I often see Facebook posts that include questions about internet in North Cyprus. Questions like :- Which company supplies the best internet in North Cyprus ? Who supplies the fastest internet in North Cyprus ? Who is the best internet provider in North Cyprus ?
Questions, when asked, that our existing customers answer. Here are examples of some of the answers that they have posted on Facebook.
The quality, reliability and speed of internet connections in North Cyprus varies from ISP to ISP, from area to area and even from property to property, but why is that ?
All internet service providers in North Cyprus face the same difficulties. Difficulties which stop them from being able to provide 'good' internet connections in 'all' areas. Some ISP's are good in certain areas and not so good in others.
The last part of the vast majority of internet connections in North Cyprus (from the ISP's Base Station to the customer's house) are delivered by wireless radio signal, the quality of the signal relies upon a number of different factors, none of which are under the control of the ISP :-
The location of the end user's property in relation to the ISP's base station - distance, geographical features and line of sight to the base station. The lie of the land in the area - hills, ravines, dips and obstructions such as tall trees and high apartment buildings.
The density of internet users in the area. Excessive noise on the radio frequency. Wireless radio frequency overlap and interference.
ISP's do their best to overcome these problems and 'want' to provide the 'best' internet connection that they can in 'every' area, but to do this, they need to monitor each and every connection in the 'problem' areas and implement regular radio frequency changes on weakened signals. This is very difficult and often relies on the feedback that the ISP's get from their customers. Good communication and customer service therefore, is key in making sure that customers are happy. Providing good customer service day in and day out is a massive commitment and this is where ISP's often falter, especially when there is bad weather, during and after power outages and at other times when internet connectivity is poor.
A good example (Click to read)
Let's say that an internet connection using a channel in the 5.8 Ghz radio frequency range is performing well, but then suddenly, it falters - why ? A neighbour, who is using another ISP, connects to the internet using the same channel, in the same frequency band as the first connection - this affects the performance of both connections. This can happen repeatedly and regularly, especially in heavily populated areas and is just one of the anomalies that affects internet connections in North Cyprus.
Changing the channel that the internet connection uses, usually fixes the problem immediately !
So, telephone your ISP, report the issue and get it fixed, but did they answer the phone, or were you held in a queue ? Were they responsive to the issue that was being reported ? Did the person who answered the call understand the problem ? Was the right person to deal with the issue available at the time ? Did they say that they would call you back ? Did they call you back ?
Something which should make end users realise why it is very important to use an ISP who is very responsive and provides good customer service - the most important factor in choosing an ISP.
Hopefully, you should now understand just how important 'good' customer service is and begin to wonder as I do, why people's questions are primarily about internet "Speed" and "Price". People are searching for the fastest available internet speed at the lowest possible price, but is this not the same as trying to buy a gold ring for the price of a silver ring, or trying to find someone who is selling £10 notes for £5 ?
Shouldn't people ask about good customer service too ?
Facebook Recommendations
I don't know about you, but I am always sceptical about the customer recommendations that I see on Facebook and I often wonder whether they are 'manufactured' in some way (most of us have heard about the wonderful things that generative Ai can do nowadays) and if they aren't 'manufactured', I wonder why the customers go to the trouble to post the positive comments and reviews that they post about their 'supplier' ?
I have thought about this for some time and I think that I have come up with the answer, well, part of the answer anyway.
A lot of our customers have come to us from other Internet Service Providers who they are dissatisfied with, usually because their customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Having a high 'headline' speed is all well and good, but only if the internet service is reliable and only if, when the internet connection goes down repeatedly, you can get hold of someone to report the problem and get it fixed, quickly and efficiently. If you have experienced this and many of our customers have experienced 'questionable' customer service with other suppliers (so they tell us), it makes them really appreciate what good customer service is and as a result, they are quite prepared to put pen to paper (so to speak) when they receive good customer service from us.
I did say that I had come up with 'part' of the answer. Another part is pictured below: "Gwyn", who is dedicated to making sure that our customers are happy. Let me give you an example :-
We are eXtend Broadband's number one service agent. We represent our customers if and when they have a problem with their internet connection. We arrange installation of internet connections and we provide customer service (14 hours a day, seven days a week). If and when a customer has a problem, we take care of it. Customers pay us exactly the same as they would pay to eXtend if they were to deal with them directly and some people choose to do so (?) So, why am I telling you this ?
Last Sunday, a customer who deals directly with eXtend, discovered that their internet connection was down. This particular customer lives beside several of 'our' customers. They asked them whether their internet connections were also down and they informed them that they weren't. They contacted eXtend to report the problem and they raised a ticket on their system. They were informed that they an engineer's visit was required and that this would happen within three days. 'Our' customers urged them to contact us too. Technically speaking, this customer is not our responsibility and we are not obliged to help them, but we did and their internet connection was back up and running the next day, before lunch. In return, the customer is going to deal through us in future.