Action Line #90912 -- ADSL Scam

  • Published
  • By 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Complaint: 

Recently I heard a rumor about Airmen getting scammed by ADSL. I was told that when you sign up for internet and you schedule to get it hooked up, unless you have a router sold by them they will tell you that the router you have is not good enough to hook up your internet. I happen to know that the routers sold at the BX work just fine. This was all a rumor until yesterday when I was told that a friend of mine had the internet workers come out to hook up her internet and they simply told her that her router from the BX was junk and that it wouldn't work, but they didn't even attempt to try. If this is the case, she now has to spend more money on another router and wait for the workers to come hook up her internet again. This seems unfair and shady to me. 

Response:

Thank you for asking so we can get the word out about modem requirements for the ADSL offered in Turkey, including Incirlik AB. The BX offers Hama brand modems and these are the only types of modem that meets Turkish requirements offered by AAFES suppliers. In the recent past, there have been some challenges getting these particular modems to work.

While some of the ADSL customers have been able to get their Hama modems to work, the majority were having troubles. The non-working modems were eating up the ADSL technician's time because customers thought the internet was down when in fact, the problem was the modem.

To help alleviate the problem, the MayaNet contractor took it upon himself to work closely with the BX manager to determine why the Hama modems were inoperable. They contacted the manufacturers and found a downloadable fix to reconfigure the modems. Of course, reconfiguring the modem is the customer's responsibility not the internet technicians and modems need to be ready for hook up when the technicians arrive at the home. To inform customers how to do this, the BX will be affixing disks and instructions to each modem box which can be used to ensure the modems operate correctly. Non working Hama modems can be returned to the BX for a full refund.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused your friend but rest assured we only want to free up Tech Support so we can handle internet related calls.