Description

A few weeks ago we were contacted by a man stating that he was from Century Link, at that time our current phone and internet provider. He told us about having to switch over to fiber internet and phone (which turned out to be Verizon wireless service) since the copper wires used currently will be phased out. He insisted that he was from Century Link. That Century Link was merging with a company called Lumen and they were switching everyone in the area over to fiber optic internet and phone. He said our equipment, phones and router would be replaced free of charge since they would no longer work. He made it seem that the situation was urgent, that time was running out for the old system. I looked up the merger of Century Link with Lumen, it was true and someone had just laid what I believed to be fiber optic cables up the freeway and down all the streets in town. We had to sign up for the change-over online, through email. When we got the new modem/router I hooked it all up and at first it worked okay. Another guy called saying that he was from Ring Planet. When questioned he told me that Ring Planet sub-contracts for Century Link and that is where the equipment came from. I looked that up online as well, and found it was also true. He had me do a speed test on the new internet speeds and it was all well and good. Then the internet connection began to fail we were barely able to use it. Having to unplug the modem to get a few minutes of use. Sometimes it would work for a few hours but mostly it was on and off frequently, very spotty and unusable. Then the phones came and a man called to help me set those up. They worked for a time, mostly for empty calls coming in when no one was on the line. No matter the caller ID, the area code was always the same as ours. Lots of calls per day and no one on the line. I tested the phones by calling them and also tested the answering machine, it all worked. Although there were calls and they seemed to leave messages there was never any content. The calls were cut in about half when I turned on the blocking of anonymous calls. We still get from 7 to 10 ghost calls per day. The phones do not work when the internet is down, as such they were useless too. I called to see if they could help with the ghost calls and the internet that did not work consistently. They sent a new modem/router and that worked a bit better. My husband is disabled and uses a walker. One day during this fiasco, he fell and we could not get him up. When I tried to call 9-1-1 the internet/phones were out. I was eventually able to call out and get help. That was a very bad situation that could have been much worse. I hope somehow someone can make Ring Planet stop defrauding people by misrepresenting themselves and not honoring the price they quote.