Action line 81005 - Mayanet Published Oct. 14, 2008 By Anonymous 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- Complaint: I am just another one preaching to the choir about our infamous MayaNet. I don't understand why we are subjected to use such a poorly-operated internet provider. The personnel on this base are forced to use this one and only internet source to do many things like keep in touch with family, manage financial obligations online and much more. It's painful to know we have to pay double what we would pay back in the states. To make matters worse, we are required to pay for a specific internet speed that we don't even receive; and at times the internet completely cuts off. I have called Mayanet and brought up the idea of having "pro-rated" internet bills, but received very elusive and vague replies. This brings up another 'customer service' concern that many of us are having with the Turkish staff over at Mayanet. In many instances, the employees over at Mayanet will have you repeat the same steps to get your internet back online. I have never had to restart my internet modem so many times just to reboot my internet. I have spoken with people who have been here for quite some time, and they explained to me that this dilemma has been a never-ending issue and needs to be resolved. I know I speak for many when I say something ought to change about our current means of internet access. Response: In an effort to adequately respond to your concerns, let me provide a bit of background information in addition to some of the solutions we are working on. That way, you'll get a feel of the full scope of the problem. Bad news: most of this is out of our control. Turkish Telekom (TT) is the sole provider of internet services in Turkey and is wholly owned by the Turkish government. Historically, TT has been reluctant to allow free market competition and currently MayaNet, the base internet service provider, is the ONLY company that has been allowed to set up a "campus" type solution in Turkey. That being said, MayaNet still obtains service from TT and must utilize the current TT infrastructure in order to provide service to the base. More bad news: a significant portion of the DNS failures and/or service outages can be attributed to service conditions off-base; things we can't fix. This can be especially frustrating when using TCP streaming applications such as Vonage, P2P, gaming and music/movie downloads. However, I can't blame everything on the off-base conditions. There are further complications due to antiquated copper cabling in family housing and the dorm units. We have also received reports that the majority of end users are frustrated that they do not receive the bandwidth that they pay for and that the price is too much. There seems to be confusion in regards to this subject, so here is further explanation. The bandwidth, 256Kbps, 512Kbps or 1Mbps, indicates the maximum connection speed between the end user location and the TT system. This does not necessarily mean that the user will connect to their target website at the maximum connection speed, although it is possible. Maximum connection speed or inability to connect can be affected by a multitude of reasons to include: how many users are on-line simultaneously, network condition, location of the receiving server, diagnostics of the end users computer, location of the wireless router and/or cable pairing. After having MayaNet test numerous ports during peak usage hours, we have found that the majority of end users are being serviced at 75% to 80% of the maximum bandwidth they purchased. As for the excessive cost? There not much we can do about that, other than stop using the service. Without any competition, its tough to negotiate. The good news (finally!): We are working to improve the factors under our control. The renovations in Phantom Housing have affected connections, but as the renovations are completed, the service outages should decrease. And we're currently looking at Falcon Housing for cable repairs. We continue to work with MayaNet to ensure we get the best service given the constraints we operate under. Thanks for writing.