This is it, the end. It’s all over, nothing more to say about it. The dream has ended. After dealing with this abysmal process for a month, I’ve given up. Being told time and again, that this is an “easy process” and everything will be smooth, I’m now told by BigPipe they don’t have any updates. That’s fine, I’m over.

But what’s this? A new email from BigPipe! Maybe it’s good news! Let’s have a read:

Hi ,

Thanks for taking part in our IPv6 trial that we announced on Geekzone. We’ve had a heap of really useful feedback to keep in mind for our future developments in this space.

From the 12th of June 2018 the trial will be ending and you may notice a short 5-10 minute outage while we withdraw it. We’ll be making the change overnight at a time that has as little impact as possible. There’s nothing further you need to do, however as with any outage if you find you haven’t automatically connected again, simply restart your modem or router.

If you have any questions or want to chat this through, you can get in touch via https://ww.bigpipe.co.nz/contact-us

Thanks again for getting involved. The Bigpipe People

Oh, well, I guess it’s not a good update. So not only are they not able to install fibre, they are now actually removing services from their existing installs! I hadn’t looked at a new provider in years, as I’d been pretty happy with BigPipe up until recently. It was time to look for something new, but first, it’s time to post this email to GeekZone.

Oh, it looks like someone beat me to it! They are not only removing IPV6, they are also removing IPOE from customers that were set up that way. And that’s not even the best part. They have responded to pretty much every criticism with “It’s on the roadmap, but I can’t talk about that”. Here’s a piece of free advice BigPipe: Telling your customers that something is on some super secret roadmap that you can’t tell them about, is not the way to handle things like this.

Moving On

So I started looking for other providers. I have heard good things about two of them, 2Degrees and Voyager. I already use 2Degrees for my cell phone, so I figured I’d check them out first. I went to their website, and entered my address. Unfortunately it wasn’t found. So I decided to head to their nearest store to ask for help. Unfortuately, they told me in store they couldn’t help me either. No biggie.

So off to Voyager I go. I check out their prices, and it was actualy $5/month cheaper! Oh and the static IP was a one off cost of $15! This is versus the $45 I paid BigPipe for a public IP (not even static, that’s just public). Amazing. So I decided to order Voyager. They will be hooking my service up in 3 days (no fibre, thanks Chorus and BigPipe!), so I’ll be sure to update at that point. Oh, and they support IPV6! Amazing.

#ByeBigpipe

So after signing up, and receiving not only my static IP address, my IPV6 address pool, and the install date it was time to let BigPipe know I was leaving them after years of using their service. I replied to their most recent email on my connection (the one I received that morning stating they didn’t have any updates) to let them know I was going to be moving on. I received the most passive aggressive email I’ve ever gotten. Mind you, this was after a month of dealing with this process.

I noted it as one of the reasons for my leaving BigPipe. You can’t continue to treat your customers like crap, not update them, leave them hanging, remove services, be the most expensive, and think you are going to keep them.

Bigpipe survey

Bigpipe survey

Yep, it’s totally a moot point now Felix. I’ve moved on, and suggest anyone else with BigPipe do the same. Shame that meer hours earlier, you told me there was no update. It’s shocking how fast an update shows up when you tell them you are through with their shit.

So, for now, the fibre dream is over. I’ll wait a few more months before seeing how good Voyager is, and then possibly try again. Hopefully they’ll be able to handle the process better.