Orbitel Communications Maricopa Over Priced, Few Channels & Horrible Signal, Rude Customer Service Maricopa, Arizona

This company is hideous in every imaginable way and I cannot believe theyre still in business in today's economy. They should change their name to Horbitel Rude Communication . as it would at the very least be an honest name change. The cable service is absolutely horrible and had been since the day we moved in and their Internet is every bit as bad. I'm sure the only reason they are still in business is due to the fact that they have contracts with the HOA's and we the people are forced to pay them through their quarterly dues. I have lived here in Maricopa for 8 years now and one of those 8 years I had Orbitel cable. In that year I had an Orbitel tech out to my house several times due to snowy picture or dual images on screen. Every time the guy came out, he'd test my wires and determine that the problem was not in my home, rather it was between my house and the hub/trunk as he put it. Each time he left, he promised someone would follow up with me to get it fixed. The last time he showed up, he explained that he couldnt figure out what the problem was and that he would have and engineer come out to further investigate. That never happened and I never got a call, email or visit from anyone. I called the office to find an answer and got a rude woman who really could've have cared less so I cancelled my cable and went with satellite. Best decision I ever made. When I cancelled my cable with them, they told me that the satellite would be far worse, more expensive and that I should give them another chance to resolve the problem. They hadn't been able or willing to solve the problem in 2 years, why would I wait any longer. Truth be known, satellite is cheaper, more reliable and far superior customer service over Orbitel. In 7 years I have only lost the picture once with my satellite during a storm and it came back within minutes. Price wise I've saved about $383.00 each year over Orbitels prices. Now as if their cable wasnt bad enough, I've had a similar experience with Orbitels Internet in both lack of service and horrible customer service. About a year ago they came out with what they call a 20 Mbps service. The 9 Mbps Internet I had with them was so unbelievable slow that I figured I'd upgrade to get faster service. What a total waste of money and time. I should've learned from my cable experience with them not to believe anything they say or do. Now here's where it begins to sound a bit repetitive.

I upgraded, if you can call it that, to their 20Mbps service and would do occasional speed test which would come in just under 8Mbps. Once again I called and the online tech would do a ping and determined that we did have a problem indeed. When the online tech would ping my internet, it came back at under 3Mbps each time and a service order was started. A tech was dispatched to my house, tested all the lines and had determined that the problem is somewhere between my house and the hub box. Hmmm that sounds so familiar. After several visits, the tech promised that their "Engineer" would come out and find out what the problem was and get it fixed. HERE WE Go again. A tech and this Engineer came out and now according to them the problem is not with them at all, rather its with all three of my computers. Yet another excuse, how common of them. A month later I called to inquire as to why I was still having the same issue with slow Internet and lo and behold another rude employee greeted me. Rude seems to be the running theme with this company and Im guessing its in their Mission statement. When I again voiced my complaint and explained the answer I received from the last person, to which the young lady replied that the person I spoke to the first time was a supervisor and that she "doesn't make mistakes."... Wow, I was unaware that Orbitel hires demigods as supervisors. I have now cancelled my Internet with them as well and have gone with Qwest Internet. Now what surprised me is that Qwest 7Mbps service is faster than Orbitels 20Mbps service. The reason I found is that with Qwest you get a dedicated line as opposed to sharing a cable line with everyone in the neighborhood. When I did a final speed test of Orbitels service on their site as well as Speakeasy.net and Speedtest.net, of all three sites the fastest test showed 5.76 Mbps download and 2.18 Mbps upload on what is suppose to be 20Mbps service. Remember that the problem they said was with my computers, however now that I have new Internet service with another company, all three computers are working just fine. Another of Orbitels running themes is to come up with ever reason why its not their service but its everything else. I kept the printouts of the speed test I did when I had their service and plan to give them to the HOA to use in court in the suit filed against Orbitel. My advice is to STAY AWAY from this company. They will be sweet to you to get your business but become overtly RUDE when you have a problem. I have recently discovered from a friend that Johnson Ranch HOA in Queen Creek got rid of their cable company due to poor service and I plan on attending the next HOA meeting with hopes of achieving the same results. I think it's incredibly unfair and borderline illegal that we are forced to pay for a service through our HOA which this company refuses to provide adequately. Orbitels service or lack thereof is a result of them having a monopoly in Maricopa and Im going to make every attempt to get that changed. Until then, go with Satellite for TV (much better picture) and Qwest for Internet (much faster service) and avoid this horrible company and their extremely high prices at all cost. If you are a current customer of Orbitels and would like to know more about the suit against them, contact Rancho Eldorados HOA - Rossmar & Graham @ 480-551-4300 or write them at 9362 East Raintree Drive Scottsdale, AZ 85260