the U.K. which is made even worse by the total lack of features added (sometimes call Value Added Features). Over the years since Karoo's inception there have been several user groups who have attempted to foster better relations with Karoo. I, myself, was part of one such user group. In all honestly this sort of contact with Karoo management is, and probably always will be, a total waste of time and effort on the user groups part as Karoo/KCom have no intentions of listenng to user concerns.
In last ditch effort to get them to change course slightly and offer bang for buck packages I, and one other, emailed the KCom M.D., but I have serious doubts that he will listen to the concerns that I raised and much less faith he will answer the questions in a true and open manner. The company is now too big for the boots it once wore and because of this the arrogance coming out of their offices forces me to think they do not give a fig for their local user base and much less for what their user base wants from their monthly fees.
2 comments:
Visit us at The Unofficial Karoo User Forums
Since the 'invention' of forums I have had a natural aversion to them. I am sure other readers of this blog will find the link interesting and they may even use the forum, but myself never will become part of that community.
I did have a quick browse of the forum and it appears to contain a few members who know what they are talking about and some that quite plainly do not, it also contains a wealth of good information relating to the Karoo ISP.
Thank you, whoever you are, for providing the link to the forum.
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