Has anyone had any success with Western Shores Cable (GMP now)? I have been very frustrated and unsuccessful in getting my cable installed so I can get a cable modem. They have been to my house no less than 8 times since March of this year. There is a viscious circle going on between the installers and the survey crews. It seems it's nobody's job. After taking time off from work to meet the installers on more than one occaision, I have called the office 8 to 10 times and have not been able to talk to a supervisor yet. The other day I spoke to the subcontractor that does the cable modem work for GMP and he said he has no available slots for new people anyway. What a joke it is. Anyway, I now have satelite and will attempt to get faster internet service via anywhere else. I strongly recommend that anyone out there that reads this pass the information on to others and in effect boycott the cable company!!! They don't need our business. Just ask them.
cable modems
- Thread starter newbie12
- Start date
I had many problems with the HSA/cable partnership for a long time. Much of it was very similar to what you're describing -- no one wanting to take responsibility for anything. It seemed the only people willing and capable of helping were the actual technicians, but getting them to your house was quite the chore!
I won't get into a long tirade (and believe me, it could be quite the tirade if I strained to remember details), but the gist of my problem was that the kids in my neighborhood had collapsed the cable box on the corner, damaging the cables inside and weakening the signal to the homes. This resulted in a signal that was often too weak to support internet access, so our modem was up about 50% of the time. (If you're a pessimist, you could say it was down 50% of the time. I just know it never worked when I wanted it to.)
When the techs finally made it to my neighborhood -- after literally six months of phone calls and even a letter threatening to go to the Better Business Bureau -- it took them about an hour to fix it all. Of course, I had to move a month later, and the problems started all over again...
I finally just gave up. I'd like to think that GMP runs a tighter ship than GMP/HSA did, but I had problems with their people as well. So I guess it's a satellite dish for TV and dial-up for the 'net... for now.
I hope you have better luck than I did!!
I won't get into a long tirade (and believe me, it could be quite the tirade if I strained to remember details), but the gist of my problem was that the kids in my neighborhood had collapsed the cable box on the corner, damaging the cables inside and weakening the signal to the homes. This resulted in a signal that was often too weak to support internet access, so our modem was up about 50% of the time. (If you're a pessimist, you could say it was down 50% of the time. I just know it never worked when I wanted it to.)
When the techs finally made it to my neighborhood -- after literally six months of phone calls and even a letter threatening to go to the Better Business Bureau -- it took them about an hour to fix it all. Of course, I had to move a month later, and the problems started all over again...
I finally just gave up. I'd like to think that GMP runs a tighter ship than GMP/HSA did, but I had problems with their people as well. So I guess it's a satellite dish for TV and dial-up for the 'net... for now.
I hope you have better luck than I did!!
Christy
b*tch rocket
It doesn't appear that GMP has improved. We've been attempting to establish one way cable connection with our new computer which came loaded with Windows XP. No luck doing so at all. GMP's response on my answering machine was "we don't support Windows XP at this time, not to say we won't in the future, but at the moment, there is nothing we can do to provide you with any assistance". It was pretty much a "piss off" message, in verbage and in tone.
Now I haven't a clue of what the hell I'm going to do. I'm paying these idiots for cable (one way) modem service, and I can't even get it to work. I've tried just about everything, other than paying Microsoft $35 for tech support in solving the conflict.
Now I haven't a clue of what the hell I'm going to do. I'm paying these idiots for cable (one way) modem service, and I can't even get it to work. I've tried just about everything, other than paying Microsoft $35 for tech support in solving the conflict.
jlabsher
Sorry about that chief.
What type of cable modem does GMP use? I called GMP and they said ONLY Com21 CP-1000 or CP-2000 would work. Tech support said that Motorola 3100 would work. Neither modem is currently being made/marketed. The Com21 modems they mentioned are only available on Ebay. Motorola has a 4100 model. I want to get a good one that is DOCSIS compliant. I figure I can buy a new Motorola for $150 and it would pay for itself in 15 months since GMP so generously "rents" me one for $10 a month.
QualityPCRepair
Member
Granted that buy purchasing a cable modem it will pay for itself in time. BUT!! If there's a problem with it the cost of repair is more the the cost of the modem. If you lease the modem from the cable company you will get a replacement if there's ever a problem. And that is no additional cost to you.
I have been called by people that have problems with a bad cable modem that they have purchased. They all have had to be replaced.
I prefer leasing the modem because it's somewhat like an insurance. If it ever stop working, I'll get a replacement.... FREE.
I have been called by people that have problems with a bad cable modem that they have purchased. They all have had to be replaced.
I prefer leasing the modem because it's somewhat like an insurance. If it ever stop working, I'll get a replacement.... FREE.
DarbyOhara
Musician
Christy... Ms. Forum Junkie.. lol What is the status of your GMP connection? You still paying for the service and still not working? I have had GMP (pre Western Shore) and I could also go into the many stories of their bad service. But, I will say that if the problems weren't in the connection/service itself, I fixed it myself. I have used MS-DOS, 95, 98, 98SE, ME and XP 2000 arena, so I know it will work! A connection is a connection in any of the OS's. Each has to be setup properly. It's definately your settings and if you want some assistance... let me know...
I have moved to DSL (verizon) and although I don't get as strong of a BW like I did with the cable, I am pleased with it.
As far as the person recommending satellite.... do research this before you go out and invest. If you just want a fast way to surf the net... go spend the money if you want... but if you are like me and my lady... that service will never be acceptable since you are limited on your upload/download bytes per month. They cut back your BW the more you transfer (they HAVE to do this cause the technology just isn't there yet -- and there's only one or 2 satellite up there to support ALL customers).
Is DSL from Verizon available throughout St. Mary's County or just in certain areas? I went to their website and they said it MIGHT be available in my area - they would check and let me know within 6 days if it were. (BTW - my house is located near Callaway, but has a Leonardtown address.)
StillCrazy
Member
Ken is on the money with his assessment of Verizon DSL in St. Mary's - hit and miss. I have a co-worker who lives in Scotland - and he has Verizon DSL. I had to ask him twice to make sure I heard correctly. So, Scotland - yes, Leonardtown - no, My place, Hollywood - no.
I've been running GMP cable modem for about two weeks. So far, it's been down one evening for several hours. Other than that, I've been connected every time I wanted to use the net. Peak times are slower than the 500k potential. But an hour ago my DL rate was 440k. So, bottom line - could be better, but could have been worse.
I've been running GMP cable modem for about two weeks. So far, it's been down one evening for several hours. Other than that, I've been connected every time I wanted to use the net. Peak times are slower than the 500k potential. But an hour ago my DL rate was 440k. So, bottom line - could be better, but could have been worse.
Hello,
I've had a cable modem since they've been available through the cable company. From the other posters, it sounds like I'm pretty lucky in my service. Mine will "lose" signal about once a day but I can usually "fiddle" with it and get it back online in about 5 minutes. It can be an annoyance but believe me, its a small price to pay from my old dial-up connection. I never got better then a 24k connection. I replaced the 56k modem twice in my pc. I even bugged the phone company so much about my crappy connection that they came out and installed a new line from a main junction box to mine. That didn't make any difference. On my cable modem, I'm always between 440 - 490 k. Its great. Anyway, sorry for the ramble.
I have a question. I received via e-mail a notice from GMP on all of the types of websites that you (as a residential customer) were NOT allowed to download. I don't remember them all but heres some they named: video & audio streaming, FTP sites, game sites, DNS sites, POPS, and a few others. They said if you wanted these. Contact them and for an addl. charge. You would get them. Here's my question. Are they trying to limit my bandwidth? Anybody know whats up with this? Thanks.
Mark T.
I've had a cable modem since they've been available through the cable company. From the other posters, it sounds like I'm pretty lucky in my service. Mine will "lose" signal about once a day but I can usually "fiddle" with it and get it back online in about 5 minutes. It can be an annoyance but believe me, its a small price to pay from my old dial-up connection. I never got better then a 24k connection. I replaced the 56k modem twice in my pc. I even bugged the phone company so much about my crappy connection that they came out and installed a new line from a main junction box to mine. That didn't make any difference. On my cable modem, I'm always between 440 - 490 k. Its great. Anyway, sorry for the ramble.
I have a question. I received via e-mail a notice from GMP on all of the types of websites that you (as a residential customer) were NOT allowed to download. I don't remember them all but heres some they named: video & audio streaming, FTP sites, game sites, DNS sites, POPS, and a few others. They said if you wanted these. Contact them and for an addl. charge. You would get them. Here's my question. Are they trying to limit my bandwidth? Anybody know whats up with this? Thanks.
Mark T.
I've had Cable Modem thru HSAnet and now GMP for the past 2 1/2 years. It took a little work to get them to come out, but since then it is almost always up. I can count on one hand the times I've tried to use it and it was down. Other than it being expensive, I have zero complaints.
StillCrazy
Member
HardCrab, I just recently signed a network services agreement with GMP. Here's what that agreement states as far as it relates to your question: "Residential customers are prohibited from hosting the following services: FTP, POP3, SMTP, DSN, Gopher, NNTP, and Imap4." I found nothing in the ageement that says I cannot access these services on other servers.
Notice the key term "hosting". I image GMP doesn't want you to set up "commercial-like" (my term) services at a residential rate. I can't blame them for that.
Why you received an email notice to that effect, I don't know. I haven't recieved that notice from them. Maybe your service agreement is an older one.
BTW, I've been running GMP calbel modem for almost three weeks now. Only once was a member of my family not connected when they wanted to surf. Connection speed have varied between ~220 - ~440 kbps.
Christy
b*tch rocket
I'm still not real happy with GMP. We did finally get it up and running on the new computer using XP, with no help at all from GMP. Response was "we don't support XP". It was okay until last week and it crapped out, then it started downloading both ways through the dial up, rather than the cable. Of course all this happens after hours, and the after hours support is completely worthless. I've had it out with those morons I don't know how many times. I asked them once where exactly they were located and he responded that he couldn't give out that information, and I told him it was probably because if any of the GMP customers knew where they were located, we'd be down there lining up to throttle them. And I was serious! The only time I ever get any real support is when I can get patched into a guy named "Dale". He helped us fix it this time, and it seems to be running okay.
DarbyOhara
Musician
JazzLady.... sorry for such a delayed response to your question....
DSL connection is dependant on many factors. The ultimate is the distance from you and the main phone box. If you are within the approx. 3 miles distance, then it is up to the phone line. If the line to your home is old or no good, they WILL NOT replace it now and no DSL for you! So, no matter which company you chose, they will first check your phone number (address actually), but you must have a phone number first! If you are within the qualifyin distant... they will say, you qualify... BUT! The next determination is that they come out and do a line test. If your line is acceptable.... you'll have DSL!
I live in the middle of Ridge and of course GMP don't support cable internet down our way.... so I inquired about DSL... since I was within range I qualified and then they done the line test... I could only get the 700, instead of the 1.2... I am satisfied with it though. We average around 700 to 800 bps at any time of the day. My house is networked with currently 3 computers (sometimes 4) and we experience no problems! It is definately worth the 40 bucks a month!