Dear Timothy:
background-">My name is *** *** with SniperHillI am in receipt of your Revdex.com Complaint (Revdex.com Case # ***)Your feedback is important to usFirst and foremost, I would like to personally apologize our services have fallen short of your expectationsWe are aware our service reflects on our business as a whole and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your issue promptly, openly, completely and in a fully responsive manner.Your specific complaint centered around the inability to connect via ethernet cable with your Macbook Air (no ethernet port on the Air) and slower than average speeds. After being on the ground myself in Iraq and Afghanistan the better part of the last decade, I can understand your frustrationAs *** *** Project Manager at your location at Kandahar Airfield noted with you, your refund was processed on **FEB(Customer Care ticket history with receipts of your refund are attached for your reference.)
In the meantime, with the hope that your living area does have or you can can get to an area with widespread coverage, please also accept days of unlimited service of Delta Force with our complimentsThe account will work anywhere on the SniperHill network on KAF and at every base at which SniperHill is located throughout theaterSee below for your login credentialsUpon authentication (your first sign in), your complimentary account will be activatedIt will be valid for for days of unlimited service from your first login
Service Level: Delta Force
Life of Plan: Days
Time Online: Unlimited
Download bandwidth usage: Unlimited
Upload bandwidth usage: Unlimited
Username* ***
Password: ***
If I may, I'd like to address the points raised in your complaint
You're absolutely correct, cost to provide service in Afghanistan is higher than just about anywhere else in the worldPrices are higher and speeds are slower, especially compared to the USWithout questionSatellite-based networks and networks with limited or non-advanced fiber optic infrastructure are not designed for speed. Traditional network designs are not applicable to a combat zone or in countries with inferior, unstable, or obsolete telecommunications infrastructure such as Afghanistan’sWith limited bandwidth and 200+ millisecond average latency on the terrestrial fiber infrastructure in Afghanistan (and over milliseconds on satellite), the experience is not the same as back homeRegardless of what network you're on or where you're at in Afghanistan, the inherent latency, even on a terrestrial fiber optic backbone, causes lag
The plans we offer and the prices charged have been set by the terms of our contract with the Department of Defense (DoD)/Army & Air Force Exchange Service (The Exchange) HQsSniperHill was involved in a competitive bidding process under stringent government contracting regulations and was awarded the contract over all other respondents because we offered the best solution at the lowest priceDoD contracts are awarded through a process designed in part to afford certain protections to our soldiers, such as reasonable prices, security of financial and personal information, product quality control, and customer-friendly policies
Based on posted prices and speeds in Afghanistan from providers like: Edge City Networks, Stantel, Ifone-Neda, and JPI Worldwide (to name a few), SniperHill is far and away the most competitiveThis has been widely confirmed by Combatant Commanders, customer feedback and Operation: Enduring Freedom family members back homeAlso, a portion of proceeds from our services are returned to the customer base at every US/NATO Base through a variety of programs designed to improve quality of life, morale and welfareThis is not true for any other ISP in Afghanistan
Monitored Performance: bandwidth tests are recorded from Linux machines that are configured to login and act exactly as an authorized subscriber (to provide results consistent with the enduser’s experience.)
The machines are connected to customer VLANs on the network at every site, including Bagram and every base you logged in with us in theatreThe tests run every ten minutes from perl scripts running on dedicated test servers at each location
Test machines are logged into the network using unmodified user accounts and the tests are run to a central test server in the USThe machines run both an uplink and downlink TCP and UDP test once every ten minutes hours a day, days week, days a year
Both TCP and UDP protocols are tested in both directions and capture the data rate, round trip time, retransmissions, and lost packets (for UDP)
The test results are reviewed by the Level-Global Operations Center (GOC) staff and DoD engineers to verify and ensure the quality of the customer's experience and provide a recorded history of overall performance
Other performance requirements in the contract include: fully documented network infrastructure, SNMP manageable network elements, broadcast domains limited to users (or less), bandwidth utilization on trunks not to exceed 95% of capacity, and contention ratio not to exceed 18.5%There are many other performance based requirements
Technical rollups (including the every-10-minute test results) as well as every troubleticket including yours, from submission to resolution for every location are provided weekly to the DoD Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), The Exchange HQs, Advanced Telecommunications DirectorateThe COR is responsible to the Contracting Officer (KO) for oversight of SniperHill’s contract with DoDHis US government staff is concerned with every aspect of SniperHill's business, from contract award to service delivery and daily operations
DoD receives and reviews all data every week, looking for excessive numbers of troubletickets or unusual patternsIn addition, DoD has a network engineer in country dedicated to the task of monitoring and overseeing network performance at every siteHe validates SniperHill's network performance by conducting his own independent tests and is also available for dispatch to locations experiencing unusual patterns of network activityIf needed, he acts as the customer’s advocate in resolving any issues with SniperHillThe SniperHill network is monitored 24/7,
I hope this information has been helpful, am grateful your letter was brought to my attention and am hopeful we can restore your confidence in our servicePlease feel free to contact me directly at +*** or at *** if there is anything else we can do or if you have any further questions
Sincerely,
--
*** *** | SrVice President, Global Services
***
***
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]
Dear Timothy:
background-">My name is *** *** with SniperHillI am in receipt of your Revdex.com Complaint (Revdex.com Case # ***)Your feedback is important to usFirst and foremost, I would like to personally apologize our services have fallen short of your expectationsWe are aware our service reflects on our business as a whole and we appreciate the opportunity to respond to your issue promptly, openly, completely and in a fully responsive manner.Your specific complaint centered around the inability to connect via ethernet cable with your Macbook Air (no ethernet port on the Air) and slower than average speeds. After being on the ground myself in Iraq and Afghanistan the better part of the last decade, I can understand your frustrationAs *** *** Project Manager at your location at Kandahar Airfield noted with you, your refund was processed on **FEB(Customer Care ticket history with receipts of your refund are attached for your reference.)
In the meantime, with the hope that your living area does have or you can can get to an area with widespread coverage, please also accept days of unlimited service of Delta Force with our complimentsThe account will work anywhere on the SniperHill network on KAF and at every base at which SniperHill is located throughout theaterSee below for your login credentialsUpon authentication (your first sign in), your complimentary account will be activatedIt will be valid for for days of unlimited service from your first login
Service Level: Delta Force
Life of Plan: Days
Time Online: Unlimited
Download bandwidth usage: Unlimited
Upload bandwidth usage: Unlimited
Username* ***
Password: ***
If I may, I'd like to address the points raised in your complaint
You're absolutely correct, cost to provide service in Afghanistan is higher than just about anywhere else in the worldPrices are higher and speeds are slower, especially compared to the USWithout questionSatellite-based networks and networks with limited or non-advanced fiber optic infrastructure are not designed for speed. Traditional network designs are not applicable to a combat zone or in countries with inferior, unstable, or obsolete telecommunications infrastructure such as Afghanistan’sWith limited bandwidth and 200+ millisecond average latency on the terrestrial fiber infrastructure in Afghanistan (and over milliseconds on satellite), the experience is not the same as back homeRegardless of what network you're on or where you're at in Afghanistan, the inherent latency, even on a terrestrial fiber optic backbone, causes lag
The plans we offer and the prices charged have been set by the terms of our contract with the Department of Defense (DoD)/Army & Air Force Exchange Service (The Exchange) HQsSniperHill was involved in a competitive bidding process under stringent government contracting regulations and was awarded the contract over all other respondents because we offered the best solution at the lowest priceDoD contracts are awarded through a process designed in part to afford certain protections to our soldiers, such as reasonable prices, security of financial and personal information, product quality control, and customer-friendly policies
Based on posted prices and speeds in Afghanistan from providers like: Edge City Networks, Stantel, Ifone-Neda, and JPI Worldwide (to name a few), SniperHill is far and away the most competitiveThis has been widely confirmed by Combatant Commanders, customer feedback and Operation: Enduring Freedom family members back homeAlso, a portion of proceeds from our services are returned to the customer base at every US/NATO Base through a variety of programs designed to improve quality of life, morale and welfareThis is not true for any other ISP in Afghanistan
Monitored Performance: bandwidth tests are recorded from Linux machines that are configured to login and act exactly as an authorized subscriber (to provide results consistent with the enduser’s experience.)
The machines are connected to customer VLANs on the network at every site, including Bagram and every base you logged in with us in theatreThe tests run every ten minutes from perl scripts running on dedicated test servers at each location
Test machines are logged into the network using unmodified user accounts and the tests are run to a central test server in the USThe machines run both an uplink and downlink TCP and UDP test once every ten minutes hours a day, days week, days a year
Both TCP and UDP protocols are tested in both directions and capture the data rate, round trip time, retransmissions, and lost packets (for UDP)
The test results are reviewed by the Level-Global Operations Center (GOC) staff and DoD engineers to verify and ensure the quality of the customer's experience and provide a recorded history of overall performance
Other performance requirements in the contract include: fully documented network infrastructure, SNMP manageable network elements, broadcast domains limited to users (or less), bandwidth utilization on trunks not to exceed 95% of capacity, and contention ratio not to exceed 18.5%There are many other performance based requirements
Technical rollups (including the every-10-minute test results) as well as every troubleticket including yours, from submission to resolution for every location are provided weekly to the DoD Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), The Exchange HQs, Advanced Telecommunications DirectorateThe COR is responsible to the Contracting Officer (KO) for oversight of SniperHill’s contract with DoDHis US government staff is concerned with every aspect of SniperHill's business, from contract award to service delivery and daily operations
DoD receives and reviews all data every week, looking for excessive numbers of troubletickets or unusual patternsIn addition, DoD has a network engineer in country dedicated to the task of monitoring and overseeing network performance at every siteHe validates SniperHill's network performance by conducting his own independent tests and is also available for dispatch to locations experiencing unusual patterns of network activityIf needed, he acts as the customer’s advocate in resolving any issues with SniperHillThe SniperHill network is monitored 24/7,
I hope this information has been helpful, am grateful your letter was brought to my attention and am hopeful we can restore your confidence in our servicePlease feel free to contact me directly at +*** or at *** if there is anything else we can do or if you have any further questions
Sincerely,
--
*** *** | SrVice President, Global Services
***
***
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]