Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

I seem to be having some real issues with my internet speed which barely creeps above 1m and is now sat at 0.17m.The irony of it taking 5 mins to do a speed test isn't lost on me.Is anyone else having the same issues?The test this morning gave the same speed so I've no clue.

and what was the response when you contacted Multimax support with your problem before you got fed up with them?

Don't know until the morning because their online help centre is offline.

Multimax help center operates 18 hours a day, 356 days a week.

You can call us at 0548 888 6629
You can login to your control panel on http://www.mmcyp.com and fill out a support ticket
You can use online chat feature on our website when available
You can send an email to info@multimaxcyprus.com

Now, I have checked your connection to discovered that your antenna was not connected to the primary basestation it was supposed to. So, in fact, you didnt actually needed to contact us at all, if you had power cycled your device, it would connect to the normal basestation.

Anyway, the 'problem' you have had which made you become 'fed up with multimax' could have been self fixed, or, would be fixed by Multimax support if we were ever contacted in approx 12 seconds. You can now enjoy speeds that exceeds your package definition. Have a nice evening.

Kemal

Thank you for your help.I am not a computer buff so your explanation doesn't really mean anything.I am fed up at times with the slow speed I seem to get and just enquired as to whether this was a problem for just me or district wide.Its an observation not a witch hunt.Still if it's fixed I will simply retreat back to my tv.

I am sorry Kemal but when there was a general problem with internet connections until a few weeks ago, I thought I should try your company and give up my current provider. However, when I tried contacting you through your website no one would respond on your online chat feature. I did send an email and got no response to that either and the phone number was not answered when I called!

I must admit I did not try calling again because I was also "fed up" by then Maybe I should have tried again... I have decided to stay with the current company since, because the lines seem to have returned to normal now! As for switching off and switching on again when internet connection is lost - perhaps all internet service providers should give/send a note to their customers asking them to check the computer and router connections, as well as switching on/off the power supply to the router/antennae before contacting them for help.

Not wishing to take sides but we think Multimax is great. We get good speeds (99% of the time) and they do put out bulletins if there is going to be a problem. I tend to call rather than chat online with them and they talk us through the solution but I do understand each to their own.

I am pleased with my MM service, and have found the staff very helpful, but the most annoying thing, in fact it is down right rude, is when all the staff are busy on the helpline, and I fully realise they cannot have dozens of people, the phone system just cuts you off.

Not sure how easy it is, but I am sure the phone system will got through some sort of small switch board, so is it possible to have a system that says "you are number X in the queue so the caller can decide if to wait or hang up.

Regarding re-boot of the system, might save MM a lot of calls, and help people restore quicker and easier if they issued a short checklist to try before calling. Maybe there is one? in which case this needs to be made aware to people.

Deff agree with CB, very helpful getting pre-warning of know down time, i.e. maintenance.

I think one thing MM can also do to help themselves is to have a small map to every customer. These should be made at first connection, but too late for that now. Maybe make on future visits. That way the engineers know the way to a persons house without having to call for directions all the time.

brian24001 wrote:...one thing MM can also do to help themselves is to have a small map to every customer...That way the engineers know the way to a persons house without having to call for directions all the time.

Has anyone ever thought of using GPS to pinpoint the location of every customer?

Most smartphones these days have GPS, and all the engineers have a 'phone...

Another satisfied Multimax customer here! I always find a phone call does the trick and problem solved.

I'm really surprised at the number of people who use a system such as this yet seem unable to grasp this very basic concept.

So it's worth explaining that the system is built in such a way that if for a particular reason (often loss of power) where the base station normally accessed by your own antennae is not available your set-up automatically attempts a connection via alternative base stations to at least provide some level of service. However this 'new connection' may well be sub-optimal for long-term use. i.e. it's not the best connection you can get when your 'home' base station is back on line. So you want to switch back to the one your antennae has been set-up to access. This won't happen until something prompts it to do so - the best way is for you to switch off and back on again in the hope that the original base station is back on line. Only when you have established that this does not work (i.e. your speeds are no better) is it best to contact MM direct.

So following power outages - if your speed seems low - try switching off the router - count to 20 slowly and switch it back on again... this is a 'cold-boot' of the system and should most often restore your connection to the base-station of choice and restore normal speeds.

Hi Groucho, this is probably the best explanation i have seen on Kibkom and will hopefully stop a lot of calls to MM, but why cound`nt MM have told customers when getting connected what to do if buffering accurs, thanks for the advice, maybe now i will stop throwing cushons at the tv in frustation

Keithcaley wrote:

brian24001 wrote:...one thing MM can also do to help themselves is to have a small map to every customer...That way the engineers know the way to a persons house without having to call for directions all the time.

Has anyone ever thought of using GPS to pinpoint the location of every customer?

Most smartphones these days have GPS, and all the engineers have a 'phone...

We have been getting customer coordinates during installations and re-visits for the past 3 years. We are constantly working on using this data more efficiently everyday...

Also, thank you all for positive responses and realizing that you do not have to be computer savvy to be able to power-cycle your equipment or contact MM support

We have tried switching the router off when the TV steam starts to buffer, even without a power outage, this has worked for us in the past.
Can a "Cold-Boot" be done by simply switching the on/off switch off on the router, or does the router need to be unplugged at the wall?
Just ran MM speed test, 16.18Mbps
System running fine with us.

I may be wrong here, but it's not just the Router that needs to be 'Power cycled' - the little dish, which is the part that actually connects to a base station, is the crucial link in the chain here, so you need to switch off the socket that powers the Multimax adaptor, or simply unplug the power adaptor lead where it plugs into the 'Y' connector behind the router. And then count to twenty before re-connecting it.

A base station may suffer a localised power cut or some other outage without your particular house having a power cut, so the only indication that you would get might be a 'slow' connection.

If that sounds confusing, I'm sure that Groucho or Kemal will be along in a minute...

Keithcaley wrote:I may be wrong here, but it's not just the Router that needs to be 'Power cycled' - the little dish, which is the part that actually connects to a base station, is the crucial link in the chain here, so you need to switch off the socket that powers the Multimax adaptor, or simply unplug the power adaptor lead where it plugs into the 'Y' connector behind the router. And then count to twenty before re-connecting it.

A base station may suffer a localised power cut or some other outage without your particular house having a power cut, so the only indication that you would get might be a 'slow' connection.

If that sounds confusing, I'm sure that Groucho or Kemal will be along in a minute...

Good point Keith - Quite right to execute a totally 'cold boot' you should also remove the power to the Multimax adapter.... You can either switch off the plug or extract the lead from the adapter... Having said that I normally don't do this so it maybe that the router issues a scan for signal command to the circuitry in the antenna when the router is powered-up from cold. I'm sure MM will let us know about this - I'd like to know

We work on the principal when in doubt unplug all plugs to the system including the mains, which generally works, although don't know if this is all necessary. We have noticed over the past week or so that every day about 5pm the speed drops from at least 5.00 to 0. We have reported this on a daily basis to Multimax and normal speed is restored fairly quickly. However there must be an explanation as to why this happens at this particular time of day - maybe some local interference? Have messaged Multimax every day but no one has offered an explanation.

Some very good points here and it's nice to realise some people are ignorant to technology others are savvy with. It would be nice and helpfull to all if all providers when installing go through the basics with every one when they install something. It may teach someone to suck eggs but will ensure all know the basics and save a lot of negative posts and also a lot of unnecessary visits.

I guess its down to us, the customer a lot of the time. When we were first installed with MM a couple of guys came with the bits and pieces and I'm sure that if I could have spoken to them in Turkish, all would have been explained everything to me. However with my basic Turkish and their basic English we sort of muddled through, and things like cold-booting etc I have picked up from people far more knowledgeable than I on this and other forums!! My only comment on the day was the route the blokes took to get cable from roof to PC. with no attempt to hide the cable behind down pipes, by the time I realised, it was too late.

May I suggest a frequently ask Q&A on the Multimax website to help customers particularly out of office hours.

We are pleased with multimax . Actually have less probs than ever did in UK. Think slow speeds come at peak times, when people get to work or home from work. 5 am is never a problem. I think also a case of expectations, we were pleased to get good speeds up here in Kayalar as another provider said they could not guarantee anything

MM did once explain, if I've understood them correctly, that they are competing with other operators for the unregulated internet transmission frequency as it's basically a free for all as to which service transmits on what frequency, hence MM having to constantly adjust their signal to try and avoid other businesses.

Computer technology must be the main, and sadly now essential, component of daily life that most (otherwise perfectly intelligent) users do not understand and often have had never had the opportunity to learn from basics. Instead of telling someone to "cold boot" , "re boot" or "power recycle" why not just tell them to switch off and on again whatever it is needs to be switched of and on! They wont be offended because if they were real "techies" they would already have done it!

Thank you Waldo and Keith for putting in simple but non patronising terms a concept which I had managed at last to grasp only a couple of days ago and also being the first to actually tell me for how long! But while you are at it could you explain the difference between "re boot" and "cold boot" (I thought this meant one had to kick the *** thing and admit to having been tempted). And also while I am disconnecting the Multimax adaptor and router should the computer itself be on or off (ie via the icons on the screen)

RR,
'Cold Boot' means starting (whatever) equipment up from a non-powered state, so that, if it is currently powered up, you need to remove the power (switch it off ) and then start it up again.

'Re-boot' simply (tries to) re-set the equipment without removing the power - on your PC you would do this by going to the 'Start' button and selecting 'Restart' instead of 'Shut down'; in the case of your router, you might simply press the 'Reset' button (possibly with a ball-point pen, through a tiny hole in the case). There is no such facility for the Multimax equipment (well, not without climbing on your roof, there isn't ), but in any case, the consensus is that you are better off doing a 'cold boot', just to be absolutely sure that there are no traces of previous activity / settings left active on the equipment that might influence the Start-up routine. You are, after all, doing this in order to start again with a 'clean sheet', as it were...

As to your last question, provided that it isn't your computer that has got itself 'confused', you can leave it on - if you don't have the technical knowledge to make an educated guess as to whether it is, or it isn't, then 'power cycle' the darn thing at the same time just as muffin does - you're then 'covering all the bases', as our American friends would say.

Virtually ALL equipment that is controlled by a computer chip is liable to get itself tied in a knot if you leave it on long enough - software writers and system designers are only human, and just cannot design a 'perfect' system - that is beyond the capability of Human Beings. So try and learn the basics of how it works, and what to do if it doesn't. There is a massive amount of information out there on the Internet, and if you aspire to be self-sufficient, then you would do well to go have a look for it, and educate yourself. Kids nowadays learn this at their Mother's knee, or at least, in School. We 'Oldies' have to teach ourselves

Have you ever watched a seven year old teaching his Grand -dad how to program the Video?

And finally - I see calls from some members for an 'FAQ' (Frequently Asked Questions) facility. As I explained on another post, ALL the information, Questions and Answers, is readily accessible - so all that it needs is someone to spend the time looking at it, grouping similar questions together in some sort of order, together with the answers that were given. You don't need any technical knowledge to do it, simply the ability to read, and understand the written word, and then shuffle it about a bit, into some sort of order - so instead of asking someone else to do it for you, why not do it yourselves? If you want it - Get stuck in - believe me, you will learn an awful lot in the process!

I'm sure that there will be volunteers to 'proof read' your attempt(s).

RE Kemal;

If you can't get through on the phone, and your internet is iffy then apart from driving in to the office how do you get help to sort out your problem?

Personally I can't fault MM -I called them yesterday to report a connection problem and within 45 minutes the problem was sorted.

Brilliant service!

Hi, we are considering getting MM. Am I right in thinking that they now only provide internet connection and VPN as no mention of the TV programmes which used to feature highly in their advertising?

dani wrote:Hi, we are considering getting MM. Am I right in thinking that they now only provide internet connection and VPN as no mention of the TV programmes which used to feature highly in their advertising?

They are not a TV provider so the TV provider side was split off so as to keep the boundaries between MM and NTV distinct and clear.

don't worry you'll be able get loads of TV with a MM connection. Including BBC iPlayer and others... I've sent you a PM with some interesting info...

Gavin

torontomapleleaf wrote:RE Kemal;

If you can't get through on the phone, and your internet is iffy then apart from driving in to the office how do you get help to sort out your problem?

If you have no connection, you need to call us. If you have iffy connection, you should still be able to send us an email so we can look into it.

If you have no internet, no telephone, no electricity, no car to drive to the office, we can loan you a homing pigeon for communication, but you have to supply the grains for feeding.

dani wrote:Hi, we are considering getting MM. Am I right in thinking that they now only provide internet connection and VPN as no mention of the TV programmes which used to feature highly in their advertising?

with Multimax connection, you get an Internet connection and a free VPN.

As a MM customer and through our special agreement with NTV, you also get about 10 channels free by registering at http://www.ntv.mx website (these channels are not provided by MM, they are provided by NTV)

That sounds like a good idea - how can we contact you to arrange for the delivery/collection of aforementioned pigeon?

Thank you for all the helpful info.It might have been better if MM just said switch it off,remove the plug,wait then switch it on again.For every one technology buff im sure there are ten not so clued up including me.Overall I am happy with MM but feel entitled to say on an open forum if there is something that is annoying me without MM being quite so defensive in their response.

Ive seen responses from MM before to other users issues where i have though the response was somewhat prickly.Anyway all is well and my connection speed would now give Usain Bolt a run for his money.

They probably get a bit fed up with people constantly asking the same questions, or complaining about the same thing, when the information has been made available on the Multimax website since July 2013 or so...

Not that they should ever be less than polite or helpful to customers, but we're all human, after all...

In the days before I abandoned all pretense of working for a living, I have been known to let just the merest trace of Irony creep into my communications with customers

( 'Irony' - sometimes mis-interpreted as Sarcasm ).

To be fair to Multimax they have published very clear information on this forum on the 14th November detailing what people should do if they have a problem. So I'm sure they will get frustrated when 9 days latter someone has an issue which would have been solved by following their previous post. if these instructions had been followed this whole thread would have been unnecessary as the problem would have been solved without any need to contact Multimax.

http://www.kibkomnorthcyprusforum.com/v ... 96&p=92526


"I will do my best to answer your questions, even at the risk of being labeled a '"so called" boffin' and accused of doing so not out of a desire to try and help but out of a desire to "try to show off [my] superior knowledge".

"Switch it off and back on again" is a standard first step with any kind of digital device that is not operating properly, be it a computer, tablet, smart TV,mobile phone, router etc etc. Any number of potential issues with such devices can be 'solved' by turning the device off and back on again just as any number of other potential issue will not be solved by such but it is always a first thing to try.

In terms of a Multimax internet connection the first thing to clear up is what it is exactly you can turn off and turn on. In a standard Multimax set up there will be a device on the roof which will have a power supply plugged into the mains inside the house and the power is fed into the cable that runs up to the device on the roof, via a small device we call a 'splitter'. This is separate from the power supply that feeds your 'router / wifi access point' inside your house that our cable from the roof is plugged into. In the case of your device on the roof being connected to 'secondary' or 'tertiary' base station, or sector of a given base station, which typically happens after power outages causing your 'primary' base station to be off, turning off the power supply to the router inside your house will have no effect, where as turning the power off and back on to the device on the roof will force it to search again for the 'primary' base station and provided it is operating attach to that base station, thus solving the issue of being connected to a secondary or tertiary one. In simple terms turning both power supplies off and back on again may solve things and it may not depending on what the problem is but it is always worth a try.

Being connected to a secondary or tertiary base station following power outages of your primary one is ONE issue that would be resolved by turning off and back on the power to the Multimax device on your roof. There are potentially other issues that powering off and back on the device on your roof will resolved, just as there are some it will not resolve and just as there are others that powering off the router in your house (and / or your laptop, tablet, smart phone, smart tv etc etc) will resolve and others doing so will not.

If you have tried powering off and back on again the device on the roof , your router in the house and the device you are connecting with (laptop, tablet etc) and your problems still persist then you need to contact us. On doing so we then try and establish where the problem is, after first checking that you have tried powering off and back on the equipment in your house. I do appreciate this is a tiresome process but it is a necessary one. Again depending on what the actual problem is , sometimes the 'fix' is as 'simple' as us effectively turning off and back on again some element of the network at your base station or further down the 'chain' and so the the result is a near instant (once we have identified what the cause is) fix. Other times the fix requires sending an engineer either to your location or your base station or someone where further down the chain that you and your base station connect through."

I dont think people always read through all the(particuarly lengthy) posts, if they are not particularly interested in the subject at the time it is posted:several questions on non internet questions are also frequently repeated

There is a Forum for "Internet" on Kibcom, though I would say it is not that noticeable. Perhaps Multimax could follow an excellent suggestion made above of putting a "Frequently asked quetions" section on their Website and copy it as a sticky to the Internet Forum here.

Ragged Robin wrote:I dont think people always read through all the(particuarly lengthy) posts, if they are not particularly interested in the subject at the time it is posted:several questions on non internet questions are also frequently repeated

There is a Forum for "Internet" on Kibcom, though I would say it is not that noticeable. Perhaps Multimax could follow an excellent suggestion made above of putting a "Frequently asked quetions" section on their Website and copy it as a sticky to the Internet Forum here.

***Irony Warning*** - If I could, perhaps, refer you back to post 25 of this thread, particularly the last paragraph... - /end/***Irony Warning***

No offence intended, just pointing out that it is perfectly possible for any Member of this Forum to collate the information and organise it into a usable form, and by doing so, actually LEARN something, as well as making a valuable contribution to the Forum...

Of course, whether people would actually bother to LOOK at the 'FAQ' is another matter altogether - the information is out there now, and easily accessible, but a lot of people just can't be bothered to look first, and expect to be 'Spoon fed'.

Not YOU, of course

No Keith; Of course not me! This isnt the place to put personal financial mobility and health problems but you might think that for some your comments could be read as very clever but rather hurtful, Even if I had the time and to collate emails on behalf of a company with considerably resources than I, I dont have the skills. I am not particularly enamoured of computers, and only got one under duress because it became the only way to pay my income tax and contact my bank - having been forced to pay for a lot of "kit" to support it, it would be silly not to use it for other things , but I try to keep it to the simplest and resent all the extras which are virtually forced on me, and am particularly concerned (and this is a concern with the IT industry generally and not aimed at any one person or organisation) that a science in its infancy is being developed at the expense of the consumer without adequate testing and is fraught with dangers for the uninitiated.

I am of course on a constant learning curve with IT and as I said in an earlier post am very grateful to those who are able and willling to put their superior knowledge in CLEAR terms at the disposal of others (as indeed I am sure we all are on several subjects), but I do have some other interests to which I would prefer to devote money and time . I do make mental or written notes of issues that concern me, but often a later post on the subject (as happened above) will clarify a subject I had not fully understood.

In any case to go through all the posts relating to IT would be an enormous task for ANYONE because the headings can be misleading - posts which appear to be a just a moan about Multimax may contain something useful and informative, whereas posts apparently asking a pertinent question may degenerate into general grumbling! Multimax , however, presumably hear and understand the regular problems so often they know them off my heart!

Meanwhile my router (having failed to respond to power recycling etc. ) is back with the suppliers as it appears an integral fault and meantime I am typing in a unheated room, so will have to agree to disagree with you

Ragged Robin wrote:...so will have to agree to disagree with you

Fair enough!

I do try to encourage everyone to try to learn something about the tools that they are using, and sometimes my mischievous side gets the better of me -

Don't let it stop you asking questions in the future, but do remember that a well phrased search, either on this forum, or on the internet in general can produce illuminating results! - and mentioning what you have already tried in order to rectify the issue or to find a solution will only encourage those of us who might know the answer to boastfully demonstrate our technical prowess...

Keep smiling, Be Happy

Keith: Unfortunately "searching" is one of the skills I have not yet mastered well enough - I dont seem to be in tune with the logic of the programmmers (or their spelling!) and the terminology does confuse

Computer technology is a very, very complex subject, involving many disciplines: and whilst I firmly believe when you stop learning, you stop living life is too sort to master everything and a little knowledge can a dangerous thing.

Actually I learned at my father's knee (FIEE) to check every connection to an malfunctioning electrical appliance and reconnect (from the - then - fuse box backwards) but I have also learned from experience that power recycling (as I have now leaned to call it) does not always work - sometimes the appliance can be at fault and sometimes it appears that the server has to make an adjustment at their end first: which can be a frustrating and time consuming experience when you are cut off from the queue at a call centre, and are awaiting or trying to send a vital email to your bank!

I am sure there must be a subject that I know more about than you and others do about IT - but off hand I cant think of one!

PAX