Action Line(s) - 71104 - Mayanet

  • Published
  • By Anonymous
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Question: I have been here for almost a year-and-a-half, and for most of this time have had Mayanet ADSL service. 

The last six months have been an absolute nightmare when it comes to keeping my internet up and running. I keep having intermittent problems with my internet service during the week and on the weekends. 

During the week I would call the Mayanet help desk several times before I would actually get in contact with anyone. 

Primarily, I would receive a busy signal, and when it wasn't busy it would just ring until the answering machine came on. I would leave messages on the machine and not hear back from them. 

On the weekend I called the operator to see if they had a weekend number so I could at least talk to someone so that they knew I existed and that I had a problem, and it turns out they do. The operator gave me the number for their "weekend help line" and then quickly added that they never answer it. 

My big problem with this is that I pay Mayanet more than $80 a month for internet that isn't as fast as it claims to be, and has the worst customer service I have ever seen. 

On top of this, I don't understand why the on-base internet is so expensive when I work with American contractors who live off base and pay only $40 a month for internet that is faster than my own. 

I propose that Mayanet needs to take all this money that the people of Incirlik are paying for their cheap internet and at least hire someone to be on call on the weekends. I know I must not be alone in my internet woes, because the phone at the Mayanet help desk seems to be habitually busy ... so either they are swamped with people with broken internet, or they are taking the phone of the hook and growing fat off of our dollars. 

Either way something must be done about the horrendous internet service. Drop the prices or improve customer service! 

Response: I understand your frustration as I am a Mayanet customer and experience the same service interruptions you do. We are working with Mayanet to make it easier for you to reach a service representative, especially nights and weekends. 

However, host nation restrictions limit the hours Mayanet employees can be on base. We hope to resolve this issue soon. We have also asked that any system-level maintenance be completed during non-peak usage hours to help eliminate potential customer problems. 

With regard to the quality of your internet connection, our antiquated infrastructure on base limits connection speed and quality while Turkish Telecom, Turkey's sole internet provider, controls connection quality between the base and the rest of the world. In fact, a significant portion of our failures and/or service outages can be attributed to TT service conditions off-base. 

You may see your speed increase slightly as we upgrade the communications infrastructure on base; however TT service conditions off base will always impact our on-base performance. As for pricing, Mayanet actually leases bandwidth directly from TT so their flexibility is somewhat limited and is driven by what they pay TT. 

We will continue to push Mayanet to improve all aspects of our internet service and appreciate your patience as we work through the myriad issues to make that happen. Rest assured, I share your concerns and will continue to press for improved service.