Moonbeam Communications & Equipment LLC

Review: I just wanted to share with the community as I feel though myself as well as many others have been deceived by the "legally acceptable" misinformation this company uses in selling its service.

First of all, I live in the [redacted] community in [redacted]. I have been here for nearly a year and for the entire time I have been here the only cable service I am able to receive is Moonbeam. They advertise their service as "high speed internet" and charge a high speed internet price. I live literally less than 1/4 of a mile away from the [redacted] hub in my area and though I have called them, [redacted], and several other cable providers in the area NONE of them can service me because of the exclusivity of the service here. That said, they do say that you are allowed to get Dish but satellite service in [redacted] is like a dog-sled in the swamp.

Moreover, the speeds I regularly average (in regards to down/up) range from 950kb/s -> 2.8mb/s down (often at 1.5mb/s or lower) and 500kb/s -> 1.1mb/s up. THIS IS NOT HIGH SPEED FOLKS! To put this in terms that anyone can understand, you will NOT be able to stream HD, you will NOT be able to download ANYTHING from the internet without spending the better part of your day and bandwidth dedicated to it, and you WILL NOT be paying for what you receive.

[redacted] (down the road) charges $50/month for 25mb/s down and that's not even receiving one of the deals that they often hand out! To make the distinction clearer, I pay $46 (originally $45...THEY UPPED THE BILL) every month for what is not even remotely close to the same amount.

[redacted]PLEASE NOTE I AM TECHNICALLY SAVVY AND MY JOB REVOLVES AROUND TECHNICAL TROUBLESHOOTING. I HAVE A GB/S ROUTER AND MODEM AND ALL OF MY DEVICES USED TO TEST THE SPEEDS ARE HARD-WIRED!! THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE UPON THE SPEEDS.[redacted]

I have been contacted by the leasing office regarding the frequent outages of service and have been urged to talk to someone in the company regarding this issue (which I have several times before) but there is literally nothing that could possibly be done to satisfy me. At the end of the day I am over-paying for garbage service with no real alternatives. If you are EVER in an apartment complex that offers Moonbeam, I would highly recommend finding another place to stay unless you can deal with having a sub-90's-era connection speed.

This complex is great and I love everything about this place. The leasing office really cares about its tenants and it shows but the service they provide may as well be non-existent. From what I have read, the same company that owns the property owns this garbage service and the reason I cannot receive servicing from companies SECONDS down the road is due to property management's denial of servicing. I have received nothing but fake promises and flat-out lies. This is corporate greed and evil at its absolute finest.

There is literally no reason, with how much money this company reaps from its customers, why the service can't be better. They say they are constantly updating the service and thus are charging more every few months. This is complete and total [redacted]. The first week of moving in I was ranging between 4mb/s -> 8mb/s and now I am lucky to get above 1.5mb/s. They will say this is because of the shared connection but if I am paying $46/month why in the [redacted] am I receiving a shared connection? I literally get faster internet speeds at the [redacted] down the road and that's FREE. My 3G is leaps and bounds faster and having more than one device using the internet service here means being unable to even use [redacted].

This company may file a response and may even reach out to me regarding the issue. [redacted], they may even offer to send someone out to check out the connection (as they have before) but at the end of the day nothing is going to fix this service as it's working exactly as this [redacted] company intends.Desired Settlement: There are two ways this company can extend a bit of good faith and make this right.

1) Charging prices that accurately match the quality of service received ($5/month TOPS).

2) Refunding me for the service they claimed would REGULARLY PROVIDE 8MB/S DOWN.

Yes, I called before-hand. Yes, a representative claimed EIGHT MEGABYTES (not megabits) PER SECOND DOWN.

The call was recorded but I am sure the company will never find that call as I did not record it myself. I WAS EVEN TOLD THIS WAS A SPLIT GIGABIT, FIBER OPTIC SERVICE! THIS IS A BLATANT LIE!!!!!!

Business

Response:

After Speaking with Mr. [redacted] we were able to identify specific problems that he is having all of which I feel are going to be easily resolvable. We are making plans to do the following: -Set the customer on a static IP for online gamming -Add additional bandwidth FREE of charge -Monitor the router and provide a temporary free router if we think it is a problem his router (router not provided by Moonbeam) We plan on doing a follow up on the phone on 3/16/15. If all issues are not resolved we will send out a technician free of charge. I'm 100% confident that all of these issues can and will be resolved in a timely manor. Thanks, [redacted]Operations Manager

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: The company did not follow through with the plan they had orchestrated to rectify the issues. I never received a follow up call from them and the three days following my initial conversation with them was filled with service inconsistencies and cost me work hours. Since the original call, the service has not changed in any way and I am actually having more issues with streaming media than I previously did. The service in the 3 days following the call were a little bit quicker than usual in regards to down/up rate but that is all.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

All of the changes with the account were done after the initial complaint. We have re-opened the service ticket and will continue to work with the customer until this is resolved. We have called and left a message with our contact information. [redacted]Operation Manager

Unreliable Internet/cable service. Agents and management are clueless on how to run a company but they have no issues with taking your money every month. Horrible experience with moonbeam. They should me ashamed of the product they offer

Review: Moonbeam has a contract with my apartment complex causing us to limit ourselves to only their services rather than to seek other service providers such as [redacted]. They falsely advertise that it is high speed internet, yet my Internet drops nearly twice an hour. I am a college student who is studying and taking tests online and I have failed exams because of this. When I call and beg for their assistance, they never return my calls. And by some great chance that they may actually answer, they never send out technical support like they claim that they will. The man from customer service told me that it wouldn't be an issue, and that he could offer me something better if I allowed him to call me back in a minute and unsurprisingly, he never returned my call and proceeded to ignore it after my several attempts of reaching him again. I pay 50 dollars a month for Internet services that are slower than dial up speed. On a good day, I get a maximum of 2 or 3 mbps. I am unable to use my wifi on my phone, which increases my data bill with my phone provider, I am unable to stream videos, play online games or complete my homework. I have been offered wonderful deals from other Internet providers and I am unable to use them because of this company. I am going to have to seek another apartment complex because of this or I will end up failing school.Desired Settlement: If I am forced to use this service I would like my Internet to be of some actual value. I pay 50 dollars a month which would give me outstanding Internet options elsewhere. I am entirely over charged. I would like proper customer service and would like them to return my calls when I am told that they will be returned. I would like service when I am told I will be given service.

Review: Not receiving the service advertised.

I have read all of the complaints on here, I am curious as to why everyone states that 'Brighthouse' is not allowed to offer services to our multiple '[redacted]' apartment complexes, and whoever handles the complaints denies this?

Anyways, I am making this complaint because my fiance does online college and needs to submit schoolwork in a timely manner. She is unable to do so at certain times of the day, or cannot load her school website to participate in class. Which then she has to rely on her mobile hot-spot, which has limited data, to do these things throughout the day. It is perfectly understandable to have slow speeds during peak hours of the day when everyone gets home from school/work, but why during non-peak hours? All of the residents are told that Moonbeam offers 'high-speed internet', I do not believe that 200-300 kbps is considered high-speed.

I do not purchase cable, so Internet is our cable, when the Internet is down, I am wasting $10/month on [redacted], $50/year for [redacted] Online, $10/month on [redacted]. I work 50 hours a week, I expect to be able to come home at 8PM and relax and play a few video games and/or watch [redacted]. I was told by the staff in the complex I reside in that there was an upgrade that was supposed to take place in March that would resolve connection issues, I have seen no difference in speed since said 'upgrade'.

I am very happy with the complex that I live in, and the only thing driving me away is the reliability of the internet speed. From what I have read on various websites, '[redacted]' could have kept a lot more tenants if they would address the ongoing issue of the consistently slow internet speeds and/or completely offline service.

I did have a very pleasant technician visit my home during said 'upgrades', who was great, I guess he corrected certain issues with something in my wiring. His work corrected my speeds for a couple of weeks, then it went back to before said 'upgrades'.

P.S. - They do allow [redacted] Network to provide services, but if you complex is in the right direction to face the satellite. (Federal law requires [redacted] be allowed).Desired Settlement: I do not want a refund for my services over the past 8-9 months, I just want my internet speed/downtime to be resolved. Or, allow Brighthouse into your complexes so I can have a more reliable ISP.

Business

Response:

I am very sorry you are experiencing issues with our service. Here is some helpful information: There is no contract or agreement that blocks or disallows another provider such as Brighthouse. As you mentioned some residents have a personal [redacted] for cable service. We cannot help it if your apartment does not have clear line of site for a personal [redacted] but in no way intestinally block this. A company such a Brighthouse will not provide service on a property like [redacted] because they do not want to compete with any other provider so communications companies typically choose to only provide in markets where they can have a sole monopoly of potential customers. One of the main reason is the large cost for running wiring, amplifiers and other equipment to the various buildings on site that are needed to provide service. I terms of your internet being slow you stated that in the past when you have had issues we sent a technician out and everything was resolved. it sounds like there is a technical issues affecting your apartment unit. We will gladly send a technician back to resolve this as soon as possible. We will be contacting you today and hope to schedule an appoint as early as today. I do not believe this is a bandwidth issues or un-resolvable problem as it was taken care of in the past by a tech visit. The service call is free and if we find an issue on our end we will gladly credit you for the month. Again we are sorry for your inconvenience and will reach out to you today for resolution. [redacted] Operation Manager

HORRIBLE SERVICE. I have lived in my apartments and forced to use Moonbeam since September of 2014. EVERY month since I've had this service my internet goes in or out. It says I have full wifi signal but it BARELY works. I have constant issues streaming videos on my laptop and even on my [redacted]. In December they claimed they were upgrading their service and decided to charge us more money! Great! Well I did not see ANY improvement. MUCH Slower, MUCH more problems. My phone works better on my cell phone service! I can't even play a game on my [redacted]. And forget streaming [redacted] or anything else. This is the worst service ever and if I had the choice I would not use them ever or if at all. It is a WASTE of money.I've paid $150 so far towards this company for my internet and I wish I had it all back. And to charge us more money for an even slower service is absurd. I wouldn't renew my lease solely for this horrible service.